The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-03-22
Ages Of Pupfls in All SCHOOLS in the Terrttory, D

S
Totals ......... 1O7 1925 254s .
not only a proportional falling off in
these grades, but an actual one, as the
following figures will show. In 1898
there were 1864 pupils in grades five to
eight; in 1900 there were 1892; In 1902
there were 2276; in 1904 there were
2l42; in 1906, 1922, decrease of 442 in
eight years. In 1908 there were 1923
, or Al less than in 1898, although the
school population as a whole had in
creased by 76 per cent in these same ten
years.
OF course it is true that the increase
in the total school population was large
ly measured by the swelling of the en-
tering classes; which increased from
344l in receiving and first grades in
1898 to 1O2S7 in 1908, at which time
actually more than half Of the public
school population ranked below second
grade.
This abnormal flooding of the enter
ing classes will account, in part, for the
decreased percentages in the higher
grades, but that there should have been
an actual decrease in the number who
reached the grammar grades in face
of the constant increase in the lower
grades which act as feeders to the high
er ones, demands some other explana-
tfon.
In 1910, to be sure, under high pres
sure from Mr.. Cox, there was an APP
parent rally; when the percentage in
these four upper grades was increased
to ~ per cent with 24S6 in attendance
With all due regard for the excellent
work done by Mr.. Cox during the school
year 1909-10, teachers generally will
agree that this apparent rally repre-
scented a forced promotion of classes
rather than any marked growth in the
efficiency of our school system.
Concealment Gains Nothing.
The intent of this paper was to show
the relation of attendance 10 advance
ment; that poor attendance is in large
measure responsible for poor attain
ment. This we shall endeavor to show.
!, There is nothing to indicate that this is
more Iof problem than it was ten or
fifteen years ago, however, and we were
somewhat chagrined to find an actual
decline in the attachments of our schools
during this period.
The facts are patent to all who will
study Table No. " of our last school
census, and there is nothing to be gain
ed by hiding our heads in the sand and
complacently hugging to our bosoms the
concentrations of strangers. Let us
know the worst, and knowing it, lay
a foundation not for a more flattering
biennial report through forced promo
tions and grading according to age
in accordance with the latest fad, but
for real attainments in scholarship
through rational course of study and
rational methods of instruction.
That we have no other hope for the
future through these large entering
classes is shown by the further fact
that promotions from first to second
grades show the same tendency to de.
cline, as shown by this same Table No.
~
We country people are not yet smart
enough to drop the receiving grade
We will allow, then, two years as a
fair average in which to promote from
first to second grade.
Ont of the entire number of pupils
in first grade in ls94-our earliest
record-79 per cent had apparently
made second in 1896. This percentage
of promotions from first to second
grade gradually decreased to 80 per cent
in 1908. In 1910, through the strenu-
Gus efforts of Mr.. Cox, there was n
slight increase in promotions, amount
ing to one per cent
} But it is beyond the province of this
paper to discuss this apparent decline
in our public school system. Our imme.
J date problem is one of leakage, and
not of profit and loss.
Rapidly Improving?
1t has been stoutly maintained that
our school system is rapidly improving.
We will leave it to ADLER pens to prove
that this statement is true, contenting
ourselves with trying to show what re,
lation poor attendance holds to slow ad,
, vancement.
/, In figuring out basis for our com.
putations in leakage, the first item that
: confronts us is the loss at the intake.
According to law every child in the
, territory should enter school at six
years of age. Now there are hundreds
: perhaps thousands of children who
! never 90 to school at all; children whose
,, parents are consciously disobeying the
. school law for gain.
These, however, we are not concerned
about in this discussion, since in tn,
nature of the case they can neither af
: feet the totals of those who enter schoo
: nor the percentage of those promoted
. But there is a leakage at the intake oi
entering class, that quite materially
: lowers the standard Of our schools.
. Notwithstanding the fact that oul
: school population is always on the in
crease and that the numbers at the in
take are constant flood the numbe
l. six years old at any one time is materi
' But there IS a leagage at the intake o.
= even up to IL years of age.
}, The following extract from Tabl'