Simply stated … the Hawaiian language was never banned.
That does not mean, however, that the use of the Hawaiian language did not diminish, nor that Hawaiian language speakers did not decline. But it is not correct to say the Hawaiian language was ever banned or outlawed.
Many Point to a 2022 Resolution as ‘Evidence’ that the Hawaiian Language was Banned
In 2022, the Hawai‘i legislature adopted HCR 130 and “offers this resolution as an apology to the Native Hawaiian people for the effective prohibition in Hawaii schools of the instructional use of ‘Ōlelo Hawaii from 1896 to 1986”.
Like a lot of others, the legislature overlooks some historical facts and historical context, including,
The Resolution states Act 57, Laws of the Republic of Hawaii 1896 “declared an English-only law over Hawaii’s public schools, prohibiting the use of ‘Olelo Hawaii as a medium instruction”.
- Like many others, the legislature only referenced one part of the sentence in Act 57; the entire sentence reads, “The English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the schools, or by direct order in any particular instance.”
The plain language of the law is clear and unambiguous; and, there is no statement that the Hawaiian language was banned. If a school wanted to teach Hawaiian, it could seek permission from the Department.
An example of non-English language school instruction in the Islands was the formation and upward trend of instruction in the Japanese language schools in Hawai‘i. (These were typically after school instruction.)
This claim of ‘banning the Hawaiian language’ (because of this law or for other theories) ignores what people back then believed and/or preferred.
The legislature overlooked that Kings of the Hawaiian Kingdom wanted English language instruction and the people asked for it. By 1850, English had become the language of business, diplomacy, and, to a considerable extent, of government itself.
The legislature overlooks the downward trend in enrollment and number of Hawaiian language schools that was evident well before the enactment of the law.
- In 1854, there were 412-Hawaiian language instruction common schools with a total enrollment of 11,782-pupils; By 1874, the number of common schools declined to 196, with only 5,522-students enrolled (71% of the overall student population.) By 1878, 61% of the students were still enrolled in Hawaiian language schools; by 1882, that figure had dropped to 33%.
- In 1895, the year before Act 57 was implemented, there were only 3 Hawaiian language schools with only 59 students – at the same time, there were 184 English language schools with 12,557 students – 99.5% of the students were in English language schools.
According to the Alexander and Atkinson, the reason for such a decline in Hawaiian language schools was,
“the desire of the Hawaiians to have their children taught the English language. Petition after petition is constantly being received by the Board asking to have the Common Schools [i.e., those taught in Hawaiian] changed into English Schools. The result will be then in a very few years more the Common Schools will have ceased to exist.”
The legislature overlooks the existence and expansion of the Hawaiian Language Newspapers in circulation; the numerous Hawaiian language newspapers that existed well beyond Act 57 (1896) confirms the Hawaiian language was not banned.
- Between 1834-1948, Hawaiʻi saw the publication of over 100 different Hawaiian language newspapers. Approximately 125,000 pages were published, equating to roughly 1.5 million pages of ‘ike if transferred to A4 typescript.
I agree with the legislature that “due to Act 57, many students were punished for speaking ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i at school.” Others were punished at home.
However, those were personal family and school decisions, a choice each of them made; that was not the result of a broad ban on the language. And, we need to consider the norms at the time related to Corporal Punishment – back then, many believed that corporal punishment was necessary to the maintenance of proper discipline, and it was common to use Corporal Punishment for disruptive and/or disrespectful behavior.
In reality, then and now, the use of force (by parents on their children and teachers on students) was an allowed and accepted practice of discipline.
Corporal Punishment was allowed under Hawaiian Kingdom law authorized by the King and Privy Council; as noted in Statute Laws of His Majesty Kamehameha III, 1846, Chapter III.
Use of force continues to be allowed under existing Hawai‘i law. Today, in Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (HRS) §703-309 Use of force by persons with special responsibility for care, discipline, or safety of others, the use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable.
This discussion is not a defense of nor support for Corporal Punishment; it is presented so readers have the correct historical context.
Simply stated … use of the Hawaiian language was never banned by law and the historical facts prove it. This is further explained in the following.
Early Education Programs in the Islands
When Captain Cook first made contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through oli (chants) and mele (songs).
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, priests, etc.
The arrival of the first company of American missionaries marked the beginning of Hawaiʻi’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. The missionaries established schools associated with their missions across the Islands.
Interestingly, these same early missionaries taught their lessons in Hawaiian to the Hawaiians, rather than English. The missionaries learned the Hawaiian language, and then taught the Hawaiians in their language. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians.
Kuykendall (Volume 2) helps to explain the formation/operations of the early education programs in the Islands, “[T]he American Protestant missionaries were the most potent driving force in the educational system of the kingdom; natives educated in schools founded and carried on by missionaries and missionary children constituted a great majority of the teachers in the common schools, while many missionary children became teachers in select schools.”
“All the schools in the kingdom could be divided into two main categories: (1) common schools and (2) select schools. The common schools were the free public schools maintained by the government. whose object was ‘to instruct the children of the nation in good morals, and in the rudiments of reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, and of other kindred elementary branches.’”
“They were taught in the Hawaiian language by native Hawaiian teachers and afforded the only educational opportunity available to the great majority of the children of the nation.”
“Select schools, besides being, as the term implied, of better quality than the common schools, had various special objectives: to qualify their students for positions above the level of the common laborer, to teach them the English language, to supply teachers for the public schools, to train girls to be good housewives and mothers. In most of the select schools, English was the medium of instruction and a tuition fee was charged.”
“The Missionaries have been the fathers, the builders and the supporters of education in these Islands”. (Lee, December 2, 1847, Privy Council Minutes)
As time moved forward from the mid-nineteenth-century, to the end of the nineteenth-century, and after many meetings of the Board of Education, vocational education was implemented in to the school system. (Iaukea)
King Kamehameha III also saw the importance of education for all. “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” was adopted 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 Law People Cite Does Not Ban Hawaiian – No Other Law Banned the Hawaiian Language
Many point to Act 57, Sec. 30 of the 1896 Laws of the Republic of Hawai‘i as the justification for their claim that Hawaiian was banned. That law states:
“The English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the schools, or by direct order in any particular instance. Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department.”
Some suggest that the law passed by the Provisional Government that required English language instruction was “an intentional effort to strip language and culture from Native Hawaiians and other groups that came here. But it was more harmful to Hawaiians because Hawaiian had been the primary language for centuries.” (Star Advertiser article)
Statements like this ignore the facts. A simple review of the law shows that the language was not banned.
The plain language of the law is clear and unambiguous.
There is no statement in that that the Hawaiian language was banned. While it did say that “English language shall be the medium and basis of instruction,” the very next words in the same sentence of the law says, “provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department.” So, if a school wanted to teach Hawaiian, it could seek permission from the Department.
Growth in the Japanese Language Schools
An example of non-English language school instruction in the Islands was the formation and upward trend of instruction in the Japanese language schools in Hawai‘i. (These were typically after school instruction; however, they were schools providing instruction in another language, other than English.)
In 1898 (well after the law was passed mandating English as the medium and basis for instruction), Rev. Okumura wanted to create educational opportunities for children of Japanese immigrants and requested the Ministry of Education in Japan to help provide Japanese language textbooks.
These textbooks were identical to the ones used in Japan and had been used by many schools. The number of schools expanded to a total of 134 by 1915.
Kings of the Hawaiian Kingdom Wanted English Language Instruction; the People Asked For It
This claim of ‘banning the Hawaiian language’ (because of this law or for other theories) ignores what people back then believed and/or preferred.
English was taught in Select Schools; that program was not funded by the government. As early as 1851, it was noted (Richard Armstrong, Minister of Public Education to the Hawaiian Legislature), that,
“What seems to be most needed now, is provision for the instruction of the interesting and increasing numbers of white and half-caste children in the several white settlements on the Islands; but more especially in Honolulu: and for natives who wish to acquire the English language.” (emphasis added)
Kuykendall (Volume 1) notes that the people wanted their children to be taught in English; in 1853, Armstrong wrote,
“On my tours around the Islands, I have found parents everywhere, even on the remote island of Niihau, most anxious to have their children taught the English language; and the reason they generally gave was a most sound and intelligent one, that without it – they will, by-and-by be nothing, and the white man everything.” (emphasis added)
Interest and motivation for Native Hawaiians to learn English had the attention of Kamehameha III. At the opening of the 1854 legislative session, King Kamehameha III gave the following remarks (in part),
“I have ordered my Minister of Public Instruction to submit to you, at length, the important subject of the education of my people, as the surest means of elevating them in the scale of morals, and of usefulness to themselves and the State.”
“There is a growing desire among my native subjects, that their children should acquire a knowledge of the English language, and considering the universality of that language in all the transactions of business, such a desire is very natural.” (emphasis added)
Accordingly, the legislature passed An Act for the Encouragement and Support for English Schools for Hawaiian Youth, July 20, 1854.
At the opening of the 1855 legislative session, King Kamehameha IV gave the following remarks (in part), saying,
“To foster education and widen every channel that leads to knowledge, is one of our most imperative duties. … It is of the highest importance, in my opinion, that education in the English language should become more general, for it is my firm conviction that unless my subjects become educated in this tongue, their hope of intellectual progress, and of meeting the foreigners on terms of equality, is a vain one.” (emphasis added)
At the opening of the 1856 legislative session, King Kamehameha IV gave the following remarks (in part),
“It is particularly gratifying to know that instruction in the English language is prosecuted with so much success among my native subjects. I recommend you to make as liberal a provision for the support of this class of schools as the state of my Treasury will admit.” (emphasis added)
At the opening of the 1860 legislative session, King Kamehameha IV gave the following remarks (in part),
“The all-important subject of Education now occupies the public mind with more than usual interest, and I particularly recommend to your favorable notice the suggestions of the President of the Board of Education, with reference to substituting English for Hawaiian schools, in so far as may be practicable, and also in relation to the granting of Government aid towards independent schools for the education and moral training of females.” (emphasis added)
At the opening of the 1862 legislative session, King Kamehameha IV gave the following remarks (in part),
“The importance of substituting English for Hawaiian schools I have already earnestly recommended, and in again bringing the subject to your attention, I would touch upon a matter which I think of equal importance, and that is in raising the standard of elementary education in the Common Schools.” (emphasis added)
Wist, in A Century of Public Education noted,
“Native youths, and to some extent their parents, saw the economic advantages in a knowledge of English. Kamehameha IV and later monarchs favored the change. Thus gradually there were accumulating numerous forces in favor of the dominance of English.” (emphasis added)
Enrollment Declines in Hawaiian Language Schools
Another issue people overlook was the obvious downward trend in enrollment and number of schools that taught in the Hawaiian language that was evident well before the enactment of the 1896 law.
Al Schutz, in The Voices of Eden, notes that School Attendance records clearly show the downward trend of student enrollment in Hawaiian language schools and the increases in enrollment for English language schools. That trend started well before the 1896 law. The following is a copy of Schutz’s table 16.1 (p. 352)
As noted by Schutz, “The figures in table 16.1 are corroborated by statistics from a different source, an article on the history of education in Hawai’i (Alexander and Atkinson 1888): in 1878, the schools that taught in Hawaiian contained 61.8% of the total school population, but in 1888, only 15.7%.
In the year the law that mandated English as the medium of instruction (1896), the number of Hawaiian language schools had dropped to only 3 schools and 59 students in Hawaiian language schools. In contrast, the year the law was adopted, the number of English language schools had grown to 184 schools and over 12,500 students – 99.5% of the total school enrollment in the year the law was passed was in English language schools.
According to the Alexander and Atkinson, the reason for such a decline in Hawaiian language schools was,
“the desire of the Hawaiians to have their children taught the English language. Petition after petition is constantly being received by the Board asking to have the Common Schools [i.e., those taught in Hawaiian] changed into English Schools. The result will be then in a very few years more the Common Schools will have ceased to exist. (emphasis added)
It is very likely that the change to English only in instruction was at least in part a business decision; but nobody suggests that – they fall back to the colonialism and race-based claims.
However, the attendance data is clear, enrollment (and the number of school) in Hawaiian language schools had been in decline for many years and were almost gone at the time the law that mandated English as the medium of instruction was passed.
The Existence and Expansion of the Hawaiian Language Newspapers (1834 – 1948) Confirms the Hawaiian Language Was Not Banned
The proliferation of Hawaiian language newspapers, well after the so-called ‘ban,’ verifies that Hawaiian was not banned and was part of society. Of note, “Between 1834-1948, Hawaiʻi saw the publication of over 100 different Hawaiian language newspapers.” (Lorenzo-Elarco)
The University of Hawai‘i prepared a brief chronicle on the Hawai‘i newspapers,
The first newspaper printed in Hawaii was a student newspaper, Ka Lama Hawaii (The Hawaiian Luminary), produced Feb. 14, 1834 at Lahainaluna on Maui. It was written in Hawaiian, as were many of the early Island newspapers. …
The longest running of these papers was Ke Aloha Aina, begun in 1895 by Joseph and Emma Nawahi. Joseph Nawahi was a journalist – statesman who severed in the first Territorial legislatures. After his death, Emma Nawahi edited the paper through its last issues in 1920.
A summary prepared by J. Hauʻoli Lorenzo-Elarco titled ‘He Hōʻiliʻili Hawaiʻi: A Brief History of Hawaiian Language Newspapers’ confirms the existence and continuation of Hawaiian language newspapers that went well beyond the effective date of the law that many claim ‘banned’ the use of the Hawaiian language.
That summary states,
Between 1834-1948, Hawaiʻi saw the publication of over 100 different Hawaiian language newspapers. Approximately 125,000 pages were published, equating to roughly 1.5 million pages of ‘ike if transferred to A4 typescript.
Another summary by Joan Hori, Hawaiian Collections curator at Hamilton Library, University of Hawai‘i noted,
Ka Hoku o ka Pakipika (started in September [1861]), edited by David Kalākaua, was followed by Ka Nupepa Kuokoa in October. This latter newspaper was to become the longest lasting Hawaiian language newspaper, published monthly in October, November, and December of 1861, and weekly thereafter until December 29, 1927. In the course of its history it would absorb a number of rival newspapers. According to Helen Chapin the editors of Kuokoa …
John Reinecke writes, ‘The Kuokoa (1861 to 1927) in particular was for the long while a journal of opinion as well as information and afforded an outlet for the literary and didactic ambitions of Hawaiians.’ (Hori, Hamilton Library, UH)
Corporal Punishment
As noted, there are many reports of families not letting children speak Hawaiian – those were personal family decisions, a choice each of them made; that was not the result of a broad ban on the language. Likewise, people report they or their family members were beaten for speaking Hawaiian in school.
The following is not a defense of nor support for Corporal Punishment; it is presented so readers have the correct historical context.
In order to understand his position, we need to look at the historical context of corporal punishment. Why is this important?
It is important because the claims the people were beaten for speaking Hawaiian give the impression that Corporal Punishment at home and in the schools was beyond the norm and was an unacceptable form of discipline.
Calling it out gives the impression that this form of discipline was overly aggressive and punitive, beyond the standard of the day. Doing so gives a false impression of what was the norm/acceptable at the time.
In reality, then and now, the use of force (by parents on their children and teachers on students) was an allowed and accepted practice of discipline.
Corporal Punishment was allowed under Hawaiian Kingdom law authorized by the King and Privy Council; as noted in Statute Laws of His Majesty Kamehameha III, 1846, Chapter III. Of the Public and Private Schools:
“Section XV. It shall be lawful for any licensed teacher in actual employment in any sub-division of any of said districts to administer correctional punishment to the pupils of his school when, in his judgment, necessary, and the teacher so acting shall not be in any way amenable therefor:”
Use of force continues to be allowed under existing Hawai‘i law.
Today, in Hawai‘i Revised Statutes (HRS) §703-309 Use of force by persons with special responsibility for care, discipline, or safety of others. the use of force upon or toward the person of another is justifiable.
That commentary within the Hawai‘i State laws goes on to state,
“The section is substantially in accord with preexisting Hawaii law. Hawaii law permits parents “to chastise [their children] moderately for their good.” Under prior law, any corporal punishment was permitted if reasonable. To the extent that Hawaii case law suggests that the parents have uncontrolled discretion to discipline their children, the Code represents a change.”
“Similarly, teachers have had authority under Hawaii case and statutory law to use force to maintain discipline in the schools. The punishment must have been reasonable, and the teachers’ discretion was considered less extensive than that of parents.”
This was not unique to Hawai‘i.
A 2016 book abstract of Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: Prevalence, Disparities in Use, and Status in State and Federal Policy by Elizabeth Gershoff and Sarah Font states, “School corporal punishment is currently legal in 19 states, and over 160,000 children in these states are subject to corporal punishment in schools each year.”
There are men alive today (in the Islands and on the continent) who, when students, made their own paddles in shop class – and, when discipline at school was necessary, carried that paddle to the principal’s office for a paddling.
Other stories of Corporal Punishment by Nuns in Catholic Schools, as well as teachers in other schools, are notorious.
This discussion is not a defense of nor support for Corporal Punishment; it is presented so readers have the correct historical context.
(I realize this is already long, but the following link provides additional information showing that the Hawaiian language was not banned:)
Click to access Hawaiian-Language-Was-Never-Banned.pdf
Simply stated … use of the Hawaiian language was never banned.
