Honolulu Star Advertiser: Board looks to alter graduation credits

This morning's edition of the Honolulu Star Advertiser brings news from Hawaii's statewide Board of Education. In an article written by Mary Vorsino, Hawaii's high school students "would be required to pass three math courses and two lab science classes under a new proposal."

Furthermore:

"Every public high school student in Hawaii would have to pass geometry and complete two lab sciences under more rigorous graduation requirements proposed as the state Department of Education continues to fine-tune its diploma policy.

"But the department is no longer pushing for all students to take Algebra 2 and wants to cut to three from four the number of social studies credits needed for graduation."

he new proposal drew concern from social studies educators, who were rallying support against the change on a Facebook page and planning to attend the board meeting today.

Decreasing the number of required social studies credits "does not seem to be a forward-thinking move," said Jeff Moniz, director of the secondary program at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Institute for Teacher Education and chairman of the Teacher Education Committee for Social Studies at UH-Manoa. "This proposal disturbs me."

Social studies teacher Amy Perruso agreed, saying that social studies isn't just about history, but about teaching critical thinking.

"We believe a broader education is better," she said. "Students need to have the breadth so that they really understand how the social sciences can help shape their understanding of the world."