Sons, daughters, or cousins of ‘Iolani? Con: The ‘One Team’ exception
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Ashlyn Koga
April 15, 2009
Filed under Editorials, Top Stories
Every Homecoming, resentful feelings are intensified regarding the Burning of the I; how unfair it is that only ‘Iolani’s Sons and Daughters are privileged to partake in this tradition. To clarify; A Son or Daughter is someone who has attended ‘Iolani since kindergarten. Is this exclusivity representative of the school’s “One Team” motto? Numerous articles on this topic have been written with the hope of bringing about positive changes. Yet, inaction still prevails. A minority of students still retain these elitist rights, which the majority of students are not allowed, due to archaic visions left unrevised and updated.
If ‘Iolani didn’t emphasize the “One Team” motto, complaints concerning this issue would be non-existent. But this motto is preached, which, for the majority, is perceived as a joke. It no longer eludes to the teamwork Father Bray once spoke of; it’s just a cliché; a meaningless phrase.
When asked about the privileges of sons and daughters, Headmaster Dr. Val Iwashita replied, “I don’t see much in the way of special privileges. I know over time, the advisors have tried to tone down distinctions between the Sons and Daughters […] We make lots of other distinctions such as Honor Graduates, individual and group awards, grade level designations […] Each designation has its privileges and its responsibilities. I don’t see the Sons and Daughters as much different.”
If the son/daughter distinction needed to be “toned down,” isn’t the underlying message that students were feeling left out, thus not part of the ‘Iolani Ohana? As for other distinctions, I agree with Dr. Iwashita that each has its privileges and responsibilities; however, those are earned merits. Every student has the opportunity to be an honor graduate if they so choose regardless of what grade they entered ‘Iolani. It is an achieved and earned merit.
Getting in at kindergarten is not an earned merit. How can you tell who will be the most successful at the age of 5? Every graduate of ‘Iolani should be considered a son or daughter, not just a select few. Let’s say that a family who has one natural born child adopts another child. Should the natural born child have more privileges than the adopted child, since he/she was there since birth? Would the adopted child feel a part of the family if he/she were treated as less valued? With ‘Iolani’s current philosophy, the adopted child (the majority who aren’t sons and daughters) are entitled to less privileges, consequently do not feel a part of the ‘Iolani family.
Looking at the breakdown of money donated to the school, percentages fall from eighty five percent in the lower school to thirty percent in the upper school, where a majority of the class is not a son or daughter. That is a “red flag” if parents are not even willing to donate a dollar. With all the privileges that sons and daughters revel in, such as special seating at Baccalaureate, Burning of the I, and special lunches, do sons and daughters donate more to the school after graduation? No, in fact they give back one percent less money to the school after graduation than those who are not sons and daughters.
I feel privileged to attend ‘Iolani School. It is an honor for all of us graduating from such a prestigious school. That is why when I graduate, I don’t want to be a cousin of ‘Iolani; I want to be a daughter of ‘Iolani and finally feel a part of the team.
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The Sons and Daughters of Iolani is simply a recognized student organization of Iolani that hosts lunches and dinners through school money along with raised funds over the years. Anyone who wants to create a student organization may do so with the approval of the SAD and a faculty advisor (that may also hold special lunches/dinners for their members).
The adopted child in a family will inevitably feel different and less a part of the family due to obvious biological reasons. Thus, even though the adopted child may have many more privileges than the natural born child, the adopted child will always feel different no matter what privileges granted.
The donation money argument does not work because if you really think the One Team motto should be carried out perfectly, there should be no relation between the amount a person donates and their privileges at school.
I’m not trying to argue, but I’m just thinking of reasons why these claims will never work.
The bottom line is that, we should be proud to NOT be Sons and Daughters if we feel the One Team motto is meaningless. While I wish I could’ve participated in Burning of the I and sat higher up at Bacculaureate, even if I did get to light up some kerosene-soaked “I” and wear a quarter-sized lapel pin on my graduation attire, would that have made me feel much more apart of the One Team? Probably not, because I didn’t understand the cool-ness of what the Sons and Daughters ever talked about, laughed about, or experienced and the reality is I probably never will.
At the same time, the Sons and Daughters will never be able to experience a different school or different lifestyle, which all of us non-Sons and Daughters were able to experience for a big chunk of our childhood years. The Sons and Daughters have 12-13 years of Iolani, which as we all know isn’t always the best thing either…
I think the bottom line is that Sons and Daughters of Iolani is tradition. Tradition is very hard to fight, no matter how good our argument may be. While we may not feel apart of the team because we don’t have special “privileges”, we can contribute our shorter time here in ways that will show the Iolani community what we have to offer.
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This article hits everything. It’s so true and Ashlyn makes very good points. I agree with everything. The Sons and Daughters should at some point receive some recognition, but at several times throughout the year? I see absolutely no ‘One Team’ in that, rather a outright contradiction. Like Ashlyn said, it’s a joke. Especially at this day in age with all the ‘equality’ business, etc., I’m surprised this tradition is still sticking around.
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wait so depriving one group of students of their most sacred and time-honored traditions will make you feel better about yourself? Hey i would have been glad to let in some non-children of iolani into our tradition, but now we cant do that can we?
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Just before this finger pointing gets carried away, I’d just like to say that it’s not fair to blame Ashlyn or anyone else who pointed out the obvious inequity of treatment for the removal of the burning tradition. No matter how you spin it, the segregation of the burning was asinine and unjust. It was a practice that cultivated an exclusive and elitist feeling regarding the sons and daughters. For a school that heralds itself as a place of intellectualism such practice seems incongruous.
That being said, I don’t believe anyone who voiced their complaints wanted to remove the Burning of the I tradition. The Burning has been a longstanding tradition and it is foolish to remove such a strong symbol of school pride. Personally, I’d rather have it exist in an exclusive nature than to be completely eliminated. These complaints weren’t those of someone who wanted to abolish a tradition that was part of what made the school special, rather it was a reformist voice. Why not include all of Seniors in the tradition?
I’m vehement at the school for destroying this tradition outright without so much as consulting the student body or the decency of a warning. The actions of the school display a lack of respect and sense of disregard towards the will of the student body. Apparently the school believes that it’s better to remove something outright before trying to reform it. Perhaps we should ban public water fountains too as they used to be segregated. For a supposed intellectual school these current actions are extremely dumb.
P.S. Does anyone else find it ironic that they’ll completely destroy something as big and important as this with just an inkling of controversy yet they hold strong against serious objections to some other policies such as dress code?
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“Depriving one group of students of their most sacred and time-honored traditions.” Traditions are interesting things; why were they created? What is their purpose? For the burning of the “I,” why do we do it? Is it to celebrate the “One Team” spirit? Is it to try to make everyone feel included? Or is it to make a small, privileged group of people who have either had the fortune (luck) or fortune (money) feel more connected by lighting things on fire? I will say this now: I am not against the burning of the I; I am just against harsh attacks from either direction, because traditions are usually hard to get rid of: why do you think most societies still discriminate against gays? The answer, of course, is traditional thinking (not intending to say all traditional thinking is bad; I realize that statement makes it seem that way). Just curious, how long has the burning of the I been around?
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That is a good question, Jake, why DO we burn the I? Is it because we are so tired of working every single day we feel relieved when we see the I go up in flames?
Just kidding.
However, I feel a little insulted with your comment “Or is it to make a small, privileged group of people who have either had the fortune (luck) or fortune (money) feel more connected by lighting things on fire?”
Being a daughter myself, I will be quick to point out that not everyone who attends ‘Iolani is rich, and that some sons and daughters’ families may have been- and are still- struggling to make ends meet but want their child(ren) to receive an education that ‘Iolani provides. However, I am not saying that just because one attended ‘Iolani from kindergarten that makes them smarter, as that is obviously untrue.
Lower school children often attend Homecoming every single year, and I still remember being told about the Burning of the I in kindergarten. Sure, some sons and daughters are indifferent to the issue at the moment and could not care less, but certain others are very angry. I understand both sides of the argument, and feel that a better solution would be to just have EVERYONE BURN THE STINKING I. SERIOUSLY.
Also, there has been a Facebook group made to “Bring back the burning of the I.” However, surprisingly- or not? it is closed to the public, and members may only be invited by invitation only. (Brought to my attention by a certain very important person from the Imua staff.) Is this not an example of exclusivity that brought the issue up in the first place?
To be honest, all this animosity about sons and daughters offends me. All of my best friends are not sons and daughters, and I do not think of them any differently than I do about say, the boys in my kindergarten class who used to take all the dresses and jewelry in the dress up area and made the girls be the dad during recess when we played pretend. Okay, well, I do, but not because of when they entered ‘Iolani.
Someone told me that they are happy there is no burning of the I because all “sons and daughters are stuck up ______” and that they were going to go make their own little homemade I and burn it in the corner. Which is actually QUITE cute, but then that takes away from the whole “One Team Spirit” thing. Not that I’ve ever really seen anyone follow it, except maybe in PE when SOMEBODY just HAD to kick a ball up into the rafters and everyone had to run and do pushups because it is “One Team”. As my classmate said, ‘I don’t care who burns it, WE SHOULD JUST BURN IT.”
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ok first of all its not a reward to participate in the burning of the I, its a celebration that looks back on far we came. When you spend a majority if your lifetime and essentially growing up with the same people a special bond forms between those and yourself. Its not about how much you contributed or about how much money you have paid this school, but its about the companionship and friendship that your have shared with your peers. And for the record I am not attacking the author or anyone i am just disagreeing with some points they make.
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Actually, you do not have to be invited in order to join the facebook group to bring back the burning of the I. I know this because at first I thought that it was an “invite-only” based group as well.
Anyways, while I understand where the author is coming from, I think viewpoints of the “One Team” motto is often left to interpretation. I don’t think that being part of a team means including every single member in every aspect of the game. Being in a team myself, it means supporting your teammates. It is not supportive to say that the One Team motto is a joke or a meaningless phrase. To say that we as Sons& Daughters of Iolani hold elitist rights. It simply angers me. But what angers me the most is the following paragraph:
“Looking at the breakdown of money donated to the school, percentages fall from eighty five percent in the lower school to thirty percent in the upper school, where a majority of the class is not a son or daughter. That is a “red flag” if parents are not even willing to donate a dollar. With all the privileges that sons and daughters revel in, such as special seating at Baccalaureate, Burning of the I, and special lunches, do sons and daughters donate more to the school after graduation? No, in fact they give back one percent less money to the school after graduation than those who are not sons and daughters.”
“Not willing to donate a dollar”? I just want to mention that sons and daughters have paid tuition for 13+ years depending on if they have siblings, but that is not the point here. The Burning of the I is not about donations at all. This point is irrelevant and unnecessary.
The Burning of the I is something that we have heard about since our days in Kindergarten. Many of us attended our older siblings’ Burning of the I ceremonies and looked forward to one day participating in it ourselves one day. I know many other elementary schools have reunions and the burning of the I and the “special” luncheons are no different. No, those luncheons ARE special. We reconnect with those we rarely talk to and reminisce old times. It’s not like we get extra money or free things out of these luncheons! They are no different than any of your reunions.
I am glad that I got to participate in my Burning of the I ceremony. It was an experience that I hold dear and will never EVER forget. My heart goes out to those in the classes of 2010 and younger for they will not get to experience the special feelings that can only come from Burning that I.
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Originally you did, it was a closed group and members had to request to join or be invited, but I guess they changed it.
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If the Burning of the I is such a JOKE, then why are people making such a big deal about it?
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We appreciate all of you to take time and comment. This is healthy for this process to occur and hopefully, we will reach a better understanding of each other’s position.
All we ask is that each and everyone of you define oneTeam. How did you arrive at this definition of oneTeam?
It would be beneficial to all of us to understand the definition of oneTeam and the origin of this definition. The Iolani Raiders Boosters Club’s sole mission is to promote, preserve and perpetuate the oneTeam Culture.
Please see our facebook page at Iolani Boosters, read the Ol Man Book, see our clips of the oneTeam documentary that is currently being filmed and email us at oneteamdoc@gmail.com for further resources on oneTeam.
oneTeam is a culture that was founded by Father Kenneth A. Bray and taught to his athletes. Many of these athletes including Coach Edward Hamada are now in their late 70′s and early ’80′s. These men who have been members of the Iolani Raiders Boosters Club (founded in 1964) have passed on their experiences and stories to the Club in defining the oneTeam culture. And the club is now preserving this on film.
After you read and learn of the definition of the oneTeam culture, this may better help all of you understand that the burning of the “I” is not an exclusive event, an “un” one Team thing, etc. oneTeam is not about everyone having to wear the same color shirt, or everyone having the right to be the quarterback of the team or the president of the school, donating the most money.
But,
Iolani BoostersOne Team & Burning of the I – Father Bray wrote “You are not individuals greedy for individual honor, but members of a team eager for team achievement.” Only 11 can be on the FB field but the rest support them & all rejoice at a win. Doing 13 yrs at Iolani is an achievement that should get props, not envy. The whole senior class should celebrate their last yr at Iolani, not bicker over who gets to ‘be on the field’
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