Future of Hawaii's Education
Currently the state of Hawaii is facing a devastating issue that affects every single person in society. The issue we are facing is the lack of education going on in public schools, and within their associated activities. What needs to be done is further government intervention and awareness of higher power to regulate the activity going on in public schools. The government has taken their share of contribution, but more needs to be done. The “No Child Left Behind” act serves to raise expectations and achievement standards in public schools. Margaret Spellings, the U.S. Secretary of Education, stated in her “road map”, “NCLB was not designed to dictate exact processes but to promote innovation and improve results for students” (http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/roadmap/index.html). Although this is a good concept, more needs to be done, and less passively at that. I believe that the government should take more of a direct approach to this issue, such as regulating the classrooms in some type of manner. The government needs to monitor the activity going on inside the public school classrooms and emphasize structure and academics. They need to find a way to movitvate teachers to teach to their potential at any cost. Although this may seem drastic, as our public schools begin to plummet further, our need for a solution becomes more desperate. The higher powers in Hawaii need to be more aware of educational issues as well. Tax payer dollars are being spent on salaries of teachers who sometimes fail to teach to their potential. In certain special education classrooms in Hawaii, there is no structure and no education going on. Not only does this waste tax payer money, but it may also affect the behavior of some students due to boredom and confusion. This will cause tax payers to pay more money to support these individuals for their future needs. There needs to be a higher awareness of this issue and teachers need to be more diligent in their work. How this can be achieved cannot be determined based on the scarcity of resources. With tax payers already paying massive amounts of money, asking for more to pay better qualified teachers would cause hostility. However, there needs to be more funding going towards public school teachers. Public school teachers are a necessity in any working society. The problem here is that public school teachers get paid terrible salaries. Therefore, highly qualified teachers are going to seek better jobs, whether it be in a private school, or a in a school on the mainland. An estimated 1600 teachers will leave Hawaii’s public schools to find better jobs elsewhere (http://www.hsta.org/news_articles.php?article_id=100). In Hawaii, where the cost of living is so high, highly qualified teachers will lose motivation to teach in Hawaii if salaries are not raised. I believe the facilities and materials are a valid concern. However, I believe that before one focuses on facilities and materials, one must first focus on hiring qualified individuals to properly use them. We desperately need to keep qualified teachers in Hawaii at any cost necessary. My overall analysis is that the government is not taking enough of a direct approach to this issue, and higher powers in the educational field are being ignorant. They are failing to address the issue of the lack of capability, and focus on how their plans are gaining them popularity. If something is not done, our public schools will plummet further than we ever anticipated. This will be mostly, if not entirely, due to ignorance. Because we, including the government, tend to screen out the bad and focus on the good, we may not catch this problem until it falls too quickly to catch. The rate of professionals coming out of Hawaii will drastically decrease, and will, as a result, lower the expectations of Hawaii’s students. Hawaii will see decrease in potential because of the lack of education. Highly qualified individuals will seek higher paying jobs, and more ambitious roles outside of Hawaii. This could also lead to more strikes like we have witnessed in the past. This will dig Hawaii into a hole, potentially impossible to be dug out of. There is a scapegoat however, if Hawaii decides to acknowledge the issue further, and raise awareness, more can be done to solve the issue. If more awareness is raised, the taxpayers may be willing to pay a little extra money to get this project started. If not, money should be taken from a less urgent fund, such as immediate construction, and put into getting more qualified teachers. If this is done, we have sacrificed a little traffic time, 3-5 minutes if you’re referring to the new lane on the H-1, and investing that money into our future; a future consisting of highly educated citizens all contributing to the prosperous and profitable economy of Hawaii.