The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-10
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION.

Those who are interested in the
University Extension movement will
welcome Prof. Rolfes arrival here, be-
cause he is a rare man and has made
an enviable reputation for himself as
an instructor.
The establishment of the Extension
here is, of course, a pioneer movement
1t assumes that we have a consider
able class of young men and women
who are willing to seriously study the
subjects presented by the lecturer.
The great and the very serious dan
ger of failure of the movement here
is in the social condition of this COM
munity. 1t is distracted with social
affairs, with business matters, and with
an unusual number of philanthropic
concerns. 1t is a community without
repose and therefore without Opportu-
nifty for study. Delightful as the social
life is to resident or stranger, it taxes
too heavily the vitality of the white
people at least. Indeed if the present
restless condition exists the only valu-
able instruction the Extension lectures
can give will be, how to prevent the
extinction of the Anglo-Saxon?"
Our social relations need reconstruc-
ton Mutual acquaintance is large,
the open doors are many. Above all
the un-tropical ways of the northern
races are daily defying the laws of
health and of climate Men do bust
ness as if the mercury was at 80 de-
grees.
There is a limited time for the
amusement of reading light literature,
and science made easy for the thought
less, but there appears to be little time
for research and study.
The final test of these lectures must
be, are the listeners instructed or
merely entertained? We are confronted
with the fact that the higher" classes
in America obtain little profit from the
best literature. The educated class
has before it the rich, the admirable,
literature of these modern days, but it
cannot absorb it, or use it as it should |
use it, And it does not because it has |
not, or will not take, the time TO do |
intellectual work. It's time is occupied
by the distracting affairs Of life. We
have not yet reached that altitude in !
civilization where thinking and doing
lis the first rule of conduct.
AS Froebel said of the education Oe
children, the great object is to arouse +
their creative energy, and not allow it
to lie dormant. What is needed more
than all is the patient and constant
intellectual activity not of the lecturer,
but of the listener. There must be |
something more than the mere pleas
use of listening to a review of Lambs |
or Thackeray's works. There must be
work behind it.
A close observer said, the Sunday l.
newspaper is one of the greatest of the
University Extension lecturers. 1t is
weekly volume of literature which
in some parts can not be equalled by |
the best Extension work. But there /
still remains the question, how far are
the readers advanced?
One of the brilliant men of America |
said that the general ignorance of men !
and women who had spent years IN |
study in school and college was as |
founding. The reason for it, he be- |
lieved, was the failure of the educat- |
ed people to keep their minds persls-
aently active in original research. The |
education given by books was limited |
The students opened their mouths and
kind professors fed them with spoons
The only education by book or lecture |
that had value was that which kept the
students to their work and patiently
stimulated the creative faculties
There is danger that the Extension
lecture. in this community, may be re-
garded as a form of entertainment |
The most important work it can do Is |
among those who are really in need |
of instruction, and not among those |
who should be, if they did their duty, !
Extension lecturers themselves. We |
have to-day more college and univer-
sity graduates in proportion TO the
Angles Saxon inhabitants than any
community of the same size ON the
Mainland Should not these have
their terms of service?
At the same time, We shall be the
gamers by reasons Of Prof. Rolfe's
visit, and he may stimulate others to
work