LETTERS

Dear Josh Bell,

Usually, our respective opinions of films are night and day. But I have to totally agree with your appraisal of 300 [March 8]. Garbage with a capital G.

(I feel the same way about Sin City, though. And if I remember correctly, you have a higher opinion of that film.)

Prepare to be called a wimp.

To: Josh Bell

Subject: Your 300 Review

A very wimpy review, to say the least. Moreover, Reductio ad Hitlerium is so overused—and boring to boot. You should likewise try getting over Iraq.

I could be wrong, but I don't think you'll make it in the big leagues as a film critic. You will really need to do better than this in the future.

Good luck!

Hello Joshua Longobardy,

I appreciated reading your article on March 1 about the continuing decline in numbers for teachers here in the Clark County School District ["Teachers flee"]. Although I understand your position, I must respectfully disagree. I do not dispute the fact that teachers are leaving or the fact that teachers are reluctant to teach in Clark County, but I hope I can give a different opinion on the issue.

I am a first-year teacher in Clark County, and I teach first grade. On top of that, this is my first year teaching, and that adds a huge amount of stress to what is already overwhelming. I decided to move out to Las Vegas with my husband and son from Indiana because there were not a lot of available teaching jobs around that area.

I was overcome with the size of the school district out here and the number of students at my school. However, I turned my focus to the upcoming school year and the students I was about to encounter. Through the first three months of the year I was constantly stressed out and very often would come home crying to my husband because of not having enough time to balance the excessive trainings with planning time, student issues or co-worker problems. These same types of problems go on in any district or at any job.

As teachers we are expected, in some cases, to be more than just a teacher.

We are expected to be a friend, confidant, nurse and even mother or father, which demands even more of our precious time.

I came home one night, and while upset about a difficult day I asked myself what I do this to myself for. Why do I subject myself to being upset? It was then that I realized I was focusing so much on myself that I forgot the true focus of teaching was for the children. I do not know what teacher starts to teach because they think it will be easy or for the money, because it is not there. However, the children are there, and the benefit of seeing a smile on a student's face when they experience success in the classroom provides a strong and memorable reward.

My advice to the teachers who leave and complain about money, having to go to trainings or the organization of the district is to take a hard look at their drive and ambition to teach and decide if this is the right career path for them. These are not unique issues to Clark County; no matter what school district you teach for, you will find these teachers who care more about their pocket books than the lives they are having an impact on.

Education is not a "business"; it is an institution. It is not the job of the Clark County Human Resources Office to have great "customer service" skills, but it is their job to recognize the dispositions they want to have in their teachers.