Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 2, 1 September 1981 — Cross Cultural Conflict Between Public Education and Traditional Hawaiian Values [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Cross Cultural Conflict Between Public Education and Traditional Hawaiian Values

by Dr. A. L. Solomon, Trustee

The American educational system has used the educational process as a means of teaching American values to Native Americans, thereby altering native ways of life. Hawaii's educational policies have been no different. The Protestant mission inHawaii, the plantation system, and American industrialism have combined to establish an American socio-economic order with little regard for Native Hawaiian identity. In order to understand the present day attitudes of many Hawaiians towards the American System,it is necessary to understand the past. The key word in this arrangement is "understand;" most American schools incorrectly "understand" past acculturation as a two-way sharing process between Native American and American cultures. In other words, the process of cultural change inNative American eommunities is presented in the schools from a distorted point of view. As a consequence of this perspective, acculturation problems have not been perceived in their true light. Rarely does education show acculturation as an imposition by an alien culture whieh has stripped native culture of its capacity to control its own way of life. History ean be a vital weapon, particularly when it is used by a dominant culture to cause psychological problems in the individuals of a subservient, native culture. Negative selfidentity and a faulty awareness of self-purpose all enter into the total Native American educational problem. Native Americans, like the residents of Knhi'ō Village, have begunto question the legitiiTiacy of public schoo!s. They agree that there is an urgent need for effective education; they do not agree, however, that the system as it is presently structured gives their youngsters a "positive" feeling of themselves in both their Native and American communities. Educational studies in Native American communities clearly show that Native American parents have high educational aspirations for their children. They want what other Americans want for their youth, the basic skills necessary for academic success. Unfortunately, what many Native American communities actually experience as a result of the

educational dilemmas described here are illiteracy, a high dropout rate, and unemployment. Stages in levels of achievement by Native Hawaiian communities are defined by and measured against the norms set by a non-Native society. This frame provides a rather flimsy explanation of why Hawaiian potential continues to be under-developed. "Under-development" has been, according to Jorgenson, "the product of the full integration of Native Americans into American society." The aeculturation processes in Hawaii's schools continue to this day with the same objective — to integrate Native Hawaiians into the American sociopolitical economy. Ironically, it is because Native Hawaiians are becoming integrated that many still remain in a disadvantaged state. However, schools must accept the dual responsibility to perpetuate general "human values" as well as values specific to the different eultures within society. The American educational system has failed in this responsibility, particularly with respect to the values of Native Americans. Because they do not have an adequate understanding of the cognitive and behavioral patterns in Native American cultures, school personnel remain frustrated and eonfused in their dealings with Native American students; often they work on a "hit or miss" basis with regard to the needs of the students. From the point of view of Native Americans, relations between the community and the school systems ean be improved in two fundamental ways. First, school personnel must eome to understand and respect Native American communities asthey are: a diverse group determined to perpetuate their culture and way of life. For this reason, it is also important that schools re-examine and reassess their position onNative Ameriean Studies in the curriculum. Secondly, the hiring policies of the schools must also be re-examined, since Native Americans view the limited number of Natiye American educators as an example of the school's perpetuation of the status quo. These measures will improve not only the relations between the eommunity and the school system, but aisothechances of academic success for Native American students.

Permission to reprint courtesy of Bishop Museum

Grade school classroom, probably O'ahu, date unknown From the exhibit: TO TEACH THE CHILDREN (A'o I Nā Haumāna Hawai'i; Historical Aspects of Education in Hawai'i, Bishop Museum, Kahili Room. Exhibition continues through October, 1982.