The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-04-09
WELLS EXPLAINS ''ATTACK"ONa
7ERRITORY'S SCHOOL SYSTEM

Editor Advertiser;-In your ineue OF
March 20, under the heading "Takes
Exception to Wells Ffgures,'' appears
an article over the signature of Mr..
Cox. In this article he furnishes
excellent proof Of the statement made
in my paper that the apparent rally
of the school system in 1910 from its
previous decadent condition ''repre
scented a forced promotion Of classes
rather than any marked growth in the
efficiency of our school system"
The principals Of the fifty-sis
schools of which he makes mention
were ordered by their superior officer
to make promotions in their schools;
and these orders were sent out from his
Office in Honolulu when he had alb.
solutely' no opportunity to zee the
classes to be promoted and examine
them as to their proficiency.
In many cases these orders were
ignored; some principals going so far
as to fatty refuse to obey orders that
would evidently upset the york OF
their schools. !, ,.,r ..s
A large majority, however, fearing
"the wrath to come" did SO promote
with the result that the PERCENTAGE in
the grammar grades for that yeai
barely passed the twelve per cent
mark, while, as pointed out in my
paper, twelve years previous, with nc
artificial tampering with the natural
growth of the schools, it had risen tc
seventeen per cent. That this promo
ton made at long range advanced the
pupils of the Territory in any real
sense, that they were any better able
to read and write because they were
forced into grades for which they had
never been sufficiently prepared, will
hardly be claimed even by Mr.. Cox.
What He Claimed.
Had Mr.. Cox read my paper more
carefully he would have seen that
did not claim that promotions as g
whole were as low as thirty-six per cent
in 1910. What | said was substantially
I. this: Taking the figures in the hi
ennial reports as a basis of comparison
period with period, and allowing il
each case two years for promotion
from first grade to second fair aver
age owing to the foreign parentage OF
most of the children-the year 1896
CHI Nv
promoted, while the year 1908 could
boast of only thirtyfive per cent. II
1910, as stated in my paper, there was
gain of one per cent; that is to say
thirty!six per cent. of those pupil:
reckoned in grade one in 1908 hat
reached second grade in 1910. More
over, from Mr.. Cox's own figures only
| thirty-eight per cent. of the frs
graders in 1909 had made second il
1910 in spite of forced promotions.
Mr.. Cox did a splendid work while
he held office, by fixing the attention
of principals upon the relation of 'ag,
to promotion, and upon the fact that {
public school teacher is required Il
make good in the matter of bringing
| whole classes up to point where the,
may be successfully promoted.
In my opinion, though, his zeal out
ran his judgment in the matter o
forced promotions, and he must con
fess that they were large factor
both in the one per cent. advance il
promotions from grade one to grad
two, and in the three per cent. advanc
in the showing made by grades from
FIVE to eight.
Woods Reply.
In his reply to my article, Mr.. Woo,
can find no fault with my figures ex
cept that they tell the truth. y
What he attempts to do is to Civ
all credit to the showing made by tn
| figures for 1898 to the present move
ment' in education as inaugurated III
der Mr.. Townsend, and later to lay tn
blame for the failure of that move
ment to make good in the years TO
lowing 1898 to various causes. II
cidentally he INDUCES in some rattle
loose statements and glittering gei
eralities in place of facts and figure
He says in part: In 1894 a vigo
Gus agitation was begun and carried OF
for the. general betterment of til
teaching force. Leading educator
were brought here from the mainlan
TO study conditions, to advise and
lecture to the teachers. Summer schoo
were held for the preparation of IL
teachers, reading schools We're autho
lied by. the Department of Public Il
struction, and the course of study WI
strengthened by the introduction I
: nature study and national stories. A
investigation was made into the eau
of retardation.
As matter of fact, the "yigoro'
, agitation mentioned above as-o