The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-10-30
Mr.. ABBOTT REPLIES.
To Artist Jessett's Letter on Methods
i'll Public Schools.
Says He is Ignorant of Conditions Here-shcuId
Have Studied Before
Criticizlng.

MR. EDITOR:-The question of the
new education versus the old, which Mr..
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 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-
cepuions. 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 a 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 lin
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 failure because he did not find
these precepts.
The simple statement shows how abb
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
draw his own conclusions and point his
own morals" he said. "a 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.. Dresslal
should teach methods-that is, should
tell the teachers exactly how to manage
their classes in geography, for instance
Mr.. Jessett says teachers would ge
more information from a careful pc
rusal of SWEET"
DR.. Dresslar was here rather to arous,
thought, set teachers to working on
their own salvation" get them to reaC
books on method (of which SWEET:
Methods is a good one, but by no mean
the besD, and to ennoble their purpose
and aims. And any one who hears, as
do, from the districts, of the thoughtful
activity among the teachers in all part
of the Islands, will know that this pur
pose was accomplished. Mr.. Jessett, o
course, could not be expected to know
this.
Another instance of his looking solel!
for information is his complaint that DR.
Dresslar did not quote from great au
thorities ancient and modern. OF cours,
if the purpose had been information, h,
would have done So If the purpose il
to compel thought, the need is at Ieas
not so apparent. In fact, a statement
that Col. Parker, for instance, think.
so and so, is apt to be accepted as trut
without thought, instead of arousine
thought. Perhaps these three instances
are sufficient to prove my point Any
one who is sufficiently interested to turf
TO Mr.. Jessett's article will find thai
he keeps his ideal d. 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 al
LIZ N-CNSA-N' AL oIoSOll Ses W Id
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 tn,
condition of education in our schools
To him it is a self-evident fact tha
every pupil must know at once wha
each sentence in the reader means. Tit
truth is that very few Hawaiian pupils
when they first come to school, know
either what idea the word dog stand:
for, or of what thought the sentence
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 whar
he is talking about, or is simply repeat
ing sounds which have no meaning t.
him.
In conclusion, let me say it seems &
pity that man so keenly observant an6
so ready to be helpful as Mr.. Jessett il
should not have been more careful tc
inform himself about the conditions OF
teaching in the Islands, and about the
purposes of the new education, before