We're losing our charm

August 23, 2005

Dear Sir,

I was very disappointed to read that the Carriage Museum in St. George's is closing to be replaced by office space and shops.

St. George's is a World Heritage site and the loss of a wonderful display of horse drawn carriages is difficult to comprehend, especially when the motives for the replacement are purely financial.

I used to take my class of children to the Carriage Museum every year when we were studying Transportation and the late Mr. Horace Frith made it all so interesting. The children talked for days about what they had learned and produced some wonderful art work of the carriages. A favourite was the old St. David's funeral hearse. What a loss to the children of Bermuda and to our visitors to let them see what it must have been like before all the speeding cars and bikes that we have on our roads today.

Bermuda is changing so much with all the high rise office buildings and condos and we are losing the charm of the old Bermuda.

RETIRED TEACHER

St. George's

Catching the bus

August 22, 2005

Dear Sir,

As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with whoever mentioned in today's paper, in the Letters to the Editor column, regarding that private school students have their own buses (or minibus).

What's wrong with catching a bus whether the child attends a private school or a Government school anyway(primary students should rely on their parents until the parents feel they're old enough to catch a bus to school)? They'll save the parent or guardian from always having to rush out of the house, just to drop them off then come back home (I'm not saying all parents do this but some do). If the guardian or parent wants to pick up the child from school, that's their choice but in the morning that can be frustrating especially when most people are trying to reach town before 9 a.m. Some people might get vexed by this, but someone else wrote about this sort of decision before I did so basically they looked at this being a problem before I did.

HOW 'BOUT IT?

Pembroke

Protecting young girls

August 19, 2005

Dear Sir,

It should not be a surprise that STD rates in Bermuda continue to skyrocket!

What is alarming is that little action has taken place to improve programmes/services targeted to adolescents, especially young girls. It is of the opinion of some people that secondary prevention is all that is needed.

Focusing on secondary prevention is a start but it is not enough! We need to boost self-esteem and confidence of adolescents which in turn enables them to make better decisions not just regarding their body, but also about life. Open your eyes! Older men will continue to prey on girls.

It is our responsibility to equip them with the tools needed to protect themselves.

People will say it's the parent's responsibility and it is! However, it is essential people (the community) need to stop pointing fingers and open their arms to be more inclusive of all young people.

KYLA RAYNOR

Boston, Massachusetts

It's sad but true

August 23, 2005

Dear Sir,

Three cheers for Margaret Forster and her letter "Three Decades of Failure" today.

She says it all, sad as it may be.

JULIE HARRINGTON

St. George's

'Hoping' for an impact

August 13, 2005

Dear sir,

In response to the article recently published regarding the need for more male teachers on the Island, it would perhaps be prudent for those deciding on a policy of positive discrimination to consider the following facts:

1. It is correct that girls consistently outperform boys at GCSE level, but there is no recognised or substantiated evidence to suggest that this is a result of them being exposed to a greater amount of female teachers.

2. The system of the GCSE examination has been proven to better suit the learning styles of girls. This has nothing to do with the fact that they are exposed to a greater number of female teachers.

3. Simply put, there are more female teachers than male. To draw purposefully on the male resource may instigate a situation in which the better teacher is not selected for a position. This can only be damaging to children's education.

4. All the evidence that exists clearly demonstrates that boys' maturation rate is on average two years behind girls; that boys' behaviour is more than five times worse than girls; that boys' concentration span is lower than girls; that parental expectation differs according to the gender of the child; and that boys are psychologically more susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse and are far more predispositioned to commit criminal acts. There is no substantiated evidence in existence to suggest this is as a result of them being exposed to fewer male teachers.

What is needed on the Island is a more flexible system where boys have the option to undertake less coursework and complete more written examinations, which has been proven again and again to be far more suited to their natural learning styles. Furthermore, boys need to be educated separately from girls for certain subjects, which again has been clearly demonstrated to improve their academic performance.

Finally, boys need much, much firmer discipline in schools than currently exists, which needs to be fully supported, endorsed and followed through by senior management.

You cannot mess around with educational policy "in the hope it will have an impact". What is needed is a policy determined by proven evidence and all the evidence that exists suggests that the policy of positive discrimination amongst teachers would be very damaging.

BA (Hons), MA, PGCE

Southampton