The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-01-06

ninety puplls VINO were present III
the summer of 1881 only fifteen re-
main, and of one hundred and sixty
eight pupils in attendance the first
yehr the ladies were here, but
twenty-four are with us to-day.
Thus to this nomadic company--a
third of regiment-who silently
fold their books and steal away, we
have tried to teach the rudiments of
the English language. Who can ex-
pect results from such work? What
has been the experience of other
teachers in this respect, and how
have their pupils made such pro-
gress, that their schools are of so
high grade to-day? This is one Of
the oldest schools out of Honolulu,
and ought to be in line with others !:
but we admit our inability to reach
such heights. 1t may be well here,
to mention fact which shows the
tendency of these days. The num-
Der of pure Hawaiians in school to-
day, is less than the sum of all
other nationalities, not including
half-castes. With us, the question
how to teach English to Portuguese
and japanese, is as important as the
same question in regard to Ha-
waiians.
Here are some of the discourage
ments:-
/. The constant changing of pupils.
2. The inability of Hawaiians to
give the consonant sounds.
3. The frequent sickness, stormy
weather, and long distances which
make the average attendance very
small.
4. The utter lack of wholesome
restraint in Hawaiian homes.
5. The fact that not one girl has
shown any ambition other than to
reach the age of fifteen, and lawful
dismissal from school.
6. The non-attendance of pupils
at Sabbath service and S. School.
Z. The increasing use of opium,
tobacco and Intoxicating drinks by
the children.
8. The general sad influence of
Chinese shops on the rising gener-
alton.
9. The unwilliIgness of Portu-
guese to permit the regular attend
ance of their children.
10. The bad use (and little good
use) made of English.
H.. The fact that older scholars
are not fond of reading English
books.
-. The general ambition (to
which there are exceptions) of Ha-
waiian boys to be "shipped hands"
on a plantation and utterly fail to
make use of their advantages.
In regard to encouragements, l
must mention some Of the advan-
tages of being my own school agent
or the work will lose much on this
side of the account. In these days
when men are busy with personal
interests, | appreciate fully the
privilege of holding this Office. 1t
is really pleasure to hold the
strings Of compulsory education, in
a district like this. A truant officer,
with shining badge of authority,
visits the English schools twice each
week, and those taught in Hawaiian,
once, during that time. Much
credit is due to Mr.. Antoine Bright,
Government police officer, who,
from an interest in his race, volun-
tarily assists in securing the con-
stant attendance of every Portu-
guese child of school age. Five
schools taught in Hawaiian have
been abolished, and from the debris
of such useless institutions, | have
seen rise second English school of
ninety scholars, most successfully
managed by Miss lamar Manu-, O
graduate from Kohala Seminary in
charge of Miss Lyons. Miss lamar
is acceptably assisted by Nahale, a
former pupil Of mine, who returned
from Hilo Boarding School. If any
one has taught long enough to wit
ness a former pupil engaged in
teaching, he can fully understand
my satisfaction at seeing this result.
In this connection l desire to say
that in these seven years the Board
of Education has granted my every
request. One request still unde,
consideration will no doubt bt
granted soon. Where in all these
country districts have teachers en-
joyed such advantages as we have
had? If any can show results, We
surely ought to be able to present
a few. Our methods are simple
We believe in teaching Hawaiian
with the English, and have found
Mr.. Oleson's 'English Lessons fol-
Hawaiians," n great help. Mis-:
Turner pursues the same course
with the Portuguese; she having
given them about five hundred
words, and one hundred sentences
with Portuguese equivalents, ant
the results are excellent while the
Japanese ana Portuguese in care OF
1.a,r, L.. r.