Editorials
Monday, July 14, 1997THE Board of Education should abolish the 2.0 grade point average requirement for student participation in sports, band and other extracurricular activities. John Compton, chairman of the board's Student Services Committee, says the rule hasn't worked as intended -- as an incentive to raise grades. Compton proposes to allow students to participate as long as they meet three requirements: They come to school regularly, display a strong work ethic in class and exhibit no behavioral problems. That sounds about right. The need to prevent
student dropoutsCompton drew criticism when he observed that the 2.0 rule "basically operates to cut poor kids of certain ethnic groups out of the picture. If you come from a lower-income area, you generally don't do as well in school as someone from a higher-income area."
This drew a blistering response from Linda Semones, assistant athletic director at Kahuku High School. She said it is "a racist thing to say poor kids can't do as well."
Compton doesn't seem to be a racist, but it's not helpful to bring race and income into the discussion. Certainly highly motivated kids from poor areas can and do get good grades.
The problem with the rule is that it disqualifies youths who are marginal students and who may be so disheartened because they can't participate in their favorite activities that they drop out of school -- the worst possible outcome.
Obviously youngsters who aspire to winning scholarships to play in college have to meet the 2.0 mark or better to be considered, but if they aren't smart enough to realize that they don't have a chance anyway. The greater concern of the schools should be the potential dropouts.
In testimony at a hearing in May, Amy Akamine, peer education coordinator at Roosevelt High, commented that "those affected by the 2.0 policy feel defeated." John Hammond, a McKinley High vice principal, said, "I have never seen where excluding a kid led them to improve their grades or their self-esteem."
Winston Sakurai, another member of the Board of Education, said he supports a proposal to allow freshmen to participate in sports without being held to the 2.0 standard. After the freshman year, they would have to meet the 2.0 average. That would be a modest improvement over the current policy, but it wouldn't go far enough.
NATO peacekeeping operations in Bosnia adopted a distinctly tougher tone when British soldiers with U.S. support made their first attempt to arrest war crimes suspects. One former Serb warlord was killed in a shootout; another was seized at his office. The raids came one day after NATO leaders meeting in Madrid insisted on compliance with the Bosnian peace accord, which called for arrests and trials of war criminals. War crimes arrests
It was a relatively simple matter to prosecute war criminals in defeated Germany and Japan. In Bosnia, none of the factions has surrendered and all are capable of renewing the fighting. NATO must tread carefully to avoid inflaming the situation.
NOW that the Harris administration and the City Council have bitten the bullet and decided to spend $11.5 million to restore the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, opponents are trying to reverse that decision. They mustn't be allowed to succeed. Restore Natatorium
The Natatorium is on the Hawaii and National Registers of Historic Places. Only a complete restoration would fulfill the requirements of historic preservation.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
