Personal Experience & Thoughts on Education

The grouping of education and research non-profits include: elementary and secondary school, colleges and universities, and research organizations.


Private vs. Public K-12 Schooling:

Most private schools are small with “the average public school enrolled 516 students, whereas the average private school enrolled 191 (U.S. Department of Education, 1997, p. 10). With the exception of catholic schools with slightly higher numbers “[n]early a fourth of private school students are from racial or ethnic minority groups” (O’Neill 111). Another exception would be the high school I attended.

My experience with private schooling is a little different than most private school systems in America. I attended high school at Kamehameha Schools Maui Campus which is an estate which was left for the Native Hawaiian children of Hawaii in the will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. In order to get into the school one needs to have Native Hawaiian ancestry, pass academic tests and an interview. The school itself has three campuses on three different islands, all of which have the appearance of a college campus with outdoor pathways and state of the arch facilities. It is founded off Christian beliefs and Native Hawaiian values and in order to graduate each student had to attend Chapel services every month. This school is unlike other private religious schools however in that most of the moneys behind it comes directly from our founders will, since she was royalty she had a lot of it and the right to leave it behind along with land to whom she wished. As a result all three campuses now have facilities for K-12 in which they separately have their own campus with in the whole. Kamehameha Maui Campus’ high school students each receive a new laptop when they enter high school to be given back when they graduate, which is where all the students work is to be done. To some extent this would be considered a college-prep school in that the students truly are being prepared to go straight to college with graduation requirements: during your sophomore year picking one of the four departments to take classes in your junior and senior year, doing a related internship, 60 hours of community service, and senior projects and presentations. This private school though has one other area that stands out greatly above all compared to other private schools and that is that is does not cost nearly as much as most private schools in America. “Tuition is by far the largest source of private school revenue, especially for independent schools” (O’Neill 113). Part of all students tuition that it would normally cost to attend a school of such manor is paid for from the school, or our founder.

Because the public school system in Hawaii is close to the bottom of the charts in comparison to other schools in America, there is a great want for better education in Hawaii. Therefore it should come to no surprise that many families without Native Hawaiian ancestry and the money to send their children to a expensive private school with good education, think it is unfair that this school system is excluding those without Native Hawaiian ancestry into the schools. Another upset over this school is how there is somewhat of a competition as to which teachers get jobs there because the teachers as well as the students get to use the state of the arch facilities, laptops and get higher education they seek while in the teacher position paid for. This differs completely from the usual public school teachers getting paid more than private school teachers.


Higher Education:

In moving on to the topic of higher education of colleges, universities, and research institutions, I found it very difficult to wrap my head around the idea that some of these are in fact non-profits. I can’t help but to keep thinking about my expensive out of state tuition I pay every month and some of the oldest universities with such big endowments that they could afford to send each student to attend schooling for free. Why then would these institutes still be charging students? They are in fact making a profit off of them, are they not? To me every large university is just like a business. They charge their students (or customers) to attend their school and in return give them education and a good college ‘experience’. Pac 10 schools with direct interests in recruitment for sports and sponsorships are to me some of the worst. Maybe it is because I attend the University of Oregon and never for a second get the chance to forget that I am in the town that Nike was founded, and that founder and University of Oregon alumni Phil Knight has so much money invested in this university that there are buildings named after him. Yes he has given a lot of money to the school, but not to do what they wish with. Seeing as how Phil Knight was the founder of Nike which started as a running shoe as has expanded to a whole variety of shoes, a clothing line, and athletic wear; he obviously has his interest in sports. So much so that an educational institution such as the University of Oregon gives him whatever say he wants. It is known that Nike had been (and might still be using) workers in sweatshops in third world countries to produce their products. In 2000 when the a group of students protested against sweatshops on campus and signed petitions against them in joining the Workers Rights Consortium. Phil Knight said that he would pull the $30 million donation he was about to give the University of Oregon if they stayed joined to the Workers Rights Consortium. He said his reasoning was because they had a history of being unfriendly to shoe companies and Nike is a member of the Fair Labor Association (FLA) already; which is similar but government affiliated. In the end the administration of the University of Oregon forced students into not being apart of the Workers Rights Consortium and no longer signing petitions or having involvement on campus, and Phil Knight gave the school his donation. In this example, it is clear that instead of the educational institution being focused on a better education and students voices being heard and expressed, they are being shut down so the institution can receive money. This looks blatantly like the focus is on money: profit over education! Knowing this is what makes looking at higher education institutes as non-profits versus for-profits so hard.

Looking around our campus today, one would find a recently new football stadium, brand new baseball stadium along with an athletic building where only student athletes are allowed into except the public first floor, and a new basketball arena and alumni building being built. It is said that these facilities were built on moneys that Phil Knight donated, and not out of students tuition fees. However, I challenge this information because students tuition did go up. Why then? Instead of paying thousands and thousands of dollars on a tiny percentage of students in an educational institute (athletes) to have brand new EVERYTHING: private tutors, laptops, study rooms, lounging rooms, separate food courts, and probably more that I do not know about; why not spread that money to reach out to a wider audience of students? When I have often brought this knowledge to fellow classmates of mine they often counter argue that Phil Knight had also though given moneys that went towards other things and mainly our library on campus named after him. However, I challenge one library open to the whole campus population compared to the five recently built or being built buildings open to about only 7 percent of the student body.

What is it that the University of Oregon really cares about? With recent additions to the campus being focused on only 7 percent of the student body, it appears that keeping their status as a pac-10 school and keeping their sponsors and Phil Knight happy is the main focus. Phil Knight equals money. Sponsors give money. Good athletic department equals a happy Phil Knight and sponsors. This seems pretty self explanatory... money is the objective.

For-profit or non-profit??

These are obviously just my personal thoughts and opinions. I realize that some of what I am hinting to might offend some people or upset their personal views of the University of Oregon and their mission. I do in fact attend school at this institute and am no doubt proud to be a Duck, I am simply challenging some of what I think is over looked in the nonprofit sector of higher education.