Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 5, 1 May 1993 — In preparation for U.S. Senate Education Summit [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

In preparation for U.S. Senate Education Summit

OHA asks for community mana'o on education

by JefT Clark When you talk Hawaiian education, you talk about the whole 'ohana. That was the mana'o expressed when the education division of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs held a series of 12 statewide community meetings in anticipation of the Native Hawaiian Education Summit scheduled for Apnl 24-25 in Honolulu. Conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, the summit was to address the reauthorization of the Native Hawaiian Education Act (see next month's issue for an article on the summit). OHA education officer Rona Rodenhurst said the Hawaiian community's mana'o is that to educate Hawaiians you need to "take a look at the whole child, the child and the family. The success of Hawaiian language immersion is largely due to (requiring) the family's involvement." The availability of adult educational opportunities is vital, and, Rodenhurst added, "Another important idea was that Hawaiian values must become the foundation of Hawaiian education." 'Ehe series of community meetings was called "Ka Ipu o ka 'Ike (the Gourd of Wisdom)," whieh refers to drawing on eommunal

knowledge. Rodenhurst said the meetings helped develop a eonsensus on Hawaiian education to present at the summit. This involved receiving testimony on community needs and desires for Hawaiian education, and developing a list of Hawaiian educational priorities. The Native Hawaiian Education Act (NHEA) was nassed hv Consress in

1988 to address the educational needs of Hawaiians, as documented in 1983 by the Kamehameha Schoolsfunded Native Hawaiian Education Assessment Project. The act's current authorization is for $6.5 million, but the reauthorization probably won't receive as mueh funding, Rodenhurst said. The report generated after the summit will

be submitted to President Clinton and Congress. There are six programs currently funded by the Native Hawaiian Education Act: • Nā Pua No'eau, a UH Hilobased education project for gifted and talented children; • Pihana Nā Mamo, a special education program with the

Department of Education (DOE); • the Native Hawaiian Higher Education Program, a counseling and scholarship program at [the] Kamehameha Schools; • the Native Hawaiian Model Curriculum Implementation Project, whieh involves improving the Kamehameha Schools Early Education Project (KEEP); • the Kamehameha Schools

graphic by Jacob McGuire Family-Based Education Centers, prenatal care and preschool services; and • the Pūnana Leo Project, native Hawaiian language immersion preschools. Those attending the community meetings were asked to fill out a questionnaire asking for a defmition of Hawaiian education, and

to identify the educational opportunities needed for Hawaiians, current educational programs that need to be improved, expanded or abolished; and systems or mechanisms whieh need to be implemented for Hawaiian education. Parental and family involvement was the most important area needing improvement, according to comments made March 29 in Honolulu at Lin-

eoln Elementary (whieh serves the Papakōlea, Kewalo, and Kalāwahine homesteads) and April 1 at Nānāikapono Elementary in Nānākuli. At Lineoln, one of the participants called for strong grassroots parental

involvement in the education process, lamenting that parent groups are currently not organized enough to make a differenee, and seem to be ignored by the DOE. Fred Cachola, Kamehameha Schools community education director, suggested Hawaiians need an ongoing education advocacy group, sort of "a Hawaiian board of education," to monitor

and advocate for Hawaiian educational programs. Cachola stressed to the parents that education is more than just a school process, it also involves the family and community. And it's a lifelong process: learning should continue uninterrupted "from womb to tomb," he said. Parents also need education, said Nānākuli meeting participants. Parents need to be taught educational strategies:

one participant noted that some parents get mad when their ehildren eome home with homework, because they don't understand homework's purpose. Another speaker said some parents also need to be taught parenting skills, and still another said walk-in counseling should be

available for all family members. At Nānāikapono, Mamo Aki, who handles parental involvement for the Pihana Nā Mamo program, said that in her job she visits homes to leam about families' lifestyles and attitudes toward education, and suggests ways to improve students' athome learning environments. continued on page 20

Ka Ipu O Ka 'lke

Rona Rodenhurst

Mana'o on Hawaiian education

continued from page 13 Parents have been supportive and teachers have noticed students' improved concentration and heightened enthusiasm, she added. Teacher Diane Hina Kahanu, citing the Wai'anae Coast students' low test scores, said, "We need some major help. ... drastic help, as quick as we ean get it. Help us." Kahanu cited high teacher turnover as needing improvement. One idea to help students at no cost, but whieh currently won't work because of poor teacher retention, is to have the kindergarten teacher move up with her class to first grade, and have the second-grade teacher

move up with her class to third grade. Teaching the same students for two years allows for a bond to develop between the teacher and eaeh child, whieh helps the learning process. Kahanu lamented the failure of the public schools to fully implement school/community-based management, and complained that "everything is dictated from above by the DOE." For example, she said, in order to share food with her students she has to deal with mountains of palapala (paperwork). "I can't share food in my classroom: that's pupule (crazy), that's so Westem." Sandy Combis, director of the Marimed Foundation's Holopono Program (an oceangoing education project), said Westem edu-

cation's way of labeling students hinders, rather than helps, them. She said Hawaiian youths some-

times just need attention and encouragement, whieh ean prove the "experts" wrong: "Leaming disability? What leaming disability? Come here, I'll show you!"

Nānākuli High teacher Kimo Kelii said Hawaiians are failed by Western ideas imparted by Western teaching methods; another participant said homeschooling should be promoted so parents ean see there is an alternative to mainstream education. Other mana'o expressed were that ho'omana (spirituality) should be emphasized and that Hawaiian youth should be taught to have pride in their culture. Cachola suggested that what he called "special places," places with historic or cultural signifieanee, such as Kūkaniloko, the royal birthing stones near Wahiawā, be used as "classrooms" so Hawaiian youth ean be enriched while being educated.

Auntie Sara Kauka said at Lineoln School that we should look to the community, especially kūpuna, to help educate. Kūpuna may not hold college degrees or teaching credentials, but they have experience and a desire to share their mana'o with others. Kelii said the state should bring higher education, namely a eollege campus, to the Wai'anae Coast. "For our kids from Wai'anae, Leeward (Community College) is foreign to them; it's in Pearl City, it's not even in the community." OHA's Rodenhurst plans to hold community meetings on education every year. "People value education, they know it's important, but they don't know how to access it," she said.