The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-07-10

of Education has held; yet there has
hardly been a week since the Bureau
was formally reorganized when there
has not been one and sometimes two
meetings. Reporters have asked to be
present and have been. refused.
why this department OF the Govern
ment should confine the knowledge of
its proceedings to the individual mem
bers alone is beyond the power of this
paper to explain. The doings of the
Bureau OF Education are quite as i'm
rortant as the Board of Health. One is
open to the public and the other is not.
In the trst case the public is kept in
touch with the department. and in the
other case the public is practically os-
:traeised.
The only argument that we have ever
heard advanced in favor fsthe execu-
tive meetings OF the Bureau of Educa-
ton is that the members are often
called upon to discuss the individual
merits of various teachers or app'i-
cants for positions, and it is hardly fair
TO the teachers and applicants to make
public the discussion of their personal
merits or demerits. Granting all this,
We would like to know if the personal
peculiarities of employees is all that
engages the attention of the members
OF the Bureau. We don't believe that it
is. There are questions of administra-
ton, matters connected with develop
ment and Improvement of our common
school system, all, of which are or ought
to be of interest to the people at large
Let the discussion of teachers indi-
vidual characteristics be held behind
closed doors, but the meetings as
whole should by all means be open
meetings, and the public kept in touch
with what is going on in educational
circles. There is absolutely no reason
why the people should go from one
member to another, around Robin
Hoods barn, so to speak, to find out
what the Bureau of Education is doing.
The Commissioners are every one of
them men and women in whom the peo-
pie have complete confidence. They
have shown their capacity to keep the
schools up TO the mark and steadily
But that is not the point
The parents who are sending children
to public schools ought to be kept in
touch with what is being done to build
up the educational institutions. By
keeping the public informed as to
to its plans and general meth |
ID of administration, it is not i'm
possible that the Educational Bureau |
nay receive suggestions of more or less
value. A more complete cooperation |
with the public is what is wanted, |
md it is what open meetings will help
20 bring about.
The ban OF secrecy has become so |
binding and complete that the results
lave often been almost amusing. When
he deputy inspector of schools was Sc
ected by the Board of Education, one
Of the members was approached to
ascertain the action of the Board. He
admitted the deputy had been named,
1ut he didn't know as he Ought to
ell" Still another was approached
With the same result. A third member
vas seen, and by dint of good guessing
nd positive statements the seeker after
finally obtained the name of
he new deputy. What possible reason
here could have been for keeping the
inal action of the Board secret has
lever been explained. There was no
,ood reason. 1t was the result of the
secretive atmosphere that
las pervaded the Educational Bureau.
I will be better for the Bureau, and in
initely better for the public at large.
o have that atmosphere cleared of its
ecretive influences as soon as possible.