Education in Hawaiʻi and in the United States is in flux. Leaders wrestle with questions about the purpose of schooling, who controls it, and how resources are distributed. These uncertainties directly impact the wellbeing of students, families, and educators.
In Hawaiʻi, the tug-of-war between politics and education is nothing new. Our people have faced shifting systems before, and our resilience has carried us through.
Before Western contact, Kānaka ʻŌiwi upheld a sophisticated system of education including: learning within families, training for sustenance, chiefly leadership development, and apprenticeships in skilled trades (Johnson, 1981; Kaomea, 2000; Kawaiʻaeʻa et al., 2018). Oral traditions like oli (chants), mele (songs), moʻolelo (histories), and ʻōlelo noʻeau (wise sayings) preserved and passed on essential ʻike and values (Keehne et al., 2018).
Within this system, Hawaiian society sustained a complex and resilient structure adapted to its environment and needs (Balutski, 2024; Kameʻeleihiwa, 1992). Even after the introduction of Western ideas and technologies, Kānaka ʻŌiwi maintained agency over education, boasting near universal literacy and founding the first public school system west of the Mississippi – and the only system established by a sovereign monarch.
Over time, education was leveraged as a tool of control and assimilation. Policies banned ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi in schools and reshaped learning to produce labor for the colonial economy (Kaomea, 2000; Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, 2013).
Over time, pedagogies that once sustained our people were replaced with those designed to erase our identity. Yet, resistance never ceased. From underground language transmission to modern immersion schools, from community and ʻohana-led cultural learning to Hawaiian-focused charter schools, Kānaka ʻŌiwi have continually maintained our educational connection to language, culture, ʻāina, and identity (Kawaiʻaeʻa et al., 2018).
Today, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) carries a constitutional and statutory kuleana to advocate for improved educational outcomes for our beneficiaries. Our Mana i Mauli Ola strategic plan affirms this kuleana by prioritizing Hawaiian education systems.
In addition to OHA, the State of Hawaiʻi has also committed to Hawaiian education. Article X, Section 4, of the Hawaiʻi State Constitution mandates that the state promote the study of Hawaiian language, history, and culture. In Clarabal v. Department of Education, the court affirmed that this includes “reasonable access” to Hawaiian language immersion in public schools (NHLC, 2024). The state Board of Education echoes this through its policies on Hawaiian education, kaiapuni, and Nā Hopena Aʻo, affirming the systemic importance of Hawaiian values and knowledge.
Still, the struggle for equity in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, culture- and ʻāina-based settings remains ongoing. Underfunding, underrepresentation, and policy neglect continue to threaten the integrity of Hawaiian education. But we are not walking blindly. We move in the footsteps of those who came before us, whose strength built and fortified these paths.
As Liholiho once said, “Na wai hoʻi ka ʻole o ke akamai, he alahele i maʻa i ka hele ʻia e ʻoʻu mau mākua.” Who would not be wise on a path already traveled by our ancestors?
