Task force ideas could put
By Robin Campaniano
creativity back in classroomWHAT is preventing Hawaii's educational system from performing at its best? If you guessed not enough hours in the classroom, not enough teachers or not enough money, you'd be wrong.
What is hindering performance in Hawaii's schools and universities is something even more fundamental. What we need is more creativity, more innovation and an environment that encourages an entrepreneurial spirit.
In our distress over the ongoing bad news about Hawaii's schools -- falling test scores, students who can't read and shocking classroom conditions -- we have lost sight of what is really wrong with Hawaii's education system.
At the core of our educational woes is the structure of the system itself. A top-heavy, highly centralized educational system stifles creativity and innovation in our classroom teachers and in our college professors. Not surprisingly, it stifles learning, too.
The price we pay for this goes well beyond producing thousands of students each year who are not competent in baseline functions, or who are not prepared to compete in a global society. A second-rate educational system puts all of Hawaii, socially and economically, at risk.
The Economic Revitalization Task Force recommendations regarding education represent a major step toward reigniting the spark and unleashing the enthusiasm for teaching and for learning.
The first recommendation is to grant the University of Hawaii more autonomy, and to position it among the pre-eminent institutions in the world.
The second is to empower individual schools to meet their community, student and faculty needs by decentralizing the current structure.
Both can go a long way toward making Hawaii an educational leader.
A truly great university must be free of politics and of the tight control of state government. The UH has made tremendous strides in recent years to gain worldwide recognition in select areas, and national recognition in many others.
But if our goal is to create an institution of higher learning that is truly one of the best in the world, then the UH must be allowed to operate freely and without the constraints of government-imposed rules and regulations that discourage researchers and tie professors' hands.
Many UH professors have difficulty executing grants and contracts due to our cumbersome state procurement process. This hampers future efforts and can cost Hawaii big dollars in missed opportunities, not to mention lost academic prestige.
It is well-known that a world-renowned university can be a significant contributor to its community's local economy. This is why the task force recommends granting the UH the autonomy and flexibility it needs to become an internationally respected institution.
This, in turn, will allow the UH to attract more students more research funds and to pursue other opportunities that will create economic wealth and diversity for Hawaii.
If approved by the Legislature, the task force recommendations will help make the UH an integral part of a stronger, healthier economy, as well as an outstanding educational institution that will help prepare students to meet today's job challenges.
In addition to these dramatic changes at the university level, the task force also recommends decentralizing Hawaii's elementary and high schools. These changes are designed to give greater autonomy and more decision-making power to the schools themselves, as well as to force the responsibility for education downward and out into the community.
Specifically, the task force recommends adopting four county-based school boards, with members to be appointed by the governor. Although basic academic standards and guidelines would still be set by the state, county board members -- working closely together with schools, teachers and parents -- would determine how those standards can best be achieved within their individual communities.
The task force also recommends establishing clear educational priorities, including instilling a focus on the Pacific Rim into all school curriculum and urging the private sector to commit $10 million to provide computer technology in schools throughout the state.
The overall thrust of the recommendations, however, is to encourage greater public participation in Hawaii's educational system. The task force recognizes that providing quality education is not an 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., K-12 proposition. Our commitment to improving Hawaii's schools must be 24 hours a day and life-long.
Because the task force recommendations go below the surface to address the fundamental structure of Hawaii's educational system, the results may not be immediately apparent.
What we will see is the beginning of a transformation of the UH system that can provide significant economic and educational opportunities for all of Hawaii.
And, perhaps more importantly, we will begin to see our children and our grandchildren better prepared to meet the demands of our changing world.
Robin Campaniano is president of AIG Hawaii Insurance Co.
and chairman of the Hawaii Business Roundtable's
Education Committee.