Hawaii lawmakers support bringing Filipino curriculum to schools

Students from public and private schools developed the lesson plans to address a lack of Filipino content in the curriculum. SCREENSHOT

HONOLULU –  Hawaii’s House and Senate asked the Department of Education to implement an elective social studies course on Filipino history, culture and identity, based on a curriculum  developed by students from public and private schools.

The Filipino Curriculum Project lesson plans were developed by the students to address a lack of Filipino content in the curriculum.

Both state House and Senate passed a resolution on Thursday , urging the department to adopt the group’s framework with guidance from educator mentors.  The lawmakers said it helps to improve understanding of Filipinos who make up a quarter of Hawaii’s population.

“They were just briefly kind of passed over on what they’ve done in Hawaii and in the world, and in the U.S.,” Landee Resuello, a student at Kamehameha Schools, told Hawaii News Now.

“Lesson plans about Igorots, lesson plans about the Hanapepe Strike, and other very relevant histories that Filipinos have been a part of,” Roosevelt High School student Allyza Espinosa added. One of the lessons is on cultural similarities between Filipinos and Hawaiians. There are also discussions of colonial mentality and cultural inferiority complex. “So we think that this curriculum will really foster first of all empathy, but also self-pride,” a student said

At Farrington High School, Filipinos reportedly make up about 60% of the student body and more if you factor in mixed-race students. Norman Sales, who teaches there, said studying Filipino history and culture helps students build “cultural intelligence.”

The group is trying to get the curriculum approved by the Department of Education. The state House and Senate resolution asks DOE to recruit and identify teachers who can teach it.