Clickbait title, because after teaching a lot of Hawaiian students over the last 5-7 years, I’m still scratching the surface of understanding our most distinctive state.

Mainlanders who think they “know Hawaii” after spending a week or two at a resort are deluded.

Somewhere around 2015, someone at PLU decided to recruit the islands hard. And it continues.

Some observations in the form of gross generalizations.

On average, academically, they’re behind their mainland peers. Why is that? I don’t know.

On average, because Hawaii is a mosaic of different cultures, they’ve attended much more diverse K-12 schools.

Often, when you talk to them about multicultural education, their eyes glaze over. They are more inclined to embrace “colorblindness”, and as a result, dislike talking about race, class, and gender. Like Norway, they think their islands are free of cross cultural conflict, and yet, I hear and read stories about haole surfers getting beat up by native Hawaiian ones. There has to be more to the story doesn’t there?

I feel for them at this exact time of the year when the sun takes leave and the Pacific Northwest weather turns much cooler and wetter. How do they avoid being SAD I wonder?

Last, but not least, why haven’t any of them invited me to visit? Is it because they’re afraid I might out surf them?