The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-06-03
TIE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
JENE 3.

the Ministers introduced, and oE course carrie
AS they, did everything else they chose I
dictate to that plant body-an Act amcndin.
or remodelling the Department of Education
The principal feature of Importance in the new
law was the creation of a new Office connecte,
with the Board, and dubbed - the Inspector
General Of Schools" upon whom was to devolv'
the duties formerly 50 faithfully and laboriously
performed by the late DR.. Armstrong, Will,
Minister Of Public instruction, and afterward.
when that office was abolished, as President
Of the Board Of Education. Those duties con.
sisted Of personally and frequently visiting eacl
and all the common schools throughout the
islands, for the fostering and encouraging the
education and training of the youth of the
nation, and instructing and melting the teachers
and parents in the work.
After no little flourish Of trumpets, the new
Act was passed, and the Office created. 1t was
at once conferred upon 4 gentleman whose
peculiar notions on the subject of education
had been constantly aired in the columns of
the PoLyHesian newspaper, during the last year
Of It's feeble existence.
We confess to q feeling Of some disappoi.t-
ment on reading the frs report of the first Inspec-
80 ~ 80 - NAA-- DoA NlIDElNI 81 VI
- the mountain in labor has brought forth a
mouse" We certainly had a right to expect from
o gentleman of such antecedents, a carefully writ
ten, intelligent criticism ON the state Of education
and morals in the schools. Instead Of which, how
ever, the Inspector-G General appears to have
mistaken his Office for that of superintendent
Of repairs, or perhaps peripatetic Whitewater
and landscape-gardener, and to have seen or
thought Of nothing but the school houses,
ignoring altogether the scholars as no affair of
his. And he seems to have gone on his travels
with a determination to condemn and to carp
at the poor school-houses, for the purpose Of
cOvertly indulgiDg in a fling at somebody who
has preceded him in the work of building and
locating these houses, or perhaps his masters,
of the Board, thought their infamous schemes
needed other trumped-up excuses to Justify
them in the destruction of the present school
system. The houses are built in too airy
positions,-one might think that u pardonable
fault in Il tropical climate,-and shade trees,
running water, and whitewash are not abundant.
These, and particularly the last, are about the
only topics of remark ELECTED in an official tour
of the Island of Oahu by The Inspector
General of Schools" and which are now COM
pldttully blTtdl DcIDTS the pubic IN three or
four columns of the government newspaper,
We are not told, and it would appear that
the official did not inquire, how many children,
and of what ages, attended each school, the
studies pursued, the degree Of proficiency and
intelligence exhibited by teachers and pupils,
or whether they were decently clad or the
reverse,-matters of surely more interest to the
public than the situation or exterior appearance
of the school houses.
However after having waded about half way
through the second number Of the report
for 1t required two weeks to get this mighty
To the light-we come upon the
statement, for the first time, that the schools
of one half Of the island were i'm vacation
when the InspectOr-General went on his tour
Truly a most inopportune season for such an
official TO choose in which TO undertake such
a journey. In Koolauloa, where it is intimated
in a few de%sultory words that there were some
Of the schools in operation, we are told simply
that the children were few in number, that
they were healthy and clearly, and the impor-
tant fact is recorded that they showed their
manners by rising when the Honorable Inspector
General entered, but not one word as to their
studies. a most lame and impotent conclusion
hN'S III thiS pr S4tLh iIiHSs low" nuCD /
it is to find fault with the work Of others
than to do better ourselves, especially when
are adopts in the act of - how not to do it,
When we remembered the long diatribes of
heaped upon the heads Of the former
conductors Of public education for their short
,omings and want of attention TO the children,
and the vast erudition and wonderful sagacity
in giving them advice, we cannot
1ut wonder at the inane result, when these
Solons themselves get charge of the Department
# Public instruction.
But now the question seriously comes up. what
this systematic neglect and triAing with the
schools by the Board and its agent mean? Tax
ne this singular report now under consideration,
ogether with the still more singular leader in the
paper Of April %, which we reviewed
n our issue Of May 20, the conclusion is as ire
istlble as it is startling. The Ministers are pre-
airing TO overthrow the system Of common
chools throughout the Islands The unmista-
table tenor of the utterances of the organ, and
ne partial tone of the Inspector General, are but
and parcel Of the same deliberately destruct-
We policy. aimed at the very life of the nation.
he English day schools of Honolulu are first
wept by the board. and then we may look for the
Of the Hawaiian schools. from Hawaii
Niihau. After us the deluge, the E Re
" system OF boarding schools and hummer
Is. upon which, and upon their founders will be
wished the entire educational revenue of the 4