Letters To The Editor

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January 11, 2012 - MidWeek

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Self-serving

Thank you to Bob Jones for telling the truth about the HSTA. In my opinion all unions are self-serving and do not care about anyone or thing other than their members and leaders. If I were a member of a union, I would be angry if my dues went to PACS instead of my retirement fund.

Lowell Brown
Honolulu

Blame the union

What a relief to see some in the media (Bob Jones) shares my thoughts on our broken Hawaii public school system. As he wrote, nothing gets done about it, so forget the fixing. Is it because nobody cares, or parents and teachers so proud of our mediocrity because “it’s the Island way” sickening! I get angry every time I think about it.

I absolutely agree that proper and strong management can change the situation. It would have to be an outsider willing to take on the union and the rank and file. They would have to be prepared to fire for cause. Who is going to hire such a person?

I believe part of the problem is that parents cannot easily participate. To enable them to do so would require local elected school boards who can fire principals, such as they have in California. A centralized DOE would still be required to ensure standard and equal education for all.

I am a believer in unions, but the local teachers union is a big part of the problem.

Since the teachers are willing to be unionized they must share in the blame. In any event, I cannot understand how professionals with college degrees believe that to be successful they need to operate within a union. And unionized principals?!

Paul Tyksinski
Kailua

Teachers failing

Kudos to Bob Jones for his column “Time To Fix Embarrassing Schools.” As a rule, Mr. Jones is correct the teachers union, instead of acting like a group of education professionals, acts like a factory union. They refuse to take responsibility for their failures. Yes, there are good teachers doing good things, but they too must want to scream (like Mr. Jones) at what their colleagues are doing or failing to do.

Al Chang
Honolulu

Who’s the hater?

How puzzling. Jade Moon’s definition of “hate” seems to be “saying anything negative about someone,” yet by this standard Bill Maher is the biggest hater of all. I can’t think of any groups that Maher hasn’t verbally (and viciously and profanely) assaulted, yet when Ms. Moon interviewed him there wasn’t a word about this in her questions. I guess as long as the main target is conservatives, we can look past the other stuff, right?

Steve J. Williams
Honolulu

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