The First School

After the Pioneer Company of missionaries landed at Kailua-Kona, Hiram and Sybil Bingham sailed for Honolulu and arrived April 19, 1820.  It is said that Sybil started the first school in Hawaiʻi in May 1820.

Sybil’s June 20, 1820 journal entry notes, “After neglect of my journal for more than two months in a most interesting part of our history too … Very soon I gathered up 12 or 15 little native girls to come once a day to the house …. That was an interesting day to me to lay the foundation of the first school ever assembled in this dark land.”

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Niʻihau School

Enrollment in Hawaiʻi’s public schools (255-Hawaiʻi State Department of Education (DOE) schools and 33-Charter schools) is counted as 185,273 for the 2013-14 school year (about 175,000 in the traditional DOE schools and 10,000 in Charter schools.)

The largest public schools (all K-12) are Campbell High (2,821,) Waipahu High (2,450,) Mililani High (2,445,) Farrington (2,437) and Kapolei (2,045.)  The smallest include, Kilohana (80; K-6,) Waiāhole (71; K-6,) Maunaloa (16; K-6) and Hawaiʻi School for the Deaf and Blind (12; K-12.)

Niʻihau High and Elementary School (K-12) is the smallest public school in the state; according to a Hawaii Department of Education report its 2013-14 enrollment was 10-students.

Ni‘ihau School is near the village of Puʻuwai on the Island of Niʻihau and consists of three classroom buildings and a combination cafeteria and meeting hall.

Enrollment at the school fluctuates as children travel to and from Kauaʻi for several weeks at a time. Students are first taught in English.  Niʻihau High and Elementary (grades K-12) primary focus is on improving reading and math skills of students.  (DOE)

Elective classes include chorus, drawing and painting, Hawaiian arts and crafts, Hawaiian dance, keyboarding, music appreciation, Polynesian music, ukulele and a writing workshop.

Students at Niʻihau School excel in the area of fine arts, particularly chorus and ukulele. The expression of the arts is evident in community celebrations such as Family Literacy Day and graduation.  (DOE)

A photovoltaic-cell system was installed at the school during the summer of 2007; this enabled reliable refrigeration and use of technological hardware (laptops were given to the school for students to begin using the keyboard and basic computer skills) - however, no internet or email system is available to Niʻihau School, as of yet.

The 2010 Census noted that the total population on Niʻihau was 170-people; there were 35-housing units (persons per occupied unit was over 6 – more than double of each of the other islands (housing vacancy was over 22%.))  (hawaii-gov)

Ni‘ihau is approximately 70-square miles or 44,800-acres.  It’s about 17-miles west of Kauaʻi.  The island’s highest point is 1,281-feet; approximately 78% of the island is below 500-feet in elevation.   Located inside Kauai’s rain shadow, Ni‘ihau receives only about 20 to 40-inches of rain per year.  Ni‘ihau has no perennial streams.  (DLNR)

“There was no appearance of any running stream; and though they found some small wells, in which the fresh water was tolerably good, it seemed scarce. The habitations of the natives were thinly scattered about; and, it was supposed, that there could not be more than five hundred people upon the island, as the greatest part were seen at the marketing-place of our party, and few found about the houses by those who walked up the country.”  (Cook’s Journal)

With limited rainfall and no perennial streams, for people to survive on the island, they likely farmed ʻuala (sweet potato) and/or uhi (yams.)  The evidence indicates Niʻihau produced excellent ʻuala and/or uhi.

“The eastern coast is high, and rises abruptly from the sea, but the rest of the island consists of low ground; excepting a round bluff head on the southeast point. It produces abundance of yams, and of the sweet root called Tee … they brought us several large roots of a brown colour, shaped like a yam, and from six to ten pounds in weight.”

“The juice, which it yields in great abundance, is very sweet, and of a pleasant taste, and was found to be an excellent substitute for sugar. The natives are very fond of it, and use it as an article of their common diet … We could not learn to what species of plant it belonged, having never been able to procure the leaves ….”  (Cook’s Journal)

For many years Niʻihau was called Yam Island by Western sailors because of the high quality of yams grown there.  A map of Yam Bay and the island of Niʻihau appeared in Captain George Dixon’s journal in 1788.  (Joesting)

So, while the island has limited rainfall, it was sufficient to grow food and sustain a population of around 500 (according to Cook.)  Niʻihau had a population of 790 people in 1853.  The census of 1860 reported a Niʻihau population of 647.

In the Māhele (1848,) Victoria Kamāmalu (sister of Kamehameha IV and V) claimed Niʻihau, however returned it and the land was retained by the government.  A couple Land Commission Awards were made to Koakanu, as well as a sale to Papapa.

In 1863, King Kamehameha IV offered to sell the island of Niʻihau to the Sinclair family.  (Joesting)  A final purchase price of $10,000 was agreed upon.  (Later, the family includes the Sinclairs, Gays, Robinsons and Knudsens.)

 “The whole island is now owned by a Presbyterian family of Scotch origin, who received me very kindly, & who will assist our work there very materially & very heartily.  The native population now remaining there is about 250 in number.” (Gulick to Anderson ABCFM (1865,) Joesting)

 “It is said that the transfer of the island involved some hardships, owing to a number of the natives having neglected to legalize their claims to their kuleanas, but the present possessors have made themselves thoroughly acquainted with the language, and take the warmest interest in the island population.”  (Isabella Bird, 1894)

The Sinclairs "bought sheep and cattle from the big ranches on Hawaii, and took them, with some fine sheep (they) brought with (them) from New Zealand, (began a) new ranch on Niihau."  (Von Holt)  They hired the Hawaiians to help with the ranch and the island.

"The natives on Niihau and in this part of Kauaʻi, call Mrs. (Sinclair) "Mama." Their rent seems to consist in giving one or more days' service in a month, so it is a revival of the old feudality. ... It is a busy life, owing to the large number of natives daily employed, and the necessity of looking after the native lunas, or overseers."  (Isabella Bird, 1894)

Today, Niʻihau has about 170-people who live at Pu‘uwai village, on the western (leeward) side of the island.  Niʻihau is nicknamed the "Forbidden Island," because the Robinsons (present owners and descendants of the original Sinclairs) strictly limit access to the island.

The island lacks basic municipal infrastructure.  There are no paved roads (walking, horseback or bicycle are the only transportation options on Ni‘ihau.)  No water and wastewater systems.  No stores.  No restaurants.  No doctors.  No police.  No fire department. (But it has the only school in the State powered by photovoltaic.)

The image shows the Niʻihau School.  In addition, I have added some other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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© 2014 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Education in Hawaiʻi

Before the foreigners arrived, Hawaiians had a vocational learning system, where everyone was taught a certain skill by the kahuna.  Skills taught included canoe builder, medicine men, genealogists, navigators, farmers, house builders and priests.

The arrival of the first company of American missionaries in Hawaiʻi in 1820 marked the beginning of Hawaiʻiʻi’s phenomenal rise to literacy. The chiefs became proponents for education and edicts were enacted by the King and the council of chiefs to stimulate the people to reading and writing.

By 1831, in just eleven years from the first arrival of the missionaries, Hawaiians had built 1,103 schoolhouses. This covered every district throughout the eight major islands and serviced an estimated 52,882 students.  (Laimana)

The proliferation of schoolhouses was augmented by the printing of 140,000 copies of the pīʻāpā (elementary Hawaiian spelling book) by 1829 and the staffing of the schools with 1,000-plus Hawaiian teachers.  (Laimana)

The word pīʻāpā is said to have been derived from the method of teaching Hawaiians to begin the alphabet “b, a, ba.” The Hawaiians pronounced “b” like “p” and said “pī ʻā pā.”  (Pukui)

In 1831, Lahainaluna Seminary, started by missionary Lorrin Andrews, was created in Maui to be a school for teachers and preachers so that they could teach on the islands. The islands’ first newspaper, Ka Lama Hawaii, was printed at this school.

Hilo Boarding School opened in 1836, built by missionary David Lyman, a missionary. Eight boys lived there the first year. This school was so successful a girls’ boarding school was created in 1838.

Oʻahu’s first school was called the Chiefs’ Children’s School (Royal School.)  The cornerstone of the original school was laid on June 28, 1839 in the area of the old barracks of ʻIolani Palace (at about the site of the present State Capitol of Hawaiʻi.)

The school was created by King Kamehameha III, and at his request was run by missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Amos S. Cooke; the main goal of this school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaiʻi's Kingdom.

The Chiefs’ Children’s School was unique because for the first time Aliʻi children were brought together in a group to be taught, ostensibly, about the ways of governance.  The School also acted as another important unifying force among the ruling elite, instilling in their children common principles, attitudes and values, as well as a shared vision.

Kamehameha III called for a highly-organized educational system; the Constitution of 1840 helped Hawaiʻi public schools become reorganized.

William Richards, a missionary, help start the reorganization, and was later replaced by missionary Richard Armstrong.  Richard Armstrong is known as the “the father of American education in Hawaiʻi.”

 “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” passed by the King and chiefs on October 15, 1840. Its preamble stated, “The basis on which the Kingdom rests is wisdom and knowledge. Peace and prosperity cannot prevail in the land, unless the people are taught in letters and in that which constitutes prosperity. If the children are not taught, ignorance must be perpetual, and children of the chiefs cannot prosper, nor any other children”.

The creation of the Common Schools (where the 3 Rs were taught) marks the beginning of the government’s involvement in education in Hawaiʻi.  At first, the schools were no more than grass huts.

Armstrong helped bring better textbooks, qualified teachers and better school buildings.  Students were taught in Hawaiian how to read, write, math, geography, singing and to be “God-fearing” citizens. (By 1863, three years after Armstrong’s death, the missionaries stopped being a part of Hawaiʻi’s education system.)

The 1840 educational law mandated compulsory attendance for children ages four to fourteen. Any village that had fifteen or more school-age children was required to provide a school for their students.

Oʻahu College, later named Punahou School, was founded in 1841 on land given to missionary Hiram Bingham by Boki (at the request of Kaʻahumanu.)  Bingham gave the land to the mission for the school.

By 1832, the literacy rate of Hawaiians (at the time was 78 percent) had surpassed that of Americans on the continent. The literacy rate of the adult Hawaiian population skyrocketed from near zero in 1820 to a conservative estimate of 91 percent - and perhaps as high as 95 percent - by 1834. (Laimana)

From 1820 to 1832, in which Hawaiian literacy grew by 91 percent, the literacy rate on the US continent grew by only 6 percent and did not exceed the 90 percent level until 1902 - three hundred years after the first settlers landed in Jamestown. By way of comparison, it is significant that overall European literacy rates in 1850 had not risen much above 50 percent. (Laimana)

The government-sponsored education system in Hawaiʻi is the longest running public school system west of the Mississippi River.  To this day, Hawaiʻi is the only state to have a completely-centralized State public school system.

I have added some images of some of the early Hawaiʻi schools in a folder of like name in the Photos section ON MY Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Aka‘ula School, Moloka‘i – A Model In Environmental Education

Education has always been important to me; while I was at DLNR, environmental education was a focus.

Ultimately, the goal was about making sure young people understand the interrelationship of the things around us and the responsibility we share on making sure we do the right thing.

Ultimately, it’s about the future, not what’s in it for any of us, now.

We started meetings with the DOE and looking at opportunities and programs to consider around the state; Aka‘ula School on Moloka‘i kept coming up in peoples’ conversations.

Something good was obviously happening there and we needed to understand what it was and include them in the process.

I called the principal and asked if I could visit the school; I spent the day watching what they were doing and interacting with the kids.

On that visit I was inundated with pointed questions from the student body about invasive plants and animals, endangered species, ballast water, etc.

The students demonstrated a surprising awareness of their surroundings and factors that may impact the quality of life for them, their family and future generations.

It was immediately evident that these students were engaged by the curriculum developed at Aka‘ula and by fields of study in which their "laboratory" was in their back yards and neighborhoods.

The lessons they learned about our fragile and precious resources were obviously strong, clear and lasting.      

Aka‘ula School is a private middle school in Kaunakakai Moloka‘i.  Their school motto is “Learning and Leading Together.”

The school incorporates the concept of PRISM (Providing Resolutions with Integrity for a Sustainable Molokai) it its curriculum.

The PRISM program has a long history on Molokaʻi and has received recognition and awards at local, state, national and international levels as an exemplary environmental education program.

PRISM was started to engage students in learning skills to become effective participants in their community.

To do this, teachers bring students, community resource managers and other leaders together on issues such as solid waste, land use, energy, ecotourism and biodiversity.

Developing these connections and networking with the community has led to increased interest in school by students, parents and community members. 

The ultimate intention of PRISM is to prepare environmentally literate citizens who are willing and able to make informed decisions which promote both the quality of human life and the quality of the environment.

In 2003, National and Molokai-specific research showed that PRISM students improved their critical thinking and problem solving skills and demonstrated the ability to be contributing community members.

Students participating in the program were reported to be more mature, have more poise, self-esteem and leadership ability, and were more autonomous than their peers.

Based on this commitment to education and recognizing there were good models to follow, at DLNR we initiated a legislative bill to expand the number of Charter Schools in the State through the establishment of new environmental education-focused charter schools (at least one per island.)

We suggested the Aka‘ula School was a perfect model for schools with a curriculum based on environmental issues.

Unfortunately, the legislature did not pass the bill.  Hmmm.

Too often, neighbor island initiatives are overlooked and must yield to Honolulu-centric thinking.  It’s too bad, Moloka‘i and Aka‘ula School have a lot to teach the rest of us.

http://akaulaschool.org