Adjusting to life in Hawai'i
By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer
As a high school teacher 15 years ago, Robert Stevens took a brief class on the lifestyle of military families.
The Radford High School principal found the knowledge invaluable in working with students on a campus where as many as 80 percent of the teens come from military homes.
He has been looking for something similar ever since.
Now a continuing-credit course that's under development may be just what Stevens has wanted.
The Joint Venture Education Forum, a partnership between the state's military community and the Hawai'i Department of Education, next semester will offer a Military Culture Course to Hawai'i teachers.
Similar courses have been offered on teaching Hawaiian, Samoan and Filipino students.
Stevens said that in a time of war, a course on military culture becomes even more important. Several students on his campus have been affected by the Sept. 11 attacks and have had additional stress placed on their families by the prospect of wartime deployments.
The course also will cover the issue of military children constantly being moved from one school to another, the social and emotional stress of having to make new friends and the lack of an extended family support system.
Allen Awaya, a former Department of Education teacher, University of Hawai'i at Manoa assistant professor and the educational liaison for U.S. Pacific Command, will teach the course.
"There are different issues that military students bring in terms of transition," Awaya said. "Hawai'i has particular issues of its own that can make it difficult for children to adjust."
For example, military students, often raised to call adults sir and ma'am, have trouble adjusting to calling adults Auntie. Pidgin is a considerable stumbling block, too, Awaya said.
About 14,000 of Hawai'i's students come from military families, most of them heavily concentrated in about 25 schools on O'ahu. About 75 percent of the state's military student population is in the DOE's Central District.
The course will start at the Radford complex first, which includes Radford High School and its feeder elementary and middle schools. From there, it may extend into the Kane'ohe or Wahiawa areas.
The one-credit, professional development course will be administered by the UH Outreach College. For $65, teachers can take the 15-hour course and work on projects that may help give military families a better introduction to Hawai'i.
Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.
