Anchorage Daily News

Universal preschool is ineffective

Universal preschool has never been proven to have any lasting effect on the education of children. As early as second grade and in all cases by the fourth grade preschool kids' performance is indistinguishable from that of non-preschool kids. It has never been shown to have any effect on high school graduation rates. Oklahoma has had universal preschool for 18 years and their fourth grade reading and math scores are both below national averages and have been for years.

Starting children earlier in ineffective programs does nothing for their long-term success. If you want to improve children's education, make it easier to open charter schools (possibly cultural based, i.e. native curriculum) and cheaper (vouchers, tax credits) to send kids to private schools.

Stop advocating putting kids in ineffective schools for more of their lives. The one size fits all philosophy of public education seems to be broken. Smaller schools that are accountable to the customers, i.e. parents and children, are the way to solve the problem, not more government involvement.

-- Bruce Shellenbaum

Anchorage

Obama deserves all our support

I voted for McCain, but since the majority didn't, I accept that. I will pray for Obama to make the right decisions as I do for all of our world leaders.

Why does the media call him the first African-American president? As far as I'm concerned, he is the 44th Caucasian president. His mother was a Caucasian woman. He is as white as me.

When I look at Barack Obama, I don't see a black man or a white man, I see a man who has inherited what has to be the most difficult job on the planet for $400,000 per year. Considering what professional athletes make a year, we're getting a bargain.

There are difficult times ahead and I pray that he'll be up for the task. I may not have voted for him but I do respect him and for the next four years, anyway, he will be my president. I wish him Godspeed.

-- Chuck Meister

Anchorage

Improving quality of education tied to teacher accountability

I read your opinion section every day and today I noted your focus on education. We will not fix the "quality gap" by sending kids to school at a younger age or by funding preschool as was suggested. American children were more educated and literate before we had kindergarten. Now kids spend more time in school getting less accomplished.

The problem is not time, it is focus and accountability. If principals cannot easily fire poor teachers and reward excellent ones then they cannot reform schools. Leonard Pitts correctly identified the teacher unions as responsible for holding back progress in teacher accountability. However, I have a teaching degree and know that even excellent teachers cannot properly equip students to succeed if the focus of the curriculum is wrong.

Shirley Tuzroyluke wrote that Native students do not succeed because the schools do not acknowledge their culture. The job of schools is to teach reading, writing, math, science and history and thereby prepare students "to succeed in college and in the modern work force." This works for all students regardless of race. We do not need to adjust education to each race differently, but treat students equally with the same opportunities for success and let them and their families be responsible for the individual outcome.

-- Heather Mathias

Anchorage

Limbaugh babble so off course

Jim Feeney (Letters, Nov.15) appears to be another "ditto-head" and acolyte of the tiresome Rush Limbaugh, who deems the current stock market and economic mess is an "Obama Recession." Never mind that no economist worth his or her salt gives any credence to such nonsense. The stock market has been heading to the tank for many months now.

What's really responsible for our economic woes? How about the disparity of income distribution between the rich and everybody else, worst since the 1920s? Or Bush's disastrous coddling of the corporations, Bush's disastrous war and the profligate spending by Bush and three Republican congresses, to the tune of $11 trillion.

If Feeney needs a refresher in Econ 101, better he should consult someone with a degree in something other than a B.A. (Bloviator of Arts), like Rush Limbaugh.

-- Bill Siedler

Wasilla

We could do without intolerance

RE: "China tries to force 6-months-pregnant woman to abort" I'm sure many Americans read this article in their local papers and cried in outrage over the notion that any government could force a woman to abort her fetus. And yet many of those same people would also decry the U.S. government's legal support of abortion. But rather than one extreme or the other, can't we just agree to adhere to the virtue of plain, old-fashioned tolerance of others' choices?

The "pro-choice" label is not synonymous with anti-life, but accepts personal and very private choices to self-determine how and when a person will bring a child into the world.

Just as I find it bothersome for 21st-century, American families to have more than two children, I recognize that this is my opinion and should not be forced on others. Similarly, I would hope that people who find abortion a loathsome option would allow women, couples and families to make their own reproductive decisions. This is the United States, not the YOUnited States. If you want to live in a country where the government runs the intimate details of your life, there are plenty of intolerant countries that will welcome you with open arms.

-- Cathy Girard

Anchorage

Medication has some good points

Regarding "Foster Kids Say Medication is Overprescribed," (ADN Nov. 15), such publicity does not fairly represent issues concerning the administration of antidepressants and antipsychotic medications in the United States.

Suicide rates have decreased since the 1986 advent of modern antidepressants, starting with Prozac, even among young people. According to the CDC, from 1990-2003, the combined suicide rate for persons aged 10-24 years declined 28.5 percent, from 9.48 to 6.78 per 100,000 persons.

Suicide rates in this age group increased with publicity to the effect that antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide in some young people: From 2003 to 2004, the suicide rate in age group 10-24 increased by 8 percent, from 6.78 to 7.32.

Medications are tools that can be misused, like knives or ladders. Where are the profiles of the thousands of people whose lives have been saved or improved by antidepressants or antipsychotics?

Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water.

-- John C. Pharr

Anchorage

Alaska will somehow manage without Stevens in the Senate

No, Mr. Stevens, Alaska is NOT "toast" without you, contrary to the radio and TV ads that ran during your re-election campaign with that fear-mongering claim. Sorry, Mr. Stevens, we will be just fine.

Hopefully, as the final counts of the Senate election returns come in, Alaskans will have done the right thing in not re-electing Mr. Stevens. We certainly have appreciated his service to Alaska and its residents over the years. Many of us trusted him and took pride in what he has done for Alaska, but now he is an embarrassment to Alaskans.

Please don't insult us nor embarrass us any further by making claims that the D.C. court nor the jury gave you a fair shake. We entrusted you, Mr. Stevens, and now you have let many of us down. It is time to move on quietly.

We are strong-willed people and will persevere as will the elected politicians who serve Alaska well past your time in office.

And to those I have heard say "all politicians accept gifts without reporting them" -- sorry, but it is still wrong and unacceptable.

-- Ed Kobak

Kasilof

ADVERTISEMENT