The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-10-29

Jessett has raised is of so great import
ance that it merits a thorough discus
sion 1t lies at the foundation of educa-
ton And we all agree that education
is the basis of a free state, upon which
the character and progress of people and
nation depend.
Mr. Jessett strikes manfully at what
seem to him wrong methods and con-
ceptions Some of his points are well
worthy of serious thought. One OF the
things to be sure of in nature study is
that the pupil shall see nature. The
hair splitting of the higher English
grammars is indeed worse than waste
of time. Mr.. Jessett's article, however,
is marred by seeming personal feeling
against the leaders in the summer school,
and by an apparent desire to make the
most of everything that seems to count
against the new education. L presume
these defects should be laid to an excess
of zeal rather than to any bitterness,
and Mr.. Jessett's criticism should be
given full hearing in spite of this I'M
pleasantness of manner.
The main difficulty with Mr.. Jessett,
however, is that he apparently does not
grasp the vital distinction between the
old education and the new. He says, in
deed, that DR.. Dresslar impressed upon
the teachers the necessity of training
their pupils to lead noble lives. And this
is the fundamental principle of the new
education in contradistinction to the in
formation ideal of the old. Yet he
tries to measure the new water OF life
in the old bushel basket.
In other words, he thinks if morality
is to be the basis of education, the
pupil should have moral precepts tackled
to latitudinal and longitudinal lines, PIN
ned on the top of the highest mountain,
and floating like logs in the largest river.
With the view of observing these phe-
nomena, he attends the geography class
of one who adheres to the ideal of the
new education, and he declares the les
son a failure because he did not find
these precepts.
The simple statement shows how alb
surd his position is. The strange thing
| is that any one who listened carefully
| to one of DR.. Dresslar's lectures should
have failed to hear him say: do not
preach" or that any one who read the
Advertiser and was at all interested in
| the subject should have failed to read
| the story in which DR.. Dresslar held up
| to ridicule the old international way
| of developing character LET the pupil
own morals he said. ga little girl
whose teacher followed the other meth
cd wrote a composition on a COW: "A
COW has two ears, two horns, four legs
and tail; therefore we should all be
very good
Another instance of this same meas
uring of the new by the old measure
| is the expectation that DR.. Dresslar
should teach methods-that is, should
| tell the teachers exactly how to manage
their classes in geography, for instance
| Mr. Jessett says teachers would get
more information from a careful pc
rusal of Swett.''
DR.. Dresslar was here rather to arouse
thought, set teachers to working out
their own salvation" get them to read
books on method (of which SWEETS
| Methods is a good one, but by no means
| the best, and to ennoble their purposes
and aims. And any one who hears, as 1
do, from the districts, of the thoughtful
activity among the teachers in all parts
of the Islands, will know that this pur-
pose was accomplished. Mr.. Jessett, of
course, could not be expected to know
this.
Another instance of his looking solely
for information is his complaint that DR..
Dresslar did not quote from great au-
thorities, ancient and modern. OF course
if the purpose had been information, he
would have done so. If the purpose is
to compel thought, the need is at least
not so apparent. In fact statement
that Col. Parker, for instance, thinks
| so and SO, is apt to be accepted as true
without thought, instead of arousing
| thought. Perhaps these three instances
n m inf INV
one who is sufficiently interested to turn
| to Mr.. Jessett's article will find that
he keeps his ideal q. e., information) al
| most constantly in view.
Mr.. Jessett criticises the advice of the
| Director to the teachers, of reading.
| This advice was: Have the pupil get at
| the thought" Mr.. Jessett says: What
| amount of thought is to be got at from
| the baby sentences, the dog barked,
the cat mewed,' and the COW jumped
over the moon'?''
| This criticism shows clearly that Mr..
Jessett does not understand at all the
condition of education in our schools.
| To him it is self-evident fact that
| every pupil must know at once what
each sentence in the reader means The
| truth is that very few Hawaiian pupils,
when they first come to school, know
| either what idea the word dog stands
for, or of what thought the sentence
1.-The dog barks'' is a representation.
With all Difference to Mr.. Jessett, allow
me to insist that it is a matter of i'm
portance whether the pupil knows what
he is talking about, or is simply repeat
ing sounds which have no meaning to
him.
| In conclusion, let me say it seems a
pity that a man so keenly observaut and
so ready to be helpful as Mr. Jessett is
should not have been more careful to
inform himself about the conditions of
| teaching in the Islands, and about the
purposes of the new education, before
he tried to improve upon them.
| OSMER ABBOTT.
| LahainaIuna, Oct oath, 1896