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Roth opens by quoting Dolly's claim from the Price of Paradise that Hawaii's public schools are "doomed to failure." Dolly clarifies he meant the entire U.S. system, built on an outdated agricultural and industrial model that puts adult convenience — union contracts, vacation schedules — ahead of children's needs. Toguchi agrees, noting that both teacher and principal contracts place employee interests first, making systemic change difficult. Both guests express cautious optimism about school community-based management, or SCBM, which by 1993 involves 160 of Hawaii's 240 schools. Roth presses on whether decentralization can work when principals belong to a union; Toguchi says membership is acceptable if restricted to compensation, not management rights such as hiring and evaluation. The conversation turns to teacher supply: Toguchi's department hires roughly 900 to 1,000 teachers annually, about 200 recruited from the mainland, and acknowledges that Hawaii's high cost of living causes perhaps a hundred prospective hires each year to withdraw after learning what housing costs. Dolly warns that heavy turnover leaves new teachers without senior mentors. Both close by calling for greater investment in preschool programs, with Dolly arguing the state gains more from early childhood spending than from university research.
Transcript
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