The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-03-07

Its educational conditions, cannot differ essen
tally from other parts of the Islands.
When he came into Office, the gentleman found
the schools efficient, with the means then or
now 1t Command, they could he made. They
were supplied with Ae 6,sf Graiiabls teachers
prOrided by The higher schools, trsre under the
constant supcrrrsOn Of district kahu, aided rery
generally By The Protestant Missionary, with
faifhfHI examinations quarterly, schooling fre
A0Ers per day, throughout The year, with rGcafioHs
Gn'orHiing IN the aggregate 10 or lO rueeks only
These UNDERSIGNED statements give US the terms
under which the common schools had for years
been carried on, and r1HAisr rrhIeh fhsy had BE-
stOlrsd upon the nation elsrneHfgry education
more nearly uHirersai then IS possessed By any
HaliOn 6,ids, the face Of fh> earfh-
Now to turn To the present school laws and the
system which they shape, We have such teachers
as n has pleased The Inspector General 10 seLecf,
for reasons best known to himself and subordinate
officers Cet reference be made to the schools Of
PuueTa and HonOmakau well as Niuli) under
t6> acfual superrisi0H Of nobody, with annual eI-
0Hlinafi0ns Hea,iy farce as may BE-, schooling
four hours per day for ftro three days per
tresk, trih uninterrupted rGcGf0Hy Of ersry third
1a0afA. superadded- Moreover until very recently
the two or three day- Of schooling weekly, trere
optional trih the teacher, both the days them
seIres aud also the finss Of day AZ ,cich The
session uras held Now add To there most unia-
vorable eonditiOns that other fact that the chill
dren are in our rural districts, greatly scattered
from sea to inland, and you have the data fairly
stated, for an estimate of the gross unreliability
of the official statements. to which reference has
been made. If these deliyerances are not the
veTiest mOOnshine, then to speak Of means as
necessary to- an end, i pure nonsense.
This same sort Of reasoning which the report
offers uz and from which it professes to deduce
the Conclusions stated, would prove, with equal
soundness of demonstration, that the schools
would 90 on Just a. well. nay even better, were
the Office OF Inspector General abolished and the
Lst provision for the superintendence Of the
schools struck from the statute
But what the Inspector General declares 80
emphaticlIly that he - knOrrs' to exist, thou
sands of US are absolutely positive has exist
enee ar all. beyond that ,entIeman's imagination.
And. with what show Of reason, We would like
to inquire, can he pretend that his acquaintance
with the Affairs Of remote districts, anything
like a. particular or reliable, as - that of those
who dwell in these districts and at all times
PERFECTLY familiar with their condition and histo
nv? Possibly, his understanding of these mat |
ters j. even better than that Of the local officials
themselves IL would certainly seem 80.
The local Inspector OF this district, informed /
me that in the first twelve months of the present
Inspector Generals ineumbeDcy, there was a
decrease of one hundred pupils IN our common /
schools, i.e, nearly one-fOurth OF the entire num-
Der. Perhaps the gentleman a. 'kHorcs - better.
Subsequent also To the last annual examination
Of the schools, one Of the public officers of the
district, who by invitation aided the local In
spector therein, declared tlAt lie was ashamed to /
see how uliserabIy low the schools had fallen
lie assured me that whole schools were unable to .
produce six books each, of any kind. and that the
examination was in consequence mere Pretenee-
This testimony aeeords perfectly with my own /
personal observation, well as with that OF
other intelligent individuals who hate interes.
sufseien, in our schools to induce them to aseer-
tain the facts viii the Inspector General assure
Us that he Enours - besteri Quite Hkely-but
does he =. kno,o - better And if he does, there
are not few who are curious To learn both the
source OF his superior knowledge and the full
extent thereof.
Bat the gentleman has, after all, conviction
that there is - something rotten in Denmark" ,"
lie dweIIs upon the continued decrease OF the
population, =" the miSrAtOfy haOit7 ~ hc 20
ple. the entieements OF labor which draw all
the larger eAss Of boy. from the schools, q the
springing up Of English schools, - a. poorly quail
fed teachers - want Of interest on the part Of
uarents miserable school houses, too general
absence Of the puTils from school, +" destitution
OF books, lack Of suitable inspection Z" short
portion Of the year for which the schools can be
sustained, and upon other causes which have
Led to the condition Of fpubliceducationali
terests throughout the Islands, apart from the two
or three centres. Bot these hindrance- arrange
themselves obviously under two distinct heads,
viz: those which the new school laws have ere
ated. and for the existence Of which tie Govern
ment is solely responsible and those which. in
part, are inevitable under any ordinary eondi-
tions Of society, and in part peculiar to the
prescns conditions Of Hawaiian life. or the
former, more in the sequel. or the latter, all
need to -ay is that they not ner1 evils, nor
have they had any specially injurious influence
upon the school interests for the last three years,
beyond what has been felt for the entire genera
ton past We decidedly object. therefore. to any
special pleading for a special hearing their ac-
count.
What We greatly want 10 know Is this-taking
the data furnished u by the Inspector corrobO-
ratiye Of much more that is notOrOus-how comes
il 20 pas that when in schools Of thirty 10 forty
pupils, there IL not an ayeragc daily attendance
OF ten, and the-e largely taught without books.
and for the briefest period each school day, and
the school days not amounting, in the aggregate,
10 more than four months Of the year-bow comes
IL 10 ras-, ask that under conditions ~ de-truc-
tive "A the-e the common schools are more