The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-06-14

IlOTIeu TO tne sendIe IOuHN TeSIOTcS tine 1
item of $1,000 for the salary of ship
ping commissioner at Honolulu.
a proposed course of study prepared in
good faith and after long and careful
study Why should everybody who !
has expressed a desire for progress and |
improvement in school matters be so
fierccly attacked as ignorant, imbecile |
and incompetent The answer is com.
prised in one word Wood.
For many years Mr.. Wood, as prin-
eipal of the Normal School, has exer
cised potent influence in the educa
tional affairs of the Territory. Com
mlssioners, superintendent and teach
ers have come and gone, but Mr.. Wood
has remained. This permanence, in
position of authority has enabled him
to mold and direct the educational pol
icies of the department of public in
struction as no other man has ever
done. 1t has enabled him to build up
course of study in accordance with
his own educational theories. 1t has
enabled him to secure the adoption
or rejection of textbooks. 1t has en-
| abled him to dictate the employment
or rejection of teachers. 1t has en-
abled him so to direct matters that up
to the time of my appointment as super
yising principal year ago, no one
who dared openly to oppose any of his
pet hobbies had for a decade past ever
received any substantial promotion or
professional recognition at the hands
of the department. Without regard to
their professional ability, his friends
and supporters have always held the
best positions in the gift of the depart
ment. He has never been in any way
bampered in the carrying out of his
theories. Teachers, buildings, equip.
msnt and facilities of all kinds have
been furnished him with the utmost
lliberaiity.t' Graduates of the Normal
School have carried his methods and his
ideas into every school in the Territory.
feachers wise enough to wish to stand
; we'll with the department have hasten
ed to conf form their manner of teaching
TO his peculiar methods. His we'll
known modesty will probably lead him
to disclaim the prominence which |
willingly concede him in these matters,
!. tbtt teachers throughout the Territory
: fknow the facts only too well. Upon
him, more than upon any other man
whatsoever, rests the responsibility for
the work and the conduct of the schools
today.
Mr.. Wood is fond of referring to him.
self as an "expert educator and in
, .sinuating that all who differ from him
, are ignorant, outlofdate and incom
, tpetent What has given him this as
tsumed primacy in the educational field
Experienced He has never taught day
-, hn go1, nf
his only knowledge of local conditions
. outside of Honolulu has been obtained
at second hand. Education? There ar,
e a score of teachers in the service whose
T academic preparation is superior t.
7, his. Success? Well, if success is a mat
, ter of brag and buster; of subterraneal
1 lscheming and wire pulling; of machin,
= methods and slave driving tactics, thei
!. we must concede him large degre
of success. But if success in such
. position as his is to be gagged b.
! steady advancement in the charaete
n and standing of the schools; by publ
! satisfaction with the results of educa
. tional work; by continual improvement
: in the standard of literacy as evidences
:, by statistics relating to the schools, o
). by harmony and esprit de corps anon
n the teaching force-then we must Civ
, some other name to what Mr.. Woo
4 has achieved. He may call it success
7 but most people will call it .somethin
a very different
We're Mr.. Wood the educator equa
>. to Mr.. Wood the politician, the Terr
:, tory would have just reason to be COZ
:. graduated on having secured his serS
, ices. Unfortunately, however, hi
educational theories have always bee
= so warped with faddism az to rende
y his value as an educator more tina
!. doubtful Some of the fads which h
~ has strenuously advocated are: tn
y nature study fad, which has been car
ried to such ridiculous lengths as t
= merit the contempt and derision of a.
:, practical teachers; the no-boOk fad, j
- accordance with which the teacher
- expected to do most of her teachin
= orally or from the blackboard. tn
y pupils relying on the teacher for every
" thing and making little direct use o
~ books; the word-methOd fad, while
practically abandons the use of tn
- alphabet and reverts TO the ideOgraphi
= woTd.system Of the Chinese systeI
f, which the Chinese themselves admit
two thousand years behind the times
a the hve-step method, in which th
teacher does practically all the work o
" the schoolroOm and the children repeal
= paTrOt-like, the words and ideas of th
y teaeheTj and, lately, the plan Of pre-
!" noting pupils according 10 age, th
: particular beauty Of this plan bcin
y that under II there could be no bach
9 ward or retarded pupils. We're thi
q plan 10 be put into execution, on
y schools would be perfect IN efficiency
y on paper al leasti every pupil woul
" pn ~ tnV R Wood ep"p,'a,' 10 Di sb oe
would be held up 70 80 admiring woIl
Ar wood emiis loud cries Of angus
y aud makes faces al us when W. trY I