The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-01-26
THE DEpARTMENr,s VIEW.

January %, 1912.
TIE DEPARTMENTS VIEW.
The following letter was prepared
at the department of public instruc
ton, and is, in effect, the official state
ment of the department:
Editor Advertiser:-In Bishop Res.
tariek's article on industrial schools
he quoted from letters received by
him in which the public school system
in general was criticised, especially fol-
wasting time on non-essentials and on
what were termed "fads'' and "non-
sense. BY several remarks in these
letters and in statements made by
other speakers and writers it appears
that mature Study is the subject
in the curriculum that provokes this
criticism. Probably few persons out
side of those Immediately connected
with the schools are familiar with the
course of study and what its require
ments are. The following is the COM
plete course in nature study as out
lined, from the sixth to the fifteenth
year.
Grade I.
borhood. Collect samples of products,
seeds, grains, etc. Plant and observe
to maturity the bean, rice and cane.
Study the horse, cow, sheep, hen and
duck. Life history of the wasp,
dragon,fy, mosquito, frog and moth.
Grade II.
Study in growth sugar cane, cotton,
rice, bananas. Collect fruits grains,
seeds and other products Study grow
ing trees, as monkey pod. Habits,
haunts and life history of doves, mynah
birds.
Study the squash, papaia, orange
tree. Fertilization of flowers. Collect
seeds and fruits. Study insects in rela-
tion to plants; as the bee, butterfly,
ant, melon-fy, beetle. Study the
cricket, aphis, moth, beetle, fish and
frog
Grade ".
Collect specimens of woods, grains,
nuts, fruits, fbers.
Plant and study wheat, oats, barley,
fix, etc. Migratory birds = plover,
duck.
Study the cane borer, wood borer,
blights on orange and other trees.
Grade v.
Evaporation and condensation, crys-
Utilization. Simple experiments on
solids, liquids and gases.
Grade VI.
Simple experiments illustrating the
force of gravity. Cohesion, adhesion
magnetism.
Grade VII.
Experiments showing pressure of
water, of steam, of air.
Steam engine. Artesian wells.
Grade VIII.
Water pump, air pump. Block and
pulley. Eject of heat. Telephone.
The Primary Object.
AS every one knows all the children
enter our public schools with no knowl-
edge or a very limited knowledge of
the English language and the course
of study should be- SO arranged and
the subjects SO selected as will best
answer the purpose of training the ear
in the hearing of the English language
and in giving opportunity for acquir-
ing working vocabulary. Can this
not be done better in the natural way,
as children learn their mother tongue
and as all peoples have developed a
language, by making the child acquain-
ted with his environment, than by
drilling him on columns of dead words
or meaningless sentences or stories
printed for English-speaking children
of the eastern Statesf In the begin
ming of the child's school life, in the
nature study; the stories, etc., foun-
dalton is laid which prepares him to
profit by instruction in reading and
writing little later. Fill the pupil
with his subject and talking and writ
ing become easy. Live and emphatic
ideas are more important than drill in
modes of expression.
How can it be said that the teaching
in school where the above outline is
carried out in the proper spirit and
in the simple, observational manner,
as teachers are instructed to carry 1t
out, tends to educate children away
from the farm or the oomef And not
much time need be spent in this teach
ing; the collections, etc, are made out
of school.
The Normal School.
In another place the Bishop says
that "several of the supervising prin-
cipals of the Islands, the majority, as
1 believe, are opposed to what they
regard as waste of time if the methods
of the Normal School were carried
out"
The Normal School has for its sole
purpose the training of teachers. 1t
is supported by territorial funds and
If it does not train teachers TO do good
teaching in our schools then the funds
are wasted. It is strange ii the work
of this school be not satisfactory that
for the last fourteen years through all
the changes in the department. Of pub.