The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1866-09-22
The Board OF Education nnd the Evangelical
Association.

The Bonrd OF Education n"drhe Evangelical
Association.
Mr.. EDITOR In pursuing our remarks upon this
subject. we shall cndeavor TO do what the writer in
the Gazette signally failed 10 do viz. 10 write in 4
fair and candid spirit, without SANDER. and with
out vituperation. For the truth needs no such adj
junctS. It can afford to stand squarely on the sim
pie statement of facts. And rs the interests in
volved are of vial Importance to the community
and to the nation, we must beg your indulgence,
and that of your readers. should we trespass some
wha; extensively upon your columns.
As We desire~neither to be blinded TO the truth
ourselves. nor to suffer others TO be deceived, We
propose to place the statements of the Report side
by side with their respective answers in the Ga
.ete. SO that it may be distinctly seen how far that
editorial has succeeded in convicting the Evangel-
zeal Association Of 9" misstatcments.'' or fallacy
Of reasoning" And We shall also claim the lib
crty Of free speech in such omment as we may
have 10 make.
Having already sufficiently noticed the curious
reply 10 the first paragraph of the Preamble of the
Report. we come TO the second paragraph.
1t seems evident that those who have the direction Of the
schools are pursuing systematic measures to rid the schools Of
the Influence AID teachings of those who first taught the people
10 read si write
C@onsiierins the fst tina, ihrse Of the five gentlemen who
tame it was reorcauized under tie new law, the egvtism. to say
nothing Of the unwarranted imputation Of motives, might arrest
the attention Of those who choose to look below the surface or
behind the letter of the report Do the Committee really intend
to convey to the world the idea that at thus day in Hawaiian
history no one can be found outside Of themselves and their
associates competent ami honest enough to manage the educs-
education Of which they boast so much and So loudly has failed
to produce men capable TO perceive that the prosperity Of a
people depends on the intellectual. moral and religious training
arpesr, when coming from fhsir Side. it is evidently The cst Of
their protest. the point Of view from which they look upon State
educstion-GazeTfe.
The Report here states an evident fact. Does
the Gazette deny it? Not at all. On the contrary,
it 1 acitly admits the truth of the charge. and seeks
to justify the existence of that fact. 1t speaks Of
"egotism " and "unwarranted imputation of mo-
tives on the part of the Report. and in the same
breath gives us a most NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. spe-
cimen of its own egotism, at the same time that it
filings at the authors of the Report an unwarranted
imputation of the lowest, and most degrading
chamberlain imputation as unworthy of the Board
of Education as it is false and malicious. 1t GER
tainly seems supremacy ridiculous for any one
man. or even any four or five men who have had
no practical personal acquaintance with the man
agement of the schools until within Il year or two
past. to set themselves up as the only men who
should be allowed to know anything, and 10 ignore
the experience of those who have through many
years of earnest and successful effort, built up the
whole educational system of the nation, and con-
fessedly laid the stable foundations on which re-
pose its whole civilization, and prosperity. And
this We say not in Il boastful spirit. Far be it from
us to boast OF the successful results of efforts to
which Mr.. Fernandez and the members of the
Board now owe their position and their oppOrtuni-
ties of t%rampiing on the birth-rights of freedom.
We simply state the incOntTovertible facts Of his
tory. Aud now Mr.. Fernandez and the Board. set
ting up their theories and their iiedgeling position
in educational affairs against the lifelong expert
eGce of those who have educated the nation, cry,
- EurCkai We are the men, and wisdom shall die
with u.s.; We leave 1t to ali candid minds to de-
eide on which side the :. egotism " lies. The mem
beers of the Board certainly have no need of using
the Scotchman's prayer Lord gle us a guide con-
ceit o oursel."
The paragraph of the Report which we have
quoted presents tie great underlying fact in the
whole matter. This fact established, all the rest
becomes plain. The course pursued by the Board
of Education. is that of a deliberate crusade against
ECongelicai Protestant influences throughout the
kingdom. With the motives that may influence the
individual members of the Board in pursuing such
a course, or in sustaining those who do pursue it,
We have nothing to do. With the fact everything.
We come now to Art. l of the Report.
II. The former system of school laws was repealed by the
Legislature two years ago, and the office Of School superntend-
remove all the teachers OF all the schools"
REPLY.
LIST. The office of Inspector General School superintendent
was not a new idea. 1t was proposed i'll the report OF the former
Board as a measure of great Importance and necessity, and as
such embodied by the Legislature in the new School Law-for
its conception the present Board are not chargeab!e.
Here. two facts are stated LIST. The entire over
turn of the former School Laws, and second the
giving 10 Il SCHOOL superintendent. OF inspector
General the exclusive poorer to regulate all the
schools. We look in vain for a denial of either of
these facts in the reply of the Gazette. On the con-
trary, their correctness is quietly admitted, and the
point Of the charge-the exclusive ORetHdn pOtcer,
entirely evaded.
We pass on to Art. 2 of the Report.
80. The person first elected to fill this highly responsible
for a series Of years. as editor of a public Journal, had shown
intense hostility to the American Mission and their doctrines,
and great contempt for the system of schools they had inau-
gurated."
81. By their objections to the incumbent o. the Inspector
Generals office personally, the committee virtually destroy
n mgn mo; mo, a. ohil = = 10 { isa ,P P' oSics sh hpe 10 di Ie by y M % oS ,t ,ir
own number or associates, there would have been no report, no
protest, n" opposition to its action, nor agitation of the masses
other slider What guarantee would the country at large have
had that the primary State education would not have become,
as in former times. an instrument OF sectarian. denominational
proseytism, an insidious and powerful means Of constraining
from the committee' 1t might have been better, perhaps, had
the d" Board" not counted too much on the Christian spirit Of
is to the man for old scores, and not to the office, re may
dismiss this count Of the indictment without further comment.
The fact stated admits of no denial. Not only
wa, an Office of almost dcspotic power created,
but, to. crown the whole, that office was conferred
upon a man, all of whose Hawaiian antecedcnts
were those of bitter hostility to the religious prin-
ciples and educational sentiments of the Protcs-
tant part of the population. 1t matters little whether
his name be y. Fernandez. or Alexander the Cop
persnith. Esq. 1t is not the person. bat his known
sentiments and position of hostility to a very large
portion of the community. which renders his APP
pointment to an Office of such arbitrary authority
and power a fact of the gravest Significance.
But again, Art. ;:
1.-THE wishes of the parents are utterly disregarded in the
selection of men to instruct their chidren.'
REPLY.
Sd. That is certainly a strong way Of putting the case. Let
US see how far 4" the wishes Of the parents were regarded I'M
der the old law. The old law theoretically left the appointment
Of teachers with the School Agents Of the districts (Kahukula),
with the sanction Of the trustees, elected by the majority Of
the parents Of every school precinct; practically, as a general
thing, the agents appointed and dismissed teachers as seemed
hest to them. The parents had nothing to say in the matter.
1t wa not considered then. any more IMAM II is now, within
the sphere Of the parents duties TO examine or decide upon the
qualifications Of candidates. Then the power OF appointing
was held by twenty-four persons. Zone il each distrct) now il
is held by one only: the committee, by accident or design, omit
to mention that in the appointment Of teachers under the new
Law, more than njne-teuths of the old teachers, appointed d-
reCtIy or iudrec ~ 10y the Committee and their friends under
the Old law. were re-appoiuted after examination, solely on the
strength Of the thus implied recommendation for honesty ami