"Smart and Capable"

Academically, Lahainaluna has its opportunities. From our dual credit classes, associates degree program, and AP courses, our students have access to greater academic challenges.

Yet, like many schools, the majority is caught between catching up while others are falling behind.

Some students feel like they are not being challenged. “I have an A in most of my classes, but sometimes I feel like I still don't understand what is being taught to me,” states one anonymous junior.

Others feel differently, as one anonymous sophomore says “I’m failing second quarter because I don’t know what I’m doing in this class.”

Summing up her frustrations, she states “If you don’t get it, good luck.”

It's not a new problem, but it's taking a toll on Lahainaluna students.

How do we maintain an environment for those already ahead to keep learning, while supporting those who need to catch up? The problem here lies in underestimating students.

"Soft bigotry..."

When we underestimate what students can achieve we prevent potential learning.

As chemistry teacher Kaitlyn Scheib explains, we should “think more highly of students, because I think they are smart and capable.”

The principal, she says, “has been telling all the teachers that we need to have more rigorous expectations of students this year.”

This has proven benefits. As author as A.J. Hill and D.B. Jones found in a 2021 study, higher expectations in instruction were linked to higher test scores.

The discussion is often connected to something George W. Bush said in a 2000 speech to the NAACP in which he criticized those who say “it is unfair to hold disadvantaged children to rigorous standards.” Against this, he argued, “it is discrimination to require anything less—the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

We can accommodate those having a difficult time, but it must be considered how students, in the long run, will benefit from it.

As Scheib and others suggest, these expectations have shown to affect student attitudes towards their education.

Junior Corbin Sales says that “when it comes to standards, I feel like at this point, teachers care more about whether or not they actually do it, instead of actually taking the time and looking at each person's work.”

One anonymous Junior admits that “when I don't understand topics that I feel are easy, I do feel behind or that I'm not learning enough.”

She reflects on how, as high school students, “we're almost adults, and we're almost getting to college.” “I feel like we should be held to higher expectations,” she said.

Students have come to seek higher expectations themselves. They’ve found signing up for courses that ask more from them beneficial.

Eli Hegrenes explains how it benefitted him, stating that “the only classes that give me a real challenge are my AP and college courses.”

He adds how “compared to my normal high school classes they are much more challenging and make me think in ways I haven’t before.”

When asked what low expectations do, he noted how “the standard should be higher” and how he supports “the idea of giving credit for effort, but if someone didn’t even try but still did it and is getting the same grade as an academically motivated student, then I think that's unfair.”

“I think my classes are challenging,” said another student, but she says she “knew what I signed up for.”

It’s easy to explain how a student can benefit from higher expectations, but there are more factors to consider that hit closer to home.

“The riddle for any teacher…”:

Social studies teacher John Borge believes that “there are flaws within any educational school,” but that “the riddle for any teacher is, how do I support my low students while preventing my high students from getting bored.”

While some gain more from a challenge, academics are not always on the top of a student's mind.

Coming back to our anonymous sophomore, deciding if you should take challenging classes “depends on like you and your life outside of school.”

“They assign a lot of things. And I feel like that shouldn't be a standard,” one anonymous sophomore said. “A lot of us, do have other things to do outside of school.”

She emphasizes that “it's good for the teachers to, like, have empathy for their students.”

English teacher Brendan Smith feels that "high school students that are really behind, maybe academically, but also mostly like discipline wise” explaining how “If elementary school didn't have homework, you can't expect the high schoolers to want to do homework.”

He adds how “it's also a rural area that's low income, so there were a lot of home issues as well.”

“If we can better support families, those families will better support their kids,” Borge offered. “Their kids will show up to school knowing its values.”

“Can the system of teachers do better? Absolutely,” Borge concluded. “But everything starts in the home.”

Students have found it difficult to catch up, but accommodating to them still leaves them behind. Students are struggling now, so increasing expectations will prove to be difficult, although one student found just giving it a try was enough.

“I've been in the associates degree program, for almost about four years… it definitely pushes me” describes senior Cailee Marie Cuaresma who reflected on how she “didn't think I'd excel,” at first. But after some effort in her classes, she did “and I passed them with pretty good grades.”

Cuaresma recognizes how even though she’s been able to learn a lot at Lahainaluna, “the teachers, and like the staff in general, should be more strict about receiving F's or receiving even D's”

She sums up our issue neatly, stating how “It's also kind of a teacher's job to motivate students, but it's also the students’ job to motivate themselves.”