July 30, 2011

Amber Makaiau

Why We Need to Preserve Social Studies in Hawaii
Those of us who live in Hawaii recognize that our island home is often defined by
the diversity of its people. Our ethnic relationships, although they are not perfect are“distinguished by their tolerance, equality, and harmony” (Okamura, 2008, p.7).
For these reasons, Hawai’i is quite special, and so is a social studies education inHawai’i. In Hawai’i social studies educators capitalize on Hawai’i’s uniquemulticultural setting, and deliver a cutting edge curriculum that puts our students
ahead in an increasingly diverse and global society.
I was born and raised in the Hawaiian Islands and did not gain this perspective until
I went away to college in the late 1990’s. Attending school in California, my peers
and university professors were surprised to hear that I had been able to take courses
like Global Studies, Asian Studies, and Ethnic Studies in high school.
From their experience, social studies classes that specialized in exposing students toa range of diverse cultures and perspectives had mostly been reserved for college
level learning. They also helped to raise my awareness of the unique “first handexperiences” I had gained as a result from taking these courses in the context ofHawai’i.
Compared to many of my college peers, diversity was not an abstraction. My earlylearning had occurred in a room full of students who came from a variety ofdifferent backgrounds, and who shared their personal knowledge as a part of ourdaily classroom interactions. I realized that the informal education learned from myclassmates cultivated in me increased cultural sensitivity and internalization of theknowledge and skills necessary for navigating a multicultural world.
With this improved critical consciousness, I was eventually propelled into theprofession of teaching, where ten years later I am able to proudly showcase
Hawai’i’s unique contribution to the field of education to interested teachers acrossthe globe.
Today, public high school teachers, like myself provide Hawai’i’s students withsome of the same opportunities that I had via mandatory social studies electives.
Given that they have the available resources, the Hawaii State Department ofhttps://www.civilbeat.org/2011/07/12337-why-we-need-to-preserve-social-studies-in-hawaii/

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1/12/22, 4:29 PMWhy We Need to Preserve Social Studies in Hawaii - Honolulu Civil Beat

Education currently offers social studies electives like: Economics, HawaiianStudies, Pacific Island Studies, Ethnic Studies, Asian Studies, European Studies,
Humanities, Geography, American Problems, Political Processes, Philosophy,
Human Geography, Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology. Having taught a
handful of these mandatory electives, I’ve seen my students become engaged, findrelevance in their learning. In addition, my students, because they are taught in a
multicultural setting gain not only the content needed for living and working in ourglobal world but the necessary people skills as well.
Social studies courses like the electives listed above are essential in producing thestudent outcomes outlined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2004). The P21
initiative explains that students in the 21st century must have content knowledge
related to Economics, History, Geography, Government and Civics. This is because
these types of social studies courses educate students about the context thatScience, Technology Engineering, and Mathematics are situated in. Social studies
courses also foster 21st century dispositions like: creativity, innovation, criticalthinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Most importantly,social studies courses are the only classes that directly teach our students about thesocial and cross-cultural relationships that are fundamental for life in the 21stcentury. One example that helps to illustrate these points, and shed light on
Hawai’i’s unique offerings to the P21 initiative is the Kailua High School ethnicstudies program.
Located on the Windward side of Oahu, Kailua High School is the only public schoolin the nation to require ethnic studies for high school graduation. The University ofHawaii Asian Pacific Islander Youth Violence Prevention Center and the Hawaii State
Department of Education created the course, originally funded by the Centers for
Disease Control, as a school-based violence prevention initiative. In addition toteaching the content of ethnic studies, the course uses the innovative pedagogy ofPhilosophy for Children Hawaii to foster self-knowledge, healthy interpersonalrelationships, empathy between peers, and empowers students to make positivechanges in their communities. In the past seven years, since this social studies
elective was implemented, both the Kailua High School community, and educators
worldwide have recognized the course’s benefits. Just last year visitors from China,
Japan, Taiwan, Switzerland, Germany, and the continental United States visited
ethnic studies classes at Kailua High School to learn about teaching tolerance fromeducators in Hawaii.
If the Board of Education approves Policy 4540 on August 16, 2011 Hawai’i is ingrave danger of not only loosing civics as a required course for graduation, but also
the capacity to offer social studies electives like the ethnic studies course described.
Social studies electives help to address the needs of 21st century learners, andhttps://www.civilbeat.org/2011/07/12337-why-we-need-to-preserve-social-studies-in-hawaii/
distinguish Hawai’i as an educational leader. If Policy 4540 passes “changes in2/3

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Why We Need to Preserve Social Studies in Hawaii - Honolulu Civil Beat

Social Studies credit requirement from 4.0 to 3.0 credits may negatively impact thenumber of social studies teachers” (K.S. Matayoshi personal communication to theBoard of Education, June 21, 2011). Hawai’i can’t afford this detrimental change; weneed social studies teachers in order to be able to offer social studies courses!
If Hawaii is going to continue to be a role model for teaching about and promoting
positive inter-cultural relationships, social studies programs in our state must
continue to be nurtured and further developed. We need to grow and strengthen, notdecrease social studies in our public schools. Keeping the four required credits will
help to ensure that future generations in Hawai’i’s not only carry on the practice ofamicable interpersonal relationships, but tackle head on the institutional forms ofracism that continue plague our state (Okamura, 2008). Now is the time for
Hawai’i’s people to apply what they’ve learned in their social studies classes. We
need to work together, as a group of diverse people to preserve our social studies
education, and continue to make Hawai’i a leader in teaching the world about
tolerance, equity, and social harmony.
References:
Okamura, J. Y. (2008). Ethnicity and inequality in Hawaii. Philadelphia, PA:Temple
University Press.

Partnership for 21st century schools. (2004). Retrieved July 27, 2011, fromhttp://www.p21.org/

About the author: Dr. Amber Makaiau is a National Board Certified social studies

teacher who has taught at Kailua High School for over ten years. Her current
projects involve Preserving Our Social Studies Education and growing the p4c
Hawaii Center at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

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