There's only talk, no action
when it comes to schools

When it comes to public education, Hawaii lawmakers are all talk. They hide behind lame excuses like, "There isn't any money to give the teachers a raise." Next we'll hear, "My big brother beat me up and took the budget plan."

Have you seen some of the kids in the public schools lately? Many of the teachers aren't teaching so maybe they should be paid the salary of a prison guard or mental institute caregiver.

Nothing is being done for public education in Hawaii. The lawmakers don't seem to care, probably because their kids go to Punahou or some other private school that most of us can't afford.

This is especially outrageous since the guilty lawmakers are primarily liberals. Let me define that word: characterized by or favoring policies of reform and pro-gress. But the only reform is the amount of money in the lawmakers' pockets, and the only progress is in the votes they get for pretending to help education.

Andrew Weston
9th Grade, Mililani High

Pearl City students to get
a lesson in fashion sense

I support the new dress code that Pearl City High School is scheduled to implement during the 1997-98 school year. As a public school student, I feel that school is becoming more and more of a fashion show. A few students look like they are dressed to walk the streets.

Some students may say that a dress code would limit a person's individuality, but I disagree. Pearl City's "strict" dress code is still flexible. Students would still be able to display individuality in their clothes, as well as through other ways, such as through their school work.

School is our workplace and we, as students, should treat it as such. It is preparing us for the future. Many workplaces have some sort of dress code, which usually does not allow extremely tight, short, revealing or baggy clothing.

By enforcing a dress code, Pearl City High School students will gain valuable skills that will enable them to get ahead in life, especially in the workplace.

Kristyn Kitabayashi
9th Grade, Mililani High

Akaka should sponsor
law on ethnic reclassification

For years, U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka has been proposing a census reclassification that would place native Hawaiians into a new category of "Indigenous Peoples" and thus remove "Hawaiians" from the current category of "Asian and Pacific Peoples" so that native Hawaiians can get more federal funds.

What, then, are Samoans -- chopped liver? If native Hawaiians are removed from the "Asian and Pacific Peoples" category, then the indigenous people of American Samoa would demand the same. But since Western Samoans are not indigenous to the United States, and the senator wants to gut the "Pacific Peoples" category, they would fit into no category at all.

If Akaka wants native Hawaiians to get more federal funds, he should sponsor legislation to do so as he has in the past, and stop proposing a paper genocide for the many Western Samoans living in the United States.

As for the study by the Commerce Department that his staff failed to supply him (copies are already in Hawaii), the evidence reported is that "Substituting 'Native Hawaiian' for 'Hawaiian' and listing this category immediately after the 'American Indian and Alaska Native' category increased reporting as Hawaiian."

B.B. Wilkerson

Looking thin seems key
to winning Miss Universe

It sickens me that the weight of the 1996 Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, became a public issue. Nowadays, people think that to be pretty and qualify for Miss Universe, you need to be anorexic-looking!

Alicia won Miss Universe when she was thin but during her reign she gained a couple of pounds. As a result, during the Miss Universe pageant, they asked everyone's opinion on whether Miss Universe should be required to maintain her weight.

OK, so the Miss Universe competition is all about appearance, but what happens if the title holder gets into an accident that scars her face? Will they just take away her title?

I'm not saying that I'm not happy that Hawaii's Brook Lee won. I was probably one of the loudest people cheering for her, the same way my dad cheers for football games. I just don't like the whole image this contest is giving out.

When people talk about Alicia Machado gaining weight, I say good for her. She was too skinny to begin with. Personally, I think she looks better now.

Leanne Nakamura
Kaneohe

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