The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-03-22
December 81, 1910.

1,274 529 720 Hip 9,l33 2O,245
difficult problems that the school prin
cipal has to deal with; since he has
often to combat ignorance, prejudice
greed and deception on the part of the
parents, and the police with their raany
duties seem hardly able to handle the
situation effectually. The school prin.
cipal should not be expected to give mis-
time to the enforcement of law, yet he
is often compelled to do SO, or suffer
his school to retrograde.
Problems of Teachers.
There confront us, then, as teachers
these four questions: How shall we gel
all the children of the territory enroll.
ed in SCHOOL, How shall we enforce
their enrolment at the legal age9 How
shall we compel their regular attend.
ancei How shall we keep them from
/ drifting away through change of resi-
! dence7 At the present time it seems
well-nigh impossible to do all these
things, and yet our regulations as teach
ers depend in large measure on their be
ing done.
To my mind there is fundamental
weakness in the school law in that il
does not specify that the truant office,
shall find the children and bring them
to school at the legal age. Both the
law and the officers seem concerned
only with those children already en-
rolled and not with those who are elud-
ing them altogether.
Again, the law should more clearly
specify what constitutes truancy.
The law, in part, reads as follows:
IF any child of school age shall per
sist in absenting himself or herself fl ON
school, any district magistrate shall
etc.,
Now, how many times may child
absent himself from school before he
can be said to have done it 'tpersistent.
ly7' 1t is evidently left to the dis,
erection of each district Magistrate to
decide. This can only -ssult in evasion
of and contempt for the Jaw. In a
small way it is comparable to The .'1ea-
sonable" clause in the decision hand.
ed down by the Supreme Court at
Washington on the application Of the
Sherman law
Three days. absence in single
school term without previous excuse
from the principal of the school might
well be considered a case of truancy.
Again, the present arrangement
whereby the regular police are required
to act as truant Officers, is most un-
satisfactory The police have too many
other calls upon their time to give the
schools proper attention. Moreover, we
have it on the highest authority that,
"No man can serve two masters" The
frnant pffinorc sbn,,ll ha ~, ba
ploy of the Department Of Public In
struction.
Suggested Plan.
l would suggest the following plan:
Let there be a special school officer
in each district; man of good judg-
ment, reliable and energetic. He should
be hired by the supervising principal of
the district, and should work under his
direction. The work of this officer
should be specified by law to be some
what as follows
To make a complete census and map
of his district during the summer va
/ cation. To keep as a matter of record
the name of each man, woman and child
i living in his district, and, in the case
of children, the age of each; to record
births, deaths and removals. In case of
removals, whether of adults or of chill
dren, to ascertain their destination and
report to the supervising principal, who,
in turn, could report to the supervising
principals of the districts designated.
To visit all incoming and outgoing
steamers, and report on the destination
of all passengers. To notify all par
ents and guardians that their children,
{ Vvban nf Gahnnl mot hs %
school promptly and regularly; and to
arrest those who offend in this regard
on complaint of the principal.
! Corps of Twenty.
i Twenty good men could do this work
for the whole Territory; and even il
it cost $4,000 year it would be money
well spent These twenty men could eff.
fectually stop all the leakages at the in.
take by means of the census, and by
their watehfulness over the comings
and gOings of the families in their dis
tricts, could check the mysterious seep
age all along the line, which, as we
have tried to show, is so disastrous ia
the success of our schools
Abolish Age Limit.
In conclusion let me propose one more
change in our school laws. / would
suggest the feasibility of abolishing the
age limit altogether except as it re
J lates to the time when child shall en-
ter school, and substituting therefor q
fixed number of days which shall b,
required as minimum attendance
, period.
As 1T appears to me, the effect OF
/. such a law, in conjunction with tn,
} taking of school census as proposed
above, would be to stimulate attend
. ance greatly.
! Instead of keeping his child at HON,
tin the age of ten or twelve and theI
? trying IN 0ef him ont of aehool n,