Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Minoru Inaba

Minoru Inaba, the third of nine children, was born on February 20, 1904, in Holualoa, Kana. His parents, Hatsuyo and Zentaro Inaba, were immigrants.

“I think they came here during the latter part of the 1890s. Mother came to Kona with my father – that is, Kitao – and my stepfather came from Papaikou to Kana. He was one of the contract laborers in Papaikou.”

“My father was Zentaro Inaba. That’s my stepfather. My mother was Hatsuyo Inaba. Her maiden name was Hatsuyo Miyamoto. Now, my real father, when I was very young, left for the Mainland. And subsequent to that, my [step]father came to Kona and married my mother. As far as I’m concerned, I don’t know my real father. Ever since my childhood, my father was Zentaro Inaba.”

There were nine of us. Seven boys and two girls. The oldest in my family is my sister. She’s Mrs. Ikeda. Then came Albert. By the way, he was the first principal of Japanese extraction in the state. At that time, of course, it was a territory. He became principal of the Honaunau School. Then he moved to Molokai. During his latter years, he became principal of the Molokai High and Elementary School.”

“Then, I’m the third in the family. Below me there are six. Now, right below me is my sister Fukumi. She was teaching at Pahala. … Then comes Yoshio, who’s an engineer. He served, at one time, for the county as a county engineer under Jimmy Kealoha, who was at that time the executive officer of the County of Hawaii. Now, the office is called the mayor’s office.”

“Then comes Norman Inaba. He’s in business in Honolulu. He has a industrial loan company and also a realty business. Then, next comes Goro, who is now at Holualoa. He has a service station and runs the hotel that mother and father built back in 1926.  Then comes Futoshi. He’s in contracting in Hilo. Then, next comes Jimmy Inaba, who’s an auditor.”

Minoru’s parents “built that hotel – Kona Hotel – in 1926. So, they were running the hotel. … Father used to cook, and mother used to clean the rooms and so on. And they had a girl there that did the rooms. Mother did the laundry and things like that. And father did the cooking.”

“Who were the people who used to stay at the hotel? … Oh, most of them were salesmen … Travelling salesmen. Then, we’d have tourists come in once in a while. Because, at that time, the only hotels were the Kona Inn and Manago Hotel in Kona. And, of course, my folks’ hotel.”

“I guess his cooking ability was the reason they opened the hotel. The hotel food was western and Father was quite a cook. He always served soup which was well liked by the customers … beef soup.”  (Minoru Inaba, Social History)

Minoru attended English and Japanese-language school in Holualoa. In 1925, he was one of five students in Konawaena High School’s first graduating class. During his youth, he was active in kenbu (Japanese interpretive dances performed with the aid of a sword), baseball and football.

He worked on the family coffee farm, “there was no other industry in Kona except coffee farming, and the sugar plantation, for a while. And of course, ranching, they had from way back. There was no tourism. No other businesses except coffee farming in Kona.”

“We picked coffee during the day, and then in the late afternoon, grind the coffee so that it could be dried the following morning. In those days, we used to have a coffee platform. We’d spread the coffee out on the platform, and if it looked like rain, we had to push the coffee up to the edge of the platform and cover it with galvanized iron.”

“Then, later on, somebody thought of an idea where the platform would be covered by a moving contraption, where you could move the whole roof on a track. When it rained, you just push it back. When it was sunny, you’d push it out so that the coffee would dry.”

“You know, when you in the seventh grade like that, to carry one bag of coffee was quite a chore. And load three bags on a donkey and come up the trail. When it rain, the donkey would slip on the trail, fall. Had to unload the coffee, get the donkey up, load it again. I know, many times, I used to cry.” (Minoru Inaba)

Until 1925, Minoru took on many jobs – helping on the family coffee farm, doing canefield work, driving a taxi and school bus, working at a sisal mill, working at the telephone exchange, and doing postal work at Holualoa.

Later, Minoru attended the University of Hawaii, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education in 1929. In subsequent years, he served as teacher, counselor, coach and vice-principal. He retired in 1968.

“As time went on, I think there’s been a change. It’s vastly different from what it is today than what it was before. As I said, I think, back when I was counselor, they respected law and order more than they do now. They had little more respect for teachers and the elders.”

“But I wouldn’t say that of every youngster today, but I’m speaking in general terms, now. You don’t have that kind of respect that the early youngsters had for their teachers and their elders today.” (Inaba)

Inaba’s 38 years as a teacher, coach, and vice principal at Konawaena High School from the 1920s made him a respected figure. “He had the respect of two generations. He taught fathers and children,” said Kona rancher and former County Councilman Sherwood Greenwell. (Thompson)

“(A)fter having been with the Department of Education for 38 years, I thought maybe I was due for a good rest and do the things that I wanted to do like fishing, things like this. But it didn’t turn out that way.”

“After I retired, in fact, the year that I retired, people approached me, the community people, and asked me if I would not run for elected office.”

“Not having had any experience, I said definitely no, I’m not interested in running for office but upon so many people coming to my home and insisting I run, I finally decided to run and in 1968 I ran for the office of representative from our district (and served for 10-years).” (Inaba, Social History of Kona)

“What Inaba had done as an educator to build individuals, he did for Kona’s physical facilities as a legislator. Inaba obtained money for a new Kona Hospital, to expand Honokohau Harbor, to drill a new water well, making a community water system possible.”

“I can remember the days (before the well) when we all had water tanks in Kona,” said Marnie Herkes of the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce. Inaba brought money to his district “unfailingly,” Greenwell said. (Thompson) Inaba died June 6, 2002.

Here’s a link to a Kona Historical Society video that includes Minoru Inaba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE2bnqVB_Q0

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Coffee Schedule

“You know, when you in the seventh grade like that, to carry one bag of coffee was quite a chore. And load three bags on a donkey and come up the trail. When it rain, the donkey would slip on the trail, fall. Had to unload the coffee, get the donkey up, load it again. I know, many times, I used to cry.” (Minoru Inaba)

As early as 1684, a grammar school founded in Massachusetts required 12 months of education. In 1841, Boston schools operated for 244 days while Philadelphia implemented a 251-day calendar.

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, large cities commonly had long school years, ranging from 251 to 260 days. During this time, many of these rural schools were only open about 6 months out of the year.  (Pedersen)

The origin for the traditional school calendar based purely on agrarian needs was not entirely accurate. In the 19th century districts organized their calendars around the needs of the community.

For example, some special provisions were made for vacations during September and October for communities with large fall harvests. Prior to 1890, students in major urban areas were in school for 11 months a year. But by 1900, the more popular 180 day, 9-month calendar had been firmly established. (Pedersen)

In the days before air conditioning, schools and entire cities could be sweltering places during the hot summer months. Wealthy and eventually middle-class urbanites also usually made plans to flee the city’s heat, making those months the logical time in cities to suspend school.

By the late 19th century, school reformers started pushing for standardization of the school calendar across urban and rural areas. So a compromise was struck that created the modern school calendar.  (PBS)

In Kona, the harvest of coffee used to set the school calendar.  “(B)ecause coffee was the basic industry in those days, much of the land was planted in coffee, of course. As of now, much of the land has been abandoned. But in those days, coffee was the basic industry in Kona.”

“(T)here was no other industry in Kona except coffee farming, and the sugar plantation, for a while. And of course, ranching, they had from way back. There was no tourism. No other businesses except coffee farming in Kona. … Most of the families were farmers. … coffee farmers.” (Minoru Inaba)

“As early as 1916 a ‘coffee vacation’ of three weeks in each November was an established institution in central Kona, where 95 per cent of Hawaii’s coffee industry is located.”

“It continued up to 1924, when the ‘vacation’ became optional – each school deciding when and how many weeks the vacation may be held each autumn.” (Inouye)

Then, in 1931, “A special vacation of three weeks for all schools in Kona has been sanctioned by the department of public instruction … The length of the vacation was a compromise between four or five weeks wanted by the (coffee) planters, and two weeks favored by most school principals.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Sep 23, 1931)

That, apparently, wasn’t good enough to address the needs of families of Konawaena – a couple weeks later it was announced, “Members of the Kona-waena Parent-Teacher association gave their unanimous approval at a meeting yesterday …”

“… to the plan to change the Kona-waena school year from September to June to December to September, allowing school children to assist in the coffee harvest during the months of September, October, and November.”

“The action was taken to eliminate the so-called ‘coffee vacation’ which makes it necessary for students to make up the time lost by attending school during the Thanksgiving holiday period and for five Saturdays after the first of February.”

“Much opposition had developed to the coffee vacation and the new proposal was suggested as a means of adapting the school year to the needs of industry in the Kona district.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, Nov 23. 1931)

The Star Bulletin announced “Change in Vacation Time at Kona-Waena … With the approval of the new vacation schedule for the Kona-waena high school and grammar school in Kona by the West Hawaii commissioners, the annual vacation will be shifted from summer to winter.” (SB, Feb 13, 1932)

“)B)ecause of the need of the farmers to have their children help them on the farms, the coffee schedule was established. And the coffee schedule ran from … August, September, October, November – those three months – was the regular vacation – coffee vacation. This is the time when it was coffee season, you see?” (Minoru Inaba)

“(T)he summer vacation was really a fall vacation and started around the 16th of August and went through to about the 16th of November. So, that took most of the football season. The community associations didn’t get into football, because that would have only hurt the reason for the schedule as it was.”

“It would take kids away from picking coffee and helping their families. I think eventually, though, these kids found other things to do – possibly (because of) family transportation. Kids found other things to do a lot better than picking coffee.” (Sherwood Greenwell)

“You see, how they got that, you have to have the school kids pick coffee, eh? That’s the only way they can help the parents, by picking coffee. So, if you stay home from school, you lose that much education. I guess they entered a resolution or whatever you call it. Anyway, they got their school to change the time … that’s when you’re picking coffee.”

“We [normally] go back September. … the peak season is right when the school go back. So, they change it so that they have their Kona schedule on a coffee harvest time. Well, it worked out all right like that.” (Willie Thompson)

“(I)n the earlier days, on off season, the time before harvesting and after trimming, there weren’t job opportunities for the farmers. There was a criticism – probably doesn’t hold as much today because there’re not as many schoolteachers that are in the coffee business – but a lot of the schoolteachers that came back here, came back here because they had coffee farms – their

families had coffee farms.”

“Well, the coffee schedule really ended because the families could no longer get the kids to come back and spend the time on the farms to pick coffee, which the coffee schedule was supposed to take care of.”

“But those teachers that had coffee farms were more concerned about their coffee operations really than they were on their teaching. The teaching gave them the security of a steady income, while the coffee income was what they were really concerned about.” (Sherwood Greenwell)

“There were probably five or six years of where there was a question, (should) the coffee schedule be continued or (should) they give it up?  This became quite a hassle. It was kept, I think, longer than it was practical.”

“Probably for one reason more than anything else, and that was that a lot of the farmers felt that it was a concession that they had somehow gotten that was very important to them. Not that it was that worthwhile to them, but it was a concession that government had given them and they wanted it sort of there, even though it wasn’t working out as well as it should.”

“So, I think that probably extended the [time].  And it also – you got a feeling from the attitude of some people that if you were for going back to the regular schedule, that you were an enemy to coffee.”

“This was a feeling, I think, that a lot of people had who would like to have seen the thing [coffee schedule] dropped. It took some time and some guts for most of the people to overcome that feeling. So, I think it did continue longer than it should have.”

“I think it would have been better for the kids and everybody that it would be over with sooner. Kids going into college off the Kona schedule, college almost had started before they graduated, and I don’t think it helped that type of education – you know, ongoing education – for the kids.”  (Sherwood Greenwell)

Kona was not the only place with crop-based vacations … “(O)ne year, we were cutting back across the states, and there was a kid in Idaho fishing at a stream where we were fishing. We asked him how come he wasn’t in school. He said, ‘oh, spud vacation’. What they did was, school was let out at the height of the potato harvesting season for two weeks.”

“Something like that probably would have been a better way of doing it. Going on the regular schedule and then just having a vacation tied right into the harvesting period.” (Sherwood Greenwell)

“Then, the coffee kind of faded out. All the new teachers, they didn’t like teaching when all the other teachers have a rest, and they working. Then, they changed back to the regular. Then, the weather kind of changed too. Not much coffee. The season kind of different, too. So, that’s how they got the schools like that … about in the ’60s, they changed back to the regular schedule.” (Willie Thompson)

“I think, at the beginning, there was a real reason for it and I think it worked out very well. I think it strengthened the ties within the family where they all were working together for something.”

“I know it’s been said at times, if you had someone applying for a job that came from Kona, he was a good worker. He had good loyalty and he was a good worker. I think that all comes from that period where everybody in the family worked hard together.” (Sherwood Greenwell)

In 1932, the school coffee schedule was inaugurated. There are 1,077 coffee farms in Kona, covering 5,498 acres. The farms ranged in size from 3 to 30 acres, with the average size being 5 acres.

Kona students picked a total of 25,320 bags during their “summer” vacation period between October and December in 1932.  (Social History of Kona)

On June 20, 1968, “The Kona coffee schedule of November – to – August year for Kona schools was ended … in a complicated series of actions by the State Board of Education.  The board thus ended a 36-year-old unique tradition devised to free youngsters to pick coffee during the harvest months of September and October.”

A transition year in 1968-69 was “a temporary measure to provide time to plan for implementing an entirely new system in the 1969-70 school year.”  (SB, June 21, 1968)

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Mauna Loa Boys School

“In 1945 Governor Ingram Stainback requested that Director of Institutions, Thomas B. Vance, concentrate his efforts on developing self-supporting prison industries.”

“With that in mind, Kulani Prison Camp, opened in 1945 as the successor to Waiakea Prison Camp, operated a lumbering enterprise producing logs and milled lumber of native hardwoods as materials to be processed and sold from Oahu Prison’s industrial area.” (Department of Institutions Summary 1939-1958)

The development of Kulani Camp and its means of access, the Stainback Highway, fell under the management of Vance. (Maly)

“Kulani … provided a reservoir of manpower for the construction of public roads on Hawaii …. – roads that would have been economically prohibitive if built under contract.” (Department of Institutions Summary 1939-1958)

Today, Kulani Correctional Facility (KCF) is a 200-bed minimum security prison located on the slope of Mauna Loa, approximately 20 miles south east of Hilo, Big Island of Hawai’i.

In addition to the Kulani Prison Camp, in 1946, they planned the Mauna Loa Boys School. “There is nothing experimental about the boys’ school project. It is to be built four miles from the proposed new prison site”. (Honolulu Advertiser, October 2, 1946)

The plan was to “move delinquent boys from Waialee [on the North Shore of O‘ahu] to Mauna Loa, on Hawai‘i.” (Star-Bulletin, Jan 4, 1947)

In addition, “The purpose of the Mauna Loa camp is to segregate the older juveniles from Koolau where they are an influence on younger delinquents.” (Hawaii Tribune Herald, July 31, 1953)

“Work got under way thus week on Mauna Loa boy’s forestry camp on the Big Island. Because all bids were higher than the territorial department of institutions could afford, prisoners from Kulani project and the boys who will occupy the camp are to finish the work.”

“The camp is five miles north of Kulani Project.” “It is built on the same plan as the new Koolau Boys’ home on Oahu. Forty boys whose ages range from 16 to 19 will be quartered there.” (Star-Bulletin, Oct 5, 1950)

“The Mauna Loa Forestry Camp will open officially tomorrow … ‘I believe that the Mauna Loa Forestry Camp program will quickly evolve into one of the most forward looking steps that the territory has taken in mapping a solution to the problem of youth offenders.’”

“The fourteen young men from Koolau are almost all in the 18 and 19 year old age group. They are a highly selected group of young men who have not only volunteered for the forestry camp assignment but who have insisted on it”.

“‘The plan for the young men to take over the forestry camp at this time,’ Mr. Vance [Director of Public Institutions] said, ‘came about as a result of the Lions trip to the summit of Mauna Loa.’”

“‘Four of the young men from Koolau spent Thursday and Friday nights, at the forestry camp March 20 and 21 and joined the Lions on the Mauna Loa summit trip March 22. They asked their superintendent, Mr. Henry, for a conference with me before the Lions left the mountain summit.’”

“‘The conference was held at the United States weather bureau laboratory atop Mauna Loa. The four young men from Koolau asked for the privilege of completing their own structure at the forestry camp, rather than having Kulani do it for them. They reason that it is their plant.’”

“‘They are not boys; they are young men who are just as capable or heavy construction work as the men at Kulani. Many of the forestry camp’s young men will soon be due for parole or discharge. Before that time, they want to make a constructive contribution to the building of the camp.’”

“‘I was somewhat surprised to find that occupancy of the forestry camp and the initiation of a CCC type of operation represents the realization of a dream to the young men in our training school system just as much as it does to me.’”

“‘When the four Koolau boys’ home visitors to the forestry camp returned to Koolau, they presented their plan to William G Among, superintendent, division of training schools. He and I then conferred and the plan was approved.’”

“‘The fourteen young men at the forestry camp will be housed in the duplex staff apartment of the main structure until they complete their own quarters.’” (Superintendent William Henry, Hawaii Tribune Herald, April 3, 1952)

By 1953 the facility was operational, but legislative appropriations did not make ends meet, “‘We find it impossible to operate Mauna Loa within our budget.’ [William Among, superintendent of the division of training schools] said. “There is an $11 per capita per day expense at Mauna Loa and the legislature has only given $2.60 to meet this.” (Star Bulletin, Sept 8, 1959)

When Territorial House members toured the camp in 1953 they called the project “one of the most expensive and impractical projects ever constructed in the Territory of Hawai‘i”. (DLNR)

“Before it went into full operation there was a change of administrations”. “One man’s dream of a better life for delinquent boys has become an efficiency expert’s nightmare.” “Defenders of the original plan say it was not given a chance.” The camp was closed on October 1, 1953.

However, it was not always rosy when it was operating. “The propensity for escape by these inmates debuted July 19, 1952, when 14 boys walked away from a picnic on Coconut Island and scattered all over Hilo. … It took 25 policemen more than 14 hours to round up the escapee”. There were other escapes.

Likewise, “Inmates at reform schools have a penchant for stealing cars, and those at Mauna Loa Forestry Camp were no exception. On Sept. 17, 1952, three youths stole a panel truck and went for a joy ride up the Stainback Highway …”

On their return, the driver “lost control of the speeding truck. It went off the road and overturned several times.” One of the occupants “was pinned under the wreckage and killed. … [the driver] was later charged with negligent homicide and sentenced to five years in Oahu Prison.” (Warshauer)

“Nobody knows what to do with the Mauna Loa Forestry Camp, rising like a fortress of concrete and steel in a rain-drenched mountain fortress 28 miles from Hilo.” (Star Bulletin, Sept 8, 1959) It was temporarily turned into a warehouse.

Since closure the facility was used intermittently by Kūlani Correctional Facility and by the military for training. (DLNR) “On June 15, 1969, the Division of Forestry and Fish and Game of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources issued a permit to the 29th Infantry for field training. The assaulted the abandoned building June 19-23, 1969, leaving it the wreck it remains today.” (Warshauer)

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Heʻeia

The nine ahupuaʻa of Kāneʻohe Bay, beginning at the boundary between Koʻolauloa and Koʻolaupoko Districts (west) and moving eastward, are Kualoa, Hakipuʻu, Waikāne, Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Waiheʻe, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāneʻohe.

The ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia and Kāneʻohe also included portions of Mōkapu Peninsula (Heʻeia runs from the mountains to the sea, but also crosses over a portion of the water in Kāneʻohe Bay and includes a portion of a Mōkapu peninsula across the Bay.)  Heʻeia also includes Moku-o-Loʻe (Coconut Island,) Kahaluʻu includes Kapapa Island and Kualoa includes Mokoliʻi.

The name of the land of Heʻeia is traditionally associated with Heʻeia, the handsome foster son of the goddess Haumea and grandson of the demigod ʻOlopana, who was an uncle of Kamapuaʻa.

Heʻeia was named in commemoration of a tsunami-type wave that washed Haumea and others into the sea – a great tidal wave that “washed (he‘e ‘ia) … out to sea and back” (Lit., surfed, or washed (out to sea,) or swept away.)

They swam until they were exhausted and were finally washed ashore at Kapapa Island in Kāneʻohe Bay. It was the handsome Heʻeia who fell in love with Kaohelo, a younger sister of Pele and Hiʻiaka, whom he met in Koʻolau, Oʻahu.  (Devaney)

In ancient Hawai‘i, fishponds were an integral part of the ahupua‘a food source.  Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures in near shore waters to raise fish for their communities and families.  Loko iʻa (fishpond) were used for fattening and storing of fish for food and also as a source for kapu (forbidden) fish.  Walled, brackish-water fishponds were usually constructed on the reef along the shore and one or more mākāhā (sluice gate.)

Heʻeia Fishpond’s wall was one of the longest, extending nearly a mile.  As a large pond, it is subject to considerable evaporation, increasing salinity in the pond; as such, fresh water is added.  Heʻeia is somewhat unique in that it has mākāhā gates on the mauka wall to control the flow of fresh water.

Kalo (taro) was a main staple in the diet of nearly all Hawaiians prior to European contact and was extensively cultivated.  As early as 1789, Portlock described this area:

“… the bay all around has a very beautiful appearance, the low land and valleys being in high state of cultivation, and crowded with plantations of taro, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane, etc. interspersed with a great number of coconut trees ….”

The region had a considerable amount of land cultivated in taro up through the early-1800s.  “Southeastward along the windward coast, beginning with Waikāne and continuing through Waiāhole, Kaʻalaea, Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe, were broad valley bottoms and flatlands between the mountains and the sea which, taken all together, represent the most extensive wet-taro area on Oʻahu.” (Handy, Devaney)

The rains that sweep through here have been memorialized in poetry and song.  A traditional mele honoring Kaumuali‘i suggests “the sound of heavy rain drops on dry leaves, or dry thatching of the pandanus leaf, … of the rain accompanying the koʻolau wind, which calms the troubled waters”.

This “heavy-sounding rain” of the Koʻolau has been transformed into a poetical saying, “Ka ua kani koʻo o Heʻeia, The rain of Heʻeia that sounds like the tapping of walking canes”.  (Fornander)

During the early historic times, many of the ruling chiefs favored this area as their place of residence. Kahahana the ruler of Oʻahu sometimes resided there. Kahekili after defeating Kahahana lived in Kailua, Kāneʻohe and Heʻeia.

The Sacred Hearts Father’s College of Ahuimanu was founded by the Catholic mission at Ahuimanu, Heʻeia in 1846.  “Outside the city, at Ahuimanu, Maigret has now a country retreat that he refers to by the Hawaiian word māla.  It is a combination garden, orchard and kitchen garden. …”

“The venerable bishop has built his own vineyard and planted his own orchard … His retreat in the mountain, his “garden in the air” as he terms it, is a pleasant and profitable sight … When the pressure of events allows it, Maigret takes refuge there.” (Charlot)

One of its students, Damien (born as Jozef de Veuster,) arrived in Hawaiʻi on March 9, 1864, at the time a 24-year-old choirboy.  Determined to become a priest, he had the remainder of the schooling at the College of Ahuimanu.  Bishop Maigret ordained Father Damien at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in 1864 and later assigned him to Molokaʻi.  In 2009, Father Damien was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI.

The earliest of the modern large commercial agricultural ventures started with the cultivation of sugar cane in Kualoa in the 1860s. By 1880, three more sugar companies had emerged in Kahaluʻu, Heʻeia and Kāne’ohe. Heʻeia Sugar Company (also called Heʻeia Agricultural Co. Ltd) operated from 1878 to 1903.

In 1880, the region reported 7,000-acres available for cultivation; in 1883 a railroad was installed at Heʻeia, and by the summer of that year it was noted that the railroad had allowed a much greater amount of land to be harvested, even allowing cane from Kāneʻohe to be ground at Heʻeia; however, the commercial cultivation of sugar cane was short-lived.  (Devaney)

Rice cultivation did not occur in earnest until the decline of sugar, and in 1880 the first Chinese rice company started in the nearby Waineʻe area. Abandoned systems of loʻi kalo were modified into rice paddies. The Kāneʻohe Rice Mill was built around 1892-1893 in nearby Waikalua.

Another commercial crop, pineapple, was also grown here, starting around 1910.  By 1911, Libby, McNeill & Libby gained control of land here and built the first large-scale cannery with an annual capacity of 250,000-cans at nearby Kahaluʻu; growing and canning pineapples became a major industry in the area for a period of 15 years (to 1925.)

The US military first established a presence on the Mōkapu peninsula in 1918 when President Woodrow Wilson signed an executive order establishing Fort Kuwaʻaohe Military Reservation (the western portion of Mōkapu is within the Heʻeia ahupuaʻa.)

Today, Marine Corps Base Hawaiʻi continues to serve as a fully functional operational and training base for US Marine Corps forces. The Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) here operates a 7,800-foot runway (on the ahupuaʻa of Heʻeia) that can accommodate both fixed wing and rotor-driven aircraft.

With World War II underway, the Navy recognized the need to be able to communicate across the Pacific.  In 1942, a group of radio experts determined a superpower radio station with across-the-Pacific range might be built provided that the antenna could be raised high enough above the ground.

The solution was to find a topographic feature that would act like the “unbuildable” tall tower.  Using technology developed pre-World War I, they strategically positioned four Alexanderson Alternators; one was located in Haiku Valley in Heʻeia.  Haiku Valley with its horseshoe shape and sheer side-walls filled the prescription perfectly.

To build it, mountain climbers pounded spikes into the vertical cliff, then added wooden stairs up the mountain.  A lift to haul up materials was added and they strung cables across the valley.  The Alexanderson Alternator radio system, transmitting Morse code across the Pacific, was operational in 3-months.  A reminder of that facility is the Haiku Ladder, Haiku Stairs – the Stairway to Heaven (a 3,922-step ladder/stairway ascending the summit of the Koʻolau mountain range.)

Today, Windward Mall, portions of Windward Community College, Valley of the Temples, Tetsuo Harano Tunnels (H3,) Hawaiʻi Institute for Marine Biology, MCBH, Heʻeia Kea Small Boat Harbor and a bunch of other folks call Heʻeia home.

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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.

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