Honor student's low test score defies logic

The editorial "Students' test scores show hard work ahead" (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 9) got me to thinking. My daughter came home with her test score and it said she was below proficiency in math and reading and it hurt her very much.

I am trying to figure out if the test or her education is the problem. You see, my daughter has at least a 3.8 GPA, is in the high math and science class and has been on the honor roll for three years. If she is below proficiency, then whose fault is it? She is only learning what is being taught, as the other students are. If she is getting good marks in what is being taught, then who is to blame for her not knowing the material she is being tested on?

Glenn P. Mansanas
Volcano, Hawaii

Math test question doesn't add up

I hope those who graded the 8th-grade math question you showed from the Hawaii State Assessment examination were aware that there is more than one correct answer ("Most Hawaii kids are not proficient on state test," Star-Bulletin, Feb. 7). Students were asked to find the next four numbers in the sequence 2, 4, 7, 11. The correct answer was given as 16, 22, 29, 37. Any student who can think graphically, however, could easily come up with an equally valid answer: 17, 26, 40, 62 (figuring out the mathematical description is actually a lot harder than coming up with the sequence; I finally worked out that each new number is the sum of the previous two numbers, plus four, minus the new number's position in the sequence). No doubt there are other valid solutions, too.

Posing sequence questions like this is always hazardous, because students often have more imagination than their examiners. To limit the number of possibilities the students explore, the question should have provided a longer string of numbers; for example, 1, 2, 4, 7, 11 to yield the "correct" sequence, or 0, 2, 4, 7, 11 to yield mine.

Gerard Fryer
Geophysicist
University of Hawaii-Manoa

U.N.'s stand on Iraq verifies its relevance

President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell are demanding the United Nations demonstrate "relevancy," by which they mean giving U.S. aggression against Iraq the veneer of legitimacy it so glaringly lacks. Yet wasn't the U.N. formed to give the world's nations a forum for solving their differences without resorting to war?

The original series of U.N. weapons inspections found and destroyed fully 95 percent of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, despite the arrogant contempt in which they were held by Saddam Hussein and his active attempts to subvert the process. Those who say inspections won't work seem to have conveniently forgotten this.

There can be no greater proof of the U.N.'s continuing relevancy that its resistance to Bush's fear- and war-mongering and its insistence on giving inspections a real chance to get the remaining 5 percent, despite the arrogant contempt in which they're held by the right wings of American government and media, and their active attempts to subvert the process.

Steve Carll
Kaimuki

Books are the keys that open cell doors

Most of the inmates here at the Halawa Correctional Facility find it difficult to imagine themselves as free.

From within the confines of my cell I have traveled throughout our island chain. I have flown across the Pacific and I have participated in the capture of a terrorist.

The books here are my medium; although difficult to come by, they are greatly appreciated and often shared. In them I have experienced love and adventure. I allow my imagination to set myself free.

As my cell becomes spacious, the bars morph into curtains and the guards become maitres d'. They may serve me rice and cabbage salad, but I will taste a baked potato, cole slaw and steak.

Some of the inmates say, "You're crazy, you're not free."

My answer is always the same.

You can lock away my body, but you cannot lock away my mind.

To the staff and volunteers of the education unit here at Halawa, I say thank you with a special appreciation to Professor Gay Sibley of the University of Hawaii-Manoa and Willis Moore of Chaminade for bringing both their campuses to me.

Education is the key to freedom.

Michael Spiker
Halawa State Correctional Facility

Lingle's no Pollyanna, just sensible

Columnist Richard Borreca ("On Politics," Star-Bulletin, Feb. 9) mocks the new governor's approach to the Legislature, maybe because he has never seen, in his long career, a different party or an individual with an approach other than that of the old group that ruled for 40 years. Perhaps it's understandable that he does not recognize a new technique.

Borreca's high praise of former Gov. Waihee's legislative practices is misplaced. It was through those late-night, back-room maneuverings that the Waihee administration added thousands of workers to the state payroll and caused the huge surplus it inherited to magically become a deficit, neither of which served Hawaii well.

The people of Hawaii voted out the old way because they want change. Governor Lingle knows that and her positive approach to the Legislature is neither naive nor Pollyanna-like; it's appropriate.

Eileen Mortenson
Kaneohe

---

How to write us The Star-Bulletin welcomes letters that are crisp and to the point (150 to 200 words). The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Please direct comments to the issues; personal attacks will not be published. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number. Letter form: Online form, click here E-mail: letters@starbulletin.com Fax: (808) 529-4750 Mail: Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 7 Waterfront Plaza, 500 Ala Moana, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813