ISLAND VOICES
Where is outrage over state education?

Writer Arnold Bitner lives in Waikiki.

When I read the Sept. 30 Island Voices commentary by Laura Thielen, I said to myself, "This must be a misprint." I quote from the Board of Education member's commentary: "Our goal this year was to have 10 percent of students proficient in math and 30 percent of students proficient in reading."

This simply blew my mind, so I called the Board of Education and was able to speak to Laura. When she said that, yes, what she had written was true, my response was the same as when I had read her commentary.

Why, since the start of the public school system in Hawai'i, hasn't it been not only the goal, but the firm commitment to all of the people of Hawai'i, that 100 percent of the children of this state become 100 percent proficient in both math and reading?

Are 70 percent of the children in Hawai'i too stupid to become proficient in math and reading? Or, rather, are 70 percent simply considered by their elders to be too stupid to do so?

How can the adults of this, or any other, state allow 70 percent of the children of their state to grow up not being able to do simple math, or to read, spell and write well enough so they can fill out something as simple as an employment application? Where is the outrage among the adult population of Hawai'i?

While mathematics came easy, I am a former illiterate. I have come to know what it is like to go through life unable to read and write. I know the hardships, the disappointments, the frustration and anger. Because of this, I have a few questions for each of you who can read.

Why is this allowed to happen? Is it because you need an uneducated class of worker ants in order to help make you feel privileged and elite? Or, is it so the educated 30 percent of you who can read and do simple math can have better control over the 70 percent of the population who can't? After all, doesn't this give you a distinct advantage in life?

Think about it. Then, consider why the prisons are overflowing. Consider, too, many of the other problems we Americans face daily. Consider the lost genius who has undiagnosed dyslexia (my problem) and is diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder instead, and then pumped full of Ritalin.