The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-06
OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

In the Gazette of Wednesday last
Mr.. w. J. Smith has replied in detail
to number OF the statements made
by Rev. DIR. G. M. Hyde, in letter
entitled "The Hawaiian Public
School System" which was pub
lished in the same paper on the 21st
January. Few people could have
believed that man of DIR. Hyde's
calibre would rush into print with so
many absolute misstatements as he is
convicted of induIging in by Mr..
Smith. These details have, however,
less interest for the general public
than the sweeping congratulations in
regard tOthe character Of our national
education. Some of these fall to the
ground along with the figures which
DR.. Hyde relied upon. Where he got
the latter from it is difficult to
imagine. The learned Doctor is ac-
credited among us as the possessor of
4 nne intellect, much eruditiOn, and
g more than ordinary capacity for
graspiDg any, subject which he directs
his. attention to. But in his attack
on our educational system he has lost
himself. Is it permissible to suggest
that political feeling has for once
clouded his intellectual perceptions
and made him grope and blunder
here and there, when he should have
walked erect with open eyes? We
do not venture to indulge in All ex-
PLANTATION. of the fact, but most assur-
eddy Dr.. Hyde has gone far astray.
he has been playing with illusions,
and the facts have eluded that fine
intellectual grasp for which he is
celebrated.
1.-THE proportion Of children not
attending school regularly, or leaving
school at too early an age" says DR..
Hyde, is a factor of harm and loss. "
This is the cry just now all over the
world, and it Is pure folly to make
out of IL an accusation against the
Board of Education. It is a social
mischief which no Board or govern
ing body can successfully contend
With, and which legislators have
tiied.vainIy ITO allay. The commu-
nfty has to be educated into acqui-
escence in the view taken by its
most advanced members before proper
recognition Of the value of education
can bs- universal. To our minds
judging from what we see and hear
and read, this community stands
ahead Of most white communities in
its recognition of the value of educa-
ton, in it's earnest effort to promote
it, and in the proportion Of children
of school age that are actually being
educated. We will. venture to throw
down the gage on behalf of Hawaii
against any State of the American
Union or any Province of the British
Empire. Can any one produce COM
parative statistics on the subject
We want them little more reliable
than stf1ose figures of DR.. Hyde's,
which Mr.. Smith has so completely
demolished.
DR.. Hyde attacks in general way
the independent" schools, and says
that some of them are in the charge OF
persons utterly incompetent, We chal-
lenge the learned Doctor ITO name
names. Such statement as he has
ventured to make is very serious
one. We may tell him candidly that
we are of the opinion that he desires
by this sentence to poiut his finger at
fine Roman Catholic schools, which,
according to our observation, are
about the best in the Kingdom. II
DR.. Hyde is prepared to confess that
he belongs to the school of the old
:. Puritan Romophohists, who probably
figured among his ancestry, and
whose descendants sent here such
mischief makers as Bingham, we
have nothing more to say. We leave
him TO his delusion. But we do not
think that he or any of the present
generation of Rev. gentlemen in our