Editor’s note: On Dec. 3, the Kaua‘i Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. Museum leaders have chosen 50 stories from exhibits, collections and the archives of the museum to share with the public. One story will run daily through Dec. 3.
Editor’s note: On Dec. 3, the Kaua‘i Museum celebrates its 50th anniversary. Museum leaders have chosen 50 stories from exhibits, collections and the archives of the museum to share with the public. One story will run daily through Dec. 3.
LIHU‘E — When Lihu‘e English School opened in 1881 with 87 pupils, education was held sacred by their parents. Fifty-four boys and 33 girls that first year were made up of the Hawaiian and immigrant population from the plantations surrounding Lihu‘e. Hawai‘i’s government schools did not racially discriminate and all children received the opportunity to attend school.
Lihu‘e Grammar School was moved to a site west of Lihu‘e Plantation mill in the spring of 1923. Besides 40 or more students in a class, there were other challenges in those early days of public education. At the age of 6, children entering school rarely even knew English. These were the days when many grades shared a classroom and the teachers had the additional challenge of dealing with siblings of various ages. Still, at the time, education was considered sacred. Many of the immigrants came from countries where the farming class was not educated. No child questioned the opinion or authority of the teacher. If parents received reports that their child had misbehaved in school, there was often double punishment delivered at home. It was shameful to have failing grades. In 1917, the Smith-Hughes Act advocated vocational agricultural training for students in rural areas, stressing home making and agriculture to prepare students for adult life in island life dominated by sugar and pineapple. Many children only stayed until 4th grade, when they were old enough to work for the plantations. Just learning to read and write English and basic arithmetic was a major step up at the time as you couldn’t supervise other workers or find other than manual labor without such knowledge.
Even summer vacations could be spent working. Plantations hired kids at the age of 10 for 25 cents a day plus a 10 percent bonus if they worked 24 days. This was usually for hoehana kalai (hoeing weeds). The younger children could earn about $6 a month and the older children about $13. This was for a 9-10 hour day with 15 minutes for breakfast and a half hour for lunch along with the ride in the labor train. Of course with children, the supervisors were more lenient which is probably why they were paid only a quarter adult wages.