EDITORIAL
Football: High schools aren't a farm system

There are two perspectives from which to look at the complaint by University of Hawai'i football coach June Jones that coaches at Kahuku High School are steering their football players to Mainland colleges instead of UH.

One perspective deals with the resulting competitiveness of the UH team relative to the Mainland teams that get the North Shore players.

We'll leave that perspective to our Sports section, noting only that Jones' complaint about Kahuku, plus his grumbling about the inferiority of UH facilities, may, in the opinion of veteran Advertiser columnist Ferd Lewis, amount to an "exit strategy" for a coach who remains the highest-paid state employee in Hawai'i.

Lewis also points out that a "Polynesian pipeline" based on religious and cultural ties has sent dozens of North Shore players to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University over the years — yet UH now is succeeding in recruiting more of those players.

The other perspective is academic. The top priority of Hawai'i high schools shouldn't be to serve as a farm system for anybody's athletic team. These schools exist to educate young men and women to make the most of their lives, whether athletics plays a role or not.

Some high school graduates benefit profoundly from a Mainland college experience, while others fare better with family and familiar support systems nearby. Regardless, that decision is one best left to families and the students themselves.

And while we think it's great if local kids decide they want to stay in Hawai'i and play for the home team, the decision should be theirs to make.

Jones shouldn't make them feel guilty about choosing a school other than the University of Hawai'i.