Kam Schools admission policy

[Miulang]

I don't have one single ounce of Hawaiian blood in me, and I don't really think people with no Hawaiian blood quantum have a right to admission to Kamehameha Schools as long as there are qualified kanaka maoli students applying.

Why are non Hawaiians seeking admission? For the superiority of the education that Kamehameha Schools gives it students? The scholarships? The Hawaiian immersion programs? I don't think I've ever seen any reasons publicly stated for non-Hawaiians to want to gain entrance.

Can anyone on this forum tell me (if you're non-kanaka maoli) why you would want to go to Kamehameha?

Maui had its own case of a non-Hawaiian kid (who did have a Hawaiian surname) being accepted and then rejected when the admissions board did some investigation and discovered he was only hanai.

Miulang

Story here: http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/17/news/story1.html

[scrivener]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

I can think of four very, very good reasons, all of them related to money.

First, Kamehameha is a school loaded with money. More money means better facilities, infrastructure, technology, support, and opportunities.

Second, the sports teams are always competitive. I don't happen to agee with a reason like this, but some people's kids have devoted a lot of time and energy on athletics, and they want to attend schools where they have a chance to play for winners.

Third, the education is outstanding. Kamehameha pays its teachers quite well, meaning it can select from among the best. You probably didn't know this, but Kamehameha's team in the Oahu Mathematics League consistently places in the top three-to-five (of thirty teams), and that's only one example (one I can give with some authority, as I coach another team in the OML).

When you get all this for a paltry $1,518 tuition per year (at the high school level), you can see why non-Hawaiian parents would at least have their children apply. Compare that with:

• ASSETS: $14,050
• Mid-Pacific Institute: $11,800+
• Punahou: $11,400
• Academy of the Pacific: $11,202
• La Pietra: $10,475
• Iolani: $10,300
• St. Andrew's Priory: $9.050

these stats from the NAIS tuition report for 2002-2003.

I have a few problems with the way Kamehameha does things, but it could charge ten times what it currently charges and the education available to your kids would still make it an incredible deal.

[Miulang]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

I can think of four very, very good reasons, all of them related to money.

There's that "M" word again. I was hoping I would hear some other compelling reason why a non-Hawaiian parent would want to try to get their kid into Kamehameha. So what's wrong with a public school education if one can't afford a private school education? Could it be that the public education system stinks? And why is that? Not enough tax-supported funding?

If non Hawaiian kids could get the same level of education guaranteed to them that they would get at a Punahou or Kamehameha or Iolani, would there still be this hue and cry about unfairness? I don't think so.

Miulang

[Albert]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

There is absolutely no reason in the United States of America for a child to be denied access to an educational institution because of who the child's parents or grandparents or great-great-grandparents were.

It is blatant discrimination, even if originally well intentioned.

[Miulang]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

There is absolutely no reason in the United States of America for a child to be denied access to an educational institution because of who the child's parents or grandparents or great-great-grandparents were.

It is blatant discrimination, even if originally well intentioned.

Eh Albert, it's called "getting their just reward". For way too many years, the Hawaiians and Native Americans have been relegated to the bottom of the heap for just about everything except mineral and land rights. This was especially true of their education. How can "these people" make better lives for themselves if they can't get a good education?

The interesting dichotomy is that many people think anybody should be able to get into a place like Kamehameha, and yet no one is really saying the same thing about Native American Indian Reservation Schools. Why is that?

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

There is absolutely no reason in the United States of America for a child to be denied access to an educational institution because of who the child's parents or grandparents or great-great-grandparents were.

It is blatant discrimination, even if originally well intentioned.

Hey, isn't this part of the "No Child Left Behind" Act of the Bush Administration? Why are kids still being left behind?

I have cousins who graduated both from Kamehameha and Punahou, and besides being extremely brilliant, I think in the case of my cousins who graduated from Punahou, it also helped to have "sponsors" (e.g., alumni of high standing) who helped them get in through good references. Is this not discriminatory, too, to a kid who's bright but has no contacts in the "old boy" network? Besides, a private school, since it doesn't have to rely on public funding and generally has an endowment of some sort, can determine its admission policies any way it wants to.

I also know that sometimes private school teaching credential requirements are not as stringent as those required in the public schools, and yet public school teachers get paid less to deal with more kids per class.

Miulang

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

I have kids (six of them) who have gone thru both public and Kamehameha School from pre to 12th grade and can see the differences in public vs private. I've been on public school boards so I know you cannot compare the two entities.

It is a shame that there is this discrimination going on however the Hawaiians need schools that cater to their culture and KSBE does that. The campus culture that exists among students (at least at the Kapalama/Oahu campus) is like family. You can see it at the song festivals, their on-campus events and even their Christmas program.

Being non-Hawaiian myself I have no problem being discriminated against by not being able to take advantage of the many programs that KSBE provides for Hawaiians like my wife. I wish I had just a drop of Hawaiian because there are so many programs for Hawaiians not only from KSBE but from OHA as well to get Hawaiians educated and to start up small businesses. Being Japanese in Hawaii there seems to be nothing out there like there is for Hawaiians but I have no problem with that.

When it comes to education KSBE's financial resources are limited (albeit a lot) but in the past when admission was based on a lottery system, there were quite a few Hawaiians who never took advantage of what the school was offering thru education. I have friends who went to KSBE and barely graduated because they skipped class, or just didn't want to educate themselves. They basically blew their chances of a great education.

KSBE realized if they want smart Hawaiians, its better to educate the best and the brightest of them and encourage them to "give back" when they graduate to their community and culture. That's why some Hawaiians weren't admitted.

If you were a parent of a college student and that student didn't try their hardest under your nickle how would you feel about supporting their college tuition year after year knowing your child is only goofing off instead of learning. That's what the trustees felt so they shifted their attention to the best and brightest Hawaiians, those who wanted to learn.


In turn those who graduated did so with high academic marks. My 20-year old boy who graduated from KSBE is now a sophmore at UH and he wants to become a teacher to help Hawaiians learn and become smarter in today's world. He's giving back from the education granted him thru KSBE. My wife who never went to KSBE but received scholarships from them to go to UH and Chaminade is completing her Masters in Early Childhood Education and is currently a site manager for East Hawaii's Headstart program, helping title 1 families (mostly Hawaiian) get their special needs children educated to meet the goals set forth by the No Child Left Behind act. She's giving back to the Hawaiian community because KSBE gave her the chance to better educate herself. This is what KSBE wants from their graduating seniors and college students because spending money on education this way helps all Hawaiians in the long run.

Whatever is left over (annually) is spent on subsidizing public schools that have an emphasis on Hawaiian culture in their curriculum and managing satellite pre-schools in impoverished Hawaiian communities statewide. It is this two-pronged effort by KSBE to take care of Hawaiians who are struggling now and for those Hawaiian keiki entering the pre-school system to give them a jump start in education.

Hawaiians have a culture unlike Western ideology and the keiki have a harder time with the western education system. That's why KSBE has to focus on Hawaiian children over non-Hawaiian. It is discriminatory but it's necessary for the plight of the Hawaiians and I support KSBE for those efforts.

If you're a poor non-Hawaiian there are still programs that can accomodate you. That doesn't stop KSBE from contributing to those causes as well.

[Miulang]

Re: Kam Schools admission policy

It is a shame that there is this discrimination going on however the Hawaiians need schools that cater to their culture and KSBE does that. The campus culture that exists among students (at least at the Kapalama/Oahu campus) is like family. You can see it at the song festivals, their on-campus events and even their Christmas program.

Eh Craig, I tink you wen hit 'em right on da kinipopo wit dat one. The feeling of ohana is what's lacking in the public school system today, regardless where the school system is ("move 'em in, keep 'em from getting bored, move 'em out").

For kids especially, it's important to "belong" to a group, which is why cliques in high school exist. So if Kamehameha fosters a sense of ohana that the public school doesn't engender, maybe that's the intangible that non-Hawaiians long for (besides the fact that it's a damned good education) and why they clamor to have access to this education.

I still wonder why there isn't this hue and cry to keep non Native American kids out of reservation schools, though...

Miulang