Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
Hawaii’s new Board of Education heads into its first meeting today — and some of its members already have expressed some of their ideas for improving the Islands’ school system.
Governor William F. Quinn appointed the 10 Board members … and his action was a major step in carrying out the Legislature’s reorganization of the public school system.
… The members are:
From Oahu: Mrs. Anna Kahanamoku, Dr. Toshimi Ogawa, Seiko Shiroma, Dr. John H. Payne, Dr. Katsumi Kometani and David Yogi.
From Kauai: Mrs. Juliet Wichman.
From Maui: Shizuichi Mizuha.
From the Big Island: Dr. Charles Goo and Mrs. Ruth Stearns. …
A survey of the 10 shows that all but three think they should stick to determining broad school policy while letting the superintendent and his administrators handle the details.
A majority … also said:
1 — They think the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be directly responsible to them …
2 — Their primary obligation is not to the Governor … but to the people of Hawaii in providing a good school system.
3 — Hawaii’s public schools are equal to or better than those on the Mainland. However, three of the board members said they consider private schools superior to public schools in Hawaii.
… Dr. Ogawa attributed the supposed superiority of the private schools to their specialization in college preparatory courses whereas public schools must teach students of all goals and intellectual levels.
Dr. Kometani said that though he thought private schools held an edge, he thinks it’s because they’re able to maintain better discipline and because they have a smaller teacher-pupil ratio.
"But in comparing teacher qualifications and curriculums," he said, "Hawaii’s public school system is equal to any."
Oahu’s Dr. Ogawa sees the Superintendent of Public Instruction as the man in the middle.
"I feel sorry for him," Dr. Ogawa said. "He’s going to have so many people on his back and he’s going to feel responsible to the Governor, the Legislature and the Board."
