The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-01-22
PUNAH0U INVESTIGATES
4H0ME STUDY OF PUPILS

Editor Advertiser: The question
whether the school children have too
much home work has been investigated
| at Punahou. A plan similar to that used
at the High School but little more
comprehensive was used. A paper of
twelve questions was sent to the par
ents through the children. The first
two questions We're: 1. Approximately
how much time does your child spend in
actual study outside of school hours?
Is this study concentrated and atten-
tive? 2. Is this too much? The re-
naming questions were so framed as
to make it possible to suggest a remedy
in the cases where the pupil was over
worked. AS the answers to these lat
ter largely concern the administration
at Punahou, they are not of general in
terest and are not given in this letter.
In the Punahou Preparatory school,
letters We're sent out to 126 parents.
some representing several children, and
ninety-eight replied. OF these ninety
eight, two or two per cent say that
the amount of home study required is
loO StNeH VI SeNeI pei cent
make no specific statement that the
amount required is too much but OBJ
ject on general principles to home work
in any amount; five or five per cent
state that there Is too little home work.
OF all the parents replying, therefore,
only nine per cent by the most liberal
Interpretation object to the amount of
home work. This leaves ninety-one per
cent who do not support the conten-
ton raised The evidence is almost
overwhelming.
In the college. where the stress Is
heaviest, "A slightly larger percentage
thought that their children spent too
much time in study outside of school
hours. The parents of twelve students
out of about ninety We're of this opin-
ion; of these twelve students, only five
are students doing the regular work;
the other seven are taking special
courses, some in excess of the regu-
lar requirement and others with less
than the required amount. The five
regular students represented eight per
cent of the parents and five per cent or
the students; the seven irregular stu
dents bring the total up to nineteen
per cent OF the parents and thirteen per
cent of the students. In other words,
eighty-one per cent of the parents of
children in the college who replied do
not believe that their children have too
much home study. An analysis of the
replies in the cases of the other nine
teen per cent shows that the causes
of the overwork in several instances
are readily explafnable and are no re-
Election on the system or the teachers.
In the cases of the five regular stu
dents, one parent thinks that one and
a half or two hours of outside study
sufficient; as this time Is hardly enough
for the preparation of four studies IN
senior year, the alternative Is to take
a fewer number of subjects each year
for a larger number of years. This
plan meets with my approval and Is
the one advised in not a few instances
where health or other reasons make it
desirable. In accordance with this, sew
eral students are now taking five years
for the course. Two students of the
five have during the last term repeat
eddy asked me for the privilege of taxi
ing a fifth subject; a conflict in the
was all that interfered. The
cases of the two other students demand
more than passing consideration; one,
who with first rate ability, spends an
excessive amount of time in the prep
aration of her work, Is blessed or cursed
with an unwillingness to lay aside the
lesson until every detail il mastered.
But this pupil refuses to admit what ,
both parents and teachers insist is plain
that she is overworking; the other
spends a good deal too much time in |
her preparation largely on one subject,
which she finds most diff
ficult. !
The seven irregular students include
two who are preparing for college and
who are carrying one extra subject, two
whose parents say that the time requir-