Trying to help is hard. It’s tough these days not to say the wrong thing, especially when experiences and expectations between generations have shifted. That’s what I wrote about last week. This week I’d like to continue figuring out a wise approach to giving support to students on the precipice of what, and where, comes next.

Last week, I was advocating for providing opportunities to a community of students that had their lives upended by the pandemic and not to enforce the expectations that those of us who graduated from high school in the 20th and early 21st century would have usually imposed on students.

I appreciated the feedback on the column via Facebook and Instagram.

Beyond the pandemic, a big challenge for children in Hawaii is the very fact that so many people see it as a wonderful place to live. Moving to Hawaii is a reward for many successful people. Those choices, of course, drive up the cost of living and make it difficult for those who have graduated from high school in Hawaii to stay here and thrive.

The reality for these students is that the ability to stay and thrive in Hawaii is now based on “making it.” The challenge for them is how to “make it”? Is it staying here? Or is it leaving for college? How can these students and their families best equip themselves to compete with the newcomers who are claiming their rewards for having made it elsewhere?

Traditionally, the best way to “make it,” is to first get an education at a highly regarded school, and last week I concentrated on the story of a Princeton student who decided to return to Hawaii in the middle of the school year.

This week, I wanted to take a step back and better understand the scope of the population that are supposed to be embarking on their paths to hopefully “making it” and remaining in Hawaii. Helpfully, last month, the College and Career Readiness Indicator Report was published by Hawaii P-20.

Hawaii P-20 is a public and private partnership that wants to strengthen the pipeline from early childhood education to college. 

In 2022, 11,271 students completed high school in Hawaii (that number has stayed around 11,000 going back to 2018). According to the CCRI dashboard, 5,705 enrolled in college (51%) and 3,528 went to a University of Hawaii school (31%). 

While I’m inclined to automatically say that sending roughly 50% of students who completed high school to further education isn’t a great number, I will heed my own counsel and not quickly judge the numbers given the circumstances of the pandemic. Although, the numbers were about the same pre-pandemic and the national number for 2021 was 61.8%.

Bonnie Irwin, chancellor of UH-Hilo, is one of those with the ability  to provide the opportunities needed to “make it.” She has seen families wrestling with this decision of what, and where, is next for the graduates. 

Once the financial questions are addressed Irwin says next is the notion of whether “they need to have some experience off the rock.”

College is the natural time to have that experience. However, the notion of being away for several years is a steep commitment for families.

Irwin touts another path — the university’s exchange program.

“The conversation that I’ve been having with families is that they can send their child to Hilo, and we can send that child away for a year in some cases two, because we have domestic and international partnerships,” she said. “The advantage of that is they pay their tuition and fees to us. So it’s the same in-state lower rate, but they still have that experience. And, for some students, I think it’s a bit safer in a way because they feel like they don’t have to commit to an entire four to six years away.”

The problem for these graduates and for the high school classes that preceded them for generations, is that living in Hawaii isn’t getting easier or cheaper. The number of people born in Hawaii and still living here is dropping close to 50%.

Irwin and her fellow educators are, of course, aware of the problems.

“We’ve been talking a lot about workforce development in the last couple of years, and how we do a better job fulfilling the state’s workforce needs,” she said. “We have a lot of arrangements with local businesses, and certainly with a lot of governmental agencies, so our students are connected. And so the idea is that you have an interest in a career. 

“Here’s the education you need, and here is the pathway to the job.” 

Honestly, I’d like students who finish their educations to be more than just cogs in the workforce needs of those who have moved here to enjoy their Hawaiian rewards. 

In last Sunday’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser, David Shapiro wrote very concisely to the problem our students face: “Hawaii is in trouble as we pay the price of endlessly kicking the can down the road on the long-known challenges that threaten our way of life. We’re becoming increasingly gentrified as local people lose hope of opportunity here and move away, while wealthy outsiders move in with different expectations and drive up the cost of everything.”

Shapiro continues:

“We risk becoming a society in which newcomers live in luxury condos while too many locals live in tiny homes or tents, and the remaining middle class is in large part the public workers paid from the higher taxes needed to keep the development machine greased.”

He’s right and our challenge is to share with those thinking of claiming their “made it” rewards in Hawaii, that their choices will have repercussions for the children living here. 

Next week, I’d like you to hear from young people who are trying to change one of Hawaii’s most pervasive cliches about who stays and who goes.