COMMENTARY
Hawaiians deserve access to quality education

By Hamilton McCubbin

When Native Hawaiian leaders attempt to address the plight of the Hawaiian community and how it can improve upon the well-being of its people, they point to education as the answer.

The Native Hawaiian Education Project, a study completed in 1983, spotlights the poor and indigent of Hawaiian ancestry as those most in need of assistance, and as appropriate targets for dramatic improvements in their well-being.

Since then, we have witnessed noteworthy achievements, namely the cultivation of Hawaiian leaders and growth in the Hawaiian middle class.

Unfortunately, the Native Hawaiian people, as a whole, with a profile of vulnerability, poverty, health risk and social ills, remain relatively unchanged over the same 21 years.

Let us heed the wisdom gained in the struggles of African-Americans.

Franklin Raines, the black CEO of Fannie Mae, reported to the renowned black historian and scholar, Henry Louis Gates Jr., in the Sept. 26 New York Times: "We don't need to take everybody from the ghetto and make them Harvard graduates. We just need to get folks to 'average,' and we'd look around and say, My God, what a fundamental change has happened in this country."

By making a serious investment in providing greater access to quality education for the poor and the indigent of Hawaiian ancestry, with the goal of bringing them to a minimum of "average" or what some would call "industrious men and women," we, too, would be profoundly impressed.

Simply, if we made a commitment to providing equitable and strategic access to quality education, Hawaiians would have more graduates from high schools, more with college degrees, more with professional and managerial jobs, and have millions more in income.

More Hawaiians would have more in equity value, more in the stock market, more in retirement funds, more who own homes, and have more in the bank

I asked my colleagues — retired Army generals David Cooper and Irwin Cockett, and Navy Capt. Al Pauole of the Pacific American Foundation and Hana Engineering, to share their vision and strategy for changing things around for the Hawaiian people.

They chanted the theme of "economic empowerment" and catching the waves of emerging business initiatives which will serve the Hawaiian people by promoting Hawaiian-owned businesses and increasing job opportunities, training and placement for Hawaiians worldwide.

The educated "good and industrious men and women" of Hawaiian ancestry will be more competitive in the global economy and of vital importance to present and future economic growth in Hawai'i and the world.

Even as the Hawai'i congressional delegation remains steadfast in raising the consciousness of its colleagues to the pressing needs of the Hawaiian people through the Akaka bill, the inspiration to address the educational needs of all Native Hawaiians falls prey to politics and self-serving leaders.

Scarce financial resources may be placed in communities just to say "we are (politically) there for you." Funds may be allocated to education programs which reach a number of Hawaiians but have little or no lasting impact.

To add salt to the wounds, the indigent Hawaiians have little to no voice in shaping education policy in the Islands, much less in the state Legislature and Congress.

Sadly, even Hawaiians who have benefited from educational opportunities given to them are reluctant to support policies which will result in a shift in education dollars and resources to enable dramatic improvements in the education of the Hawaiians who need it the most.

An alumnus of a private school, who asked to remain anonymous, openly expressed her anger at the thought of inviting more poor and indigent children to share in the riches of the education program she herself was empowered by. "This will only pull the program designed for the best and the brightest down into the dumps," she said.

A teacher at this institution vented his animosity at even the mention of increasing opportunities for students who are "less than the best" coming to "his" school. "They should stay in the public school system and let the DOE take care of these kids," he said.

We must be more thoughtful and deliberate and maintain our commitment to the well-being of all the Hawaiian people, and not allow elitism to drive education policies.

All private schools and the public school system can be inspired to work together for the betterment of Hawaiians and all children, with attention given to the less-fortunate.

Falling short of this appropriate vision and goal, we will widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots, thus enabling the cycles of poverty and inequality to continue unabated.

To paraphrase the insights and writing of Henry Lewis Gates Jr.: Our seeking to bring Hawaiians in the underclass to at least the status of "average" is a momentous undertaking, and one we must not shy away from.

Hamilton McCubbin is former chief executive officer of the Kamehameha Schools.