The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-02-20


rooms, was largely attended and TIT
program was unusually interesting. Th'
principal topic ON the program was
paper on Preferences of Children II
their Studies" presented by Presiden
| Grifiths OF Oahu College.
A vocal trio by Mrs. Hibberdine, Miss
| Won Holt ana Miss Hartnagle, opened
the meeting, and this was followed by
| recitation by Miss Crosette. The con
GLIDING number was a piano solo By
| Mrs. Roy Lyon, whose skllltul playing
| evoked hearty applause.
President Grifiths' paper dealt with
statistics from nearly every school II
Honolulu bearing on the likes and dis
likes of children for certain studies. The
data given in01cated that the old stand
ard studies, such as arithmetic, language
and geography had much more of a
hold upon them than music, drawing
and manual training, which MIR. Grit
ffths characterized as belonging to mod
ern culture study His address, in part
was as follows:
THE PREFERENCES OF CHILL
DREN IN THEIR STUDIES.
1 have known of two or three inves-
legations of this subject in which the
child is given an opportunity to ex-
press his likes and dislikes. All of
the efforts have been made with prac-
ticaIly the same idea in view. 1t
seems that, since the child is to be the
recipient of our attentions in his in
tellectual diet, he might be allowed
some voice, if not in making out the
bill of fare, at least in saying how
much he is to consume of each item,
While we realize that what a child
chooses to eat is not always the best
for him, we are also familiar with the
fact that his desires and appetites are
the result of well defined inward
wants. What he selects to satisfy the
cravings of his inner soul may not be
the best possible food for the purpose.
However, when we recognize that
there is a physical law which governs
his yearnings and seek to see that the
laws fulfilled judiciously We are recog-
nizing in the supply to the body the
need which is just as evident to the
mind It takes skill and experience
to read Alright the physical needs of
the child 1t takes greater skill and
more astute experience to measure the
necessities for development of that
mind His diet should not be too
varied and yet it should have variety;
he should not be fed with too much
of one kind and there is danger in a
little of too many kinds. Tradition
has told us what he must have. We
who are laboring now are trying to
decide on the one hand what he ought
to have and on the other what he
M fn hax &c.
tain relation between the mind of the
child and the studies as there is be-
tween the body and his food With
food of almost any kind body will
live; with intellectual mamma, poor and
Indifferent, there is always some intel
ectual life And as we should be taught
by the demands of the body what food
to insist on, So by study we should be
able TO get at least some hints on an
Intellectual fare that will be both ac-
and nutritious. This is the
more important for with the proper
subjects, properly taught, not little
of that aversion between boys and
books is removed To see and under
stand the reaction between the mind
and the study is to have the firm base
upon which we can rear a solid and
ly important whether We are seeking
the development through opposing a
child's interests and desires or through
following them. In the state of un-
rest in which all things educational
now are, it would seem wise to APP
proach the subject of courses elective
and prescribed, from the point of view
Of the child. His attitude towards a
subject may not dispose of it finally
but it may have some practical bear
ings which ought not to be neglected.
In making this present study, have
used four questions. l. Which school
study do you like best? 2 Why? 3.
Which school study do you like least? |
Why? These questions We're sent
1ut to the 10 public schools of the Dis |
-rict of Honolulu and to three private |
schools Kamehameha Girls, Kameha- |
neha Boys, and Punahou Preparatory, |
With the request that they be given to |
Ill the children in the grades between |
he third and the eighth inclusive For |
he sake of uniformity, a list of twelve |
subjects was overwhelming, Spelling,
Language, Writing, Numbers. Geog- |
Apply, History. Physiology. Drawing, |
Music, Manual Training, and Nature /
Study. From these schools answers |
we're received from all the private |
schools and from five out of nineteen
public schools. AS this number in
dudes all but one of the larger schools.
md as very few of the remaining
schools have children above the third
trade, the proportion of children rep
esented is much larger than the pro-
ortion of schools answering would in
icate. While I should have been bet
err pleased to have had a larger base
pom which to form conclusions, I have
sed the replies that came and have !
ound them suggestive of two or three
rends or influences; I do not put it
more strongly for 1 know that def
lite conclusions cannot be drawn from
ne such investigation in limited
ED or even from a hundred. Much
course depends upon the course of
Judy in making such an investigation.
he plan of one course might call for
he presentation of one subject such
way as to make it most unpopular.
have been careful to remember the
florence in the purpose and scope of