Cruising interesting issues

I find it strangely pleasant to read that Gap Inc.’s earnings climbed by more than 50 percent from a year ago. The San Francisco-based retailer earned $202 million in the quarter ended May 1, compared with $136 million a year ago. Sales were $2.28 billion, up from $1.72 billion a year ago.

Interesting that despite student demonstrations, Gap Inc. sailed through all the adverse publicity in recent weeks. Perhaps these demonstrations have fanned a different reaction from the more sober group of college students who were able to see the economic benefits of supporting US apparel manufactuers.

Radicalism is fine if in fact you can make a difference in the lifestyle of destitute workers who have no other alternative when their jobs are closed because you’ve pushed that a US standard is imposed in, i.e., Latin American countries where jobs are scarce. Taking away a job from children who have no other means of putting food on the table isn’t the alternative and not when your viewpoint would make life harder than they are today. It’s a matter of ensuring that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing so we don’t ruin people’s lives based on philisophical gobbledygook.

Given Gap’s soaring profits, perhaps we ought to encourage more rudderless young minds to stage demonstrations all over the country. It’s spurred profits skyrocketing beyond our wildesd imaginings. As this good tidings spreads, perhaps labor unions may be meeting right now to figure out what went wrong with all the money it has spent supporting student demonstrations. It’s proven counterproductive, right? But keep your money coming; it’s worked for Gap Inc!

The invisible grassroots people

In the current debate on the fate of the headstart program here, the Board of Education has essentially taken the challenge right to the door steps of local politicians and bureaucrats. Why do I consider it a challenge? A` Saina: No mo` money, no mo` honey, but there are hundreds of bees out there looking for quarters where they can begin their initial introduction to rudimentary lessons on the long road to acquiring lifetime skills.

Interesting that we’ve heard redundant speeches in years past about the importance of education. Indeed, politicians have mumbled and stumbled through their prepared text as though it’s a speech competition. The end result is rather pathetic: when cornered to put their money where their mouths are, so to speak, most have scurried to empty offices to hide from the task of dealing with difficult issues on education and other issues. A` Saina! Why have politicians tried to side-step this issue? Well, find out where their kids are going to school. It isn’t so much a tale but a tell of their apparent fancy footing on this matter. A ‘Saina!

Debate on scholarship

Dan Nielsen has pinned down what ought to be done with our overly generous scholarship program. We must revert to the letter of the law awarding the top two students full scholarships from each of the high schools between Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The amount per scholarship should all be the same. In other words, a recipient from Rota or Saipan can’t have more scholarship money than the kid from Tinian.

The rest must borrow from banks with support from the local government. Some form of reward should be granted those who successfully complete their studies. Those who failed must be dealt with accordingly. Friends, I’ve seen alleged scholars between Hawaii and the East Coast who spend their scholarship money on fancy cars, power stereo systems, lavish parties, etc. It’s time to bring this matter into perspective. The goal is to empower students to acquire marketable lifetime skills, no more, no less.