Let people vote on public-ed reform

Hawaii school children are being isolated from their mainland counterparts. As the only state in the nation with a statewide school district governed by a centralized board of education, the Hawaii public school system is in dire need of change.

The essence of the argument has been quite clear, one side in favor of reform for a positive future for the education of the children of Hawaii, the other side continuing to jeopardize the schools, the teachers and the children at the expense of bureaucratic politics.

Reform is essential to create a more efficient and effective public education system. Public education should mean that the public has the unwavering right to vote on issues that are pertinent to the quality and performance of this system.

Hawaii schools do have the potential for success. Making it become a reality is up to you. Let's not keep the children of Hawaii isolated from quality public education any longer.

Sheila Gross
Kailua

Most rural schools meet student needs

Board of Education member Laura Thielen and I agree on many things. On local school boards, we don't. I'm in favor of keeping our single school district, as is the majority of the BOE. In her March 10 letter she cited "physical isolation" from DOE staff on Oahu as the reason that 47 schools have not met basic student needs. Her suggestion that local school boards would remedy this is without merit.

First, let's not forget there were roughly 208 schools that did meet basic student needs and many of those are in rural communities far away from the state DOE office. If they can do it, so can the others.

Second, "physical isolation" is an issue because the Legislature and the governor have failed to fully fund education so that we can place more resources at the district and school levels. The funds that schools used to procure technical assistance are taken away from text books, equipment and staff. Creating more bureaucracy and red tape by creating more school boards will not solve that problem, just add to it.

Garrett Toguchi
Member, Oahu at large
Hawaii State Board of Education

[ QUOTABLE ] "To have any kind of educational reform that doesn't focus on Hawaiians is poho, a waste of time." Ku Kahakalau Founder of the Native Hawaiian Charter School Alliance, during a hearing before the House Education Committee that is considering a bill allowing Hawaiian-focused charter schools to form their own school district.

Integrity missing from public school system

Here are a few quotes to put the debate about improving public education in perspective:

From the Declaration of Independence: "All Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness ..."

H.C. Mencken: "The aim of public education ... is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry to put down dissent and originality."

Samuel Johnson: "Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."

It appears that our Department of Education and Hawaii State Teachers Association are trying to "pursue happiness." But whose happiness? Are they not happiest when money flows into the system, and unhappiest when asked for indications of student achievement and teacher productivity?

The pursuit of happiness is individual. Part and parcel of individual happiness is integrity, a subject largely missing from government-operated schools. Pertinent is a quote from David Spohn, president of the Hudson, Ohio, branch of the National Education Association: "We expect parents to work in the best interest of the kids. We're working in the best interest of the teachers."

The obvious conclusion is: Put parents in charge. Let them choose what is best for their children. Free them to find ways to instill integrity. To put it another way, separate the schools and state.

There, I said it and I am happy. I hope some of you are, too.

Richard O. Rowland
President
Grassroot Institute of Hawaii

Democrats' anti-Hong vote hurts residents

Last week the Democrats hurt Hawaii's residents in two disgusting displays of power and intellectual impotence. First, in the House, they passed their plan to allow the Department of Education to survive, and to complement it with 17 mini-bureaucracies they call "school councils." Second, in the Senate, they denied Ted Hong's appointment to the Big Island circuit court.

The Democrats gave no plausible arguments to support their actions. In fact, during both "debates," which resemble bad re-enactments of previous bad legislative actions, they read their same bad arguments. They failed to specify how their plan would increase funds for schools or improve the DOE's effectiveness, a sisyphean task whose difficulty is analogous to nuclear fusion.

They gave no credible reasons for denying Hong the position besides the fact that fewer than 30 of 4,000 lawyers statewide felt he was "insensitive." It is sad they hesitated to mention Hong's opposition to the wasteful, one-sided process known as binding arbitration.

The Democrats are more interested in licking the boots of their union masters than they are in the public good.

Nicholas Hahn
Honolulu

A Jewish governor has every right to visit Iraq

As a Jew who lived in Hana, Maui, for seven years and has traveled in the Middle East, I have strong feelings about Sen. Kalani English's comments regarding Linda Lingle's trip to Iraq and her being a Jewish woman (Star-Bulletin, Feb. 11).

His comments are particularly troubling considering that from 1993-1996 he was an adviser to the Permanent Mission of the Federated States of Micronesia to the United Nations. Micronesia always supports Israel in the U.N.

English should know that Jewish life in the land now called Iraq goes back thousands of years to the birth of Abraham in the city of Ur in 1950 B.C. From 597 to 538 B.C., thousands of conquered Jews in Jerusalem were forced to move to Babylon (as told in Psalm 137 and the reggae song "By the waters of Babylon"). In 1948, 150,000 Jews lived in Iraq. Most left for Israel. Some who stayed were hanged in 1952 and 1968, or tortured or imprisoned. Most had to give up all they owned before they where allowed to leave.

This is the third millennium. Jews no longer have to wear yellow stars or live in walled ghettos. Jews are not second-class humans and will not be treated as such anymore. The senator should know that as well.

Ken Ornstein
Los Angeles, Calif.
Former Hawaii resident

'Inner voices' didn't get there by chance

I appreciate Bettejo Dux's comment that "You can do good deeds without 'fearing' God" (Letters, March 14). No one is saying she is not a good person. I'm sure she calls her mother, pays her taxes and is a good citizen. In fact, we all know religious persons who don't practice goodness. Even if we have never read the Bible, we still have that small inner voice that helps us to recognize moral sense. Our conscience did not get there by accident -- it was designed by God himself.

Why are some people good without "fearing God?" In Romans 2:14, 15, the Bible tells us, "For whenever people of the nations that do not have law do by nature the things of the law, these people, although not having law, are a law to themselves. They are the very ones who demonstrate the matter of the law to be written in their hearts."

I agree that it is wrong to worship God with morbid fear or just to get gifts. What fearing God really means is to have a healthy respect. Men paint God cruel when they say he will literally burn his disobedient children forever. The lake of fire is symbolic. However, I do believe in divine retribution.

For example, I did a background check on the man in Dux's letter who was smitten with a disease and expired. He turns out to be a detestable man who, to strengthen his position as king, murdered all his brothers and some of the princes. Would we think it is just for a family killer to get away with it? God evidently did not.

Nick Batchelor
Honolulu