The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-08-04

IhS Ot1 $500
Francisco on the 18th instant. will call at Homo
lulu, as usual.
WE HAVE already alluded to the Report of the
International Conference on education held at
Philadelphia in July of last year. We now pro-
coed to notice that portion of its contents which
especially refers to the condition of education
in the Hawaiian Kingdom. For this purpose,
we shall refer to the sketch of education in this
country, which appears in the report in question,
and which was drawn up by our late Inspector
General of schools for the occasion. He begins by
noticing the condition of these Islands, a century
ago, savage and heather, as they then were,
and unknown to civilized nations. Their sub
sequent conversion to christianity by the
American Missionaries, who also instructed
them in the mode of writing their own Ian
guage, and printed in it the Scriptures as well
as many other useful books, is noted as "no
small achievement" The a~lacrity of both the
chiefs and the people in those early days of
conversion and civilization to learn the sc pala-
pala,' or writing, was a spectacle worthy Of
admiration.
"a few years after the guarantee of the ma
tional independence of Hawaii nei by foreign
powers, the department of education was or
gained, in 1916, and the government assumed
the responsibility of educating the Hawaiian
youth. The legislation of 1865, reconstructed
the educational department, providing for a board
of education, an inspector general, district
school agents, district school boards, and
teachers. The King appoints the members of
the Board, which consists of FIVE, one of whom
acts as its President, and all are Privy Coun-
cillOrs. The Board appoints an Inspector Gen
eral of education as its executive officer, and no
divine is eligible to the Office. The district school
agents are also appointed by the board and
they are er-C6fcio chairmen of their respective
boards. The teachers of the common schools
must hold a certificate from the Inspector Gen.
eral. Their services are recompensed accord
ing to merit, irrespective of sex.
The school system comprehends primary or COM
mon schools, select schools, and the national col
lege. All parents, guardians and adaptive parents
are obliged by law to send their children, wards or
adopted children, between the ages of six and
fifteen years, to some school, either public or
private. In the common schools the Hawaiian
language is employed as the medium of instruc-
tion. The teacher earns about so cents per
diem, for five hours tuition. Reference was
made to a special system introduced into the
Hawaiian common schools, which consists in
the union OF manual labor with the mental work of
the school. The scholars cultivate patches of
ground in the immediate neighborhood of their
school, raise crops, and enclose their little farms
with stone walls. The profits are divided
amongst them, deducting one-ffth as the
teachers share. In one year $250O were
divided amongst the scholars of about 40 schools,
numbering 1000. twenty-five acres of crops
were raised, and 5000 feet of stone walls built by
the scholars of those 40 schools in the year.
The Inspector General INDUCES in some wit
ticisms on the score Of the readiness with which
the native Hawaiian teacher shirks his work,
with the excuse of burying his innumerable
parents and relatives. But, in truth, a man
who earns only so cents for five hours tedious
school work-the most tagging of all work
may be excused for taking a holiday as often
as he can and we do not think that it was at
all necessary for Mr.. Hitchcock to make these
remarks about the truant pendants of the
native Hawaiian teachers, at Philadelphia,
however much the Inspector General may have
reason to complain of the native school masters
in this respect, when at home here at the head
of his own department. The teachers of the
common schools follow a system of teaching set
forth in a manual furnished to them by the In
spector General. The character of the schools
is non-sectarian, and each teacher is at liberty
to open and close his school with that form of
christian worship which his own conscience
dictates. Twice a year, Teachers Institutes
are held and are conducted by gentlemen of cul-
ture, for the instruction and Improvement of the
teachers. In the year 1874, the annual cost to the
nation for each pupil of the common schools was
seven dollars and forty cents. The attendance that
year comprised 8.287 scholars, being little short
of the whole number of school children in the
Kingdom.
In the select schools, English is taught, and
they consist of boarding and day schools. The
ayIdity with which English began to be studied
twenty years ago led to the organization of these
select schools by the educational department.
The National College is the highest educa-
tional Institution in the Kingdom. Il is on
the Island of Maui, in a healthy site, 600 feet
above the sea. Here a superior course of studies
is followed for four years. Recently the
English language has been substituted for the
Hawaiian at Lahainaluna.
For Juvenile offenders a Reformatory and In
dnstrial School has been established by law,
which is under the control of the Board of Ed
~ucation. AS in similar Institutions, the young
culprIts are Obliged to perform manual labor,
and are taught useful trades.
Female seminaries are largely supported by
fees paid by the Board of Education to the
teachers for all girls who enter these schools
under ten years, continuing their studies
to sixteen. The Inspector General pays a
well merited compliment to the ladies charged
with the education of Hawaiian girls in these
female seminaries.
Private schools may be opened by authorized
teachers of either sex, with the condition of
holding school at least $50 times a year, of
three hours duration each school session. The Re-
gistry of births, deaths and marriages, and the tax
ing of the census every sixth year, are under the
control of the Board of Education. Such is
the substance of Mr.. Hitchcock's statement at
Philadelphia, which reflects honor upon the
educational standing of this country.