HAWAII'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND THE DISADVANTAGED STUDENT

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1 HAWAII'S COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND THE DISADVANTAGED STUDENT Barbara Bennett Peterson John H. Baker In the opening keynote address of the 1974 convention of the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, Alan Pifer, the President of the Carnegie Corporation, said: "Indeed, I'm going to make the suggestion that community colleges should start thinking about themselves from now on only secondarily as a sector of higher education, and regard as their primary role community leadership." 1 In Hawaii, although studies often stress the success of community college students who transfer to the University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, or the viability of the traditional vocational programs, the community colleges, through their community-oriented programs aimed at the disadvantaged students, have already placed community leadership as a primary goal. The term "disadvantaged" needs clarification. A Samoan, Micronesian, Filipino, Korean, or Hawaiian student is " advantaged" in his own society or culture; he is only "disadvantaged" when he desires to or must cope with the values and qualifications of a society significantly different from his own. The community college assists this student in a number of ways: upholding and preserving the values of his own culture while helping him understand and utilize the language and values of his new cultural environment; teaching him the academic and/ or vocational skills needed for the new culture. Other students may be "disadvantaged" academically through the failure of the primary and secondary school systems to equip them with such basic skills as reading, writing, and math, needed in a highly technological society. Or students may be "disadvantaged" financially: academically qualified but unable to pay the high cost of postsecondary education today. And age may place a student at a disadvantage; higher education directs itself almost exclusively toward the 18 to 22-year-old population and effectively ignores the older person who may want to return to school part-time or full-time. For the purpose of this article, the "disadvantaged student" is any member of the community who does not fit the traditional pattern of college students. In Hawaii's community colleges the focus on "each student as an individual with dignity" and the desire to educate many of the "minority or disadvantaged students" has led to the development of imaginative, workable curricula, some funded by the State and other segments funded federally because of their value to the community. Many of these educational approaches have received national acclaim and serve as pilot programs throughout the State and nation. Some of the quality programs for disadvantaged students in Hawaii's community colleges will be discussed. Honolulu Community College (Island of Oahu) Two outstanding off-campus programs at Honolulu Community College are the Kalihi-Palama Education Center and the Hawaii State Senior Center. The Kalihi-Palama Education Center is a Model Cities program designed by the residents of this community where forty percent of the adults have less than an eighth-grade education. The project includes a learning laboratory where the students can voluntarily obtain free tutoring in basic skills, an information center for educational and vocational opportunities in the area, and classes on subjects the residents request. Dr. Dorothy Douthit, the director, stated that in 1972 over 280 individuals "obtained a job, further educational training, or a high school diploma as a result of their studies in the lab." 1 The Education Center also established the Hawaii Literacy Association in which volunteers use the Laubach method to teach literacy skills to about 300 persons per week. The Samoan Demonstration Program assisted Samoans in obtaining jobs with upward mobility. The Hawaii State Senior Center responds to the needs of senior citizens in the Kalihi-Palama area through classes, leisure time activities, social clubs, and a variety of arts and cultural activities. Over 1,850 persons are enrolled as members of the Center and an additional 3,000 non-members have participated in Center programs. Mr. Charles Amor, director, expressed the feeling that "the placement of the 'multi-purpose senior center' in the community college environment was fortuitous. It gave older people an opportunity to identify themselves with an institution of higher learning." 28

2 On campus at Honolulu Community College, Mrs. Gloria Hooper coordinates an examplary program entitled, "Remedial Instruction in Basic Composition and Reading/ Study Skills for Low-Achieving Students." The program breaks with the traditional pattern of English classes by utilizing the vocational interests of low-achieving students as the basis for teaching intensive reading, study, and composition skills. Study materials are taken from the students' vocational content area, and compositions, reports, and essays assigned to the students in their vocational courses are used as teaching vehicles. In addition, a variety of methods provides the students with more personalized instruction. Mrs. Hooper evaluated the program by stating: The project has been successful in meeting its stated objectives. Reading/Study students demonstrate an average gain of two and one-half years per semester; composition students average over two years gain per semester. Mr. James T. Yosh ino coordinates the Cooperative Education Program at HCC. This program combines work experience with college courses, and not only gives the students financial support while attending school, but also allows them to sample various work situations while applying their academic work to the job situation. A special project related to the Cooperative Education Program successfully trained students with physical and mental handicaps to perform auto body repair and painting. With special tutoring, counseling, remedial instruction, and placement efforts, thirty-five students from this project were successfully placed in jobs in the auto body industry of the State during the first year. Finally, Honolulu Community College administers a group of federally funded projects collectively known as "Paraprofessionals in Human Services," and includes such programs as Hawaii Career Opportunities, Child Development Associate Training, Headstart Supplementary Training, and Job Experience. These programs have independent coordinators, but much of their curriculum is interchangeable and they utilize many of the same facilities. The total program represents one of the most innovative curricula models in Hawaii. Mrs. Karen Kelly directs the educational paraprofessionals aspect of the Career Opportunities Program. The paraprofessionals are trained to do many of the routine and specialized tasks of the classroom, which in turn, frees the teacher to devote more time to working directly with students. In addition, the paraprofessionals, often from ethnic minorities and/or low-income backgrounds, relate well to the children in the schools who are from similar backgrounds. According to the coordinator, Mrs. Carol Williams, the Child Development Program trains individuals "whose primary responsibility is directing the daily activities of groups of children in center-based preschool programs." Uniquely, primary emphasis is shifted from formal classroom learning to the students' demonstrated ability to work effectively with young children, especially in sensitivity to a child's racial, ethnic, and cultural uniqueness. A minimum of 50 percent of the students' time is spent in supervised field work experiences. Students may prove competency to work with children in as little time as a few months or take up to two years, and receive thirty hours of community college credit upon certification. The program is a pioneer in competencybased training in both Hawaii and the nation. The Head Start Supplementary Training Program is a degree-oriented program for approximately 120 professional and paraprofessional Head Start employees throughout the State. The college provides courses on afternoons, evenings, Saturdays, or inservice release time schedules for the participants. Mrs. Kimi Matsuda, the director, is presently moving the program toward competency or performancebased training and away from formal courses. The Job Experience Program, directed by Mr. Robert Kita, combines on-the-job training with community college course work for unemployed residents of Kalihi-Palama and Waianae-Nanakuli. In 1973 the project served a total of 295 trainees. Maui Community College (Island of Maui) The extent of the number of disadvantaged students in Hawaii's community colleges is indicated in Maui Community College's typical estimate that over 500 of the 1,200 students at the school are "academically disadvantaged" and 111 are" economically disadvantaged." Under the direction of Mrs. Lillian Kobayashi, the Counselor for the Disadvantaged, MCC offers a wide variety of programs to assist these students. The Learning Skills Laboratory seeks to up-grade the students' communication skills in English. Following the administering of a reading test, the students are counseled into appropriate courses such as Phonics and Spelling, Dictionary Skills, Developmental Reading, Speed Reading, Vocabulary Enrichment, and Study Skills. The Math Learning Center at MCC has individualized instruction into various modules like whole numbers, fractions, decimals and percentages, to 29

3 assist students with demonstrated weaknesses in one or more of these areas. In addition, the " Math Program to Teach Practical Math to Voe-Tech Students" uses one-unit modules to specifically teach the math skills needed in various vocational areas. Maui Community College offers a comprehensive counseling program of professional and paraprofessional counselors, peer tutors, a group guidance orientation program for new students, seminars in human potential, career guidance seminars, and numerous social and special interest clubs and activities. The Speech Communication Center sponsors a self-improvement program to help the students feel accepted and worthwhile in the eyes of others, while learning to evaluate effective and ineffective communication. The program combines self-instruction and peer evaluation approaches to learning. MCC also has a Cooperative Training Program in business, vocational-technical, and liberal arts areas for off-campus job training. In another area, handicapped students are provided with special assistance such as taped textbooks, reader and home tutoring services, and typing help for term papers and projects. Kapiolani Community College (Island of Oahu) In the Basic Skills Laboratory, Kapiolani Community College provides a comprehensive approach to the remediation needs of disadvantaged students. The laboratory helps students improve their basic skills in reading, writing, speaking, computation, and study habits. The instruction design of the lab is sufficiently flexible to provide for the needs of group and individual techniques for reading and study improvement, including both professional and paraprofessional tutoring. The writing laboratory consists of classes which have been modularized to serve the students' needs and interests, including modules for vocational-technical students. The programmed instruction by modules permits students to place more emphasis on areas of writing where they are weakest. A speech laboratory offers individualized programs to aid the students who demonstrate voice and articulation difficulties. After diagnosis of the problem an individualized program of remediation is prescribed which the student may follow for credit or non-credit. The speech laboratory provides a variety of pre-recorded tapes that deal with common articulatory, rhythmic, and melodic speech problems, copies of which are made on the students' own cassettes for their use when convenient, at home or in the lab. The mathematics laboratory provides many options for the students to develop mathematical skills including classes, lectures, pre-recorded tapes, peer tutoring, and paraprofessional tutoring. Self-pacing modules allow the students to move forward rapidly in areas where they are already knowledgeable. In addition, the computer at Kapiolani has been programmed to generate quizzes and module examinations so the instructor can readily give diagnostic tests to check the progress of students with a unique individual evaluation device tailored to the needs of the students. Although coordinated by Acting Dean of Students, Janet Ishikawa, the Kokua (Hawaiian for " Help") Center at KCC is run by students for students who give each other support and help with everything and anything; from academic difficulties to the most intimate personal problems. Instructors also volunteer their services to the center and two lawyers from the community offer free legal advice weekly. The federally funded Special Students Service Program directed by counselor lsao Matsumura gives support services to disadvantaged/handicapped students in order that every participating student may have a more successful college experience. In cooperation with the food service industry, the Food Service Education Division at Kapiolani offers a Dish-Machine Operator, Kitchen Helper, and Table Busser Training Program for the educable mentally handicapped. A number of the students successfully completing the program have continued studying, and the placement rate in industry is high. Hawaii Community College (Island of Hawaii) In addition to developmental courses similar to those taught at other schools, Hawaii Community College on the Big Island sponsors three programs aimed directly at assisting the disadvantaged student. The indigenous Hawaiian, now less that ten percent of the State's population, suffers the fate of being a minority race in his native land, a "stranger" in a highly competitive culture recently transplanted to his home islands. Hawaiians have not fared well in the competitive higher education system in the State. Three years ago, Mrs. Alma Kaiama Cooper, a native Hawaiian and instructor at Hawaii Community College, completely revised the Hawaiiana curriculum in order to build the selfesteem of the Hawaiian students and give them a stronger sense of cultural identity. Mrs. Cooper devised small one-credit mini-courses to cover the broad range of subjects in Hawaiian Studies: music, chants, dances, legends, food preparation, arts and crafts, history, and sports and games. These courses are taught by talented Hawaiian community persons 30

4 who are acknowledged to have expertise in these specialized areas. The Hawaiian students get to know their community leaders well as the students study under them. The popularity of the courses among non-hawaiians as well as Hawaiians further enhances the positive sense of the cultural worth of Hawaiiana. Studying topics they are familiar with and enjoy is academically reinforcing to the Hawaiian students. George Fields and James Cabatbat work as peer counselors in a program directed by Mrs. Betty Reimer. The program combines the concept of the peer counselor with the "counselor without a desk" innovation. The two peer counselors spend their time out on the campus, at the beach, on the basketball court, wherever the HCC students are, encouraging potential dropouts to stay in school in order to get an education. They suggest various types of assistance available for the problems students tell them about. The counselors, both Vietnam veterans, function as someone the students can trust, and they strive to gradually build up the self-esteem and confidence of the students. The peer counselors often refer students with academic problems to thirty-five student tutors who have been trained to provide a wide variety of assistance in both developmental and vocational-technical areas. The Early Admissions Program, administered by Ms. Janet Kori, is specifically aimed at the student who is a high school dropout. By attending Hawaii Community College the student may complete the requirements for his high school diploma as well as earn credits toward his community college certificate. At present, fifty-four students are enrolled under this program and several have earned their college degrees. Windward Community College (Island of Oahu) The newest of Hawaii's community colleges, Windward is only in its second year of operation. According to Dr. Melvin Sakaguchi, the Dean for Educati"onal Services, Windward Community College has constructed its offerings with three major emphases, all of which provide broad opportunities for the disadvantaged student. The emphases are alternatives, accessibility, and assessment. For alternatives, the college schedules a wide variety of courses, encourages faculty to utilize a wide variety of teaching methods, provides courses in 8, 12, and 16-week terms, and interdisciplinary courses to explore topics like the energy crisis, land in Hawaii, and intercultural communications. Flexibility within courses allows students to select whether they want the course at a non-transfer or transfer, elementary or more advanced level. Dr. Sakaguchi explained: "In providing these alternatives the college seeks to give a person the opportunity to demonstrate the achievement of a learning objective in a way most appropriate to his or her own interests and abilities... (and) permit a learner to move along at his or her own pace, in his or her own style, and a direction of his or her own choosing." For accessibility wee has initiated off-campus courses in the communities the college serves, and provides year-round program and career advising. In assessment, Windward Community College requires that performance or behavioral objectives for all courses be distributed to the students. If the student knows what he is expected to do and the alternative ways available to meet the objectives, his learning experience will be more effective and meaningful. Pre-testing in courses helps the instructor and students identify areas of strength and weakness in the students' backgrounds. Kauai Community College (Island of Kauai) Kauai Community College, with an enrollment of approximately 900 students, offers a comprehensive assistance program for its handicapped, academically and financially disadvantaged students. The program includes: transportation to and from campus, assistance with mobility around school, tutoring by student tutors, typing, financial aid, and a study skills course. An orientation class for freshmen is effective in dealing with college adjustment and vocational planning for the students; interest, aptitude, and personality tests are part of the course. last year a Cooperative Education Program offered jobs for sixty-five students in fields related to their ongoing studies. A summer exploratory program at Kauai Community College last year entitled "Educational Exploration for Students for the Purpose of Motivating Interests in Vocational Education," offered guidance for students who were potential or actual high school dropouts, or having difficulty deciding on a career. According to the director, Counselor Earl Nishiguchi, the program effectively filled a need for disadvantaged students. Kauai Community College feels that any program that expects to be effective with the disadvantaged student must have the wholehearted support and cooperation of the faculty. The goal of KCC's programs is to obtain the personal concern of each faculty member for the welfare of each student at the college. 31

5 Leeward Community College (Island of Oahu) The student body at Leeward Community College is probably more diverse in background than at any other community college in the State, a mixture of recent high school graduates, veterans, housewives, military personnel, foreign students, full-time wage earners, and students from one of the most economically depressed areas of the island of Oahu. To meet the needs of these students Leeward offers innovative programs in the academic areas similar to the offerings described above at the other community colleges, including: Language Art Division's Reading Laboratory, the Writing Clinic, the Math Learning Center, Open Chemistry Laboratory, Audio-Laboratory Biology Laboratory, Educational Media Center, Computer Center, and the Social Science Learning Center. The Writing Clinic serves nearly 500 students per semester, which is an indication of the extended outreach of these programs. The federally funded Outreach Reading Program at LCC is designed to train selected residents of the economically deprived and geographically isolated areas of Leeward-Central Oahu to become peertutors in a developmental reading program offered off-campus in these areas. The TRIO or Special Student Services Program at Leeward sends counselors into the communities to seek out disadvantaged or handicapped students who have the potential to go on to higher education, and assist them in a self-development program designed to help make the transition from their own cultural backgrounds to the middle-class expectations of college life. During the past three years the program helped at least 150 disadvantaged young people succeed in their college work. Dr. Joyce Tsunoda, the Director of Community Services, pointed out that "this program has also produced a group of stable, active students who have surged forward into student leadership positions within the College and are serving as a training ground for other potential student leaders." In addition, Leeward offered a two-week mini-training session on dealing with drug problems. The THRUST (Tutorial Help Resources Utilizing Student Talent) Program at Leeward is effectively using the concept of "peer tutoring" as a teaching method. The Veteran's Cost of Instruction project provides services to veterans in the areas of outreach, recruitment, counseling, and specially designed educational, remedial, tutorial, and motivational programs aimed at promoting success in the postsecondary experience. The program led to the formation of a campuswide Veteran's Club which gives the recent veteran a sense of identification and belonging on campus. Another means by which LCC assists the military personnel is through the PREP (Pre-Discharge Educational Program) which is conducted at the military education centers, and provides developmental instruction in math, reading, and writing skills so that, following discharge, the veteran wilt be prepared to further his education. Finally, an exciting program offered at Leeward Community College last summer under federal funding was the" Awareness Training for Community College Educators of Minority and Low-Income Students." In this program students from minority and low-income groups actually taught the faculty members who were participating, and the participants lived for a period of time in the homes of students from the economically depressed area near Leeward. Conclusion Hawaii's community colleges, in a brief ten years of existence, have championed the community outreach concept, taking education into the community to all the peoples of the State. The programs are as diverse as the needs of the peoples of the State. Governor John A. Burns, in his opening remarks at the inauguration of Leeward Community College five years ago, said: "... as a people, we have resolved not to set aside any class or any one element of our society to receive a second-class education; nor would we have any child inherit a secor,d-class future." The programs for "disadvantaged" students at the community colleges of Hawaii are a giant step in achieving this goal. Footnotes 1 Quoted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 10, 1973, p.,,. lquotes from program coordinators and directors in this paper are taken from reports submitted by chem for the purpose of compiling data needed for this article. Barbara Bennelt Pe1erson has been Instructor al History al Honolulu Communily College since She received her M.A. degree from Stanford Universily and is presenlly a Ph.D. candida1e in History at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. Ms. Pelerson, in addition to having been a Fulbright Scholar, is the aulhor of a number of articles and lhe Hawaii editor of lhe Community College Social Science Quarterly. Jahn H. Baker is Assistant Professor of Education and Associate Director of the EPDA. Part E, Graduate Fellowship Program for Prospective and Experienced Community College Faculty, College of Education, University of Hawaii. Prior lo receiving his Ph.D. in Higher Education from Boston College, Dr. Baker served as Dean of Students al Inter-American University of Puerto Rico and the College of the Virgin Islands. 32