The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-03-29
EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS.

Every country has difficulty in deal
ing with the education of the young.
The state and the individual are for
ever coming into conflict. In our sys-
tenn here, which is compulsory, it re-
quires the arm of the law to force
certain sections of the parents to send
their children to school. The difficulty
with almost all systems of education
is that they put all children into the
same mould and educate them with
out regard to the future employment
of the child. The problem before those
who have the supervision over the
common schools of a country is not
how much can be obtained a smatter-
ing Of but how little can be learned
with advantage, thoroughly and well.
In dealing with a complex popula-
ton such as we have here, and one
whose parentage is of low mental at
tainments, the requirements to be con-
sidered in the common schools should
not be large. Children at the large
centers might in a few cases desire
and their parents might desire, a high
doubt that the great mass do not We
quire a very high grade of education.
The bulk of the Portuguese children,
for instance, are the offspring of la
boring class. These people are very
industrious, and to them the labor of
the children counts as an item in the
family income. 1t is to the advantage
S,f he 20 not hn chn
get to work as soon as possible. Our
law however insists upon keeping the
children at school till they are fifteen.
Children of this class might very well
be allowed to go to work at thirteen.
BY that time they have learned to read
and write, and have fair knowledge
of ordinary arithmetic. AS it is
now. they continue to go to school as
irrsgularly as possible and they work
early and late after school, the result
being that in many cases the children
are overworked. The school work is
framed to give them the full employ
ment they should have, but they have
much manual work besides, and the
consequence is that the child is sleepy
and weary and gets little advantage
from his studies.
On the other hand, as a general rule,
the Hawaiian parents do not employ
their children at home, and are in a
large number of cases quite willing
that their children should remain at
school after school age. Indeed some
years ago this was quite a crying evil,
and the Board had to authorize regula-
tons for keeping the schools free from
pupils who were positive detriment
to it, taking up the teachers time,
which should be devoted to the young
er children.
Then there is class of children on
the plantations whose parents are un-
willing that they should mingle with
the children of the laborers, and
who do not go to school at all, but get
what education their parents can give
them in odd moments. Where there is
population enough the laws allows Sc
lect schools to be maintained but such
select schools have never proved salts
factory. Besides the state has no bus
mess to discriminate between classes
of children. Such a system may find a
place in monarchy, but it is decided
ly opposed to the genius of a republic
All men should be regarded as equal
by the state, and so should all chill
dren.
If, for the first two classes 1t is diff
ficult to find a remedy, the French
have devised a method to reach the