The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-01-15
Kamehameha Schools,
Honolulu, Hawaii. Jan. II, 1904.

Honolulu, Hawaii, Jan. Il, 1904.
Editor Advertiser: Your remarks i'm
Saturdays Advertiser deserve consid-
! Grafton by both teachers and parents
What you suggest as to training for
those who do not expect to go to col
lege is being done as far as possible
by both the High School and Oahu.
And Oahu will do more next year.
Cannot you get the head OF each OF
these institutions to tell the public
what is being done for the boys and
girls who do not expect to enter col
lege? The public don't care to look
through n regulation yearly report for
this information; and so so without It.
But it would make interesting reading
just now, and people would be glad to
read 1t.
There is no other power on earth so
strong as public opinion. And what
Oahu and the High School and the
public schools need most of all, is n
ing done and what is needed. Such 4
public opinion will see to it that money
is appropriated to train its boys and
girls for the work they are to do.
1 would like to have two other mat
of pupils; second the value of nature
study.
Suggestions are often worth more
than long article. This is one reason
| why I make suggestions. And only
suggestions are offered now.
But first let me say that l have no
personal quarrel with teachers for
overworling my children. My children
or of fnr
given in my last article. And they are
| getting as much knowledge and power
| as is good for them, at their age, And
I will even confess that the way |
know how and why teachers overwork
their pupils, is because I did the same.
till l learned better. 1t is hard les
son to learn and some teachers never
learn it. Even public opinion viii not
change their opinion. But to overload
a horse or an engine or a pupil is poor
economy of time and strength. 1t
shows lack of judgment on the part
of the person In charge OF the loading:
and the results come back upon that
| person as we'll as upon the horse, the
| engine or the pupil.
The one thing ] have learned is that
the university, the public and employ
accuracy and persistence. These quail
| tiles can be developed by proper train
| ing. ] will not undertake to say here
| what this proper training consists in.
! But 1t does not consist in overworkng
! the pupils In our schools. If a driver
| insisted on overlooking his team, he
| would be dismissed. If an engineer
persisted In overlooking his engine, he
would hn IiGppiGsaI driver
| show judgment. An engineer must
| show judgment. But some teachers
| know no limit to the amount of load.
And their excuse? 1.-The higher schools
require a given standing" THE uni
versities require a given preparation.
| The mistake Is In the Judgment in
selecting the materials that will best
, develop the pupils. 1 am not trying
here to say what this material should
be; but 1t Is not the mass of stuff the
| pupils so often get. In Mathematics
| and the Sciences the principal danger
Is in giving problems that are too Diff
| ncut. The results are memoriZing of
solutions or dead failure on the part
| of large part of the class. If "A pupil
lacks mathematical ability, why should
he be "nagged" at through "a whole
| course in Mathematics.
But when we come to the work In
History and Literature we find "A mass
of details where only the careless
teacher Is TAT home" and sure of him
self. What with dates without num-
| Der; and names of places long ago but
dust; and the miserably small ambi-
tons and successes or failures Of men
and women, whose very existence
might better be left unknown; there IL
no limit to the details that exhaust
the pupils body and mind, ana pa
thence as well. And to what purpose,
They are soon dust and gone as the
men and women with whom they Were
once connected. And all the time pu-
pills remain ignorant of conditions sur
rounding them; ignorant of the live
questions of the day; unprepared for