Since the early 1900s, people have grumbled about public schools

The Honolulu Advertiser receives many letters to the editor about public education. I'd like to reveal some little-known, long-forgotten history.

While reading 8,000 newspapers, dissertations, theses and reports about Hawai'i public schools, I was startled to discover that people in Hawai'i have been complaining about many of the same education issues since the early 1900s: funding, classroom size, teacher salaries, etc.

On June 4, 1920, the front-page headline in a major local newspaper read, "Hawai'i stingy toward schools." Then on Oct. 28, 1931, a federal report said that Hawai'i spent about one-half the money that states spent for education. And on Sept. 9, 1957, an education report, prepared by William Odell of Stanford University, concluded: "Compared to public school systems in the United States, Hawai'i is spending only about 80 to 85 percent as much as the average and far less than the best." The report said that twice as many Hawai'i students were not going beyond fifth grade as those on the Mainland.

Overcrowding? I was amused to read on Dec. 31, 1908, Superintendent of Public Instruction Winfred Babbitt reported that classroom "congestion appears to be a prevailing practice," with as many as 60 to 80 students in a room. Nearly 30 years later, on Feb. 21, 1935, a newspaper story described pending legislation that would limit a classroom to 38 students. Some teachers had up to 60 students per class.

One of the most famous reports about Hawai'i was published in advance in The Advertiser, beginning June 2, 1920. A U.S. Commission on Education Survey of July 15, 1920, criticized Hawai'i's school system. The report said Hawai'i had too few schools and too few classrooms. The schools were underfunded, poorly maintained and overcrowded. There were too few teachers, who were underpaid, which was why most teachers quit. The report also said Hawai'i spent "a small fraction" of what Mainland communities spent on education, and the smallest proportion of students in public high schools in the U.S. The report urged Hawai'i to provide educational opportunities for all students, adding more academic classes, and building more high schools and junior high schools.

Prior to 1920, secondary education was generally left to the private and parochial schools, because Hawai'i had only four public high schools, one on each major island. The report produced immediate results. By 1930, Hawai'i had nine high schools and 16 junior high schools.

Until World War II, as many as 30,000 students, mostly American-born citizens of immigrant families, attended 163 foreign language schools after public school hours. Hawai'i's leaders complained about these schools, and our Legislature passed several laws to regulate such schools. On Feb. 21, 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that these Hawai'i laws were unconstitutional.

Sometime in 1928, the Department of Public Instruction established a shocking policy that took effect in 1930: Exclude 20 percent of all eighth- and ninth-grade graduates from attending high school. The school board's minutes of 1928-1935 meetings do not mention the 20 percent rule, and it is very briefly mentioned in its 1935 annual report. A Feb. 25, 1935, newspaper story said the policy was repealed in executive session, after the public meeting had ended.

Another controversial report, known as the Prosser Report, was prepared by the Governor's Advisory Committee on Education. This Feb. 9, 1931, report said there were few academic jobs available for high school graduates in Hawai'i, so public high school students should be encouraged to take vocational rather than academic education. In other words, non-Caucasians should remain in plantation jobs.

McKinley High School Principal Miles Cary fought this attitude. He encouraged non-Caucasian students to take academic classes and seek professional careers. Cary wrote in his 1930 M.A. thesis at the University of Hawai'i: "Those in more favored positions are apparently not interested in seeing their circle entered by young people of the immigrant laboring class."

To cope with a financial deficit during the Great Depression, Gov. Lawrence Judd signed a law on June 1, 1933, that required public high school students to pay $10 tuition to help fund the salary of high school teachers. Not surprisingly, attendance fell at some schools.

Fifty years later, on May 8, 1953, the largest crowd to attend a territorial legislative hearing — 1,000 people — told lawmakers that school teachers were like the "forgotten man" and deserved a pay hike.

Sound familiar?

Rich Budnick is the author of "Hawai'i's Forgotten History, 1900-1999: The Good, the Bad, The Embarrassing," which documents more than 2,000 historic Hawai'i events. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.