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MM: Let's go back to when you, when you first entered McKinley. It sounds like McKinley had a lot of resources that were new to you and not available to you normally.

RK: Yeah.

MM: Talk a little about that.

RK: If you've seen McKinley High School, by the way, glorious architecture. I don't think we can build schools like that anymore. Every time I have friends look at it, they say to me, "Is that a college?" It's a beautiful physical setup. And when I entered McKinley it was -- at one time it was the public school for the whole island of Oahu -- and when I entered McKinley it was still the largest high school. We had four thousand students in three grades. Our, for each class, sophomore, junior and senior had over a thousand students. So it was a very large school, but there was a lot of feeling of community in that school, of belonging, and that was due, I think, to the principal, Miles Cary, who in a sense now is a legendary figure as to what he contributed to Hawaii.

MM: Tell me a little about how Miles Cary touched your life as principal of McKinley.

RK: Yes. I was fortunate in getting to know Miles Cary quite well, 'cause, you know, a student body of four thousand, but I got to be elected sophomore class president. So what McKinley did was to have a very meaningful student government. It wasn't kid's play or shibai. We really were asked to do things. We were held responsible. And when I look back, I thought that was very crucial because if you want to build responsible citizens, the best way is to give them responsibility at an early age, which is something we as teachers or parents often neglect. But anyway, McKinley had a very strong student government, and I was really engaged in that, so I got to know Miles Cary very well. I remember that as sophomores, each class had to have a class motto and our class motto was, "Let democracy be our guide." And, in a sense, that tells you what our school experience was like. And it was made very meaningful; when I look back, student government was very strong. We had... discipline was handled by the students themselves. We had a student court. I remember my wife taught in McKinley High School years later, even after Miles Cary left, and she said that's the only school in which it wasn't necessary for the teachers to patrol the halls during the recess or whatever, and oftentimes they told the students not to come in during the recess or whatever. She said she never pulled duty on trying to keep students out. It was done by, by the students themselves.

Another interesting feature, when I look back, is in a sense, we had a, we had socialized medicine. I don't know, I think each of us contributed a dime or whatever it was, if we could, annually to this fund. And I remember in the junior year I got to know more about it because I did sit as one of the student members on a council that determined what payments should be made. Essentially, it was mutual... I think it was called mutual fund or mutual aid and this was to help students whose families experienced medical emergencies. Say your mother had to have an appendectomy and it cost, oh, I don't remember if it was forty dollars, whatever in those days, but you could only afford to pay half of it. You could apply for aid from, from the school fund. And cases were brought up to the committee. And on the committee sat students, faculty, and doctors from the community who were helping us, and then we'd determine how much we'd give. And one good example is as a junior I sat on that committee. I didn't wear glasses in those days, I kept on blinking my eyes. And Dr. Pinkerton, who was a real -- the best eye specialist in the Islands, was sitting across from me and he says, "Young man, something is wrong with your eyes, I want to see you." So, I got an appointment in his office and he looked me over and he said, "You have a stigmatism," and whatever. Anyway, and he didn't charge me.

MM: So here's a great example of... in this, in the process of service you received --

RK: Oh, yes, I was very fortunate.

MM: -- a very tangible benefit.

RK: Yeah, many services.

MM: Let's go back to the student government and the discipline that they were responsible for. Do you have any examples of that? Do you ever remember any cases, if you will, that you as the student government had to handle?

RK: Not very many. We didn't have too many. As far as I know, there were very few gang fights or anything of that sort. Mitch, if you remember, I... you can recall, it was pretty tame in our days. The biggest offense was to smoke. [Laughs] Compared to what it is today. And, well, there were infractions and then, so you could plead your case before student court, and they mete out punishment.

MM: What do you think that taught you, that process?

RK: Well, it taught you about self-government and being responsible, being responsible for your actions.

<End Segment 7> - Copyright © 2004 Japanese American National Museum. All Rights Reserved.