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November 20, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Vocational Training

100 years ago, a 1920 ‘A Survey of Education in Hawaii’ addressed the Islands occupational needs and opportunities – the implementation of manual labor and vocational training was strongly suggested for Hawai‘i. The 1920 report concluded,

“From the foregoing analysis of the occupational needs and opportunities of the islands it is clear that a course of school study and training which is limited to the usual academic subjects would ignore almost entirely the very heart of the life and work of the islands. …”

“Nevertheless, outside of teaching, the islands offer comparatively few opportunities in the professions; therefore, the great mass of the children and young people now in the schools, if they are to become stable, self-supporting, worthy members of society must find their opportunities either in agriculture itself or in occupations directly related to agricultural enterprises. …”

“It should be required that every boy and girl going through school, no matter where headed, should spend some time each day on the farm in gaining through actual experience a firsthand knowledge of what it means to farm in Hawaii in a practical way. …”

“In connection with the public-school system of the islands there is no work in manual training, cooking, agriculture, industries, music, art, or in vocational activities beyond the meagerest beginnings. An exception to this statement, however, should be pointed out, in that many of the schools have accomplished satisfactory results in developing school gardens and also in encouraging the making of gardens in the homes. …”

“On account, therefore, of inadequate maintenance funds at the command of the educational authorities of the Territory, all those activities which are now generally accepted as being necessary parts of an all-round effective education have been impossible of accomplishment, and in this respect, again, as compared with progressive mainland communities, the educational authorities of the islands are badly handicapped.” (p. 45)

The term manual and industrial education refers to either the manual labor system and/or manual training system in vogue during the 19th century. Charles Bennett coined this term. (Beyer)

“If the term ‘manual training’ seems abrasive to the contemporary reader, it’s understandable. However, at the turn of the century, the term may not have had the connotation of semi-skilled, hard physical labor that it does at present.” (Broadbent)

Manual and industrial education emphasized a curriculum where learning was accomplished by both the hands and the mind. After becoming institutionalized in Europe, it next took root in the United States.

Since the primary sponsors of Western education for Hawaiians were either American Protestant missionaries or their children, who usually returned to the U.S. for their college education, it is apparent that Hawaiian education had an American influence. (Beyer)

Vocational education means “organized educational programs offering a sequence of courses which are directly related to the preparation of individuals in paid or unpaid employment in current or emerging occupations requiring other than a baccalaureate or advanced degree.” (Perkins Act 1990)

The Core of Traditional Native Hawaiian Education was Based on Vocation (that Included Appropriate Protocols)

“The ideals of Hawaiian education are the same throughout its many fields, from what Westerners would consider the most utilitarian to the most intellectual or religious.”

“Indeed, the utilitarian were considered ‘oihana ‘ike ‘professions of knowledge’, and the intellectual and religious always had a practical purpose. As in much Asian philosophy and religion, knowledge should lead to wisdom, competence, service for others, health, long life, and so on.” (Charlot)

Practicality or usefulness is a high ideal of Hawaiian education that is applied to all branches of learning. Knowledge and activity should have a waiwai ‘virtue, value, or benefit’. These ideas continued into post contact times. (Charlot)

Before the foreigners arrived, Hawaiians had a traditional 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.

Learning was accompanied by prayers, kapus, rules, and regulations: Ma na oihana hana a pau o Hawaii nei, ua aoia me ke kapu wale no ‘In all the work occupations of Hawai‘i, they were taught only with the kapu’.

The student had to follow the kānāwai ‘laws’ of learning to achieve effective knowledge, especially in such fields as sorcery, but also in spear throwing, boxing, and wrestling. Laws had to be followed also in the practice of professions such as fishing, tapa making, and house building.

Joseph Emerson states that canoe making “became a religious rite all through.” Hula and other kinds of training demanded sexual abstinence. Kamakau (February 10, 1870) describes the strict kapus enjoined while educating children from chiefly, priestly, or professional families. Education was provided in temples for some occupations. (Charlot)

Post-Contact (after James Cook arrived (1778)), The King and Chiefs Sought Education in Western Vocational Skills

Post contact, this idea of functional education addressing specific skills is exemplified in a letter 15 Chiefs (including King Kamehameha III) signed on August 23, 1836, asking the missionaries to send more teachers. The Chiefs’ focus was on teachers to teach specific vocational skills. The letter (initially prepared and signed in Hawaiian is translated below):

“Regards to you, our friends in America,”

“Here is our hope for the improvement of the lands here in Hawaii. Give us more instructors like those you have in your land, America. These are the kinds of instructors we are considering: A carpenter, A tailor, A house builder, A cobbler, A wheelwright, A paper maker, A maker of lead printing type, Farmers who know the planting and care of cotton and silk, and sugar refining. A maker of fabric, and carts suitable for heavy work.”

“A teacher for the chiefs in matters of land, comparable to what is done in enlightened lands. And if there are other things appropriate for those endeavors, those as well.”

“If you agree and send these teachers, we will protect them when they arrive, provide the necessities to make their professions viable and give our support to these needed endeavors.”

(The letter is signed by 15-chiefs, including Kauikeaouli (King Kamehameha III.) Na Kauikeaouli, Nahiʻenaʻena, Na Hoapili Kane, Na Malia Hoapili (Hoapili Wahine?). Gov Adams (Kuakini), Na Kaahumanu 2 (Kīnaʻu), Kekāuluohi, Paki, Liliha, ʻAikanaka, Leleiōhoku, Kekūanāoʻa, Kanaʻina, Kekauōnohi and Keliʻiahonui” (Awaiaulu MHM Project 2016)

While missionaries with various skill sets had been in the islands since 1820, this letter identifies the kingdom’s need for teachers in new fields of industry and business.

Shortly after, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sent the largest company of missionaries to the Islands; including a large number of teachers (19, including their wives). The Eighth Company arrived at Honolulu on April 9, 1837 on the Mary Frasier from Boston.

Manual Labor and Vocational Education in Hawai‘i

When the missionaries established schools and seminaries (i.e. the female seminaries, as well as Lahainaluna, Hilo Boarding School, Punahou,) the focus was educating the head, heart and hand.

In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head), the schools provided religious/moral (Heart) and manual labor/vocational (Hand) training.

Post contact but prior to the arrival of the missionaries (1820), “no one bothered to create a formal school system that would teach the natives any of the skills they would need to compete in the international arena. Then, the missionaries came along.” (Broadbent)

The missionary educators in Hawai‘i began to use manual and industrial education in the 1830s as one of several curricular alternatives; after mid-century, they began to steer all of the schools they controlled or influenced towards some form of this educational system. “One of the first vocations to be taught was printing. The printed word was considered essential”. (Broadbent)

By the early years of the 20th century, manual labor/vocational training was the preferred curriculum in both the private and public schools of Hawai‘i. As a result, in terms of length of time and continuity, it was more preponderant than what was practiced in the US. (Beyer)

Lahainaluna was designed first, “to instruct young men that they may become assistant teachers of religion;” second, “to disseminate sound knowledge embracing literature and science;” third, to qualify native school teachers for their respective duties; fourth, “it is designated that a piece of land shall be connected with the institution and the manual labor system introduced as far as practicable.” (Westervelt)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from the Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys. Hilo Boarding school was the first manual labor type school in the Pacific. It instituted a program of rural education based on the idea of learning by doing. (Moe) Oleson brought that philosophy and program to Kamehameha.

While the manual labor system involved the inclusion of working with the hands as part of the curriculum, the manual training system involved instruction of the hands through the specific use of tools. (Beyer)

Later, shortly after the University of Hawaiʻi started (1907,) short courses or ‘special lectures’ of education of “less than college grade” were offered in agriculture as ‘extension’ work.

Nationally, the Cooperative Extension Service was created in 1914 with the passage of the Smith-Lever Act (but it excluded Hawaiʻi.) UH developed its own version of an extension program, which was the basis of a successful appeal to Congress after several years of struggle for Hawai‘i’s inclusion in the Act in November 1928. (CTAHR)

Following adoption of the Smith-Hughes Act, 1917, two types of full-time day classes in vocational agriculture were organized in Hawaiʻi. ‘Type A’ classes (primarily for upper elementary and intermediate grades) are those in which pupils spend approximately half of their school time in the classroom where they receive Instruction in English, mathematics, hygiene, geography, vocational agriculture and other subjects.

The remaining time was spent in the field where the pupils do all of the work on a class project in sugar cane or in pineapple production. Field work was closely supervised by the teacher of vocational agriculture, but all money earned was divided among the boys in proportion to the time they work. They also had a home project.

Under the ‘Type B’ plan (typically for high school students,) pupils did not use a portion of the school time for field work. Practical experience was gained through extensive home project programs. Classroom instruction in agriculture is under the teacher of vocational agriculture, but academic subjects were taken with other pupils of the school under regular teachers of these subjects.

Some schools incorporated the program into their curriculum. Then, the 1967 session of the 4th Hawaii State Legislature resolved that “it is of great urgency to the citizens of this State, adults as well as youths, that there be developed a comprehensive state master plan for vocational education.” A ‘State Master Plan for Vocational Education’ was prepared the next year.

Occupational Needs and Opportunities of the Hawaiian Islands

The 1920 Survey of Education in Hawaii and note that the Commissioner of Education was considering/ implementing manual labor/ vocational training in the schools in Hawai‘i. Of note, the Commissioner of Education’s Survey stated,

“It must be clear that the vocational needs as well as the vocational opportunities of the islands are in large part connected directly or indirectly with the sugar industry, and in a less degree with pineapple growing.”

“Obviously, the educational system of Hawaii must take into account the specific opportunities for employment which the sugar industry affords in all its phases. It is pertinent, therefore, to inquire about the nature of the occupational opportunities which this great industry offers and the qualifications required for success therein.” (p. 32)

The 1920 report goes on to conclude,

“Such a course, beyond that general preparation through securing literacy which an academic course gives, would in nowise minister in any practical way either to the success of the individual in his attempts to find a vocation to which he is adapted and in which he would derive satisfaction, or to the needs of the industries themselves.”

“The schools of Hawaii must see to it that all the children of the islands shall grow up to be literate men and women, and to accomplish this the core of the work of the schools, as of schools wherever placed, must consist of academic studies of the usual type.”

“Furthermore, the schools must see to it that the way is open at the top so that those pupils developing an aptitude for teaching, for law, for medicine, for research work, for linguistics, for the ministry, for journalism, shall secure that broad educational foundation which success in such highly specialized professions demands. …”

“Aside, then, from the core of work running throughout the entire system from the kindergarten to the university which should properly make for literacy, for culture, for general information, for catholicity of view and of interest, the school, at every step of the way, should be laying a foundation for occupational success.”

“The elementary school in this connection, for example, should be devoting much attention to training in the various forms of handwork, manual work, cooking, simple sewing, the making of beds, and the care of the house, [When I was a kid, a lot of those we called ‘chores’ in our house.] the making of school and home gardens, the organizing of pig clubs and poultry clubs, and in the use of tools through making simple repairs and through making articles for use in the home.”

“Every junior and senior high school in the Territory should have near by a well-stocked farm in charge of a practical, progressive, scientific farmer and his wife who herself should be an expert in all those matters properly falling within the field of the duties of a housewife on a farm. …”

“In the classrooms of these schools, a portion of the time could well be devoted to a discussion of those theoretical and scientific considerations which lie back of the problems which naturally grow out of the activities of the farm.”

“The university, aside from offering courses on the campus at Honolulu in applied arts and sciences, could well have a branch set down in one of the islands among the plantations, where the university could send its young men who are looking forward to plantation service in a directive capacity.”

“At such a branch opportunity should be provided whereby a capable young man might spend one-half his time in actual field service and the other half in the college branch working under the direction of persons trained in plantation science. A training of such character, both scientific and practical would offer a satisfactory career to one who wishes to make preparation for it.” (p. 34-36)

The 1920 Survey further called for “for lengthening the school day to seven or eight hours, thereby making it possible effectively to organize agricultural, industrial, manual, and play activities for those children whose parents work in the fields and who but for such opportunities might be running the streets or roads.” (p. 142)

Manual Labor and Vocational Education on the Continent

What was happening at schools in Hawai‘i was consistent with what was happening at schools on the continent.

The rise of the American Education Society in 1815 helped promote the use of manual labor among the theological seminaries. Up to 1829, the most successful manual labor experiment was the one at the Andover Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts. Its voluntary program based upon mechanical labor became the model for other seminaries. In many other schools, it was largely agricultural, and, in the most successful schools, it was compulsory. (Beyer)

The purpose was to help three classes of young men: the “worthy poor” who wanted an education; the “idle well-to-do” who needed proper motives to industry to keep them from dissipation; and the “especially talented” students who needed exercise for the good of their health. (Beyer)

In less than 10 years manual labor became a force as an educational movement. In certain schools, it left a type of work, which grew and became permanent. “In Fellenberg’s academy for the upper classes of society, manual labor was used as a means of physical training. In Fellenberg’s farm and trade school, manual labor was a means of paying for instruction and living expenses.” (Beyer)

“Perhaps the best expression of the need for educating students, who were inclined to favor technical subjects, can be found in the Fourth Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1870-1875, produced in California.”

“The State Superintendent wrote ‘We shall be a poor and dependent people so long as we import from abroad all of those articles of consumption which require the highest order of skilled labor in their manufacture….’” (Broadbent)

“[T]he history of Vocational Education in the United States can be traced back to 1906 with the creation of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. … The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education had as its two basic purposes the education of the lay population relative to the need for industrial education and the necessity of obtaining federal funding to support this effort.” (Broadbent)

The Need Continues to Be Evident

In Hawai‘i and on the continent (then and now), not every student wants to go or is destined to go to college.

“Vocational education wasn’t designed to prepare students for college. The Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, the law that first authorized federal funding for vocational education in American schools, explicitly described vocational ed as preparation for careers not requiring a bachelor’s degree.” (Hanford)

“Congress, in passing the Smith-Hughes Act of 1917, decided that there would be alternative opportunities available for children predicated on their personal proclivities and preferences in learning styles.”

“The Smith-Hughes Act was very specific regarding the intention of the legislation. It was designed to prepare a substantial portion of the workforce for skilled and well paid employment.” (Broadbent)

“‘The early vocational education was driven by a philosophy of fitting people to their probable destinies,’ says Jim Stone, director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education.” (Hanford)

“Vocational education at the secondary level has traditionally had several objectives, including providing students with general employability skills and preparing them to enter paid and unpaid employment in specific occupations.” (National Center for Education Statistics)

“[O]ver the next 78 years Congress incrementally added to the legislation whenever it appeared that some national need existed that vocational educators could possibly solve. In 1929 it passed the George-Reed Act which provided money for agriculture and home economics.” (Broadbent)

“The interest in vocational education in the early 20th century was prompted in part by big economic and social changes. Factory owners were facing a shortage of skilled labor in a rapidly industrializing society. And public schools were seeing an influx of immigrants and farm kids.”

“Many of those kids would have learned farming or skilled trades from their parents in an earlier era. But with the rise of factories, it was no longer safe for kids to learn to work alongside their parents. So they went to high school instead.” (Hanford)

“‘And secondary schools didn’t know what to do with them,’ says Jeannie Oakes, author of Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality.”

“High schools ‘were used to dealing with this very small group of mostly quite privileged children of educated families and they gave them this nice liberal arts education in preparation for the university,’ she says. ‘Well that didn’t seem to be fitting at all for these kids who’d come in from the farms, or these new immigrants. So the idea was, let’s put vocational training into public education and we can solve all of these problems.’”

“By 1937 the enrollment of vocational education had reached 1,500,000 students. Clearly occupationally oriented education or, to use the increasingly archaic term “vocational,” was meeting the educational needs of a good number of students.” (Broadbent)

Today, Hawai‘i has about a 90% high school graduation rate. Pre-pandemic, “The college-going rate had been relatively steady at about 55% for the past several years” (Star Advertiser, March 24, 2021). Today, that puts about half of the post-high school students on the street looking for work. Hawai‘i needs vocational training just as much now, as it did a century ago.

November 13, 2022 by Peter T Young 9 Comments

Hawaiian … Banned?

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

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,

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.

Hawaiian Alphabet

Pīʻāpā

Act_57-Section_30-Laws_of_the_Republic_of_Hawaii-Passed_by_the_Legislature-1896

Civil Laws-Chapter_10-Dept_of_Public_Instruction-paragraph_123-1897

Act_191-Laws_of_the_Territory_of_Hawaii-Passed_by_the_Legislature-1919

Hawaiian-English Schools Number and Attendance

November 6, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Teacherages

The teacher’s home stands in almost the same relation to the school that the parsonage or manse does to the church.

Various names, such as teacher’s home, manse, teacherage, attic apartment, “lean-to,” and dominage, are applied to the district-owned buildings or to rooms in the schoolhouse that provide living quarters for teachers. (Muerman)

In the New England States the academies of the early days usually provided dormitories for the pupils. In these dormitories rooms were frequently set apart for members of the faculty who had supervision over the students who lived in the dormitories.

Several of these academies have been purchased by the school committees for use as public-school buildings, and with this purchase a home is provided for the teacher.

In the year 1894 rural school district No. 1, in Hall County, Nebraska, built a teachers’ home at a cost to the district of $1,000. This is perhaps the first one built by a school district for this purpose.

100 years ago, “It is not difficult to secure the services of competent teachers for such schools as have been supplied with teachers’ homes …”

“… and when good teachers schools as have been supplied with teachers’ homes, and when good teachers have been hired for these schools there seems to be less difficulty in retaining them for a greater number of years than they would be willing to stay in schools where teachers’ homes have not been provided.”

“The teachers who live at these homes are able to do better work; they live at a lower cost; they are happier; they have a place in which to prepare their work undisturbed …”

“… they are free from liability to entanglement in neighborhood differences; they are not so apt to make enemies during the school year because of a change of boarding places …”

“… they have a place in which to entertain patrons of the school, who as a rule are inclined to call on the teachers more often than where they are expected to go to the homes of their neighbors in order to do so …”

“… they go home less frequently on Friday evenings; in fact they live at home, feel at home, act at home, and are at home at the school.” (Muerman)

As part of the national discussion about teacherages 100 years ago, “The discourse about the cottages reveals that the issue is larger than just providing housing for teachers.”

Some saw them as a way to accomplish the goal of integrating scientific management techniques into the education system. “For them, teacherages provided an opportunity to put into practice their theories about home economics, vocational training and the cultivation of community life through schools.”

Others, particularly women, saw teacher housing as one of the several reforms needed to remediate women’s position in education and society. (Felber)

“The system of providing teachers’ cottages is an old one in Hawaii, going back to the middle of the last century. The teachers’ residence was built on the school lot, which was owned either by the Mission or by the Crown. The first cottages were small and primitive, in keeping with the simple architecture of the time.”

“It must be remembered that Hawaii had a highly developed educational system long before the western States were extensively settled. At one time, children were sent from the Northwest and from California to Hawaii to receive their education.”

“From those early days down to [100-years ago], there has been a steady growth in the number and character of the teachers’ cottages.”

100 years ago in Hawai‘i, “constructed cottages compare favorably with the better suburban bungalows and cottages. For example, the type of cottage [then] provided at a number of our larger rural schools would rent in Honolulu for from sixty to ninety dollars per month.” (MacGaughty)

“The school cottages are almost invariably built on the school lot adjacent to the regular school buildings. In most of the larger rural schools, the principal has a separate cottage for himself, or herself, and family.”

“[T]here is no other part of the United States where the teachers’ cottage system has been developed to the degree found in Hawaii. Here, it is a regular feature of all rural schools throughout the Territory.”

“The teachers who are assigned to the rural schools are given lodgings gratis, with no additional charge and in addition to their regular salary.” (MacGaughey)

The following letter from a group of mainland teachers, who came to the Islands 100-years ago, will indicate one reaction of newcomers to the teachers’ cottage system in Hawaii: “To the Editor of the Hawaii Educational Review” …

“Dear Sir: From the deepest gratitude we write this public testimony to the unexpected and very generous welcome the six coast teachers received. No one can fully appreciate the pleasure that we felt unless she too has been a coast girl plunged into the new and not altogether easily adaptable circumstances of a teacher in a plantation school of the Hawaiian Islands.”

“From the moment we crossed the landing place, where we were met by some kindly citizens with cars, and given the best breakfast obtainable at one of the local hotels, until we crossed the threshold of the cottage which was to be our home for the next year, we have felt welcome and wanted.”

“But more especially when we entered the cottage did we see evidences on every side of the thoughtfulness of the men and women of the interior of the cottage had been freshly painted, the necessary furniture had been made the previous school year by the manual training boys and nicely stained during the summer.”

“The windows shone clear and were hung with dainty curtains, and the dressers and tables were fitted out with covers to match. The kitchen was almost completely equipped with the needed utensils, and there was a very complete set of tasteful and pretty dishes – all of which girls especially appreciate.”

“From the outset of the school year, we have been called upon by the women of the plantation, and we really have felt an enthusiasm for entering into community affairs.”

“The clean and dainty appearance of our cottage as we explored it made us long to do the best we could for the boys and girls whose parents had been so thoughtful of us who were almost strangers to them.”

“Since all these things have been done for our comfort, we feel that it would be the least we could do in return to give their boys and girls the best we have of ourselves, our ideals, and our advantages”. (signed, the teachers)

“The effects of the teachers’ cottage system in stabilizing the teaching force are obvious.”

October 3, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Manual

Before her death in 1884, Bernice Pauahi Bishop, heir to the vast lands of the Kamehameha dynasty, established through her will the design to create two private schools, one for boys and one for girls. (Beyer)

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884. She left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.”

She further stated, “I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country; and also to honor the name Kamehameha.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles Reed Bishop, as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s board of trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled. He generously provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate. (KSBE)

Because Pauahi’s estate was basically land rich and cash poor, Bishop contributed his own funds for the construction of several of the schools’ initial buildings on the original Kalihi campus: the Preparatory Department facilities (1888,) Bishop Hall (1891) and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Memorial Chapel (1897.)

In the fall of 1887, preparations for the opening of the boys’ school were nearly complete. A workshop, dining hall, and the first two dormitories had been built at the Kaiwi‘ula campus, where the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum stands today.

An invitation had been sent to all Hawaiian boys over the age of 12 to take the admission test, and on October 3, thirty-seven boys arrived on campus to begin their schooling instruction. (Armstrong-Wassel)

“King Kalākaua addressed the boys in Hawaiian and his remarks were then translated into English. He told the boys that ‘the name the school bears is the name of one who was famous first of all for habits of industry in the fields before he became famous as a warrior.’”

“He emphasized that it was not simply the work of the hands that would lead to success in life, but the intelligence for which His Majesty urged the boys to strive.” (Kilolani Mitchell, noted by Armstrong-Wassel)

“Bishop had supported industrial and moral education for the masses and elite English-standard education for the highest tier of society. His administration marked a turn toward manual and industrial education, as well as increased funding for English-medium education.”

“Although there was already a history of educating Kānaka in higher branches of academic pursuit, Bishop argued against education that failed to produce an industrial agricultural workforce.” (Goodyear-Kaʻōpua)

Reverend William Brewster Oleson was hired from the Hilo Boarding School to become the first principal of the Kamehameha School for Boys at an annual salary of $3000.00 with house and pasturage.

Hilo Boarding school was the first manual labor type school in the Pacific. It instituted a program of rural education based on the idea of learning by doing. (Moe) Oleson brought that philosophy and program to Kamehameha.

By then, Hilo Boarding School was also the model for educating students at Hampton Institute in Virginia and Tuskegee Institute in Alabama.

The Kamehameha school was commonly known as the Manual Department or “The Manual.” (Beyer) The original name of the first school sponsored by the Bishop Estate was actually called the Manual Training School for Boys. (Broadbent)

Oleson penned the school song, “Sons of Hawai’i” together with Theodore Richards who adapts the tune from Yale’s “Wake, Freshman, Wake” and chose the school colors based on Yale school colors. (KSBE)

Oleson brought nine of his most prized pupils with him to Kamehameha Schools to create the school’s inaugural class.

Joining Oleson were WS Terry served as superintendent of shops, Mrs F Johnson was a matron, instructor Miss CA Reamer would later become the principal of the preparatory school and Miss LL Dressler also served as an instructor. (KSBE)

At the opening ceremonies, “Prof Alexander on being asked for remarks expressed his regret that Hon C R Bishop who had such an interest in the school was absent on the Coast. The institution of a technical school had often been discussed in Honolulu.”

“He rejoiced that the wishes of the noble lady foundress had been so successfully carried out. Founded upon a rock the institution he hoped would long stand on the rock and that it would keep the memory of its foundress green until generations yet unborn should call her blessed.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 8, 1887)

A year later the Preparatory Department, for boys 6 to 12 years of age, opened in adjacent facilities. (Organization of the Kamehameha School for Girls was delayed until 1894.)

During a visit to see General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, Hampton’s founder, Oleson picked up the idea of including military training in Kamehameha’s curriculum (1888.) (Rath)

Officers were appointed by Oleson and were responsible for discipline and marching to and from town. Oleson was in charge of drills, but teachers joined in the marches to church or other meetings. In September 1899, the boys wore their uniforms to class and drills.

An interesting side note relates to the role and relationship Pauahi and Liliʻuokalani had with William Owen Smith, the son of American Protestant missionaries.

During the revolutionary/overthrow period, Smith was one of the thirteen members of the Committee of Safety that overthrew the rule of Queen Liliʻuokalani (January 17, 1893) and established the Provisional Government and served on its executive council.

When not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice – Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.) As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō.

October 2, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Binghams and Mid-Pacific Institute

“It was a little acorn, planted in missionary soil, watered by some trials and tears, nourished by the prayers and gifts of many friends, protected and blest, we trust, by one who is our Master, even Christ.”

“A vigorous oak, it is soon to be transplanted to the hills, to spread its branches under the sunshine, the showers and the rainbows of beautiful Manoa Valley.”

“May the blessing of the Lord ever rest upon it, and upon her through whose munificence it is to find its new home.” (Lydia Bingham, 1907)

“Honolulu Female Academy (is) another of the schools provided by Christian benevolence for the benefit of the children of this highly favored land. This institution will, it is hoped, supply a felt need for a home for girls, in the town of Honolulu, yet not too near its center of business.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 13, 1867)

“The inception of this school emanated from Mrs Halsey Gulick. In 1863, when living in the old mission premises on the mauka side of King street, she took several Hawaiian girls into her family to be brought up with her own children … The mother love was strong in that little group as some of us remember.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1897)

The usefulness of such a school became evident; as the enrollment grew, the need for a more permanent organization was required. It became known as Kawaiahaʻo Female Seminary.

In 1867, the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – an organization consisting of the children of the missionaries and adopted supporters) decided to support a girls’ boarding school.

HMCS invited Miss Lydia Bingham (daughter of Reverend Hiram Bingham, leader of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi) to return to Honolulu to be a teacher in this family school; she was then principal of the Ohio Female College, at College Hill, Ohio.

In January 1869, her sister, Miss Elizabeth Kaʻahumanu (Lizzie) Bingham, arrived from the continent to be an assistant to her sister. Lizzie was a graduate of Mount Holyoke and, when she was recruited, was a teacher at Rockford Female Seminary. (Beyer)

What is not generally known is that Lydia and Lizzie’s niece, Clara Moseley, came to Hawai‘i to help at the school.

“(B)efore I was fifteen, a wonderful thing happened to me which probably changed the whole course of my life. Two of my mother’s sisters, Aunt Lydia and Aunt Lizzie, returned to Honolulu, the home of their birth and engaged in teaching in a school for Hawaiian girls which was called Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.”

“It was located at that time on King St. just opposite the Old Mission house where the Mission Memorial Building now stands.”

“My Aunt Lydia was Principal of this school and she wrote to my mother asking if she couldn’t spare me and let me come out and teach music to her girls, knowing that I was musically inclined.”

“When my aunt wrote asking for me, she said she wanted me to have a teacher for a few months intervening before I should leave home, and she would pay for my lessons, so I took lessons … for about three months.”

“Of course my parents were willing to let me go, knowing it was too fine an opportunity for me to miss. A friend of my aunt’s, Miss Julia Gulick, was coming to the states that year so it was planned that I should go back with her.”

“I had planned to stay five years when I first went out to the Islands (however) ‘Old Captain Gelett) felt he must do something to change the course of my life. So he persuaded my aunts to let him send me away to school as soon as I had finished my third year at the Seminary.”

“Accordingly, in August, 1875, I sailed from Honolulu on the ‘DC Murray’ with a group of other young people who were going over to school. This sailing vessel was twenty one days in getting to San Francisco”. (Clara Lydia (Moseley) Sutherland)

Those weren’t the only Binghams involved with the school. Lydia and Lizzie’s brother, Hiram Bingham II, and his wife Minerva (Minnie) Brewster Bingham (she was also called Clara) lived and helped at Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary.

Their son, Hiram III was born at Kawaiaha‘o Female Seminary. (On July 24, 1911, Hiram III rediscovered the “Lost City” of Machu Picchu (which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley). Hiram III has been noted as a source of inspiration for the ‘Indiana Jones’ character.)

In 1905, a merger with Mills Institute, a boys’ school, was discussed; the Hawaiian Board of Foreign Missions purchased the Kidwell estate, about 35-acres of land in Mānoa valley.

By 1908, the first building was completed, and the school was officially operated as Mid-Pacific Institute, consisting of Kawaiahaʻo School for Girls and Damon School for Boys.

Finally, in the fall of 1922, a new coeducational plan went into effect – likewise, ‘Mills’ and ‘Kawaiahaʻo’ were dropped and by June 1923, Mid-Pacific became the common, shared name.

The Bingham children involved at Kawaiaha‘o, Lydia, Lizzie and Hiram, are my GG Aunts &Uncle. Young Clara Moseley is my great grandmother. I was fortunate to have served as the president of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society for 3 ½ years.