The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-20
!
- setaSHSH~Sk~~sk&
THE SCHOOL QUESTION.


Editor Advertiser: In your interest
ing editorial Of a few days ago You
assume that the defenders of our pres
ent educational policy stand for a
broad and liberal culture, as opposed
| to thorough but narrow course ad-
vocated by the critics; and that a
choice must be made between these
two opposing theories of education.
| But, is your assumption altogether
a fair one? Does thoroughness stand
necessarily for narrowness? Or does
/ a crowded curriculum secure breadth?
Are thoroughness and comprehensive
ness mutually exclusive in education?
cannot help thinking that both sets
of disputants in this argument are
essentially right in their contentious.
| The parent is certainly justified in de-
| manding practical, efficient education
! for his children; while the school au-
/ thorities realize that any education is
seriously at fault which does not def
initely and favorably react upon the
character, industry and citizenship of
those taught.
1t has long been recognized both by
educators and by the public that the
three RS" do not constitute all of
education. History, government, mu-
sic, drawing, manual training, the va
rious branches of nature-study, ETC.,
have therefore been added in the en-
deavor to "enrich" the curriculum, and
to make it a means for the attain
ment of mental, moral and money
making power Judging from the tone
of the present discussion of education
al conditions in Hawaii, there is at
least serious doubt as to the practical
value of this enrichment" 1t can
not be denied that our curriculum
as enriched and taught-is very far
from satisfactory.
The last report of the Superintend-
ent of Public Instruction shows that
| fifty-two per cent. of our total public
school population ranks below the sec
| and grade, and that only two per cent.
are engaged in high or normal school
work. Educational journals report
many sections of the United States in
which twelve to fifteen per cent of
the school population pass through the
| high schools. In comparison with
these figures our two per cent. looks
rather small. 1t may be urged, how
ever. that high and normal school edu-
cation is ornamental and professional
rather than essential. Grant it. What
about the sixth, seventh and eighth
grades, which contain less than five
per cent. of the public school pupils?
Ought not an efficient course of in
struction to pass more than eleven
| per cent. beyond the fourth grade?
But" the apologist may say, our
| school work is prosecuted under ex-
I "a -.
toms and environment" Let US see.
The grant-in-aid schools of British
India and the neighboring dependen-
cies operating under similar difficult
| ties, pass ninety per cent. of their
pupils through all the grades, up to
and including the sixth. This passing
! is done, too, by inspectors not con-
nected with the schools and by no
means partial to them. If we can
put any reliance in statistics, our
compare favorabiy with similar schools
elsewhere.
Is it possible for us to discover any
reason for this apparent lack of eff
cheney in our schools? If we look in
the right direction the reason will not
be hard to find. In a rough way, edu-
NAL, International, disciplinary. kline
tic and cultural. Formal studies deal
with the mechanical side of educa-
tion-with educational tools. so to
speak. such as the processes involved
in reading, writing, spelling, the four
fundamental operations Of arithmetic,
etc. These are basal in character, do
not make large demands upon the in
tellect, and require long. thorough and
constant drill. When these education
al tools have been mastered, the pupil
is prepared to attack with fair pros
pect of success, the international and
cultural studies. And until he has
mastered this formal drill-work, he is
utterly helpless when called on to at
tempt the comprehension, assimilation
and expression required by the infor-
national and cultural branches of
knowledge. A pupil who is able to
read intelligibly and intelligently an
ordinary book or newspaper; to write
a letter. legibly, and to perform the
four fundamental operations of arith- |
metic accurately has within his reach |
the means of unlimited progress; and |
thousands of men have avon success
in business, literature and profession |
al life with no other equipment. To |
introduce the International and cul-
tural studies-except incidentally-be
fore the foundation of formal work has
been solidly laid is an attempt to build
the superstructure first, and such at
tempts are as futile educationally as
INTELLECTUALLY. To devote the first
four or five years of school life exclu-
sively and energetically to the mastery
of educational technique is to make
rapid and satisfactory progress later
on. What should we think of the
method of a nusic-master who laid out
for a beginner entirely ignorant of
music daily program something like
this: A little scale practise, a few
finger exercises, a few principles of
harmony and counterpart, few bars
of the Moonlight Sonata, a motive
from Wagner etc? Yet this is, in
principle, just what our course of
study prescribes for the schools. Three
purely international studies are pre-
scribed in the first grade, four in the
SECOND seven in the third and nine