The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-01-01
Seven New Dwellings Kinau Street DIR Foreground
Education and the Public Schools

: BY A. T. Atkinson in Governor car
,, ter annual report to the Secretary of
the interior
: Education at the Hawaiian Islands
began with adults rather than with the
children Between the years of 1928 and
1927 a peculiar system of schools sprang
up, which spread rapidly over the is
lands to the renotest villages ana
fiourished for about ten years. The
nigh chiefs, with their immediate at
tendents, We're the first pupils. Each
chief sent the most proficient scholars
in his retinue to his different lands as
teachers, with a notice to his tenants
to attend school. The eagerness of the
people to acquire the novel and wonder
full arts Of reading and writing was i'm
tense, and almost the whole population
of both sexes and ell ages went to
school, These primitive schools at the
time of their highest prosperity reached
the number of 900 attended by 81 600
pupils, mostly adults.
The first school laws We're enacted in
1S41 by the King and chiefs in council
School agents for each island, with
general superintendent over the whole
We're to be appointed by the King in
council. The parents in each village
Were to elect a school committee, who
were to act in conjunction with the
school agent in regard TO the appoint
ment and support of teachers and the
erection of schoolhouses Teachers
were required to have certificates from
the school agent. No person born since
1920. who could not read and write.
InI
ried. Attendance at school was made
compulsory on all children between the
ages of 4 and IA This has since been
by substituting for 4 and Is
for IA years.
With regard to the average know
ledge among Hawaiian pupils as com
pared to elsewhere, it can be stated
without contradiction that practically
all Hawaiians under so years of age
can read and write their own language
and that nearly all Hawaiians under
70 years Of age can read and write En-
Slish. and the same may be stated of
the Portuguese population.
1t may be interesting 70 note that the ,
number of children within school age
attending school in 1880 was 20 per cent,
1890 was 81 per cent, and in 1900 was
IS per cent. OF Hawaiiaps, IS per cent
attended school within school age;
part Hawaiians, SO; Hawaiian born. a
foreigners, 81; Portuguese, IS; Japanese, e
a; Chinese, 81; and of course all those
Who are American British, French, and p
German extraction attended school. c
There are few places upon the face of c
he civilized globe where so many child a
en- of school age attended school for o
he full session of the year. Our year c
begins on September 1, and closes on
'une 80, and up to the present time, for o
period of sixty-four years, there has s.
lever been a break in the constant con- N
inuation of the schools of the Hawaii b
IN islands, whether under the Mon
rchy, under the Independent Republic. fl
#, at the present time, as a Territory :,
f The United States. This is a record -
vhicn is phenomenal, and greatly to :;
he credit of the various administra- =
ions which have had charge Of tie -
GARD and later of the department. =
On June go 1903. the total enrolment -
all classes of schools in the Terri -
Dry was 1S415. The close of the pre-
ant period. June 30, 1904, shows an en- ~
ollment of 1929. This is a gain of p'
a pupils for the year. OF these, 1O,457 p'
ere ma ls:s and S,S42 We're females. The
1rcl1Gent OF the public schools has adj of
anced from 793 TO 14,467, an increase al
{ ga; that of the r5rivate schools from
622 to 1882, an increase of 21O. Last
ear there was arr increase of 6O4 in SO
he enrolment Of the public schools DC
nd of 293 IN the private schools Thus cI
he private schools have fallen off in Oh
otnparison with the public schools Sc
There are all 204 schools in the Ter ar
tory. of which AT are public schools Cd
by public money, and 81 are nc
rivate schools supported by trust v,
lnds, rents private contributions. and ,.c
ees. at last report there We're 144 as