Calling children 'kids' isn't wrong

Daniel Denys (Fence Post, Aug. 25) criticizes Naperville's school superintendents for using the word "kids" to refer to the district's students. He considers the word somehow derogatory because Merriam Webster defines it as "a young goat".

Had he looked deeper, he would have seen it also says "child, youngster." If he checked an etymological dictionary, he would have seen that the word in this sense is not some modern slang slur but has Indo-European roots going back deep into history and is related to the German word for child "Kind".

Denys should dig a little deeper before he attacks.

Matthew DuPree

Glendale Heights