STRUCTURE OF DOE BLOCKS IMPROVEMENT

The fragile reputation of the Department of Education took a double-barreled hit on Aug. 26, when the Advertiser carried two front-page stories that provide further evidence of the inferior quality of Hawai'i's public school system.

The main story reported that only 51 percent of public school graduates continue on to college, and most attend two-year rather than four-year colleges. The second story contained statistics showing that SAT scores have dropped substantially, compared with the already low scores of five years ago.

Some desperately cling to the hope that things will improve, but the DOE is destined to fail because its organizational structure is obsolete. Most modern organizations are lean, responsive and dynamic. But the DOE has a bureaucracy that is too big and unwieldy.

The DOE bureaucracy makes many of the decisions that should be made at the school level. Teachers and administrators know their students best, they should be making most of the decisions that affect their schools. Nevertheless, the bureaucracy thinks it knows better, and it is making wrong decisions for the schools.

Every time some bad news like low student test scores appears, DOE officials go through the motions of making excuses and presenting a few new ideas that may sound good. But the in the end the result is the same — nothing.

John Kawamoto | Honolulu

KAPI'OLANI PARK

MAHALO TO MAYOR, HIS CABINET FOR CARE

As a frequent user of Kapi'olani Park, I would like to say mahalo to Mayor Hannemann and his team for their demonstration of "Malama 'Aina." Last Saturday I noticed a team of folks sprucing up the park. An inquiry to a friendly volunteer revealed that the "team of volunteers" were actually members of Mayor Hannemann's own Cabinet, who were participants and supporters of Mayor Hannemann's commitment to make Honolulu the best place to live. No better place to start than a place where the entire community can enjoy our parks. Mahalo!

Pilialoha Wang | Kane'ohe

STAR-BURNING

PROTEST WAS MILD; OVERTHROW NOT PONO

In response to comments regarding the burning of the 50th star:

First off, he kanaka 'oiwi au. I was one of the protesters and would like to point out that removing and burning just that star (and not the whole flag) was actually a show of restraint. It was a fairly mild and reserved act of defiance compared to the sort of protests you could find elsewhere in the world.

Secondly, the overthrow was not pono. The Republic of Hawai'i was not pono and neither were the means by which territorial status and statehood were obtained.

Third, if we're going to talk about "desecration," what about the desecration of na iwi kupuna, ground to dust beneath skyscrapers and malls? What about the desecration of our 'aina (Makua Valley, Ho'opili, anyone?), our oceans (ordnance reef), and the culture, language and socioeconomic status of an entire living people?

So much fuss over burning one cloth star when we've (by "we" I mean both the 'aina and na kanaka maoli, for we are one and the same) been getting burned for over a century. Injustice cannot be relegated to the past if it is perpetuated in the present.

Pua'ena Ahn | Pearl City

TORTURE

WOULD 'TASTING' TEAR GAS FALL IN CATEGORY?

Jules Witcover ("Cheney goes on the offensive," Sept. 2) says Mr. Cheney is a "man who once spent much of his time being unheard from at undisclosed locations has become as talkative as his visible loquacious successor, Joe Biden."

He goes on to say "As Bush remains relatively silent on the matter of the waterboarding and other methods of persuasion imposed on suspected terrorists, Cheney has not only continued to defend them; he has now gone on the offensive against his legal tormenters."

A thought occurred to me concerning the "torture" aspect debated by both sides: Would Mr. Witcover consider it torture if one of our U.S. "tormenters" were to subject a "suspected terrorist" to a taste of tear gas, as a way of gaining information?

My hunch would be that he would say, "Yes. That would be considered torture and we don't torture anymore"; yet every one of our brave military soldiers have "tasted" tear gas in their basic training.

Surely, one would think that he would want an immediate halt to this inhumane "torture," practiced on our own soldiers in boot camp.

Paul E. Staples | Kailua