Reflections: The Choo Choo Train to Nowhere

On September 9, 2015September 14, 2015 By jandillIn Social Justice4 Comments

As a father, grandfather, and leader of a nonprofit organization, I am passionately committed to early education for our children. Unfortunately, over half of our children in Hawai‘i are not attending preschool and entering kindergarten without being able to count to five or differentiate colors. They quickly become those left behind and those that become a tremendous drag on our educational system and, later in life, our community in general. One proven avenue of dealing with this educational reality is a robust investment in early education of 0-5 year old children and their caregivers. The Federal Reserve System points to a minimum of seven dollars of avoided social costs for every dollar invested in early education. The Annie E. Casey Foundation has recently published an exhaustive study that says early education and preparing children to read at grade level by the end of third grade is crucial to success for the students, and makes a sobering statement:

92% of those not reading at grade level by the end of third grade will not graduate from high school.

Each of those represent a $2.4 million dollar cost to the community over his/her lifetime. In Hawai‘i, 70% of fourth graders are not proficient in reading (2015 KIDS COUNT Data Book). We are not alone; another community, Charlotte, North Carolina, has only forty percent of their third grade students reading at third grade level. The gap in reading proficiency between low-income and higher-income children has grown in the past decade, and Hawai‘i was found to have one of the largest increases in the nation with 83% of lower income students scoring below proficient reading level, compared to 57% of higher income students. This gap often starts early.

What does this have to do with the Choo Choo Train? Let me share with you what is happening in Honolulu. We have embarked on a very controversial $7-8 billion investment in rail transit (the final cost keeps inflating and the advantages keep getting increasingly unfocused). However, there is a total lack of comprehensive early education investment in the State.

Hawai‘i is one of 15 states with small or no state-funded preschool program.

The lower income and middle income families are the ones who suffer because of this, as they are not able to afford preschool. Studies have shown that the foundation for school and life success begins early and the impact of early investments is strongest for children facing adversity. Quality, affordable early childhood education not only benefits the child for the rest of his/her life, but has shown to return much more benefits to the community than its cost (reductions in remedial education and crime costs, increase in taxes paid; a cost-benefit analysis of the Perry Preschool study found those who attended preschool pay $38,000-$75,000 more in taxes over his or her lifespan than a child who did not attend).

For a very small fraction of the Choo Choo Train’s cost you would have a social return on investment (ROI) of significant proportions! You do the numbers. If you were an investor, which investment would you select? As it stands, we will have a very expensive, dubiously efficient, and probably little used transportation system that will be trying to move an increasingly dysfunctional community. A community beset with issues rooted to a lack of investment early on in the lives of our children and their families. What do you think? I think, shame on us!

And How Are The Children?

On August 27, 2015April 1, 2016 By jandillIn Social Justice4 Comments

Several years ago, an international expert on child welfare introduced me to how another community esteems and cares for their young. It has remained with me to this day. She pointed out that the warriors of the Maasai tribe in Africa, a nation well known for their military arts and long history of conquest, use a simple traditional greeting. They ask the question “Casserian Engeri” meaning, “And how are the children?” The Maasai understand that if the children are well, the community they live in is well. More importantly, this greeting summarizes the place children have in their communal priorities.

The Maasai understand that if the children are well, the community they live in is well.

From time to time I have turned this lesson about community priorities over in my head and have asked the question, “Why haven’t we made this part of our daily focus in life?” How have we allowed other concerns and urgencies to overshadow our commitment to our young? Today we face the consequences of this disregard in our community. Hawaiian children and children in general in Hawai‘i and elsewhere are beset by discouraging statistics. Hawai‘i is ranked near the bottom third in education nationwide and over half of our children are not attending preschool. Results from the Hawai‘i State School Readiness Assessment show that only 14.5% of kindergarten classes have at least three fourths of the children consistently displaying the skills and characteristics necessary for success in school life.

Early childhood education and school readiness are essential, as research has shown that 85% of brain development occurs by age 5.

Compounding these dismal statistics, the number of children living in poverty in Hawai‘i has increased in the past five years. These living conditions and lack of resources can have a lasting detrimental effect on children, especially homeless children. Compared to non-homeless children, homeless children are: nine times more likely to repeat a grade, four times as likely to drop out of school, three times more likely to be placed in a special education program, twice as likely to score lower on standardized tests, and have higher rates of chronic/acute illnesses, learning disabilities, and emotional or behavioral problems. Recent articles have called our community’s homeless situation “a crisis that demands action” with the children at the very center. However, no rational policy has emerged from our leaders.

Not a pretty sight. Perhaps we should think about greeting each other with “Aloha! Pehea nā keiki?” as a means of resetting our priorities as a community. The Hawaiian culture, as is true in most cultures, recognizes the critical role the care and preparation of our children have in the survival of their community. How is that played out in our community? How do we tolerate an educational system that takes significant resources and delivers questionable outcomes in the lives of our young? Why do children from dysfunctional families often end up in a harsh public child welfare system? Where is our investment in programs to prepare children and families for success? Why do we not demand outcomes with our investment in children that will sustain healthy and resilient communities? Could it be because our unspoken greetings are “…and how are the teachers?” or “…and how are the administrators?” or “…and how is the union?” or “…and how are our politicians?” and we end up relegating children, particularly poor homeless children, way down the priority list of public and private investment?

As we come together, let us ask each other, “Pehea nā keiki?” and have the courage to mean it and act upon it. Pose the question to those who represent us… let’s see their response. Perhaps sometime soon we can respond, “Maika‘i nō nā keiki!” (They are well!)

View printable version: And How Are The Children

Leaving Granny on Her Own

On August 21, 2015August 20, 2015 By jandillIn Social JusticeLeave a comment

In today’s rich ethnic and cultural mix of families in Hawai`i, there are various cultural approaches used in caring for our children; however, one commonality among many struggling families is placing the care of their very young in the hands of the older generation. Fourteen thousand children in the state are in the care of their grandparents, which is higher than the national rate. Has our state done anything to lighten the load for our grandparents, aunts and uncles who open their arms and hearts for our children while we hustle to that second job to support the family? Or while the parents struggle with drug/alcohol dependency or are in prison? The answer is NO. As struggling families try to protect and nurture their young, our policy makers have refused to provide resources to train caregivers or give them and their children programs to prepare both demographics for success in caregiving and in school. We’ve left Grandma and Grandpa on their own with their moʻopuna (grandchildren), and have left them to fend for themselves.

We’ve left Grandma and Grandpa on their own with their mo`opuna (grandchildren), and have left them to fend for themselves.

It is interesting to watch “professionals” in early education turn away from Family Child Interactive Learning models (FCILs). Despite clear documented evidence of the power of these programs to bring transformational change in the lives of the caregivers and children involved, they are often branded with the pejorative title of “play groups” and dismissed from serious study or support. In extended families, trained elders can have a significant positive impact in the lives they directly oversee and also in the lives of the extended family as they give advice and counsel to the other adults. It is an opportunity to harness traditional structures to address contemporary challenges with our young children and their caregivers. Don’t leave Granny on her own. Get resources to help her be an amazing first teacher of the children she loves. Bring policy makers to the understanding of how efficient and successful the FCIL model is for early education outside of formal schooling!

I have recently been told that our Governor has decided to move early education into his office, and marginalize the external advisory body (Early Learning Advisory Board) that has been working for years to help formulate both public and private programs for early education in our state. Wrong move. Good political move, however, as the teachers’ union is insistent that early education must be a part of the public, unionized system. Unfortunately, now non-profit programs that empower and equip our older generation in their roles as the children’s first teachers are ignored and early education is swept into a public system that has yet to prove it is worth the tremendous amounts of money our community invests in it. Our Tūtū are again left on their own and politics again trumps the welfare of our children. Shame on us.

Hawaiian values: Are they real and/or relevant to us?

On August 6, 2015August 13, 2015 By jandillIn Hawaiian Values1 Comment

Above me along the walls in my office march the five Hawaiian values Partners in Development Foundation has claimed to define who we are: aloha, lōkahi, mālama, pono, and po‘okela.

As Partners in Development Foundation was formed, it was very clear that we wanted to have traditional Hawaiian values and perspectives at the heart of the organization. Thanks to the help of language and cultural experts we came to the choice of the above five values and then began our journey.

Throughout the years, we have learned the power of traditional values and perspectives and have become aware of the importance of making them practically applicable to the challenges of our clients. As the Foundation continues to expand and as we deepen our involvement in the community, these five values have also become a growing challenge to us as we serve our community. I feel continually challenged to ask: are these values just cosmetic treatments to cover our tendency to use modern organizational principles, or are they truly the core and anchor values for our lives, our organization, and for the work we are committed to do with the children and families we serve? Big and unnerving questions.

What does “aloha” look like if I don’t like you?

For example, considering “aloha”, I must ask how this foundational value manifests itself in the life of the Foundation, in the ways we interact with each other and with the communities we serve? Further, in claiming this value professionally, I am pushed to ask how aloha appears in my daily behavior, thoughts, and particularly, in my personal engagement with others. For example, what does “aloha” look like if I don’t like you? Or if I don’t believe in what you are trying to do? As you can see, the process of putting Hawaiian values as a proclaimed set of anchors for an organization quickly intrudes into our personal lives and behavior. We are challenged to get serious about the values we have proclaimed as the “organizational language and culture” of the Foundation; our behavior should demonstrate to those watching that the core values are alive and that they are the framework in which we relate to each other and those we serve.

If they are not clearly present, we need to continue to challenge one another to make it so.

While this challenge perpetually stands before us, at the same time, this is an empowering moment when we see how relevant and useful these values are in facing individual and organizational challenges and opportunities of the 21^st century. As we practice, we are undeniably tied to the kūpuna and traditions of Hawai`i nei. A most worthy and necessary task, but not an easy one!

At Low Tide

Author: jandill

Hawaiian values: Are they real and/or relevant to us?