Brainstorm! Challenge

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Is DOE shielding its own from blame?

When the Department of Education talks about why schools fail they blame parents, students, teachers, lack of funds and those pesky education laws, but they never mention bad administration. Is that because they belong to the same union that all DOE officers belong to -- Hawaii Government Employees Association?

The Pricewaterhouse-Coopers audit found that the main reason schools were failing was bad administration -- poor principals in more than half the schools the audit examined, lack of a coherent curriculum, failure to apply assessment data and so on.

Principals and district officers are responsible for those things. You can't blame the teachers, because teachers do only what administrators tell them to do.

Is the DOE shielding its unionized administrators from accountability by blaming everybody else?

John Mussack
Honolulu

Education is not the same as learning

Kudos for printing David Brooks' column about higher education (March 30). For years, the education industry has promoted the idea that to get a good job, you need a good education. People in the business of selling degrees aren't disinterested parties. Yet the public has swallowed their agenda without ever examining the questions of what an education is or how human beings learn.

Remember the TV ad with Abe Lincoln talking to an employment counselor? He was told that today without a proper education he was only qualified for a chauffeur's position. Something is wrong with that. What's wrong is confusing the word "education" with the word "schooling." Schools can provide the basic three Rs and technical aspects of other disciplines, but they waste lots of students' time. As Brooks pointed out, much of the effort put out by young people in classrooms bears little relationship to real world abilities.

Making education responsive to the actual needs of students should be where the discussion is centered. More of us need to question why we spend billions of dollars making kids test smart instead of preparing them for real-world situations.

Tracy Ryan
Honolulu

We all should follow even the small rules

When is everyone going to abide by our motor vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian rules and regulations? Laws were created for our safety and to keep order in our society. Dangerous conditions result when these laws are not followed. Even the most minor of violations can lead to an accident.

Parents who force their children to jaywalk are as bad as one who dangles his child over a hotel lanai railing. Cyclists who ride on sidewalks and do not yield to pedestrians should obtain a brochure about biking regulations from a Satellite City Hall. Drivers wanting to make a right turn at an intersection need to come to a complete stop before reaching the stop line, look both ways, then proceed if it is clear. Please don't stop in the crosswalk.

Whether walking, biking or operating a motor vehicle, we are obligated to follow our laws. If you don't agree with a law, have it changed legally, but don't break it. Be responsible.

Dean S. Miyamoto
Honolulu

Hawaiians don't need language of Akaka bill

Congress can clarify its relationship to Hawaiians by recognizing their unique status, which differs from racial minorities. Supporters of the Akaka-Stevens bill tenaciously push the bill for that reason. They have not mentioned or even examined the language already signed into law by the U.S. Congress through the "No Child Left Behind Act," which included a section on the

Native Hawaiian Education Act. This Public Law (107-110) was signed by President Bush on Jan. 8, 2002. That law already includes the exact language that proponents of the Akaka-Stevens bill say they want and need to secure:

"Title VII, Part B, Sec. 7202. Findings: (12) (B) Congress does not extend services to Native Hawaiians because of their race, but because of their unique status as the indigenous people of a once sovereign nation as to whom the United States has established a trust relationship."

It is limited to those indigenous to Hawaii, excluding non-Hawaiian nationals of the kingdom of Hawaii, who were never legally referred to as "Hawaiians." It is the very same language proponents say they so desperately need in U.S. law. This tells me that this bill is really about the settlement of claims in exchange for the extinguishment of title rather than for funding of services extended to Hawaiians. This is the case of dumb and dumber.

David M. K. Inciong II
Pearl City

Don't waste money on nailing speeders

I can't believe how much money and time is wasted by our state and city officials on stupid issues. What the heck are they doing over there?

We already have a tool to catch speeders -- it's called the Honolulu Police Department.

Steven Tomlinson
Honolulu

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