The Times/News of Nov. 2 featured an opinion of 11-year-old Elizabeth Scher. She tells us how she would change the Bush administration's agenda if she were the President.

The idea of asking kids came from Highline columnist Earline Byers. It is astonishing that an 11-year-old girl has such a grasp of the facts, like human and financial costs of our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq, abortion rights and ways to solve problems in a democratic way.

I am even more astonished not to find any reaction to this very important event in later issues of the Times/News.

Ms. Byers is to be complemented for the initiative, Elizabeth Scher for writing her opinion, her parents or guardians for discussing crucial issues with her, and the Times/News for publishing it.

Elizabeth's thoughts should be mandatory reading material in all schools. Kids should know what is going on to shape a better world. This could be a good beginning.

Willem Eickholt

Normandy Park