Letters to the Editor

Define true issues

Your feature article of June 21, titled "Failing our children," is another instance of inaccurately blaming the schools. I have spent over 30 years in public education. During that time I have seen the standards for teacher training continue to rise. I have seen the participation of parents in the education of their children continually decline. I have seen the attitudes of huge numbers of school-age persons decline to the point where large numbers could care less about doing assignments, paying attention or getting an education, and this starts as early as first grade.

Children spend less than 20 percent of the total year in the classroom getting instruction. The rest of the time is spent having lunch, going to and from school, and being at home, including nights, weekends and summer vacations.

The notion that schools are failing is false. Society is failing.

In many cases children have teen-age parents. In many cases just one or neither parent is part of the household. In many cases all the adults in the household work and the children largely fend for themselves. And while all this is going on, society continues to add things that they think should be taught during the school day, but never says to the school, "You do not have to teach 'X' anymore." And to top it off, the schools have been blistered with mandated testing programs that have virtually consumed all of the time that was formerly used for the arts, physical education and creative endeavors. And it is the politicians who did that, not the schools.

Before we continue to load guilt on the schools, the true issues behind the recognized decline in achievement must be defined and addressed.

FRED C. SALES, Ed. D.

Lawton Harbor Drive

Charleston

'In good hands'

I moved to Charleston in 2007 from Utica, N.Y. On June 16 at about 6:15 p.m. I was driving east on Dorchester Road when a pickup truck going west made a left turn in front of me causing a serious accident. I drove into the side of his truck, then into another vehicle waiting at a side street stop sign. My Corolla was a total loss. However, with the help of seat belts, air bags and the grace of God, I was not injured seriously. Later I learned a man from a nearby body shop kept the driver from running away and a woman from a nearby veterinary hospital came to help me call my family and comfort me.

The North Charleston Police Department arrived and quickly made an arrest of the driver of the pickup. The North Charleston Fire Department arrived and offered assistance, too.

I was treated with the utmost kindness and professional service by the EMS crew. When I arrived at MUSC it was like a television show.

Every movement by the doctors and staff was orchestrated in a professional manner. I held the greatest trust that I was in good hands.

Unless you have experienced this type of an emergency you cannot fully understand the compassion of all the people doing their job in a routine manner. This community has made me glad to have chosen Charleston for my new home.

JAMES OWENS

Dorothy Drive

Charleston

Casting blame

Gov. Mark Sanford: Guilty.

Now let's see who is without sin and throws the first stone.

DONALD H. LINDSEY

Two Oaks Drive

Charleston

Obama diplomacy

North Korea says it could fire a missile at Hawaii, Al-Qaida stated it would use Pakistani nukes on America, and we sit back and watch Iran collapse. I am extremely happy that the new Obama foreign policy of less confrontation and more diplomacy seems to be working.

STEW WILLIAMS

Chisolm Road

Johns Island

Zoning changes

A recent letter regarding County Council's majority vote against proposals for 1) higher density zoning and 2) amendment of the County Comprehensive Plan at 3780 and 3830 Chisolm Road on Johns Island was excellent. We certainly appreciate David Slade's reporting.

It is also important to record that six council members, Joe McKeown, Dickie Schweers, Henry Darby, Colleen Condon, Curtis Inabinett and Paul Thurmond, carefully considered the overall impact of this case in regard to the entire county and spoke and voted against these proposals. We owe all of them our thanks.

HENRY F. RIVERS

Belvedere Road

Johns Island

Career over

What does one say when a public leader reveals himself to be human? What does one think when a sitting governor appears to commit political suicide? Those are the very questions that I am asking as someone who has supported Mark Sanford from his days as a congressman.

I firmly believed back when he announced his candidacy for the governorship of South Carolina that he was the right person for the job. His ideas resonated in the mind of a very conservative teenager.

Although I was not old enough to vote for him in the 2002 election, I did vote for his re-election, and I did so with pride. I believed in the change that he said South Carolina needed — the change that it still needs.

The ideas themselves still resonate. But the support for the man simply does not exist. That is why the events of the last several days are very disappointing to me.

The revelation of his affair, let alone the associated falsehoods, were just too hard to believe when I first heard. Surely, I thought, this was a case of wild speculation driven by those who just do not like the governor. He was not capable of doing such things. Reality proved otherwise.

Politics, it seems, does have a way of changing people and corrupting them even if it takes time for those changes to manifest themselves. I have never met Mark Sanford, and at this point I hope I never do — for I am afraid I could only express my disappointment in him and in what his actions have created.

His political career is over, and I am afraid the things he fought for will also suffer. South Carolina really does need to change the way it runs its state government. These events will only make some of the governor's enemies feel vindicated.

In the end, the ability to reform South Caroina's state government is diminished greatly by the governor's actions. Will someone rise up to fill the void that Mark Sanford is leaving behind? This South Carolinian is very pessimistic about the chance of that happening.

JOHN KNIGHT

Oakdale Drive

Summerville

Health insurance

Lindsey Graham gleefully proclaimed recently that the "public option" for health care reform is dead. He said, "We don't want the government to get between you and your doctor." Is he really that naive, or is he just compelled to repeat over and over the right-wing demagoguery?

Public plans like Medicare have an administrative overhead of just 2 percent as compared to private health plans which spend 10 percent to 40 percent on CEO salaries, dividends, underwriting, advertising, etc. In fact, the private Medicare Advantage plans cost taxpayers 12 percent to 19 percent more than what is spent on patients who have traditional government Medicare.

Sen. Graham would rather have these "more costly" private health insurance bureaucrats remain between patients and their doctors.

Maybe Mr. Graham needs to give up his "public health insurance plan" paid for by the hard-working taxpayers of America. We wouldn't want him to have to deal with those "government bureaucrats" anymore. I'm sure he would be more happy buying his policy in the open market like many of us. Oh, I hope he doesn't have any pre-existing conditions.

DR. JAMES MATTHEWS O.D.

Drayton Lane

Fort Mill