Gov. Linda Lingle's Hawai'i Innovation Initiative offers the state a sustainable option for both economic and individual development. It correctly recognizes education as central to its success. Education is the single most important problem that faces us today. If our students are not educated in accordance with the enormous requirements of our rapidly changing scientific and technological world, we are bound to fail.

The governor's role as a catalyst for change is critical. However, a catalyst can only start a reaction; what happens from there depends on the elements involved.

Ted Liu, the director of the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, is quoted as saying, "Individual schools would have considerable leeway to structure the academies, integrating classes into their curriculum during the regular school day or operating the academies as after-school programs." In other words, leave it up to the schools to figure out.

But schools are inundated with such tasks already. The Board of Education has raised the number of credits required for graduation from 22 to 24 (25 for a BOE diploma) and added two new requirements (for a Personal/Transition Plan and a Senior Project). It has not provided additional instructional time or resources, nor any clear guidance to schools on what those things entail or how schools are to implement them on top of other requirements.

The Department of Education continues dubious programs such as "Standards Based Report Cards," and tasks schools with general requirements for things such as character education and curriculum mapping — without specific guidance or adequate resources — even as schools are struggling to meet the state's requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Frankly, the last thing the schools need right now is another good idea they have to try and implement on their own, on top of everything else they have to do. Asking schools to continually reinvent the wheel on their own is both impractical and unfair.

A Page One article in The Advertiser (Jan. 20) reported that "Because participation (in academies) would be voluntary, classes would not be subject to testing requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act." That is not true. Nothing in NCLB differentiates testing requirements by voluntary and involuntary participation. Nothing in NCLB addresses testing of specific classes. What is mandated is testing of all public school students by subject, currently in math and language arts, and in science beginning in 2007-2008. All public school students will still have to take the tests required by NCLB, academies or not.

Academies aren't a new idea, nor are they a cure-all. Research has shown that small schools tend to do better than larger schools. Thus, it would seem that breaking a large school into smaller learning communities would increase student achievement. Maybe, but data here is less available and, where available, is less compelling.

Wai'anae High School has placed all students in academies, and many teachers and students do seem pleased with the results. Important concerns about academies include de-facto tracking of students and a decrease in expectations for courses not at the core of a particular academy. High school should give a student as many options as possible; a student's interests today may not be different 10 years from now and overly-focused academies could limit a student's options.

I am disturbed by the proposal that the academies be administered by the University of Hawai'i rather than the Department of Education. I understand that the Department of Education has the only department director the governor doesn't appoint, but an end run around the system is neither necessary nor proper. The governor and the DOE can and must find a way to work together. The DOE already has programs with the university that involve having their instructors teach on high school campuses where college credit is involved. An expansion of that program, where appropriate, would be a better approach.

We must train not only better scientists and technicians, but also more responsible men and women. Doing so will not be easy. Governor Lingle has made what is, by and large, a fine, thoughtful proposal in furtherance of this goal. It deserves consideration and discussion. It will cause controversy and may even make some people angry. I think that's a good thing. Maybe it will help us focus. The future belongs to those with the best education. Let those be our children.

Russell Robison is a teacher at Mililani High School and is involved with educational issues in Hawai'i. Reach him at robison@lava.net.