Blueprint needs teachers’ input

As a former teacher, I cautiously endorse Gov. David Ige’s plan to renovate our school system to better address the needs of students (“Ige excited to share education blueprint,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 4). Including business and community leaders is only natural, yet also problematic if schools are viewed primarily as a training ground for future employees.

I hope the “educators” on Ige’s team are classroom teachers and not administrators. In the past, although teachers are tasked with implementing plans and classroom strategies, their input has been largely cursory.

Previous reform attempts have been less than successful, actually creating even more of the bureaucracy that is recognized as part of the problem. Teachers are then given more duties, requiring more of their “free” time, without appropriate compensation. Ask any teacher how he or she spends evenings. The answer: getting ready for the next day.

No initiative, no matter how well-intended, can succeed if teachers are not given a real voice in the planning and implementation stages.

Les Inouye

Manoa

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Founders wary of free immigration

A recent letter criticizing President-elect Donald Trump’s stance on controlling immigration quotes the words on the Statue of Liberty to promote the myth that immigration is a hallowed American principle recognized by the Founding Fathers (“U.S. should uphold promise of liberty,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 3).

The truth is Trump is correct and in keeping with the Founding Fathers’ warnings about the consequences for the United States if immigration levels were not controlled. They did not want to exclude immigration, but did not encourage migrants whose cultural backgrounds were significantly different from their own.

Earl Arakaki

Ewa Beach

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For immigration, illegal is illegal

Despite all the noble rhetoric, immigration is a legal issue, plain and simple.

We the people elected our representatives to Congress to introduce, debate and pass laws that are to be enforced. No one, including the president, has the right to pick and choose which laws are to be enforced and which are not.

Illegal immigration is just that — illegal — and the enforcement is deportation. It’s a shame that we have such ignorance among our citizenry that abiding rule of law is conflated into a discrimination or anti-American issue.

Regardless of the epitaph on the French-made Statue of Liberty, the immigration laws of this country belong to all of us and must be abided. These laws are really what define our borders. If you want open borders, change the law. But don’t dare vilify anyone for enforcing a law enacted by the world’s most generous nation.

A country without borders is not a country.

Jim Austin

Haleiwa

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Trump fans don’t see demagoguery

U.S. Presidents have been known for their oratory. Barack Obama: “Yes, we can.” George W. Bush at the destroyed World Trade Center towers: “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

And what do we hear from our President-elect in his first major public appearances since the election? Lies and boasts: “We won in a landslide;” “the extremely dishonest press, very dishonest people;” and “The African-American community was so great to me in this election.”

This behavior is unacceptable from a U.S. president, and it is frightening how citizens who thrive on it do not recognize its demagogic overtones.

Paul Brandon

Kaneohe

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Dec. 7 attack puts terror in context

My thanks to your staff writers, especially William Cole, for the outstanding special edition on the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor (“Day of infamy,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 30). My father, Harry Edward Goldsmith, was a sailor aboard the USS Argonne in the shipyard on that fateful day and soon was commissioned as a naval officer.

I believe it is important to put today’s troubles with terrorism into context with our war with Japan so many years ago. My parents were afraid that after Dec. 7, the Japanese would be coming ashore by the thousands. Today, we’re afraid they will stop.

Creighton W. Goldsmith

Nuuanu

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Sovereignty would benefit U.S.

Hawaii becoming a truly sovereign nation would be good for the U.S. government (“Hawaii should consider seceding from the U.S.,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 29). The Pentagon would pay a fair price only for what it wants from us, just as it does in exchange for bases it operates in Japan.

It’s true that Hawaii’s tourist industry could suffer, but only if the sovereign Hawaiian government wants more than its share of what the industry is willing to share.

Dennis Egge

Aliamanu