“In an economy that increasingly requires a college education to be successful in the labor market, Pacific Islanders have fallen behind and current admissions patterns will perpetuate this problem.” Pacific Islanders exist in the “Eye of the Storm” because of the urgency of their current positioning within schools and higher education. There is a dire need for policies and programs that will support the academic achievement of these marginalized youth. This includes making them more aware of academic opportunities and increasing their accessibility, along with supporting them in their struggles to attain their academic goals starting from the elementary school level.

Many Pacific Islander youth, specifically Samoans, Tongans, and Fijians, do not pursue higher education because either they do not successfully graduate from high school, they do not meet many of the competitive requirements necessary to be eligible, they do not see it as a feasible or desired option, or they have to attend to family responsibilities instead. In terms of the level of educational attainment for Pacific Islanders, they are similar to African Americans where 17% have at least a bachelor's or more advanced degree compared to their 15%, with Samoans, Tongans, and Fijians having the lowest percentages with any degree.

Unfortunately, these glaring issues of inequitable access started way before high school and college but instead, at the elementary level. Public schools have been failing to prepare Pacific Islander youth for both high school and college. Part of the problem is due to the inability of middle and high schools to provide an education that addresses the needs of adolescent Pacific Islanders. The lack of culturally-appropriate programs and a hostile educational environment contribute to social alienation and a high dropout rate among these youth. Many schools are ill equipped to accommodate culturally-appropriate programs, leading to the creation of unfriendly environments in which it is a struggle to focus on learning. For example, “the pejorative treatment of Tongan students have led youths to view academia as a space that is hostile to Tonganness and a space that they must resist in order to survive.” (Fuifuilupe Niumetolu, 2006)

The education system is unsupportive of Pacific Islander identities, therefore discouraging them from attaining their potential which severely limits their life options. The success of the majority of youth in school often times depends on family background, school resources, how well received they are in school, and how well they are able to assimilate to the prescribed ways of learning. Because schools are structured to encourage and support a very narrow definition of intelligence and success, those from less privileged backgrounds are not able to successfully assimilate. Many Pacific Islander communities fall into this group so they do fit into the system and get left behind to fail. They often do not make it past high school to even see higher education as an option, and so they experience a barrier which limits their potential for growth and access to opportunities. In our complex and diverse society we need a model of schooling that supports the success of every single student and empowers them to become engaged, critical thinkers.

The consequences of the limited reality of educational opportunities for Pacific Islander communities are grim as well as urgent. To improve the situation of Pacific Islanders so that we are no longer in the “Eye of the Storm” requires change on the institutional, community, and individual levels. As individuals, we must educate ourselves about the inequities of the education system in order to arm ourselves with the tools necessary to break down the barriers. As communities, we must organize ourselves to begin or continue having conversations about how to best support our youth in schools. And as policy makers, we must “take affirmative steps to ensure Pacific Islanders have equal access to educational opportunity.”

Statistics and quotes take from “Pacific Islanders Lagging Behind in Higher Educational Attainment: Analytical Brief of New Census Data, 2006”

Asena Lillywater Tui’one graduate with her B.A. degree in Sociology and Education from UC-Santa Cruz and is currently a graduate student at Columbia University.