The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-09-01

ciety investigated the Batavia pubIic
schools. He found the ventilation and
sanitation of the buildings unimoeach-
able; the lighting excellent as indi-
Gated by the fact that only one ner
cent. and half of the children wore
glasses; and he confessed himself
amazed to find mental pressure" the
bugbear of his profession, entirely
eliminated in these schools by the sys-
tenn of individual instruction. I'VE are
left empty handed" he said. 1--WE
have no criticism to register"
THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE ADOPT
ED EVERYWHERE.
DR.. Albert Leonard, publisher of the
Journal of Pedagogy and late presi-
dent of the Normal Schools of the State
Of Michigan, recently spent some time
in Batavia, making a thorough study
of the results of M. Kennedy's meth
cd. He expressed himself as deeply
impressed with the wholesome, healthy
aspect of the children, the absence of
anaemia, the physical beauty which
sound nerves bestow. There cannot
be found in America" he saws. "a
healthier, happier. buster lot of pupils
than are today in the public schools
of Batavia. Teachers are equally we'll
and happy. The scheme of individual
instruction is SO simple and practi-
cable that it could easily be followed
in every city in the country. 1t would
be worth while to bring the attention
/ of the country to this rational method
of dealing with our public-school chill
dren''
In the past, and indeed in the pres
emit, where the old Spartan conditions
obtain, our public schools have pro-
duced such moral and mental and
physical tragedies as no father nor
mother can read of with undimmed
eyes. They have been most knowingly
set forth in the pages of this maya
zine. Only too we'll can some of us
recall the agonies of our own child
hood: only too well can we still dis
Germ the scars.
HOW 1T SAVED ONE BOY.
A sensitive, timid, highly organized
child entered certain public school
4 His bent was imaginative, dreamy; he
was deficient in logical power; mathe-
mates were peculiarly difficult for
him, and yet he was neither stupid
nor stubborn. He received the ordi-
nary class teaching in arithmetic, but
it conveyed no clear impression to his
mind. He attempted to recite, but his
lack of comprehension at once appear
ed. The teacher, with the great class
| waiting, sighed gently at his dizziness
I and gave a few rapid words of expla-
nation. Intimidated by the sense of
shame and exposure the child listened
as to one speaking a language I'M
meaning to him, but feigned to under
stand in sheer self-defense. The
weeks went by; the child, with brain
confused, heart bleeding with morti
fication, knowing himself ridiculed by
the scholars and looked upon as a drag
and trial by the teacher, became abb
solutely despairins. His self-respect
4 was crushed. Each new recitation
was a climax of anguish. The capac-
tity of comprehension was lost. At
thirteen he was a nervous wreck in
reality, and was branded in his little
world as hopelessly stubborn and stu
pid. In certain way he ended by
becoming both. 1t was a case of ed
vocational malpractice, and it is so
familiar in our schools as they are to-
day as to be looked upon with indiffer-
ence as matter of course.
Under the method of individual in
struction these tragedies of childhood,
which have left many an intellect and
spirit marred and MANNED for life, have
| become impossible. The child in ques-
| tion-and this is a real flesh-and-
blood child, not merely a type or an
| imaginary picture-was placed by his
| mother later in a school in Batavia,
| where the new method was followed.
| The mother regretted that there was
no private school for her boy, for, al
! though all the processes of his period
/ of torture were not clear to her, She
| saw him now, as product OF the
| Western public school hitherto attend
| ed, utterly broken down, discouraged,
and incapable, apparently, of coherent
thought on certain lines. In a month,
| under the sane and rational new order.
the poor little victim was transformed.
He had become clear-headed, happy,
independent, self-respecting, steady in
brain and nerve. The aStonfshed
mother looked into the new system
and exclaimed: cit is the most merci-
full thing I ever heard of in my life"
1t had saved her child. He had been
| taught gently, patiently. lovingly
most of all, privately-how to study,
how to think. He could take his place
now in the great class with confidence,
with no dread of exposure and ridi-
cule, of intimidation or threats. Sure
ly it is Christian thing, as all that is
most truly civilized proves to be Chris
| tan in the last analysis. Are we not
reminded of the words, Wherefore
lift up the hands which hang down.
and the feeble knees; and make
straight paths for your feet lest that
which is lame be turned out of the
! way: but let it rather be healed?"
! THE CHILD ALWAYS SHOULD DO
THE WORK HIMSELF.
Just here it should be distinctly not
ed that the individual instructor, if she
rightly understands her function, does
not under any circumstances do the
work for the child but shows him how
to do it himself. The great achieve
ment of learning how to study, how to
concentrate the mind, often left I'M
learned until college is reached, is
gained in the very beginning of school
! life.
! a very marked effect of the introduce
ton OF individual instruction in the
Batavia schools has been to increase
the number who enter and who remain
/ to graduate from the High School. the