Education in Hawaii

One of the books I am using to write my literature review about the history of education in Hawaii is Culture, Behavior and Education. So far this is an interesting text and although written in 1974, provides valuable insight into the education and culture of some students within the Leeward District on O’ahu. The authors completed a case study of one particular group located within this district and what can be learned from this community can be implied on larger scale in terms of problems faced by American ethnic minorities. The Leeward District is actually where I will be teaching come summer!

The premise of their writing is that Hawaiian-American youth were too often perceived and labeled retarded or deviant, when in reality this is more of a cultural misunderstanding. The home life of these students is described as generally favorable, while their behavior at school includes a lack of motivation, discipline and self-control.

Although quite long, this quote really stood out to me:

“The reputation of the school and the students is such that many teachers will not work at the school. If asked why it is a ‘hard’ place to teach, most teachers mention lack of attention span, motivation, and self-control, gambling, smoking, glue sniffing (substance abuse), theft, fighting, truancy, and physical attacks (on teachers). All of these also are mentioned as reasons for transfers, resignations, and poor staff morale. Some teachers feel that the problems are caused by an irrelevant curriculum; others believe that they children are ‘culturally deprived,’ and that the parents are to blame. One school principal said that the problems are caused by a ‘lack of values, or bad values—they don’t have a culture.’ In recent years, much time, money, and staff effort has been devoted by the state of Hawaii to correcting the difficulties” (59-60).