Kamehameha Schools Admissions Policy

[Miulang]

It's absolutely outrageous that a Federal Appeals Court should favor the admission of non-Hawaiians into Kamehameha Schools because the current admissions policies are racially based, especially with the fate of the Akaka Bill still in limbo.

Even though the attorney for the unnamed plaintiff thinks the issue is dead with this ruling, boy is he ever dead wrong. I don't have a drop of Hawaiian blood in me (although I have cousins who do) and I don't see any reason why, if there are qualified kanaka maoli children, a non Hawaiian should be admitted. What are the motives of the parents of the unnamed nonHawaiian child in the first place? To get the child a subsidized high quality education? To immerse the child in the kanaka maoli culture?

I have a feeling it's because the parents want the best for the kid, but they also don't want to spend the money to send the child to an Iolani or St. Louis or Punahou or Mid-Pac, which also offer high quality education...at a price.

If Kamehameha School has to start admitting nonHawaiian kids and they can't selectively choose only students of kanaka maoli heritage, maybe they can have a "resident" - "nonresident" policy. All the state colleges charge one fee for people who prove they have resided in the state v. someone who is coming from another state to go to school. So, maybe the Kamehameha School Board of Trustees can have a sliding scale for admission. Give the "scholarships" (scholarships handed out to particular racial groups are still legal, as far as I know) to the kanaka maoli kids, but charge the true cost of a Kamehameha School education to the parents of the non-kanaka maoli. Then maybe those parents will realize what the intent of the legacy of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was: to preserve the culture of the kanaka maoli and to teach the keiki their obligation to give back to their community. And then they'll try to get their kids into Punahou, St. Louis, Iolani or Mid-Pac, among other private schools instead.

Miulang

[lurkah]

Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

The decision overturns a decision against a challenge by a non-Hawaiian student.

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

The decision overturns a decision against a challenge by a non-Hawaiian student.

Haha! My comments were posted about 5 minutes before yours in the odda Kamehameha Schools thread! You KNOW this issue isn't dead yet.

Miulang.3333333<----Shimai (one of da popokis I get) wanted to say something too (he just stepped on da keyboard)

[lurkah]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Haha! My comments were posted about 5 minutes before yours in the odda Kamehameha Schools thread! You KNOW this issue isn't dead yet.

Oh...but I thought dis major announcement deserved its own thread.

[LikaNui]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

The decision overturns a decision against a challenge by a non-Hawaiian student.

Also in the Advertiser at http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../br/br01p.html .

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

OK, if da government wants to play stinky lidat wit one private institution (which is what Kamehameha Schools is, after all), then the Board of Trustees should welcome the non-Hawaiian students in (assuming there are open slots available for non-Hawaiian kids whose test scores are comparable to the kanaka maoli students). Then, they should continue to award "scholarships" to all the Hawaiian students out of the trust fund set up by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop and charge the non-Hawaiian students the true cost of what an education at Kamehameha Schools would be. If the non-Hawaiian parents realized how much a Kamehameha School education is going to cost them, they might have second thoughts about trying to get their kids into the school. If the "real" tuition was comparable to say, a Punahou, wouldn't the non-Hawaiian family rather have their kid go someplace like that (assuming the kid can get in to Punahou in the first place) rather than have to put up with the disdain from the local community? And if you asked the kid if he really wanted to go to Kamehameha, he probably wouldn't care; it's his PARENTS who want a subsidized education for him.

I find it horribly ironic that the judge ruled on this while the Akaka Bill is still in limbo. But I also know that the issue isn't dead yet, despite what the plaintiff's attorney thinks. (he doesn't realize how stubborn and tenacious the kanaka maoli can be when they are fighting for their rights).

Miulang

[Keith H.]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

I find it horribly ironic that the judge ruled on this while the Akaka Bill is still in limbo. But I also know that the issue isn't dead yet, despite what the plaintiff's attorney thinks. (he doesn't realize how stubborn and tenacious the kanaka maoli can be when they are fighting for their rights).

That's actually a good question to ask...personal opinions about the Akaka Bill aside, what do you think is going to happen to support for it? This could conceivably be considered a direct attack on the Hawaiian people...

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

That's actually a good question to ask...personal opinions about the Akaka Bill aside, what do you think is going to happen to support for it? This could conceivably be considered a direct attack on the Hawaiian people...

Based on the judge's findings, I think he either 1) was not considering the status of the Akaka Bill at all, or 2) he was assuming that the Akaka Bill isn't going to pass, which personally I doubt it will now, given what I've been reading about certain Senators who believe that it's discriminatory to single out the kanaka maoli for assistance.

I don't know how a bunch of politicians who have never lived in Hawai'i can pass laws that are going to determine the future of a whole group of people who have lost so much.

Miulang

P.S. The plaintiff in the case will be entering 12th grade this coming Fall. What kind of parent would want to uproot his kid from his friends when he only has one year of high school left? I think the only reason they pursued this case is because of the precedent it sets for allowing other non-Hawaiian students into KS. Imagine, being a "poster child" to prove a point. That's child abuse, because the attorney says the kid's name will probably be made public next week. The Hawaii Channel (KITV) has a poll on its website (www.thehawaiichannel.com). The opinion is running about 3 to 1 against the judge's ruling. And I'm assuming it's not just people with vested interests in KS who are voting "no".

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

OH well the sh*t just hit the fan I guess. With this ruling I would think the trustees will reconsider it's support for the DOE and all of it's public schools because now KSBE will have to redirect it's funding towards it's own Hawaiian educational programs. The implications will be widespread. Suddenly the DOE will have to begin funding for itself the programs KSBE subsidized.

I do believe what Miulang indicated that KSBE should honor the Kanaka Maoli or native Hawaiians scholarships to attend their schools while granting full admission to non Hawaiians but charge them the full tuition costs competitive to Punahou, Mid Pac, Iolani whatever.

The key to remember is that Pauahi did indicate that KSBE was set up for the orphans of Hawaii...meaning the future generations of Hawaiian children orphaned by their ruling government...the Hawaiian Monarchy.

All children of Hawaiian descent are considered orphans of the monarchy and as such restricting assets to only those children can't be construed as discriminatory.

The Trust fund known as KSBE is like any family or corporate trust fund limiting it's dispersal to only beneficiaries of the trust...the orphans of the Hawaiian Monarchy. If the federal government says that's illegal then every family trust set up for the dispersal to only family members (Campbell estate, Damon Estate, Miulang estate, Kimo55 estate...whoever) will also be considered constitutionally discriminatory. But it's not!

The fact remains that in order to benefit from the trust, you have to be a beneficiary or in this case, the children of Hawaii, defined as orphans of the monarchy. This nails those beneficiaries to those descendants of Hawaiian blood. This is a bloodline trust much like a trust drafted for families like yours and mine but on a broader scale.

So let KSBE allow non Hawaiians to be admitted but charge those of non-Hawaiian blood the maximum tuition costs. I think it's good that non Hawaiians should bear the brunt of monetarily fixing the mess they created in the first place...the ILLEGAL OVERTHROW OF THE HAWAIIAN MONARCHY by financing Hawaiian's reparations.

This is why the Akaka bill cannot pass thru legislation. Doing so defines Hawaiians as Native Americans...something they never were or should become. Denial of the Akaka Bill allows Native Hawaiians to form their own self-governance and declare dual citizenship. When that happens KSBE cannot be discriminated against because the Kanaka Maoli will rule itself under it's own constitution.

Passage of the Akaka Bill is detrimental to all Hawaiians. It takes away the very essence of what a Hawaiian is, a citizen of the nation of Hawaii by calling them indigenous countrymen of a nation that overthrew them. In other words a total slap in the face.

KSBE is trying to preserve the essence of the cultural and financial strengths of what is left of the Kanaka Maoli. This ruling and passage of the Akaka Bill only attempts to destroy what's left of a mighty and proud people.

For crying out loud...leave these people alone. The U.S. Government took away their lands, their government, their rights, even their culture. Now they want to take their financial domain and spread it to non Hawaiians all the while stripping them of their very essence...being a native of Hawaii.

I'm proud to be an American however this action is a total travesty to the Kanaka Maoli. My grandfather was shamed to be Japanese when his motherland bombed Pearl Harbor. I'm beginning to feel the same way.

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

My kane (who is a white bread haole from Joisey) and I were discussing this topic over Gardenburgers this evening. Even HE is incensed at the judge's decision. He pointed out that this precedent could be even more far-reaching than the admission policies at Kamehameha Schools.

Suppose, for instance, that a gentile wanted to go to a private Jewish School (yeshiva). Suppose that there were admission criteria that said only bar or bat mitzvah'ed Jews or children of Jews could attend yeshiva. With the KS decision, what would prevent a gentile who knows squat about the Jewish traditions from being granted admission? Zippo.

This decision is going to be appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the court is so unbalanced in favor of the conservatives, I fear that the kanaka maoli and every private school that was established to try to preserve a cultural heritage and language would be in jeopardy. Why would anyone who has all sorts of other alternatives still have the audacity to try to change something that was created as a legacy to a monarch's people? Just to say it can be done? This is typical of the way Americans act...damn tradition; I just want it MY way. This is how the kanaka maoli got in trouble in the first place: in return for the respect that they gave to their visitors, all they got was the loss of their lands, their culture, their language and the future of their people.

Miulang

[adrian]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Why does a non-hawaiian want to attend Kam anyway?

What special privilage gives him the right to attend a Hawaiian school?

What, Punahou not good for him?

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Why does a non-hawaiian want to attend Kam anyway?

Because at $1600 per year it's WAYYYY cheaper to send a child there than to Punahou.


What special privilage gives him the right to attend a Hawaiian school?

He's white! Come on man don't you know all whites are bred superior than any other race on earth? Hitler thought so...hmmm I guess Jewish people aren't white enough!


What, Punahou not good for him?

Hey I said they're superior, not wealthier. It seems the white man who wants to send their kids to KSBE is of the poor variety who cannot even get their kid into established white schools because even the white frown on the white...economically that is.

[Miulang]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

Why does a non-hawaiian want to attend Kam anyway?

Because at $1600 per year it's WAYYYY cheaper to send a child there than to Punahou.


What special privilage gives him the right to attend a Hawaiian school?

He's white! Come on man don't you know all whites are bred superior than any other race on earth? Hitler thought so...hmmm I guess Jewish people aren't white enough!


What, Punahou not good for him?

Hey I said they're superior, not wealthier. It seems the white man who wants to send their kids to KSBE is of the poor variety who cannot even get their kid into established white schools because even the white frown on the white...economically that is.

I thought Punahou, Iolani, Mid Pac, etc. gave out scholarships to financially needy kids?

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

they do but they don't advertise that fact...what needy kids tainting the snob appeal of Punahou! How dare!

[adrian]

Re: Court rules against Kamehameha Schools admission policy

If you want to know what mainlanders think, I've posted the article here.