University of Hawaii gave away over $52,200.00 in gift cards to Students in the Pono Choices program

McDermott Blasts UH for wasting taxpayer money on Pono Choices

News Release from Office of Rep Bob McDermott, October 7, 2014

The University of Hawaii must have plenty of money, since they are spending it to promote a program that parents clearly said they do not want.

Unknown to parents, the discredited Pono Choices program was a “research project.” Parents were never informed of this fact.  They kids were being used as human subjects for research.  This is a horrible breach of trust between the DOE and the owners of the system, the parents.

Research projects necessarily require “informed consent” when human subjects are involved. Meaningful, informed affirmative consent is the cornerstone of human subject protections; this did not happen. Further, because DOE facilities/resources were used, Pono Choices violated several safeguards contained in the Federal Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA).  This is all illegal, sloppy and incompetent.

Additionally, the Students, the teachers, and community liaisons were given over $52,000.00 in gift cards in violation of Hawaii State law.  This unlawful actively is bad enough, but it also necessarily renders all the data collected in the research project, known as Pono Choices, meaningless due to an inherit input bias caused by the financial inducement.  This is a shameless manipulation of the data, give an eleven year old a $10.00 dollar gift card, then ask them how they liked the program.

Hawaii's parents are in the unique situation of having their own tax dollars used to propagandize the "value" of this deceptive intrusion into their public schools, to "sell" them on a program they didn't ask for and don't want. Paying to be brainwashed so you will consent to pay more to have your children brainwashed is not a good use of tax dollars.

There are several existing sex education curricula available to public schools that do a better job of education and protecting children that "Pono Choices" without the politically correct machinations.

Make no mistake about it. "Pono Choices" is a wolf in sheep's clothing. It is being sold has an honest effort to help educate children to avoid STDs and accidental pregnancy, but it is really designed to "alter" our children's perception of the role of their parents and their moral authority. It espouses the concepts that children should be "in charge" of their sexual behavior choices at and very early age, that homosexual behavior is "normal," and that abstinence and monogamous relationships are just not "cool."

Pono Choices is part of a widespread attempt to reshape our society by destroying traditional morality and family values. The federal government seeks to change our country through control of public education, a role that it was never intended to have.

Dump Pono Choices and all of the other "Common Core" style intrusions of this misguided attempt by government to re-program our next generation.

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