The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1883-11-09
THIS DAYS DOlNCS.
the ROYAL SCHOOL.

SCHOOLS On Uuelr eNaiIlilsttlOu uuN,
we went, last week, to see the Royal
School, during its ordinary daily |
work. We now proceed to give an
account of what occurred at the
time of our visit, reservng, for some
future occasion, any comments
thereon that we may think justifiable.
Having arrived at the door of the
class room of the principal, Rev. A.
Macintosh, he greeted us with the
query. . what are you up to-"
Receiving no invitation to enter the
room, we walked to the principals
desk and explained what we were
sup to- The principals class was
engaged in an arithmetic lesson,
some of the pupils working on the
lack-boards, and others on states.
One boy was teaching several others
in corner of the room, the princi-
pals attention being engaged with
The majority of the class in front of
him. Several sums were given, and
worked correctly or incorrectly.
Questions were asked concerning
them, but no thorough explanation
of the correct method of working
them was offered to the pupils. The
last question asked before recess
was, how much paper will be re-
quired to cover the walls of room,
of which the length and height were
given. Several answers were shown,
which, of course, were wrong. At
last the teacher told his class. that
the room was square; they then
knew the breadth, which had not
been previously given them, and
without which the answer could not
have been obtained. 1t was notice
able also that the room to be papered
had no space allotted for doors or
windows.
There were thirty-six boys in the
room, one other, we were told, was
instructing lower class during the
absence of its teacher. The princi-
pal stated that his room composed
the ''fifth, sixth and seventh grades )"
that they had all been through
fractions" and were now being
taught the application of fractions. "
He also stated that 6 the singing Of
all the upper department of the
school was taught in his room,"
"that one of the lady teachers played
for him. and 'he conducted and
taught the singing" '.He had got
up the petition to the Board asking
that Mr.. Yarndley might be ap-
pointed as teacher of music" One
boy seemed much interested in the
advertising columns of our daily
contemporary; there was certain
amount of whispering among the
pupils, and large amount of copy
ing their work from each other.
The principal explained that " their
good behavior was due to his system
of fines," writing lines as punish
ment) "and his honor list" He
also stated that the members of the
Board of Education had not visited
the school s'since last examination
day." The bell then rang for recess,
we thanked the principal for supply
ing the information he had given,
and left the room, having obtained
the necessary permission to visit the
other class rooms.
Room Two was under the charge
of Mr.. Dow, and it was his last day
at the school. On arrival at the
door of his room, Mr.. Dow came
forward, said she was very pleased
to see u.s." and invited us into his
room. The boys We're divided into
two classes and constituted 6 fourth
and fifth grades" Cone being the
same as one of the grades in the
principals room). They We're TAX
ing reading lesson from Swinton's
Fourth Reader, the chapter being
H How America was found" The
reading of the pupils was, with the
exception of one boy, very indis-
tinct and scarcely ineligible. They
appeared to be attentive, and were
subsequently asked questions on
what they had read, being allowed
10 refer to the open books in their
hands before giving reply. There
were thirty-two boys in the room.
In reply to questions the teacher
stated that the boys in the school
I" were not kept up to the standard
fixed by the Board of Education" :"
that he used Thomson's Arithme-
tic;" /" that arithmetic was the
standard for promotion" that ''there
were no regulations for books" and
that she used his own judgment in
obtaining any that were required.
/" When the boys came to his room
they were supposed to have been
four years in the school, they did
not know fractions, and he had to
put them through them. They used
Cornell's Primary Geography, Copy
Books numbers two and three, but
@ho., ahnuld ha furfhar advancad