08-23-2015, 01:59 AM
quote:
It is a convoluted history, and surely one the pro american flag waving bigots here on PW will throw back at the Hawaiians rather than being sensitive to the pressures of the times.. but as told in the english speaking press.. i.e. the US biased version of the story...
I seriously don't know how respond to that.. Do you know how that sounds?
quote:
The English Language shall be the medium and basis of instruction in all public and private schools, provided that where it is desired that another language shall be taught in addition to the English language, such instruction may be authorized by the Department, either by its rules, the curriculum of the school, or by direct order in any particular instance. Any schools that shall not conform to the provisions of this section shall not be recognized by the Department. [signed] June 8, 1896 Sanford B. Dole, President of the Republic of Hawaii
This law established English as the medium of instruction for the government-recognized schools both "public and private". While it did not ban or make illegal the Hawaiian language in other contexts, its implementation in the schools had far reaching effects. Those who had been pushing for English only schools took this law as licence to extinguish the native language at the early education level. While the law stopped short of making Hawaiian illegal (it was still the dominant language spoken at the time), many children who spoke Hawaiian at school, including on the playground, were disciplined. This included corporal punishment and going to the home of the offending child to strongly advise them to stop speaking it in their home. Moreover, the law specifically provided for teaching languages "in addition to the English language," reducing Hawaiian to the status of a foreign language, subject to approval by the Department. Hawaiian was not taught initially in any school, including the all-Hawaiian Kamehameha Schools. This is largely because when these schools were founded, like Kamehameha Schools founded in 1887 (nine years before this law), Hawaiian was being spoken in the home. Once this law was enacted, individuals at these institutions took it upon themselves to enforce a ban on Hawaiian. Beginning in 1900, Mary Kawena Pukui, who was later the co-author of the Hawaiian–English Dictionary, was punished for speaking Hawaiian by being rapped on the forehead, allowed to eat only bread and water for lunch, and denied home visits on holidays. Winona Beamer was expelled from Kamehameha Schools in 1937 for chanting Hawaiian.[/i]
More at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaiian_language
Googling for beaten for hawaiian, only brings up the same articles and the same two examples. It appears that some teachers took it upon themselves to enforce a law that shouldn't have. Then it also brings up this article, which seems to contradict everything.
http://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansov...legal.html
The Hawaiian language was never banned. The worst was that occurred, was that it wasn't allowed to be the primary language taught in schools and that seems to be more targeted to the Japanese than Hawaiian.
The "beatings for speaking hawaiian" seem to be on the scale of a spanking and not real violence. I am sorry, but I do not consider "rapped on the head by a teacher" to be on the same level as "beaten". Growing up, my friends and I received worse beatings for being the wrong skin color.