The Kingdom of Education by Dr. Erika K. Cravalho-Meyers
“He aupuni palapala ko‘u; o ke kanaka pono ‘o ia ko‘u kanaka” (“Mine is the kingdom of education; the righteous man is my man”). This was said in 1825 by Kauikeaouli Kamehameha III, Mō‘i o ke Aupuni ‘o Hawai‘i (sovereign of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i), upon his accession to the throne. He believed in and supported literacy and education, seeing them as means for Hawaiians to share information from one end of the archipelago to the other and from one generation to the next. Before the introduction of institutionalized education to Hawai‘i, we had a strong oral tradition. Knowledge was passed down to the next generation through mo‘olelo (history, legends, and stories), mo‘okū‘auhau (genealogy), mele (song), oli (chant), and ‘ōlelo no‘eau (proverbs and poetic sayings).
With Western contact in the 1800s, a written form of Hawaiian was introduced, and within two generations, the literacy rate among the Native Hawaiian population was 98 percent, one of the highest literacy rates in the world. Native Hawaiians used literacy to present their own points of view, and our Hawaiian nūpepa (newspapers) played a vital role in this literacy movement. Over 100 Hawaiian-language nūpepa publications spanned 114 years, with more than 125,000 pages written by and for our people. These papers captured stories of our history, traditions, songs, cultural practices, and social and political interactions. As editor Joseph Mokuohai Poepoe of Ka Na‘i Aupuni once said, “A nation is truly enlightened when its people know the stories of their homeland.” Today, these newspapers serve as primary sources to understand our culture. They are living archives that reveal the depth of our kūpuna’s (ancestors’) intellect and a tangible manifestation of Native Hawaiian literacy. Reading has been an important part of my life from a young age. I can remember switching schools between kindergarten and first grade, joining a class full of students who were already reading and I could not! My first-grade teacher, Mrs. Wurdeman, took the time to teach me how to read outside of our regular class time. The first story I read on my own was about a red and blue bird, and to this day, I can remember the sense of joy and pride I felt when I read it. In middle school, I would get lost in books—so much so that after being sent to bed for the evening, I would use my flashlight to read under the covers. My parents quickly caught on to my passion and had to come into my room to ensure I was sleeping. As an educator, I taught English to middle school students, guided by the philosophical belief that reading is a gateway to opportunity. To read better, you need to practice reading regularly. To write better, you need to read. Reading serves as a pathway to open new
22 • Rising Voices: Amplifying AANHPI Narratives
RVAANHPI_TG_K-5_Sampler.indd 22
1/30/26 11:02 AM
16 | Rising Voices: Amplifying AANHPI Narratives
Made with FlippingBook - PDF hosting