The title of a recently released Yahoo! article is "In Hawaii, SCHOOL'S OUT FOR RECESSION". We should all be thinking the same thing: yes, there will inevitably be a VERY mixed bag of reactions.

Here's the problem, spelled out: "At a time when President Barack Obama is pushing for MORE TIME IN THE CLASSROOM, his (home) state has created THE SHORTEST SCHOOL YEAR under a new union contract that requires schools that closes schools on most Fridays for the remainder of the academic calendar". OK, so this is the executive or President's side of the story.

Statistically speaking, "The deal WHACKS 17 days FOR BUDGET CUTTING REASONS and have education advocates INCENSED that Hawaii is DRASTICALLY cutting the academic calendar at a time when it already ranks near the bottom in national education achievement". Hawaii "already ranks near the bottom in national educational achievement" and this has "education advocates incensed", but THEY MAY NOT HAVE A CHOICE because this is "for budget cutting reasons". Also, for people who like dramatic language, "whacks" is used instead of a less emotive word or phrase such as cut out.

"While many schools have laid off or furloughed teachers, reduced pay and planning days and otherwise cut costs, Hawaii's 171000 public school students now find themselves with only 163 instructional days compared with 180 in most districts in the US". So, if we crunch the numbers, while most students spend approximately 49% of the calendar year in school, the corresponding percentage for Hawaiian students is only approximately 44% which is significant because we are talking about a 5% differential.

Yet another negative statistic is: "At 163 school days, Hawaii's school year RANKS BEHIND EVERY OTHER STATE". But hang on. Before we start criticizing, let's see what the whole statement says. "Most states PROVIDE (is this the right word?) students with 180 days of school while 10 other states offer less than 180 days, according to the Education Commission of the States". If this is truly the case, Hawaii isn't exactly alone in providing students with short school years. Hawaii is a RECREATIONAL state after all famous for surfing, beaches and honeymoons, but certainly not academics.

The final negative sentence is: "Meanwhile, a record number of schools this year FAILED to meet progress goals under the federal No Child Left Behind law". "failed" is a very negative word.This is exactly why this law, proposed by none other than Bush, has FAILED. "Only 34 percent of schools (i.e. MUCH less than half) met their "adequate yearly progress" this year". Again, this is disappointing.

However, amid all this negativity, there are some positive signs. "But state test results have inched up". OK, so Hawaii is not only a party and honeymoon sex state. The next question, then, is: by how much? "About 65 percent of students are proficient in reading, compared with 39 percent when testing began in 2002". OK, assuming that "inching up" is defined as an increase of 5% or less, this is quite a significant improvement of 26 percentage points. "Likewise, 44 percent of students did well in math, compared with 17 percent in 2002". This is another significant increase of 27 percentage points (the 17% figure for 2002 is ugly).

The president, who himself is a graduate of an elite private Hawaiian high school, recently said that "the challenges of a new century DEMAND MORE TIME in the classroom", but the question is: how can we do this with all the budget cuts that seem to be making headlines every day?

Even students themselves have mixed emotions. According to Mark Aoki, a junior at Roosevelt High in Honolulu, "The 16-year-old in me is pretty excited that I'll be able to chill on these days. BUT OVERALL WITHIN ME, WHAT I TRULY BELIEVE IS THAT WE'LL REGRET THIS". This guy sums it up very well. THE KID WITHIN HIM will have a blast, but we can't be kids forever. There is quite a contrast between "pretty excited" and "we'll regret this". In other words, Aoki is trying to balance the short term benefit of being able to spend more time doing what he wants to do and the long-term cost of missing so many classes. 

According to Valerie Sanoda, president of the Hawaiian Parent Teacher Student Association, "It's just not enough time for the kids to learn. I'm getting hundreds of calls and e-mails. THEY ALL HAVE THE SAME UNDERLYING CONCERN and that is the educational hours of these kids". If this sounds like a complaint, well, that's because it is a complaint.

Finally, according to Hawaii Superintendent Pat Hamamoto, "IF we're TRYING to say that education is the most important thing, (then) we SHOULD be supporting it". However, as we have seen, opinions are all over the board on this one, EVEN AMONGST STUDENTS WHO SHOULD BE IN FAVOR OF MORE FREE TIME.