The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-03-16

week-night and Sabbath schools, all
over the islands. Scores and hundreds
| of young men have thus received the
rudiments of an English education,
and from their ranks have come some
of the most worthy and respectable
members of our Chinese community
| Similar schools are still conducted by
different missions.
The arrival of the first families, in
any appreciate numbers, dates from
1865. Later mission day schools were
started for the children by the Con-
gregationaI mission, aided for some
years by a Government grant. In
1888, these schools, in the ci,y of Ho-
nolulu, were taken over by the Board
of Education and incorporated with
the public school system.
| The first free kindergarten for Chi
nese children anywhere IL. the world
was opened in Honolulu in 1S92-the
pioneer of this department of effort in
Hawaii. Two years later the first
kindergarten in the Chinese Empire
was started. This one in Honolulu
for Chinese was followed by others for
the children of different races here
gathered. Later these were all merged
| in one general kindergarten system,
regardless of nationa1ities. No more
picturesque and interesting sight does
/ this beautiful city of Honolulu offer
| than these numerousfy attended free
kindergartens, scattered over the town,
where the bright-eyed representatives
| of five or six different races meet. A
number of our Chinese young ladies
| have been connected with the kinder
garten work and have proven them
selves to be excellent assistants. A
| brief quotation relative to the kinder
garten from an essay Of a Chinese
young lady, now an instructor in one
of the public schools, which she re-
| Gently wrote with reference to the edu-
cational advantages afforded Chinese
girls in Hawaii, will, in this connec-
| ton, be of interest:
''The Chinese mother takes the
hands of the little toddlers (brother
and sister, and guides them to the
kindergarten, where both are seated
around little table with other little
ones of their own age, some with blue
eyes and golden curls, with brown eyes
and auburn hair, but our black eyed
darlings feel as much at home with
these foreign babies as they would if
each pair of eyes were sparkling back
and each curly pate was wreathed
!
were he living and had the blessed
opportunity of seeing such a gather
ing of wee tots, would doubtless have
felt that such a result was far beyond
his most sanguine expectations
A wise educational policy has led to
the admission of our Chinese children
| to the public schools, where they ad-
vance through the successive grades,
| a credit to themselves and to the land
which has shown them courteous
treatment. In the large public schools
| of the city and the smaller ones of the
| country they are pursuing their stud
les and mingling harmoniously with
the thousands of other pupils here
| gathered. They stand well in their
classes and are among the most sat
| isfactory students. The following
statements from the principals Of the
leading public schools of Honolulu,
men and women of experience and
careful judgment. are of much inter-
( est and value. One writes:
I'm our school of over six hundred
pupils, the influence of the Chinese
boys and girls who comprise one
fourth of our enrolment is most bene-
fcially felt. They set high stand
ard in faithful scholarship, earnest
ness of purpose, gentleness of demea-
nor toward their fellow-students and
respectful and grateful appreciation
| toward their teachers
The statement from another is as
| follows:
THE Chinese children from six years
old to sixteen are satisfactory to the
| teachers in every way They are
studious and attentive, very rarely max
in
lily the virtue of gratitude prevails
among them more than in any other
race and their habits are an incentive
to the progress of their fellow-students.
In this particular school the Chinese
children have decreased in numbers in
the past few years and those who at
tend are assimilating with the others
in so rapid manner that individuality
is not noticed to the degree it was
formerly"
A third gives this as his estimate:
In reply to your question as to the
influence of the Chinese pupils upon
the schools of this Territory I would
say that years of experience and OBJ
servation in the schools of Hawaii have
led me to the following opinion:
THE Chinese boys and girls enter
the school with the purpose or making
the most of their opportunity. They live
up to this purpose by being courteous,
corrigibIe and diligent, and the ex-
ample they set in doing this has most
benef1ting influence upon their fellow
students. They are highly appreciated
by both teachers and schoolmates.
Their career after leaving school is very
creditable indeed. Very few go wrong"
Still another statement runs as fol-
lows:
I'm the schoolroom the Chinese girls
and boys show great thirst for know
ledge and an enthusiasm which is most
encouraging to the teacher. They es-
pecially like any study which has
definite results, as mathematics.
ION the playground the boys show a
decided interest in sports. The girls |
who are still handicapped by the re-
strant of their mothers narrow lives, |
are shy about entering into the games. |
However, when they do throw aside |
their natural bashfulness and decide |
to have fun and enjoyment as the boys |
do, the teacher feels that they are TAX |
in fri I'd