To the editor:

In response to Tuesday’s article “Motherhood may derail tenure track faculty”: What if raising children was considered a valued contribution to the community instead of a “derailment”? Surely the efforts parents in any profession put into raising their children are as important a contribution to our society as any other work they do.

We often wring our hands over the actions and attitudes of kids in our society and place blame on parents. But the problem goes far deeper when both mothers and fathers must contend with social and political structures that can regard spending time with their kids as a misplaced priority. I hope this was the sort of issue voters meant to highlight with their concern for “values” in the recent election.

Noel Rasor,

Lawrence