Mr. Hackler’s journey through life
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Rintaro Sato
December 16, 2009
Filed under Features, Top Stories
Jeffrey Hackler, 28, stepped off of an empty platform. No one else got off. During the train ride there, the college boy was petrified.
“Oh my God. What happens if I get lost, I don’t know Japanese, I…I….”
Just when his homesickness was becoming unbearable, his walking stick started to shake and a gust ran through his straw hat. He staggered a bit, and there it was.
“It drives away my homesick feeling,” Mr. Hackler said. “Upon further reflection, I don’t remember the day being breezy. All I can think of is that Kobo Daishi was blowing those ideas out. I realized that Kobo Daishi is with me.”
Mr. Hackler’s major turning point in his life occurred when he spent four days in Shikoku Japan during a pilgrimage in 1981. The pilgrimage was dedicated to a priest named Kobo Daishi, and involved going to the temples that Kobo Daishi was associated with.
One day, Mr. Hackler was a day ahead of schedule and called his friend Mr. Morikawa, expecting a, “Oh Jeff, well done! That’s great!” However, Mr. Morikawa’s reply was, “It’s not getting to the temples that counts; it’s the walk.”
This simple statement turned out to be one of the most significant events in Mr. Hackler’s life. Like many of us today, he was, “living life from temple to temple.”
We are constantly looking ahead: to the next game, homecoming, or Christmas break. Sometimes it is even encouraged, especially with ‘Iolani and the college frenzy. However, we often get carried away.
“I had blown ten years of my life searching for temples when what I should have been doing was paying attention to every minute,” Mr. Hackler said.
Mr. Hackler teaches these principles to his students who, like all ‘Iolani students, are more concerned about the grades and not about learning. He uses several tactics, like putting the grades backwards, upside down, or just simply not putting the score on the test.
He said, “I’m not interested in grades, I’m interested in your learning something.”
When Mr. Hackler graduated from ‘Iolani, he knew he did not want to come back as a teacher. He thought he would work for the foreign services. However, after working a few years and boring himself, he decided to come back to Hawai’i “and make name for [him]self.”
Mr. Hackler’s first goal was to work in the hotel business. He then tried carpentry after the hotel business’ lack of excitement, but realized “it was body beating work.” Later, he decided to take the Foreign Service exam, but failed by one point, ending his next potential career.
Still unclear about his dreams, Hackler decided to go back to school and work for his Masters’ degree at the University of Hawai’i. Although he had a job at UH that paid his tuition, he did not have a car and he lived in a small house in Kaimuki. Mr. Hackler biked to school, worked, returned home, and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. He could not afford lunch.
One summer, he “broke down” and called Mr. Charles Proctor, ‘Iolani Dean of Faculty then, who gave him a job teaching ‘Iolani summer school. The next fall, Mr. Proctor offered Mr. Hackler a job to teach United States History, Hawaiian History, and American Literature.
“After three or four days, I knew this was the job,” he said. “Explaining it and helping them understand it opens people’s eyes. That was fun. That was energizing.”
John McLane ‘10, a former student of Mr. Hackler’s, said, “I liked his lectures. They were full of passion, spirit. I also liked his drawings (on the board). They were abstract; they made me think a lot, outside the box.”
Mr. Hackler also carries on his philosophy when conducting interviews for ‘Iolani and Brown University. He usually knows within twenty seconds “just how they carry themselves.”
One student that he interviewed last year was given $2,500 by his parents and had the choice of studying in London for summer school or traveling Europe. He decided to go to Europe. “Now, that’s gutsy. That’s good Brown spirit.”
Mr. Hackler also takes on the role as a mentor to other teachers. When Mrs. Melanie Pfingsten, formerly Ms. Soares, was a new teacher at ‘Iolani, Mr. Hackler welcomed her by showing her around, sharing classroom materials, listening to her struggles and giving advice on how to be a better teacher.
“He cares a lot about not just that I was a good teacher but that I was happy at what I do,” says Mrs. Pfingsten, who also teaches AP US History. She also said that the best advice that Hackler gave her was “not to take on too much in my job here, to learn how to say no.”
Even though Mr. Hackler originally did not intend to make it big here, he has definitely made a name for himself at ‘Iolani. What makes his name appear on all those thank you post-it notes on the SAO is that he teaches students to see connections, instead of just regurgitating answers, but also to enjoy life.
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It’s true–your philosophy of education is really your philosophy of life. Learning and teaching are fundamental in a lifetime, and I’m glad to read about such a good person who has found his calling in education. I did hear about Mr. Hackler from my friends, and they clearly got the message about life. This was a well written and researched article. Top notch.
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