If only teachers ran the school district

To the editor:

Here's a brilliant thought: Why not let the teachers of the Clark County School District create the texts for the students of the Clark County School District?

Nevada has adopted the common core curriculum, and the general consensus out there is that there isn't a single text that works well with the common core. So why not have teachers design the curriculum? Teachers can make a little extra money for their work, and the district would save millions of dollars by not having to buy publishers' overpriced books. Get the teachers who are qualified to do it -- the ones with master's degrees in their fields, so the public doesn't cry about it.

I promise you that any text the teachers put together would be better than anything the district would buy.

Oh wait, I know why the district won't do that: Because it makes sense. The district is a top-heavy organization. Officials claim that they will have to lay off 1,000 teachers while at the same time they are still going to job fairs trying to hire new teachers. Instead of hiring somebody who has actually taught in the classroom to be in charge of curriculum, the district hired Pedro Martinez, a man with no teaching experience.

In order to be a judge, one must first be a lawyer. In order to be a police captain, one must first be a patrol officer. You have to go to medical school in order to be a doctor. Apparently, teaching is the only career where you don't need to be a teacher to make up the rules for teachers. How many years of teaching experience do members of the School Board and Superintendent Dwight Jones have?

Let the teachers run the district. You'd see dramatic changes very quickly.

Mark E. Jimenez

Las Vegas

Why the uproar?

To the editor:

Sen. Dean Heller's opposition to the nomination of Clark County District Judge Elissa Cadish to the federal bench should not have resulted in the uproar that it seems to be causing. If Judge Cadish thinks there is no constitutional right to own a firearm, then she believes there is no constitutional right. Seems simple enough to understand.

Various court rulings may influence the interpretation of specific laws, but if the existence of a basic constitutional right so clearly and directly expressed -- see the Second Amendment -- can be easily deemed as nonexistent by a court ruling, then we are in much more trouble than I thought.

James Moldenhauer

North Las Vegas

Regular guys

To the editor:

In response to Steve Sebelius' Sunday column on "elite" leaders:

Wasn't it H.L. Mencken, that gruff old gadfly, who pointed out that we have no aristocracy, because the voyage across the pond separated us from a common language and from the necessity for five or six forks, knives and spoons? Mr. Mencken said we were a nation of "booboisie" and that we had a natural bourgeois suspicion of those who claimed to be our superiors.

However, there must be something valid in being a "regular American," as Mr. Sebelius echoes, or else why would we have presidents from common roots, the likes of Abe Lincoln from Illinois or Ike Eisenhower from Abilene?

One of these days I should read Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs, if only to hear his short, clear phrases about the strategy and tragedy of the Civil War. Talk about "ordinary guys." Born Hiram Ulysses Grant, he was a sloppy cadet but a great horseman and went on to serve with distinction in the Mexican War of 1846-48. Mr. Grant was later a failure as a farmer and a businessman, but he soared to fame during the Civil War, when he earned the nickname "Unconditional Surrender Grant" for his relentless tactics and leadership. He rose to become President Lincoln's choice as commander of the Union armies in 1864-65.

After the war, Mr. Grant was easily elected to two terms as president (1869-77), and though his administration was tainted by corruption among his Cabinet members, he has gained further respect for functioning successfully as a president above partisan politics.

As one recalls the fellow who wrote that "all men are created equal," that president was a child of the Enlightenment, so he couldn't help addressing fellow Americans in a timeless, ideological way to remind us that being a regular American is not that bad, it just takes a little work.

Chris Urago

Las Vegas

Solvent of life

To the editor:

In response to Friday's report: "Water outlook grows dim for Colorado River watershed":

As our climate is changing in unpredictable ways that may irreversibly alter rainfall/snowfall patterns in the Southwest to our detriment -- and as our natural resources are becoming ever more scarce -- we need to be more proactive in seeking to bring water to the Las Vegas Valley before it's too late and we turn into one large ghost town.

One method to consider is constructing a pipeline from the Pacific Ocean (some 300 miles away) to Las Vegas and desalinating the water. Besides having an endless supply of sea salt and easy-to-separate minerals/chemicals, we would have a limitless supply of water.

Though the costs might initially appear prohibitive, the financial and environmental costs associated with seeking and pumping already-depleted aquifers deep underground and diverting water from other far-reaching portions of Nevada will also become ever more costly as the sources of water dry up.

Water is the solvent of life which is needed for all of us to survive. Older generations of Americans helped build the Hoover Dam and the Panama Canal for our benefit. It's high time our generation did something similarly practical and productive to improve the livelihood of future generations of Americans in Las Vegas.

Michael Pravica

Henderson