"Rich in metaphor, the Hawaiian language was melodious and graceful like the people. The Hawaiians said, "He nana ka ʻōlelo." The language is a riddle. Before the missionaries came and converted the language into the written word, the Hawaiians used figures of speech in language that was like poetry."
—Nana Veary, Change We Must
"From these early beginnings two kinds of native schools emerged: (1) "Common" schools—taught by a missionary-trained native teacher and attended by the children of commoners, and (2) "select" schools, taught by members of the mission directly and attended by a select group of native children of which we can assume many were of the chiefly class. The Hawaiian language, as rendered by the missionary or native teacher, was the medium of instruction in both types of schools."
—"To Teach the Children: Historical Aspects of Education in Hawaii"
"The Lahainaluna High School on the island of Maui and the Hilo Boarding School on the island of Hawaiʻi were founded to prepare male teachers, minister's aides, government agents, and other persons requiring "secondary" level schooling in the work of this "civilized mission." |
"Enrollment in the missionary schools reached their height in 1832, when there were more than 53,000 pupils in 900 schools. But Kānaka Maoli did not remain the kind of pupils for which missionaries may have hoped. They came for what they wanted—to learn to read and write—and then they left. Only 5 years after the high enrollment of 1832, the number of pupils was down to about 2,000."
—Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, Willy Kauai, Kaleilehua Maioho, and ʻĪmaikalani Winchester
"The theory of substituting the English language for the Hawaiian, in order to educate our people, is as dangerous to the Hawaiian nationality, as it is useless in promoting the general education of the people. If we wish to preserve the Kingdom of Hawaii for Hawaiians, and to educate our people, we must insist that the Hawaiian language shall be the language of all our National Schools, and the English shall be taught whenever practicable, but only as an important branch of Hawaiian education."
—Mataio Kekūanaoʻa, Biennial Report of the President of the Board of Education to the Hawaiian Legislature of 1864.
"Historically and in Hawaiian mythology, [the word haole] existed but had nothing to do with race but was merely a trait or a classification of peoples who one does not share an immediate (meaning eight generations or less) genealogical connection to or speaks an unfamiliar language."
—Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp, A Hawaiian Historian
"English would open the doors of opportunities and increase choice for future generations of Hawaiian students in an Americanized Hawaiian society. It also accelerated the erosion of Hawaiian language and culture."
—"A History of Teacher Education in Hawaiʻi"
"Increasingly, Armstrong [superintendent of education] heard pleas from Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike to change the language of school instruction from Hawaiian to English. Since trade and politics were increasingly being conducted in English, Armstrong secured a law establishing a small number of government English select schools throughout the kingdom on a trial basis."
—"To Teach the Children: Historical Aspects of Education in Hawaii"