Posted on: Tuesday, May 11, 2004
ISLAND VOICES
Transfer students mistreated
By Ronald Pine, Ph.D.
Teacher of ethics at Honolulu Community College
Mahalo to the University of Hawai'i Board of Regents for giving attention to what many in the community colleges believe is a major curriculum issue.
We have struggled to call attention to a violation of board policy that, if not remedied, will increase the already burdensome task for community college students transferring courses to Manoa.
Originally, the CC leadership fully supported and applauded the innovative features of the new Manoa (educational) core approved by the board in 2000. Not only was the content excellent, but it promised an articulation model that experts on transfer had been advocating for decades. It was a promise to CC students that the life of a transfer student would be far better in the near future, and that the nightmarish process of course-by-course approval would end.
Alas, after support throughout the system and board approval, Manoa changed the core again. This change, made without board approval and CC consultation, canceled the transfer of courses developed at some of the CCs to match the new core — specifically, courses in oral communication and ethical deliberation — even though these courses followed the new hallmarks as originally approved.
Such actions where rules are agreed upon and then promises broken have frustrated CC students for decades. It is not surprising that the student testimony at the last board meeting was so passionate and that some of the Neighbor Island students paid their own way to O'ahu to give a restricted two minutes of testimony.
Manoa must understand that it has a greater responsibility than to just its own campus. As the flagship campus, it sets the focus for the whole system. Its curriculum decisions will affect the lives of at least 16,000 CC students.
If it does not adopt curriculum policies that encourage speech and ethics throughout the system, as is the norm throughout higher education, these skills will not be promoted.
It is ironic that we are challenging the ethics of a decision process for a new ethics requirement. In this regard, the idealism and passion of the CC students who testified was remarkable. Some used their precious two minutes to quote board policy, and one could see that they still believed that rules, policies and promises should matter.
Let us hope that they don't leave UH believing that life is just a matter of different truths, of who has the most power, and the greatest ability at spin control.
