Changing Education from the Ground Up

Schools are factory-designed systems attempting to give each child an information age education. This effort doesn’t, and can’t, work.

Everyone, including the Obama transition team, seems to be calling for more of the same:  More money. Better teachers. More access to preschool and college. More parent involvement.

Meanwhile, teachers and parents are already working too hard to get it right.

I believe that we have enough. We have the talent, resources, and desire to provide a great education for everyone.

The problem is the delivery system. [click to continue…]

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Tomorrow Kawika Kaikala and I will begin to design the very first award and the first template for future awards. We’re starting with the value, aloha.

Kawika is the new Hawaiian youth program director at the Neighborhood Place of Wailuku. He sees that this system is a way to recognize and honor the accomplishments of the people in his program. They will also have an online record or portfolio when they apply for work or school. Kawika will have more meaningful data and he will also be able to easily develop goals for his new program.

I called Kawika because he and Laura Civitello produced beautiful radio spots on the Hawaiian values for Paia Youth and Cultural Center’s RadiOpio. I heard his voice one afternoon while driving down Baldwin Avenue and I had chicken skin. I realized that the first “merit badges” had to be these values.

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Venus

I knew Kawika when he worked at the Paia Youth and Cultural Center. He just started as the new Hawaiian youth program director-replacing our hero Duke Sevilla-for the Neighborhood Place of Maui. Their offices are located in the old house behind former Takamiya Market in Happy Valley. Venus Rosete-Hill is the ED and powerhouse behind it.

What a team! Maui is blessed to have them.

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