Schools' shortcomings extend far beyond budget - Hawaii Editorials

Hawaii public "education" system is one of the worst in the country. Many parents including teachers spend large sums to send their kids to private schools to avoid the problems in the public schools. No amount of money will offset the mindset of the idiots running the DOE.

by the way, it shows me being in california - this web site is screwed up, I am in hawaii so I'm not speaking as an outsider

Shrug: It's about keeping them dumb and allowing the ruling elite to maintain their power. If people get to smart; they'll see the corruption and plantation approach to hiring practices and will eventually leave. With a limted job market and generational cycle where education is not that important in being a security guard or working in a hotel; education will be deemed to be less important. The ruling elite will maintain their strangle hold on the masses

Sounds to me that your children could skip a grade or two. Too bad their teachers didn't suggest that.

But it's not unusual for bright students to get the short end of the stick in Hawaii.

the standards and benchmarks and the ME, MP etc. grading system was not discovered or developed in hawaii. It is the same type of "best practices" being practiced all over the country and in other countries. New Zealand for example has had a standards based education for years.

It's new to hawaii, it's different and it is not designed to be compared to A's and B's etc. That fact is very difficult to accept for those who only know the 100-90 percent is an A, give them more problems in case they make a mistake systems. The new system is designed to measure where the student is at, at that moment. With no "averaging of grades". So even though the child is being judged by the "end of the year" rubric, they have until the end of the year to get there. When they get there, then that would be the grade. Not an average of the early part of the year with the end part of the year.

Hawaii's schools are designed to keep the hotels staffed thru forever.

PS...The best way to educate is to require the students to pass all testing materials with 100% proficiency....then go on...If you cannot add and subtract with expertise...how can you learn to multiply and divide expertly...complete a requirement with complete understanding and then move on to the next...
This is...NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND!

As you explained, the reason your daughter got that math problem wrong was because she didn't waste a lot of time drawing circles to represent the apples. That means she wouldn't be qualified to work on the public payroll because she doesn't know how to take three times as long as necessary to do a simple job. If government employees worked efficiently then we wouldn't need as many of them and that would really hurt the unions. That would in turn hurt the politicians who rely on public worker unions for campaign support.

For example, let's say there is a perfectly good grading system using letter grades like "A" and "B". The very best schools, like Punahou, use this system so obviously it works. But keeping that system in place is not going to generate needless busy work for the DOE bureaucracy. So the DOE wastes time and manpower inventing a whole new grading system that makes no sense but does give public employees more work to do. So where your daughter failed is not actually in math but in understanding how things work in Hawaii. Good for her - I wish her the best.

The problem with Hawaii's schools is not money. We spend more than most on a per student basis. The problem is the bureaucratic administration that eats up resources and produces nothing but problems. Their main concern is politics not education.

It does not take much education to clean toilets and use leaf blowers.

Its like reading from Lake Wobegon where everyone is good looking and all of the kids are above average!

Pearl, thank you for taking the time to write. Some people are listening, but as I'm sure you are aware, it could take decades (or more) for things to change in Hawaii (which can be good, in some ways).
As parents, we do the best we can. It sounds like home schooling might be the best for your children at this time.
I think this 'inclusion' and heterogeneous grouping fad will sink (when implemented without training and/or support), and schools will, some day, cater to the high achievers too. There will be individual education plans for every student. Unfortunately for you, you can't wait that long for it to happen.

gryde wrote:

the standards and benchmarks and the ME, MP etc. grading system was not discovered or developed in hawaii. It is the same type of "best practices" being practiced all over the country and in other countries. New Zealand for example has had a standards based education for years.

It's new to hawaii, it's different and it is not designed to be compared to A's and B's etc. That fact is very difficult to accept for those who only know the 100-90 percent is an A, give them more problems in case they make a mistake systems. The new system is designed to measure where the student is at, at that moment. With no "averaging of grades". So even though the child is being judged by the "end of the year" rubric, they have until the end of the year to get there. When they get there, then that would be the grade. Not an average of the early part of the year with the end part of the year.

The fact that someone in a vacuum came up with an esoteric way to measure performance is stupid. What good is a system that only those in the DOE can understand?

If colleges went off the letter grading, 4.0 system, and adopted something similar, how would employers compare graduates for hiring purposes?

Only a pure academic would dream up something this foolish and impractical. But perhaps to them, it's much more important not to damage the self image of the slowest student, so they needed to find a system that was cryptic.

I think another part of the problem is the administrators and teachers. Instead of taking a simple pay cut, they take away school days. Instead of making a necessary sacrifice, they pass that along to the student and their parents. Teachers are not the selfless bunch of people that they've been trying to pass themselves off to be in the public eye.

wendell wrote:

<quoted text>
The fact that someone in a vacuum came up with an esoteric way to measure performance is stupid. What good is a system that only those in the DOE can understand?
If colleges went off the letter grading, 4.0 system, and adopted something similar, how would employers compare graduates for hiring purposes?
Only a pure academic would dream up something this foolish and impractical. But perhaps to them, it's much more important not to damage the self image of the slowest student, so they needed to find a system that was cryptic.

Not only that, but it creates a system wherein the performance of the teacher cannot be measured. So perhaps it is more than pure academics, it may be a system designed to protect the institution

"Thank God that I have a master's degree in education from the mainland so that I can teach my children what they do not get in the public schools here."

the master's degree "from the mainland" comment is telling --- this writer is typical of a mainlander that becomes disconnected because she takes the attitude that she is better than us

she lost site of the problem because she writes off everyone in Hawaii --- feel sorry for the kids --- she should pack up already

you are correct Warrior --- she seems like a divorcee that is constantly telling the kids how bad daddy is

if she does take this attitude towards her kids --- no doubt they will be not ready to succeed in Hawaii

But not surprising!Your daughters must have felt very frustrated as no doubt many children do with this poor system.

Warrior wrote:

"Thank God that I have a master's degree in education from the mainland so that I can teach my children what they do not get in the public schools here."

the master's degree "from the mainland" comment is telling --- this writer is typical of a mainlander that becomes disconnected because she takes the attitude that she is better than us

she lost site of the problem because she writes off everyone in Hawaii --- feel sorry for the kids --- she should pack up already

Don't be too harsh on her. You can't really know what she truly feels, but after her experiences with the DOE, I'm sure she wouldn't feel it's a stellar institution. I don't blame her.

Warrior wrote:

"Thank God that I have a master's degree in education from the mainland so that I can teach my children what they do not get in the public schools here."
the master's degree "from the mainland" comment is telling --- this writer is typical of a mainlander that becomes disconnected because she takes the attitude that she is better than us
she lost site of the problem because she writes off everyone in Hawaii --- feel sorry for the kids --- she should pack up already

I guess you're in favor of the "hanabata test." I'd bet you and your kids would pass with no problems.