Lōkahi, often translated as unity and expressed with a feeling of harmony, helps us understand that all of us are part of a life force that is unbroken, even when some of us feel separated from the group. With lōkahi, we support and accept each other in acknowledgement of this unbrokenness and work together in love.
Aloha At Home
ALOHA FOCUS FOR THE WEEK: LŌKAHI
Unusually large for a fifth grader, he was shaped like a bull mastiff. He stood a head shorter than me but his girth was twice as wide. His arms were thick, the size of my thighs and each of his fists could easily eclipse my face. He walked with his chest puffed out and head tilted back. Though new to our school, everyone knew and was afraid of Sam. He had few friends since most feared his taunts and threats. I too attempted to be where he was not.
When I saw him picking on other kids, I walked in the other direction. Instead of letting our teacher know, I pretended not to see anything. Yet, there was a limit to how much I could go unnoticed. As the second tallest kid in my grade level, I was not inconspicuous. Additionally, there was a girl I demonstrably liked. Michelle liked me back and we spent much of our recesses, playing tag together.
One day, as the recess bell rang, signaling the time to return to class, I dillydallied, walking beside Michelle, attempting to prolong our minutes together. Then, suddenly, I felt a sharp blow between my shoulder blades as I tumbled to the ground. Sam stood above me, taunting me to get up and fight. Michelle yelled at him to stop and he replied with a forceful shove to her chest. As he towered over us, laughing at Michelle, I felt nothing but blind rage. Fueled by adrenaline, I quickly leapt to my feet, grabbed Sam’s shirt with both hands and lifted him into the air until we were eye-to-eye. He surprisingly cowered and promised never to bother us again. Hands still shaking with shock, I let him go. I stood there, hyperventilating, watching Sam run back to class. I didn’t realize it but blood poured down from my nose, probably from slamming into the ground. Michelle hurried me to the health room where I admitted to what I had done.
I share this story not to boast or to serve as a model for what our kids should do. To the contrary, I look back and feel ashamed for my many acts of cowardice that in the end caused me to thoughtlessly react with anger. Had I struck Sam and he fought back, or if Michelle further intervened, things could have easily escalated and resulted in much greater harm. As a bystander, I had many opportunities to stand up to Sam or ask an adult for their help. I choose to do nothing.
One of most common questions I get while providing school tours for parents and care givers of prospective kindergarteners is, “What is bullying like at your school and how do you handle it?” When I was a new principal, this question unnerved me. I wanted to be honest, but wondered how other principals answered this question. Did they downplay it, touting the kindness of their students? Did they avoid a direct answer by replying that they have a zero-tolerance policy for bullying? How did I instill confidence knowing that our efforts to extinguish bullying behaviors is a constant work-in-progress?
I also thought about my own personal experiences with bullying, for myself as well as what happened with my daughter and son. As a father, what did I expect of my children’s school?
Today, I am forthright. I let families know that bullying exists at our school just as it exists at any school you go to. Despite persistent efforts to stamp it out and to exclaim having zero tolerance, bullying persists because it is most likely an evolutionary trait. Bullying offered an advantage to those seeking power, a greater share of food, and the ability to reproduce. Even today, kids who bully are rewarded with popularity, confidence, and ruling by fear.
Hence, to eliminate bullying, we cannot just not tolerate its existence. Instead, we must proactively strive to educate our students to act with Aloha by honoring our lōkahi, our universal desire for respect, agency and kindness. To do this, our efforts involve both the perpetrator and the victim.
In my experience as an educator, no perpetrator of bullying ever admits their actions are designed to inflict harm. Often they say they were playing, trying be funny, or just having fun. So it’s important they hear from the victim how their actions are actually being perceived. It’s vital they understand the harm they are causing. It’s also critical for them to hear from the victim how the harm can be addressed and peace restored. Over time, the perpetrator should self-assess their behavior, as they set a goal to act with aloha and not harm others.
For the victim, a sense of empowerment must be instilled. Victims of bullying must feel like they can stand up to those who harm them without fear of reprisal. At first, this may likely require the aide of an adult. But eventually, we want our children to act with independence. We do this by teaching them tools they can use to address bullying, like the Peace Path.
Parents and care givers can also powerfully contribute to these efforts by modeling kindness and rewarding kids who show aloha with praise and attention. When we treat others (especially our children) with aloha, they follow in suit. When you express admiration for those who show akahai, they will endeavor to gain your praise by showing grace as well.
Fifty million years ago, the ancestors of whales and dolphins walked the land on four legs. Then within 10 million years, a relative blink of an eye on an evolutionary scale, these animals returned to the water, lost their legs and became truly aquatic creatures. The abundance of food found in the water seemed to drive this change. Similarly, with the right conditions, the evolutionary drivers of bullying can be reversed. By teaching, modeling, and praising acts of aloha, we too can make changes on a monumental scale.
5 PURSUITS of LŌKAHI
Inspired by Gholdy Muhammad
Please watch this: Sakamoto’s Swim Club: How a Teacher Led an Unlikely Team to Victory written by Julie Abery, illustrated by Chris Sasaki and read by our very own Academic Coach, Ms. Miyuki Sekimitsu. Then with you child, answer the following:
- IDENTITY: Ask your kupuna who was their favorite teacher growing up and why that person was their favorite.
- SKILLS: Using a similar poetry structure used by the author (4 lines with 3 to 4 syllables per line), write a poem about your favorite sport or PE activity.
- INTELLECT: What does “regime” mean?
- CRITICALITY: How did Coach Sakamoto provide children of migrant sugarcane workers opportunities to learn teamwork and attain their Olympic dreams?
- JOY: With a kupuna, go swimming.
THE SCIENCE OF STUDENT MOTIVATION
What truly motivates students? According to psychologist David Yeager, students crave status and respect. When students feel respected for what they can contribute, when they feel they truly belong, students will work hard to meet high expectations. However, when they feel contempt or mistreated, they will not put in an effort.
For example, Yeager cites a study that asked, “ʻWhat happens in the teenage brain when your mom is nagging you?ʻ
So they had moms pre-record themselves completing the sentence, “What bothers me about you is . . .” and then they brought the teenage daughters in and had them listen to their mom’s actual audio finishing that sentence. Approximately 0% of teenage girls said, “You know what, Mom, you have a point. I’m really glad we had this chat and I’m going to change everything. So, thanks for the laundry list of my flaws.” So that didn’t happen.
Instead, what you saw was teenagers experiencing increases in blood flow signifying greater activation in regions of the brain related to anger and decreases in regions related to thinking and planning. So kids aren’t making a plan to change their behaviors, and they’re not spending any cognitive effort trying to understand what their mom really wants.
That tends to suggest that the communication styles we resort to when we’re at our most exasperated are the very conversation styles that undercut their motivation.”
Read more about The Science of Student Motivation here.
CONTINUED PRACTICES:
NOʻAHUNA OF ALOHA
See Uncle Pono Shim explain the Noʻahuna, the esoteric meaning, of Aloha as taught to him by Aunty Pilahi, the Keeper of Secrets.
WEAR KĀNEʻOHE SHIRT WEDNESDAYS
Help us build unity and show our lōkahi by wearing a shirt that celebrates Kāneʻohe on Wednesdays. Wear any previous Fun Run or grade level shirt.
DAILY VIRTUAL PIKO
At the Daily Piko, we share thoughts on the Aloha value for the week which helps us become centered and ready to learn. We begin at 8 AM everyday except Wednesdays when we meet in-person. If you would like to share your reflections on the week’s Aloha value, please contact me.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Apr 10 – May 2 | State Testing |
Apr 11 | Spring Fling Activity 5:30 – 7 PM Cafeteria |
Apr 12 | Campus Beautification 8:30 – 11:30 AM |
Apr 18 | Good Friday Holiday |
May 8 | STEM Hōʻike 2:20 – 3:50 PM |
May 9 | Waiver Day – No Students |