The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-04-09


tendance in these grades. When was
the foundation laid for these resultgq
am obliged 20 Mr.. Wood for cali
ing my attention to the numbers IN,
grades five to sight previous to 1895.
As they read to me, 1892, 3SS, ga pvY
gent; 1894, 500, 7.6 per cent; 1890,
1920, 80 per cent? 1898, 1864, lT.6
per cent, they suggest healthy, nor
nal uplift; partly as result of orr
constantly increasing school population.
and partly as a result of some educa.
tional force which had been at work
not for few months, but for many
years.
Let us give honor to whom honor Il.
due. Mr.. Atkinson was appointed in.
spector- general of schools in 1887. He
was a man of action as well as man
of thought, working out his theories
in the field where he could see them
executed.
Atkinson's Work.
Instead Of sitting in his easy chair
evolving visionary schemes, md
attempting to raise the standard Of the
schools by laying burdens on the rteseh>
ers, he Travelled all over the Territory.
learning at first hand the difficulties
and hardships Of the country schools,
and when he had learned them, no put
his shoulder to the wheel and started
n forward movement in. education that
was felt throughout his administration
and which extended through sheer mo-
mentum into that Of his predecessor.
1t was this forward movement in
edncatien inaugurated 4hy'Mr. .Atltin-
son, then, movement, founded on
the three R's' as the necessary basis
of all education, that brought our
schools in 1898 to flood tide Which
they have never since been ablS' to
equal except under artificial conditions.
The publication of Mr.. Tow1rBund'e
strengthened course Of study In
1897 marks the beginning both DC the
check in the food tide, and of the ebb
(which still seems to be running. it's
course.
Mr.. Wood next attempts to lay the
blame for the startling slump in 1905
to the fact that after the 20 per cent
cut in salaries many of our best
teachers left the service.
As matter of fact the 90 per cent.
cut did not come till towards the end
of the period l902-1904, yet it is true
that many American trained teachers
left the service about this time.
In 1902 about SO per cent. of our
entire teaching force were trained
abroad. In 1908 the percentage was re-
'duced to %. But during the same pc
riod, the number trained in the Homo
lulu Normal School increased from 20
per cent. of the whole to 81 per cent.
/ presume Mr.. Wood will not insist
that this change in the personnel of
the teaching force was altogether re-
sponsible for the serious drop in 1906
1908.
Receiving Room.
AS to the remaining loophole through
(which Mr.. Wood would escape, name
ly the introduction of the receiving
room. This room was not authorized
in 1902 as Mr.. Wood would have us
imply; not until the publication of the
present course of study, which its au-
thor should know was issued in 1895.
The argument that the addition of
room in the course of study could,
an a single year, so seriously affect
grades from five to ten years in adj
vance of 1T as to cause slump of 5,
per cent. in the enrolment is unworthy
/ of so keen mind as Mr.. Wood s..
! Does he imagine for moment that the
bars were suddenly raised for entrance
to the high school, and that all classes
| below it were pushed down peg to ac-
commoiate the innocent receiving
room, which he himself stoutly main
tains is not grade at allY
| We have noted the remarkable up
lift in the work of the public schools
! during Mr.. Atkinson s administration
and extending into that of his success
sor, an uplift brought about by CON
sistent hammering at the essentials as
the necessary basis of education. We
have also noted the decline in the very
heart of our school system since 1898;
la decline that seems To take its rise
from the Townsend course of study and
has continued through the era of our
lpresent overloaded course, with it's
/ further burden of amplifcation IN the
shape of the outlines sent out from the
Normal School.
From all over the country goes up
the cry for retrenchment and return to
the essentials. Boston is at present
overhauling her course of study. Chi
cago has simplified hers, and San Fran
cisco has ontdone them both in her eff
forts to get more satisfactory results
from her system of education.
HAWAII has been ever eager to take
Iup with every new fad in education.
Let us follow the example of our neigh
Dor across the water and adopt this
latest fad of cutting out all the fads.
Then let us put our hands to the task
of training up an intelligent citizen
ship through an education based on ex-
perience and sound common sense, and
not on theories that have proved a
3 failure. H. NJ. WELLS.