The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-06-28
PRACTICAL VIEWS.

uG last duulSoS udS DCSu luduS,
the last valedictory has been spok-
en-, among the higher schools, and
the lower schools have had their ex-
hibition Of school work and their
teachers have locked their desks
and their schoolroom doors and
have, many of them, gone to their
well-earned rest, while others await
in Honolulu or speed from the 9TH
er Islands to the capital to attend
the summer school.
At such a time it is we'll to take
stock of what is being done in edit
cational matters and see whether
the State is doing its duty by its
charges, for in this, it is the acknow-
lodged duty of the State to act.
With US the State gives means, but
if we consider the cry of the Board,
it does not give means sufficient for
carrying out what it desires to be
carried out, viz: an ideal system of
education. That anyone ever will
carry out an ideal system of educa-
ton is not very likely. Education
al men, like medical men, differ
among themselves, and one expert
ments with one theory, another
with another and in fitting theories
to actual facts, much good time is
is wasted and the main end is lost
sight of.
What is the main end of all edu-
cation? To equip the youth of the
State so we'll that it may be in the
battle of life, armed, mentally,
physically and morally, and fitted
to cope with the complexities of its
existence; to equip it so that it may
jim the mass recruit the body of good
citizens and not the bad.
Now the trouble is that in Our
efforts, and they are thoroughly
we'll meant and in earnest, we fire.
quently fail. The pupils leaving
school are not armed as we would
desire them to be, and some throw
the blame upon the teacher, and
other; upon the nature of the pu-
pills. But the probability is that
the system is at fault. What we
try to do is to make the pattern
uniform, and to do in the country
districts what we do in the city and
towns. What is fitted for city
children is not fitted for country
children.
A couple of letters that appeared
in these columns month or so ago
pointed out what might be done in
some of the country schools.
Though some of the ideas were
crude and impractical, yet those
letters contained good deal of
shrewd common sense. The idea
of giving the country children
some knowledge of practical agri-
culture was good, and so was the
notion of meal in the middle of
day. This was on the line of
practical education, dealing with
things that the children would
have to deal with as soon as they
left school. Education is not mere
brain stufing. 1t is something
broader, deeper and greater. To
write what it should be is easy
enough, to carry it out is quite an
other thing. But in dealing with
the problem much care and atten-
ton should be given to the practi-
cal side. Sewing, which was in
troduced some years ago for the
girls, was practical. Knife work,
which was introduced for the boys,
at the same time, was not practical.
1t was pretty, much might be made
of it, but it was and is distinctly
dilletante and not practical. Get
more of practical work into educa-
ton, suit your education to your
population, and you get nearer to
the ideal which all desire, but
= L.