The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1912-03-22
H. M. Wells Presents Some Well
Defined Ideas Before the
Teachers Convention.
"The Rule of Three
It puzzles me,
And Tare and Tret,
They make me fret. -


the ittlo red school house on the hill.
II has an odd sound to most teachers of
the present day, no doubt, yet TO Others
IT may recall traditions of the good old
times when "The Rule of Three" was
the name applied to the subject of pro-
portion, and when Tare and Tret as an
application of percentage was emphasiz-
ed by frequent other applications of n
striking nature.
Tare according to Webster, is can
allowance or abatement =. which the
the weight of the container;" while
Tret is a similar allowance for waste
and wear on drygoods, and corresponds
to leakage in liquids.
Now from such classic text as the
above, one might naturally look for
dissertation on the modern methods of
teaching arithmetic as compared with
those of the good old days; but such is
not my purpose 1t is rather to discuss
the problems of Tare and Tret or leak
age as applied to school attendance.
Bishop Restarick makes out that the
pupils of the public schools get ia
HOLIDAYS a year and hence are in school
only 191 days.
As the Bishop allows only ten weeks
instead of eleven for the summer vaca-
ton, we must confess to the ia play
days and few more. An even division
of the year would, perhaps, be more
nearly correct.
There is no doubt that the Bishop is
on the right track when he suggests
that the needs of the pupils demand
longer school days and more of them.
Long Vacations Disastrous
Much as we teachers cherish our long
vacations, confession must be made that
for the pupils, whether boarding or day
scholars, extended vacations are disas-
trous in their results disastrous to dis
cipline, disastrous to scholarship, disas-
trous to morals. The traditional mis-
chief maker never takes holiday. He
works when others play. His busy sea-
son is when teachers, preachers, settle
ment workers and others shut up shop
and are off for their vacation, leaving
behind them many idle hands to do his
mischief.
Nor does the average child in Ha-
wall need long vacations for rest and
recuperation. He is not yet far enough
removed from the ranks of the toilers
to render him liable to nervous prostra-
ton through extended mental eXertion.
But Necessary.
From the standpoint of the teacher,
however vacations are none too lcng.
For too many of them a nervous break
down is always imminent. We must
beg to take issue with the Bishop, in
deed, when he compares a teacher g
work with that of women workers in
other lines. Even stenographers are
never subjected to nervous strain that
can be compared to that of the live
teacher. No one can understand this
till he has tried it.
If the school terms were materially
heightened, then provision would have
TO be made for relays in the teaching
force as is always done where schools
are in constant session; thus allowing
a rest of three months or more to each
teacher every two or three years.
More Time; More Pay.
No doubt % per cent addition to
the school year would prove popular
with pupils and teachers alike, provid-
ed the age limit was proportionately
lowered for the child, and provided al
SO that the teachers salary was cor.
respondingly raised, with three months
leave occasionally on full pay.
Under the present system whereby
child is allowed three months in which
to forget what we teach him the other
nine months, progress can not be very
rapid.
Yet we teachers would be reasonably
well satisfied, and could make much
better showing if we actually got the
opportunity for instructing the youth of
the territory that is ours according TO
law.
If the school law were carried out in
shirt and letter, each child in the ter
ritory would attend school five hours a
day for nine years of, say, 1873 days
each.
According to the Course of Study, in
these nine years every child should
complete the eighth grade. Were the
intent of school law and course of
study both fulfilled, then, all pupils of
the territory should qualify for the
high school at fifteen.
OF course no one expects even to ap-
proximate this high standard, but re-
suits are so pitifully below it as to
challenge our attention, and raise the
question "Whyf"
School Attendance.
At the school census taken in Deeem-
Der, 1910, only 1870 of the total public
school population were in the eighth
grade; while our high schools showed