Kids may feel safe but schools are far from it

According to a national poll cited in the Oct. 14 Honolulu Advertiser, more than 90 percent of Hawaii's eighth-graders feel safe in school.

Yet 44 percent of the same age group reported a moderate or serious problem with physical conflicts during 1996, the highest rate in the nation.

As seen in the Star-Bulletin's police reports that same day, our schools have indeed become much more violent.

One Wai`anae teen was arrested because he allegedly threated a teacher and a security guard, and was booked on two counts of first-degree terroristic threatening.

In spite of how our students feel, the fact that our kids are being arrested while still in school is a sign that there is something wrong.