Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-02-03

/ most practical training in converse.
tional English. commercial accounting
and money changing. II would seem
7 that the entire school curriculum
| might be Included in the school gar.
den training and with better effect
! in the case. OF some pupils Of certain
peculiar natural aptitudes. or per
/ RapS the lack of them, than is pos
! sible in ordinary classroom inStruC-
! ton
The tendency in education for ages
past has been to train pupils to be,
! come doctors. lawyers and congress
/ men, at the expense OF vast multi.
| tudes who were qualified to become
| skiliul farmers, mechanics and artists.
Why not enlarge our facilities for pub
! lice school instruction? Ii a pupil is
incapable OF mastering the pages OF
an ordinary school arithmetic, allow
! him TO substitute the name OF agricul-
ture Or mechanics and teach him all
I the arithmetic that he will ever need
&c know in connection with the sub
ject that he substitutes But do not
/ let such substitution be a bar to his
graduation. Greek and Latin are no
longer bars to graduation in our great
universities. Why should arithmetic
or grammar be SO in our elementary
schools? ~
Plantation Helps -. .......
With the foundation as above indi.
Gated, our pupils go TO their home
gardens feeling that they know how
to get good results. But many homes
/ in crowded camps are not in a situa-
ton to make home gardening praeti
cal. To overcome this difficulty we
have secured the use of about two
i acres of ground near the school, for
which we are grateful to the II. G. &
S. Company. Our pupils have sur
yeyed this tract and divided it into
garden plots of 100 square feet each.
These plots are rented to the pupils
for home gardens. Since many of
the pupils find it difficult to pur-
chase seeds, implements. etc, we are
undertaking to supply them with re-
Guirements, as well as water for irri-
cation, fertilizer, etc. To meet these
expenses the" renters will give the
school one-half their crops, which will
be sold with the school garden pro
duce. They will take the other half
to their homes to supply their family
tables or to sell for their own benefit
Several pupils may form a. partner
ship to work the same plot, but as
far as possible the plots are rented
to pupils of the same family to pre-
vent disputes in making divisions of
Il G crops and to cultivate the interestt.
Of the parents. We hope to encour-
age pupils to spend their otherwise
idle hours in character building exer-
else instead of lounging about the
camps.
Contract Plan Successful
| am enclosing form of contract
to be signed by pupils who rent these
plots. We have aimed TO make the
contract as simple as possible and to
use 1t primarily for its educational eff
feet. The pupils are to be impressed
with the idea of business obligations
and inspired with the idea of an in
dependent business and individual
ownership. They will be required to
copy the contract in duplicate After
il has been duly signed, one copy will
he filed with the principal of the
school and they will retain the other.
1t is expected that they will learn
to be neat and careful with important
documents as a business proposition
and not as a school duty.
Pupils VIII be allowed to rent more
than one plot when they have proved
their ability to care for them properly.
They win be required to keep strict
accounting of the time spent on their