The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-05-17
rHE HoNoLulu nlGH SCHOOL.

s.cbools. The highest educational es-
sablishment under the Bureau of Edu-
cation is the Honolulu High School. To
the people of the mainland. one high
school, with 100 pupils in attendance out
of an enrolled school population of a.
900. would not be comprehended without
explanation.
That there are so few pursuing a high
school or secondary course Of education
is owing to the mixed character of our
population, the many tongues spoken
by parents in their homes, and to the
general poverty of the mass of the peo-
pie. An overwhelming majority of chill
dren enter school with no knowledge of
English. the common medium OF in
struction These children of various
yernacuIars meet In. the sehool-room
sometimes fifty or sixty in one ROOM
the teacher frequently with little edu-
cation or developed intelligence IL
take four or five years for them TO get
a SUFFICIENT acquaintance with English
to begin to receive real instruction.
And by the time they should be pre-
pared to enter High school, they are
at that age when the poverty of the
ps-ents necessitates their withdrawal
from school to begin bread-winning-
Thus it is that so few of our youth
get the almost inestimable advantages
which high school course would give
them.
There are at present IN the High
school, and the intermediate and prirnas-
ry schools connected Herewith. more
than $50 pupils, all English speaking
children at their entry at the primary
school All others must be able to use
English so as to be ready to receive IN
struction from the beginning
The High School stands at the head
of these schools, which are its feeders,
no other schools in Honolulu so far,
with a rare exception here and there,
being able to prepare pupils to enter
the High School. The course of instruc-
ton in the High School is similar TO
that pursued in the best schools of the
mainland. There has recently been
erected an almost perfect building, ad-
rlirably equipped, for the commercial
fanartrnent. Another building of five
rooms has Just been completed. for the
accommodation of the rapidly growing
grammar department. With some
change and addition to the scientific
1storatorv. the parents of Honolulu
would have a High School. SO far as
buildings and equipment go, that any
city might be proud of.
There is at present a very high aver
age corps of teachers, having degrees
from colleges and universities among
the best on the mainland. They have
all had from three TO fifteen years Of
successful work in the school-room. In
all those things that enlarge and en-
rich the mind, it is not invidious TO
compare them with any class of bust
ness or professional men in Hawaii
1t is a grave error to suppose that
these educated and cultivated men and
women teach because they could not do
anything else. When they entered the
vocation of teaching, they were thor
oughly irnbued with the fact that, in so
doing, they gave up the possibility OF
reaping those awards of wealth and
position, esteemed by most people as
the only prizes of successful effort
They teach because it gives them a
quiet, scholarly life, best suited to their
natures and aptitudes. They know
that there are some things supremely
worth having, not to be obtained by
pull, push, strife, seIf-assertion and
pride of place.
BY parents, guardians and wise rul-
ers, every effort3should be made to Sc
cure and to retain teachers of the high
est character and qualification.
1t is much to be regretted that those
in authority, seeking some way to re-
duce expenses of government, should
not have found a method. otherwise
than by so sweeping a reduction OF
teachers, salaries, especially those of
teachers of the highest character and
attachments. Such a reduction of sala-
ries makes it incumbent upon the teach
ers to seek employment in other places
where they can obtain a living and
where their conspicuous services Will
be. it is hoped, more appreciated and
better rewarded than in the Paradise of
the Pacific.
believe that the parents and guard
ians of the young men and women now
attending the High School are unan-
imous in their desire TO retain the pres
ent able corps of teachers, or to get
a faculty of equal excellence.
It Is. also most certain that the best
and most enlightened sentiment of all
nationalities and vocations in HoroluIu
are of the same opinion But the re-