Thursday's letters question the wisdom of a new test for college-bound 8th graders.  Melanie Rome, a college admission counselor in Tarzana, writes:

...the fact that the College Board has come up with yet another way to put pressure on students infuriates me.  If you think 13-and 14-year-old education-savvy kids haven't begun to worry yet about college, think again.

Writers also argued with a Monday op-ed that suggested gas is more affordable now than it was in the 1960s, and with the notion that artificial lawns are necessarily more earth-friendly than the real thing.  Thoughts on end-of-life care, worker's compensation, and building a footpath through the Cahuenga Pass, too.

*Photo: Tony Avelar/Bloomberg News