Many educators argue that we should change the public education system while the opportunity for change is ripe.

They rightly point out that students should be the focus of the entire public education system, as they have been the source of most teachers’ passion and drive.

Any change or action — teacher action, department action or legislative action— should come only if it serves the students’ best interest. Change should not happen simply because someone up above said so.

It is a common (and correct) belief that the testing culture that rose up in the wake of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top has become a hindrance to teaching and learning. Many have noted, especially recently, that students have been overloaded with standardized tests.

However, it is also important to remember that most of the standardized tests students take are not mandated by the federal or state Department of Education. Most of those tests are selected at the complex or school level.

This serves as a reminder to us all that while most of the testing bloat rose out of No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top and the data-crunching culture, schools and complexes have the power to make testing decisions. In fact, they have the responsibility to make more effective choices.

Where our experiences differ from some common complaints is in the refrain that schools and teachers are losing autonomy in decision-making about the key purpose of education.

Never in either of our seven to 10 years of teaching in the DOE, in two different complex areas, have we felt we were under the sway of a dictatorial system.

Never has our professional autonomy been taken away from us.

Education initiatives were presented to us to modify and use to best fit our schools and our students.

Teachers are the best advocates of their own students and we have the latitude to operate within the public education system here in Hawaii to creatively solve the problems that face us.

We have a shared responsibility to teach all students to learn a set of definable skills, but educators and schools should — and do, in our experience — have the ability to tailor their approaches to ensure that their particular populations are well served.

We do not discount the criticisms and frustrations of teachers and administrators across the state. The concerns are real and need to be addressed and we frequently share them.

Our worry is that criticisms of public education in Hawaii too often pit groups against each other unfairly.

While it is important to note that we do have a new governor and chairman of the Board of Education, we also have a new deputy superintendent who is adamant that schools know best how to serve their own students.

We need to take advantage of these new leaders, as well as the teacher leaders who work in our schools every day, to figure out the best ways to serve our students without having to resort to divisive screeds and lines in the sand.

If the point of public school is to educate all students, then all decisions made by all stakeholders should have students’ lives at their hearts.