In other words, Miss Ikeda forced us to learn and to love it.
We matured quickly that year and went on to various upper schools and careers. Today we are doctors, lawyers, professors, entrepreneurs, marketers and even a newspaper senior editor.
Last Wednesday, at an impromptu dinner, we told our now-retired tutor what should have been relayed a long time ago: She was our best and most memorable teacher.
Top-notch instructors like Miss Ikeda do more than instruct - they inspire, prod, annoy, joke and counsel. These days, however, they are also expected to:
Discipline drug babies with behavioral problems, and motivate youthful career criminals masquerading as students.
Pay for supplies and other job-related expenses out of their own pockets since state government is pinching pennies.
Live in the most expensive paradise in the nation while making less than their mainland counterparts.
Therefore, it must be awfully hard for Department of Education (DOE) officials to keep a straight face while rejecting a 10 percent salary hike next year for public school teachers.
A panel appointed by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board recommended the raise (representing $26 million), which the DOE immediately slapped down because, to paraphrase, "Da state get no mo' dala."
We've heard that one before. Our ears are also ringing with such well-worn gems as "Public education will be my administration's top priority," and "This state deserves an education system second to none." Remember, we propelled into office the politicians who promised us this!
Well, then, how about starting to put our moolah where our priorities are?
Do we care whether Johnny can read or Joannie can balance a checkbook? Can we produce and maintain our own well-educated workforce? Do we want all of our keiki to have a brighter, more promising future - or encourage them to drop out of school and do who-knows-what mischief on the streets?
Let's be blunt: The quality of our teachers will determine this state's destiny.
AFTER feeding her, feting her and presenting her with leis, Florence Ikeda now realizes how many of her students truly appreciate her, although we somehow suspect (and fervently hope) she knew this all along.
But what about the current crop of overworked, underpaid and seemingly forgotten Hawaii public school teachers? What sorry message have been telegraphing to them over the years?
The unintended but very clear missive if state officials, once again, deny them a pay raise is this: "Improving the quality of education is a major concern of the citizenry, and teachers are the vehicle through which this goal can be achieved. But, while we would like to show how much you are appreciated, we can't. So we won't."