The Unintended Legacy of an Iolani Education

I've been reading Guy Kawasaki's blog a lot recently. Guy wrote a great book called "The Art of the Start." I highly recommend it if you're starting anything. It's a no-nonsense primer written in a way that's easy and fun to read. You can tell Guy doesn't brook a lot of bullshit. Check out his website. www.guykawasaki.com. Anyway, Guy and I went to the same high school. I have to admit I got a really good education from that school even though I had a really difficult time there. Iolani adopts the Asian model for education which mostly focuses on rote learning. Rote learning has its place but it must be balanced out by critical thinking. Iolani not only completely fails in that department but actively works against it. As I like to say, Iolani is training the next batch of middle managers for CitiGroup.

The school has changed quite a bit since I was there. I recently went back to help my friend coach water polo and I was appalled by what I saw. Under Rev. Coon, Iolani was a strict, academically challenging institution where principles mattered and you were treated accordingly. Now, under the new headmaster, it seems that the school has whored itself out. In its zeal to add to its prestige, it sold the only thing that made us better than our better-heeled rivals, Punahou. We always had a pride, a character that came with hard work that Punhou boys never had. Sure, we were generally poorer and lacked their opulent facilities but we had something money couldn't buy-- the pride of hard work and accomplishment that didn't come from a rich Daddy. Iolani has lost that. Sure the academics are still rigorous but it doesn't take much of a teacher to inundate his students with homework. Any fool can do that. My experience the the current crop of students was woefully disappointing. They were an unremarkable group and embarrassingly spoiled. The were like a group of Asian Punahou kids. Pathetic.

But that's not what I wanted to write about. Reading Guy's work, I began to notice an interesting trend. Guy refers to himself as a democratizer of information. He actively works to dispel grand myths and it seems he derives a certain glee in mortalizing the Gods. I wonder if this is a Hawaii thing. Maybe it's indicative of our Iolani education and always playing second fiddle to a better known Punahou. I notice this same desire in myself.

I remember how my European counterparts made me feel on my first trip to Europe. I didn't know anything about wines or beers or cuisine. I was a local boy from Hawaii from God's sake. Heineken was the best beer I'd ever heard of and a good restaurant was any place that had cloth napkins. I remember how those fuckers lorded that information over me and did their best to make me feel insignificant. No matter how I outperformed them in anything else, they would invariably default to this position. It took me a long time but I gradually got to the point where I would not fall prey to such behavior but I still seethe whenever I see anyone who fancies himself better simply because he knows more about wines. Recently, a buddy of mine from Iolani and I started a hospitality consulting company. Our goal is to expose Asia to Western cuisine, customs and drink. Personally, I want to do this because I see how the Europeans mock my Asian brothers for their admittedly boorish habits. i want to completely destroy their ability to hold this over them. I was to demystify food and drink so nobody can use it to create a frivolous aristocracy.

I don't mind people being better than other people. I know lots of people better than me. But knowing more about wine doesn't make you better. Knowing more about scotch doesn't make you better. So in the tradition of Guy Kawasaki, I'd like to democratize this. I want to teach my Asian brothers to drink like gentlemen. Anybody got a problem with that?