Admission
Because Kamehameha Schools is a private school, admission is by application. At the Kapālama campus, the process is highly selective. Acceptance rates range from approximately 6.7% to 14.7% depending on the grade for which a student applies. Acceptance rates at the Maui and Hawaiʻi campuses are generally higher, ranging from approximately 9.2% to 24%, due to those islands' smaller populations and the lack of boarding students.
In accordance with a century-old interpretation of the will of Bernice Pauahi Bishop, Kamehameha Schools prefers applicants of Native Hawaiian descent "to the extent permitted by law." Orphans and indigents receive special consideration. Preference applicants must submit evidence verifying that at least one of their pre-1959 ancestors is Hawaiian.
The schools' admissions policy has been a subject of controversy. Because far more applicants claim Hawaiian ancestry than the schools can admit, virtually all students have some Hawaiian blood. Non-Hawaiians have attended, but this is extremely rare. In 2002, Kamehameha admitted one non-Hawaiian student, Kalani Rosell, to its Maui campus, for the first time in 40 years. Rosell was admitted after all qualified Hawaiian applicants had been admitted. This decision sparked alumni protest.
Kamehameha's admissions policy was the focus of two federal lawsuits, which contended that preferring Native Hawaiians is a race-based exclusion that violates U.S. civil rights law. Both lawsuits have since settled.
Read more about this topic: Kamehameha Schools
Famous quotes containing the word admission:
“The admission of the States of Wyoming and Idaho to the Union are events full of interest and congratulation, not only to the people of those States now happily endowed with a full participation in our privileges and responsibilities, but to all our people. Another belt of States stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“The admission of Oriental immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our people has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulations secured by diplomatic negotiations. I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness ... It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948)