Does it matter which high school you attended?

In Hawaii, yes.

Gov. David Ige wants everyone to know he graduated from Pearl City. It’s a source of pride, as is former Gov. Ben Cayetano’s Farrington diploma. Politicians include their alma mater in campaign literature. Downtown business leaders know who went to their high school and who graduated from a rival campus. It matters in networking, in trying to sweet-talk your way into a seat upgrade on a flight or a bigger room in a hotel, in trying to make a good impression with someone new. Families include a line about where and when a loved one graduated from high school in memorial programs, funeral notices and eulogies. High school might be only four years of your life, but in Hawaii those four years can shape how people see you forever.

The more important question is why it matters.

Most of the time, if you’re being asked, the person doing the asking is trying to place you, or trying to figure out whether they already know you.

Often they’re simply searching for a connection. If you went to a school that was known for, say, a great football dynasty or an award-winning marching band, that could lead to a conversation about shared experiences or mutual friends.

Sometimes it’s not so innocent. They’re trying to figure out how old you are by your grad year and whether you grew up in a family of means who lived in an upscale part of the island or who had the ability to send you to an expensive private school.

And sometimes, yes, it’s a matter of passing judgment. When the graduate of a rough-and-tumble public school does well, there is pride in their ascent. When the alumnus of an elite private school is involved in something shameful, an almost palpable ripple of schadenfreude goes through the community.

Recently, when class of ’15 Punahou alumnus and current NYU student Christian Gutierrez was charged with killing federally protected seabirds in a nature reserve, the matter of where he went to school got another round of scrutiny. Did it matter that he graduated from Punahou? Was it simply an identifier, or were we supposed to read something more into it? Would the alleged crime be less heinous or more understandable if he had attended a public school? Would news outlets have included the information on his high school if he had graduated from someplace else?

There is the element here of noblesse oblige — to whom much is given, much is expected. That is as much taught internally at elite schools as expected from those in the larger community outside the fancy gates. Prep school students, especially millennials, are taught that the world is theirs to save, that small actions can lead to big changes and that because of their privilege, it behooves them to give back. Is it fair to raise an eyebrow when one is accused of breaking all those commitments? Sure, especially if we’re all judged by what school we grad.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.