I did a little data mining to find the educational attainment level in the State of Hawaii, in the City and County of Honolulu and in Hawaii Kai. As it turns out, 30.1 percent of Hawaii residents 25 years and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Amazingly however, 9.6 percent of Hawaii residents have less than a high school diploma. The percentage of statewide residents with less than a high school degree seemed a bit high to me, but it also coincides with a 9.7 percent rate for Oahu.
Here’s where it gets interesting. In Hawaii Kai, 51.8 percent of residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 43.0 percent of these college graduates have either a graduate or professional degree. High school dropouts number 777 and comprise just 3.5 percent of Hawaii Kai residents.
I make this point as a reference to future ruminations on education in general in Hawaii. There are a number of factors that weigh heavily upon how far children will pursue their formal studies. Key among them is a parent’s educational level. While our public schools are deeply concerned about insuring that no child who wants an education is denied one (and this is indeed a noble and necessary goal in any democratic society), parents are more concerned about their own children. It is for this reason that while the Department of Education’s Strive HI index may work for its purposes, it does not permit parents to make educated decisions on which public school path is most likely to produce a college-bound senior.
Geek Note: A five year average ending with 2013 (the most recent year for which data are available) was used in order to reduce the margin of error. I’m also attaching a detailed table [pdf] below and reminding readers that there are wonderful sources of local information available free of charge. Visit census.gov. Did you know that there’s a tool that lets you start small, with just a street address, and build tables around that location? You can find the link [here].