Debate on 2.0 rule
centers on economic
discrimination

Detractors of the rule say
it hurts poor kids; supporters maintain
that's simply untrue

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

The question of whether the 2.0 rule for athletic participation discriminates against poorer ethnic groups in Hawaii has entered the latest debate over the issue.

The rule that requires students to maintain a 2.0 grade point average or better in order to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports is under review by the Student Services Subcommittee of the Board of Education this summer. Subcommittee chairman Dr. John Mike Compton said the panel will convene on July 31 to vote on a proposal to change or eliminate the decade-old academic standard.

The recommendation will be sent to the full board next month.

Public testimony will be taken at the meeting that will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the BOE meeting room on the fourth floor of the Department of Education building.

"The 2.0 rule has not worked and is not working, and we don't have more students making better grades," Compton said.

"This 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."

But Linda Semones, assistant athletic director and mathematics teacher at Kahuku High School, bristled at the comment.

"I think it is a racist thing to say poor kids can't do as well," she said. "In fact, lowering expectations for these kids is a way of keeping them down -- making sure they don't move up."

Semones said Kahuku is a poor area and students in that district have a strong rate of success under the 2.0 rule.

"If our kids can do it, so can kids from other poor areas. It's not where you're from. It's the value your parents place on education that determines the way you look at it."

Winston Sakurai, the BOE's second vice-chairperson and another member of the 2.0 subcommittee, said, "I agree with Mrs. Semones because some students just need a little more help."

Sakurai said he and some other members of the panel support a proposal to amend the 2.0 rule by allowing freshmen to participate in sports without being held to the standard.

After their freshman year, they would become accountable to the 2.0 standard, according to Sakurai's plan.

"And they'll have to work hard in their freshman year if they want to become eligible for their sophomore year. That last quarter GPA in their first year will determine whether or not they can participate in the first quarter of their second year. You can't get too far behind in your school work if you're going to make it in that last quarter."

Sakurai said there is a noticeable dropoff in sports participation in the freshman year and students who don't qualify then usually don't try to participate after that.

Both Sakurai and Compton, as well as some athletic directors, favor allowing students falling below the 2.0 level to participate in team practice.

"Students need to be able to participate in extra-curricular activities," said Compton, who cited the lure of youth gangs for ineligible students.

"Sports helps a student to learn good citizenship skills, teaches him or her to respect others and play by the rules."

Semones said she knows that public school sports participation is down but doesn't think altering the 2.0 rule will solve the problem.

"Enrollment in sports is dropping and that's one reason why they're trying to get more kids, but I don't think this is the way to do it," she said.

She said that besides gangs there are a number of legitimate pursuits, like part-time jobs, luring students away from sports -- especially in town.

"With the criticism the education system is coming under these days, I can't believe they're even considering tampering with the 2.0 rule."

Semones said that eliminating or watering down the 2.0 rule will essentially take Hawaii public school kids out of the equation for NCAA athletic scholarships.

"The NCAA is not lowering its standards," Semones said.

Her husband, University of Hawaii assistant football coach Doug Semones, said he's also stunned at the proposal to modify the 2.0 rule.

"Kids," he said, "are already having trouble with their core units and with the SATs, and then you tell them they don't have to make a 2.0 grade point average? Come on."

Compton said he personally favors a plan by which students would be able to participate in sports throughout their high school careers as long as they meet three requirements:

They come to school regularly;

They display a strong work ethic in class;

They exhibit no behavioral problems.