Letters to the Editor

'Governance' is nothing more than management

In your ongoing coverage of educational reform, I've noticed several writers use the term "governance" as if it were a special magical term for education. Governance is management, nothing more.

And, in the world of management practices, decisions are best made by those closest to the issue. It is called best practices, and there are thousands of studies to support it.

America's best corporations only centralize a very few functions: government and shareholder relations, compliance policy and goal-setting, the same few functions the governor wants maintained within the new DOE statewide standards board.

We must get back to the basics in school

Drake Beil's opinion piece in Sunday's Focus section started out promising enough. The Lucy-and-Charlie-Brown analogy was clever and appropriate. Unfortunately, the rest of his article fell short.

At one point, he says that we have "more relevant" goals than teaching kids to read, but never offers any of these "more relevant" goals. Frankly, I'm hard-pressed to think of many more important objectives for the school system than teaching the children to read.

In fact, I take the opposite view of Mr. Beil. I think that we should make reading a priority for our young children. I think we should look at adding to the classroom teacher's aides and community volunteers who are specifically tasked to work with the children on reading. I'd like to see a similar program, perhaps at the fifth- or sixth-grade levels, where we have teacher's aides and community volunteers in the classrooms who are specifically tasked to work with children who are struggling in math. I'd like to see the state and federal governments place a stronger emphasis on early childhood education so that children who start school are better prepared to learn.

In reading the education positions of our presidential candidates, it disappoints me that they almost exclusively focus on getting more kids into college. That's all well and good, but if our kids get to high school unprepared, having more college scholarships for them is of marginal value.

We need to increase our focus on early childhood and elementary-school education so that our children can read, write and do math at the appropriate levels before they get to high school.

Air ambulance crew members were heroes

I was fortunate to have known the Hawai'i Air Ambulance crew members who recently lost their lives. They were all people who were dedicated to their profession and who tirelessly served their community. These men were assets to Hawai'i, and their presence made the state a better place.

I send my condolences to the friends and families of those who were lost. While nothing can take away the hurt associated with this tragedy, I hope you find some comfort in the fact that they were all heroes (who perished while serving others).

More reporting needed on basketball defense

I just have to comment on the reporting of our high school basketball players. I realize that high scoring is important to winning a game, but what about defense? We have some great defensive players on our teams, and yet we never see their names mentioned. Isn't defense also important to winning a game?

For instance, on Kaimuki's varsity boys team, there is an awesome kid named Isaiah Ano who is just a fantastic defensive player. He gets about five to six steals a game, and yet you never see or hear about him. Why is that? Isn't defense just as important? Without these players, where would their teams be?

Where's the reaction on little girl's killing?

Your non-reaction and non-commentary on the murder of Carlie Brucia deserves comment. Every parent in the nation was sickened and shocked by the tragic death of Carlie at the hands of career criminal Joseph P. Smith. And what was The Advertiser's reaction? None. Zero. Zippo. In your eyes, children don't seem to matter.

You had a chance — and a responsibility — to raise a warning and comment on a broken justice system that puts criminals first and children last. You blew it with your "snoops and snitches" tirade. Contrary to your "big brother is watching" hysteria, a video camera was crucial to hunting down the loathsome child killer, and ensures he will get the justice he so deserves.

No one should remain indifferent to child abusers and pedophiles. Either you are for them or against them. Not to speak out or take a stand makes one a collaborator of the first order, and assures it won't be long before the next beautiful child falls prey to the likes of Joseph P. Smith.