The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-09
WHAT FASTENERS SEE IN
HAWAIrS SCHOOL EXHIBIT

To any one from Boston and Cambridge
the Hawaiian educational exhibit at the
| Pan-American is peculiarly a surprise
| and a delight, because the first thought
| is to compare the progress of these ISL
ands in the Pacific lately added to the
United States with our new responsible
! ity in the West Indies The Cuban teach
ers of last summers visit are still fresh
in our minds, and we have still a vivid
remembrance of their poor and undevel-
oped educational work at home, but the
unique and interesting exhibits made by
these schools in Hawaii show features
of the best modern methods, with
medal from the Paris Exposition on their
primary work, and an excellence through
out which corresponds with standards in
the United States. The difference to be
observed is the difference between Span
Il sh civilization and American civilization;
with the former the schools last and
with us first; for when the American
commerce went to the islands, and car
ried its civilization, it carried education
| dlSO <1lH6-iCdll liAtluSECe gave the SlCtI I
to education there through missionaries
who went out early as 1920, and ever
since the leaders have been from the
| United States. The school system re-
manned unchanged when Hawaii was an
nexed to this country, but of the wretch
| edneSs of the, Cuban schools when that
island came under our control the story
has been fully told. In Cuba it will be
some time before the organization of a
good educa tional system can show results
like these.
The Hawaiians take to education,
Colonel Parker says. and perhaps that
accounts for their remarkable progress
of half century with the obstacle of a
strange language. In their scholastic
work they make a thoroughly creditable
showing of composition with Illustrations
in all grades. The first stage of their
| work indicated as thought-getting,
through objects, sketch, story, etc, is
particularly interesting. They tell of the
] vegetation and insects of the islands,
the sports and outdoor life of the people.
This imparts to their school work a
tropical aspect which is novel and fasci-
mating to both Iaymen and educators.
The new education is here adopted in u
delightful way, and the tropical sur
roundings suggest many new forms. One
of these furnished by the abundance of
nature is the use of seed for number
work. 1t is a revelation to the average
American school teacher, and vet so very
, simple An old Hawaiian custom of
stringing the seeds is known as Lei
making, and these Leis are the seeds in
which the climate abounds. Nowadays
the children string them to sell to tour
lists, and so they place certain value on
them hence the Hawaiian teacher asks
how many inches, feet, or yards can be
strung, and the value of a yard. Ma
ture invites all teachers to teach numbers
by means of Seeds remarks the Hawaii
an, but nature has not blessed all re-
gions with the same plenty as in these
Islands. In a portiere made entirely of
seeds and shown by one of the schools,
and numerous smaller objects, other ex-
amples are furnished of the possibilities
in their use.
Another material of their handwork
is the palm leaf, which also nature fur
nishes to them in plenty. 1t is used in
the schools for weaving, and the sloyd
teachers are envious of the supply which
is there close at hand, and here impossi-
BILE to get, though well adapted for school
use. With the Hawaiians, weaving in
the schools keeps alive an old-time indus
try. Little baskets and maps are shown
in the exhibits, the work of the children,
and these and other fancy articles, like
fans and picture frames, the children sell
at home to the women's exchanges. The
material is mostly the screW-palm, or
lauhala, which is used to make floor
mats, and so on. Weaving is not taught
in the homes. and the school by supply
ing the deficiency, affords the pupils a
possibility of livelihood
The interest of school teachers has
been further drawn to the Hawaiian ex-
hibits because it is not show work, :
and while the apology of hasty depar-
ture has been offered as an excuse for
some of the work which has not been
corrected, this very lack of correction
makes it highly representative of the
children, and delightful to the teachers
who visit the exhibit; many of them have
found it refreshing to stop here after
visiting the furnished-up material of
crack pupils which is shown in many
of our city exhibits, for these bear So
much the stamp of the careful selection
and fixing as not to deceive the expert
enced teacher, who feels at once that she
is out of touch with the child. She is
brought close to him in the Hawaiian eX-
hibit. She smiles delightedly even at the
mistakes, and she feels at once as if she
knew the sturdy youth which is express
ing itself with such vigor in words and
drawing. They are natural products, from
the scrawly pencilings of the eight-year-
old to the Well-written compositions of
the high school pupils The latter, it
should be noticed. possesses excellence,
corresponding with work in the high
schools of the United States, and it is
this which makes the exhibit remarkable,
for it must be borne in mind all the while
that, to most of the pupils, English is an
acquired language. This difficulty is one
which it does not lessen on account of
| the diversity of races; there are Chinese
Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, German
part Hawaiian. and Hawaiian, as well as
British and American. and the receiving
! classes are said to resemble those in New
! York or Boston. or other large cities.
where there are constant additions to the
foreign population ghere. too as here,
these different nationalities present div
| ers obstacles; the European nations, for
] the most part, take kindly to education,
but truancy is prevalent among the Por-
/ tuguese. VINO keep the children at home
to work, and the Chinese, while they
send the boys to school, do not want edu-
cation for the girls.
! Miss Rose Dawson, the commissioner
from Honolulu, who came here TO install
/ the exhibit, but was lately recalled for
her pressing summer duties as school
! agent is an earnest worker and enthu-
s;astic supporter OF the education work
I Oh aalS ctrOYa *