The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-07-09
THE SUMNER SCHOOL OPENS
WITH A GOOD ATTENDANCE


branches that are considered by the
state as essential to the welfare of
every man and woman under its pro-
lection, were formally opened. The OBJ
Ject of these classes. as conducted by
the Board of Education, is twofold.
PRIMARILY, they are intended for assist
ance to those who are DESTROYS of pass
ing the examinations which will be
held in August. They also have a sec
ondary purpose, to aid those who are
already in the ranks of educators to
acquire methods of teaching and to
preserve spirit of uniformity through
out the whole school department of the
Hawaiian Islands. 1t is the aim of
those in charge of this branch of the
pubic service to preserve an esprit de
corps throughout the entire education
al department
There were more than forty pupils at
the Fort street school when the session,
which is to continue for two months,
opened Mr.. Wood briefly outlined the
object of the work that the Department
of Education has in view, and then in
troduced the two civil service exami-
ners who are at present in the city
Both gentlemen responded and made a
few remarks that We're in keeping with
the occasion. Following this, Superin-
eendent Atkinson made the ensuing ad-
dress. He said;
Thirteen years ago in the room next to
this l addressed a number of our teach
ers. 1t was the first Teachers Institute
that had been held since DR.. Armstrong;
time and that meant many years, for DR..
Armstrong died in 1860. From that Teach
ers' Institute Of 1883 many things have
grown. AT the time it was held the
teaching force of the Islands was not
united as it is today. Few teachers were
acquainted with the work of other teach
ers. Each worked on his or her own line,
and there was very little esprit de corps.
But an impetus was given at that first
reunion which has not ceased. Many
| able hands later took hold of the move
ment which was there instituted and the
results are to be found in our educational
advancement of today. Mind you, l do
not consider our educational advance
ment very extensive, for it is easy to
point out our numerous shortcomings,
but we have advanced, we mean to ad-
vance, and the advancement lies in your
old school have laid foundations. 1t IS
for you to build up the superstructure.
When those ladies and gentlemen as
sembled together in this room thirteen
years ago there was no normal school.
| The suggestion of a normal school was
made almost with bated breath. There
| did not then seem any opportunity for its
being instituted for years. The idea was
| that Hawaii must depend for her teach
ers from abroad. She always had done,
| and she might keep on doing so. What
| teachers we had of Hawaiian birth had
done their best to acquire what they
could, but they had no accredited place
| of training to go to. Lahainaluna was
| our only institution where Hawaiian
teachers might be trained and 1t was not
| then, any more than it is now, a normal
school In point of fact Lahainaluna is
| a tradition. A tradition which may be
revivified, but which really stands now
| as a tradition. Liberal appropriations
would make it an institution. Starved as
| it is, it is only reaching the condition
which Sir Walter Scott puts into the
mouth of Evan Maccombich, that sturdy
and uncompromising follower of Vich Ian
Vohr Said that worthy:
ct will be Just like Duncan MacGir-
dies mare if your ladyships please; he
wanted to use her by degrees to live
without meat, and just as he had put her
| on a straw a-day, the poor thing died"
Lahainaluna has not yet got to the
| straw a-day, but it is not far from it.
| Well times have come and times have
gone and we have a normal school, 1t
| grew 1t commenced with class after
school hours which was held by Prof.
| NJ NJ Scott, and good work was done I'M
der very adverse circumstances. Then
came tentative attempt at normal
school. which was anything but satisfac-
tory. and finally the normal school under
| Professor Wood found its home in this
| building and has established itself as an
| institution which will endure. 1t may
| and indeed must find another home, for
the present building is unsuited for its
present purposes. It will have many 9TH
| err teachers, one race dying down and an
| other coming on, as the. corn follows the
poppy and the poppy the corn, But what
ever its changes, it will be the institution
rpon which the Territory of Hawaii will
depend for it's primary teachers, that
noble band which starts out to mould the
| crude brain of the budding state into
lives which shall do credit to the great
aggregation of states whose handmade
we now are Any community which de-
pends for its instruction from abroad, is
not a properly self supporting communi-
nv Brilliant and exceptional minds we
may call in, but the ordinary work of in
struction should be done by our own peo-
pie as soon as possible. In this / am
true home ruler. But before our OWL
people can undertake this work, they
must be trained, and this training Is of
fered to you here by the Commissioners
of Education.
That the opportunity has been appre-
ciated is evidenced by the number of pu
pills who have passed through the norma
school and now hold positions as teach
ers in every part of the Islands. At the
present moment fifty o. our norma
school graduates are filing positions II
schools In every part of the Islands
Wherever they may be, they stand out a
beacon light, understanding sometime
fullv. sometimes less fully, the problem
that are before them, but always beins
| clear as to their duty and their ideal
: orr own normal school teachers are
Immense value to US who are for the mo
ment guiding the education of the Ter
/ ritorv and we all have the utmost hop
, that from among them will rise trul!
Hawaiian Educational Light. For l hav
the faith and belief In me that during
this century we are now entering upon
1Io,,,oii will he to the new world, tina