Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-10-03
GERMANY'S EDUCATIONAL
EXAMPLES.

their annual conference last July,
made a decision which may be of mo-
mentous import to the people of our
country. They intend to make their
next meeting fifty odd days movable
convention, to be held in Germany.
They will visit the great educational
centers of the Fatherland; they will
see how the children In the element
airy schools, the young folks in the
secondary schools and the students In
the universities are taught, and will
come back to America inspired and
helped. So important is this enter
prise on which the German American
teachers have embarked that II seems
a pity II should not be shared in by
teachers not of German extraction or
association. In the Fatherland they
have vocational public schools. and
pupils are from the first advised what
studies to take to 1T them for the
career to which they. or their parents
for them, look; and they do not lose
three months Of school work out of
every twelve.
The convention incident has called
forth an editorial utterance from the
Rochester. N. Y. Post Express, which.
while excessively harsh In its exag-
geration of some American shortcom-
ings Is nevertheless of value to those
interested in education. The Roches-
ter-Post Express says: IF there is
one thing which the education of this
country needs, It is that thoroughness
for which the German has ever had
natural leaning. II will probably
be found that the German curriculum
is not SO snowy as ours is or the Ger
man pupil or scholar so specifically
brilliant as his American cousin. They
| insist too much on what may be called
foundation studies for the boy or girl
to find much encouragement to be-
wilder his elders by the display OF
unwonted knowledge. The German
teacher does not regard education as
u new discovery; he knows very well
that the things which count are the
elementary things. He will tell you
that II is of more Importance for the
child's mental growth that he should
be able to do the simple things with
In his mental horizon than that he
should be able glibly to pirate of
things which he can only sense par
| rot-wise. not understand. IL may be
said OF the American child that he is
brilliantly ignorant; the German
child, on the other hand. is unshowily
wise. He can spell without making
mistakes and that Is more than the
American child can do: he can cipher
without error, and though, when 1t
comes to reading. he may lack the
precocious histrionic tricks of our
youthful Jeffersons and Modjeskas, II
questioned about what he has been
reading, he will give much more in
seeing account Of what II means.
"The trouble with our schools Is
that we mistake examining for educa-
ton; we forget that the office OF ed
ucation, as the very word signifies, Is
not to pour in. but to lead out. The
recognition of this fact is at the back
OF German insistence on the things
which make for character. From the
attitude of the boys and girls In our
high-schools, you would think that
they were associates and collaborators
with the professors, not young peo-
pie sitting respectfully at the feet of
people whose duty It is to teach them.
In Its idolatry for the childish ego our
system has developed the evils Of an
undisciplined individualism. The
American child will dispute with the
teacher about his right to administer
punishment. exercising his "unbreath-
ed wits" on topics the very names of
which he could not spell. That Is be-
ginning at the wrong end. 1t Is on a
par with our daubing paper and call
Ing 1t painting. with our writing a
succession Of notes and dignifying It
with the name Of tune. The Ger
man child learns to obey his elders.
The teachers do not discuss the mat
ter and call 1t lesson In ethics; they
merely let their influence be felt In
such way that the child follows his
natural instinct to obey those who
are placed in authority over him. The
American child. on the other hand, is
encouraged In an attitude of chal-
lenge and then we wonder. when he
grows up, how II is that he talks to
his father In tone which the Ger
man father would be tempted to rec
ognize by blow. Yet the little Ger
man is not servile; there is nothing
bringing about him; the obedience