Editorials
Tuesday, June 8, 1999

Hawaiian immersion’s
first graduating class

The issue: Whether the Hawaiian language can successfully be used as the medium of instruction
Our view: The lives of the first graduates should help answer that question.

THE Hawaiian language immersion program has passed a milestone with the graduation of its first high school class from Anuenue School in Palolo Valley. The six graduates have a unique distinction, one they hope to share with many more in years to come.

The program began in 1987 as a pilot project at two public schools, Waiau Elementary and Keaukaha Elementary on the Big Island, with a total of 28 pupils. It has grown to 16 schools with about 1,600 students.

Its purpose is bold: to reinvigorate and preserve the Hawaiian language in an environment dominated by English. The obstacles were great. There was a vast absence of teaching materials in Hawaiian, scarcity of competent instructors and meager operating funds.

There was also the question of whether education in the Hawaiian language was a viable method of training Hawaiian youth for success in the world of today -- a question that still has not been clearly answered. The fact that the class of 1999 at one time numbered 20 but ended with six probably reflects that uncertainty.

The six are the survivors of the experiment, the pioneers. The senior class adviser, Moea DeFries, said the graduates "have a stronger sense of self, of who they are." They can be proud of their Hawaiian language and culture in whatever they choose to do.

Supporters of the program maintain that the students' grasp of standard subjects did not suffer because instruction was in Hawaiian. That is vital. Few parents will be willing to enroll their children if they believe their education will be inferior.

The immersion program may be the most ambitious aspect of the so-called Hawaiian Renaissance. Many believe that language is the key to preservation of a culture, but it is not clear how children educated in the Hawaiian language will fare in a society where few speak or read the language.

The lives of the first immersion graduates from this point on will be followed closely to see what answers to this question they can provide.

Belgian food scare

The issue: Contamination of food products in Belgium has triggered bans on their sale pending examinations.
Our view: Thorough review of procedures aimed at preventing contamination is needed.

CONTAMINATED fat used in animal feed has created a food scare throughout Europe, coupled with outrage about the delay in reporting the tainted fat in Belgium. The government has issued an assurance that all farms using the feed have been identified, but much needs to be done to prevent future contamination and to determine responsibility for an apparent cover-up.

The scandal brings to mind the dumping here of milk contaminated with the pesticide heptachlor during the Ariyoshi administration. There are also similarities to decisions by government officials in France and Japan to use blood contaminated with AIDS in transfusions.

Cancer-causing dioxins apparently polluted a storage tank of a Belgium oils and fats processing plant in mid-January. Within a month, a Belgian farm reported "problems" with hens to its insurance carrier.

An examination found that processed fat could be the cause, and Belgium's Ministry of Agriculture was notified. Further tests in April traced contaminated fat to 10 feed makers in Belgium, one in France and one in the Netherlands. The situation did not become public until the Belgian government issued a brief press release on May 27.

Since then, Belgian poultry, eggs, fatty beef and pork and all byproducts have been banned from sale in much of Europe. The United States has blocked imports of pork and poultry, while other countries from Switzerland to South Korea have similarly blocked certain Belgian food products.

Belgium's health and agriculture ministers resigned last week for their failure to notify the public or their prime minister for more than a month after they learned of the poisoning.

Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene pulled out of campaigning for next Sunday's general elections to devote full time to the food crisis. While the food scare certainly should be a major issue in the Belgian elections, it also should prompt a review of procedures throughout Europe -- and perhaps in the United States -- to provide greater assurance of food products free of contamination.

Jackson’s posturing

The issue: Jesse Jackson wants to go back to Yugoslavia to seek the release of two Australian aid workers.
Our view: Somebody should tell him to stay home.

HERE we go again. Jesse Jackson wants to make another trip to Yugoslavia to seek the release of prisoners -- this time two Australian aid workers convicted of espionage. Last month Jackson journeyed to Belgrade and secured the release of three U.S. soldiers -- and in the process gave the indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic an opportunity to pose as a humanitarian, besides, of course, gaining himself lots of publicity.

Now Jackson wants to reprise that triumph, using the Australians as a pretext. But he acknowledges that he wants to put pressure on Washington to change its policy on the Kosovo conflict. There is nothing like the role of a liberator to win him an audience for his view.

As a civil rights leader, Jackson has enjoyed considerable immunity from criticism for his posturing. But the conflict in Kosovo is too serious to tolerate his posturing. Somebody the nation respects -- perhaps Colin Powell -- ought to tell Jackson to stay home.

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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