The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1920-01-16
SUPERINTENDENT MaCCAUGHEY
TALKS TO MAUI WOMEN
Continued From Page Two.)

Continued From Page Two)
tonal payroll, at the present moment we are in the position of not being
able to add al additional teacher anywhere. If We could get a teacher even
for five dollars a month we could % put lei OF thu payroll because We
haven't the five dollars! And a while g pupils were turned out Of a
sbnn t % "% boUc bG barqtofnre md each lSrr' Tbere ae schools here
where teachers have fifty o sixty children in n room. Such education
as that is not education, it is police work!
And these little first graders who col from nonEnslsh speaking homes
and who have n o conception Of American institutions Or Of the English Ian
guage, these are in the dhest need Of individual attention and should have a
carefully planned program viii "a great da OF pm! INT elasticity IN It, Ana
the very classes that should no have mor than twenty-five in them. which
is a big class for the first grade, these re the classes that we pile up eighty
in a class. on Kauai at Lihue they had 1856 pupils and but two teachers
Who is o blame for those conditions? am to blame and you ar to blame;
say it is the fault of the Legislators or of the Supervisors; we are all to
blame; it is a common problem; and W re must meet these problems without
hysteria. could go o N almost indefinitely speaking of the lack Of equipment
and the lack of minor supplies In our central Office in Honolulu our stat
is terribly overwonked; our supervising principals have entirely toe much
territory to cover, and too much of a burden Of administrative work We
are compelling them o the different islands to do a great deal Of routine
time to constructive and helpful supervision to the individual teacher in
cover all the schools Of Kan. Kona and KobaIa, # is nbyFdcaIy tnrnsslLg
FOR her to do the constructive supervision is well as administration work
POOR INVESTMENT PAYS POOR RETURNS
Now, what is the answer? You may say this is a very sad picture you
have painted, Mr. MacCaughey; what are we going to do about h?" A
prominent business man the other day in Honolulu complained o me abo"
the cost of the public schools, commenting OF what a amount OF money
we IRE spending IN them. I was pointing out to him that it is poor business
not to do a thing thoroughly nj II we are TO nave uohc schooL' tN
should be adequately maintained. He "a talking about the high rate OF
o t, me america I pw III. S Ht 49, %s nsan IT. at " nm w. +%, "T " ""n
public schools, substitute the japanese Language Schools and give them the
money to rn them, because it is certainly a waste of the taxpayers money
to ask a teacher to teach fifty children. We are throwing away your money
in paying her a salary. You are not getting the educational results.
The present situation in which we find the public schools, struggling
against these terrific handicaps cannot g on indefinitely We re Twins
in a world of ddusion. We imagine we have something which W e haven't
if we think We have a public school system under the difficulties that con
To- US 1t Is eNacuy ike unhh d sugar mil Il you run 1t " Sc" /"
low point of efficiency that you cannot collect dividends on the product Of
the mill you had better close the mill The analogy is exact: If in running
a nsa Pmmt tt bmt " o "% ,a n%r nf sn ~ n th+ na ao nt napina 54yi1ends
in school terms, then we had better close up the plant and not ddude our
selves with the idea that W e ire having something we don't possess.
Then Dr. W words in conclusion: At present the EngishspeaL
ing child, Of whatever nationality the Englshspeakng child is, is heavily
penalzed in all of the public schools; in fact, forced into private schools
One of the reasons is there are so many public schools in which there ae
only nonEnghsh speaking children. For example here is a class Of forty
five Or fifty notwithstanding children, rom ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS homes
1t is pedasoscaIy criminal to put into that class four or five Engishspeak-
ing children. That is OF Democracy and W e penahze very heavily that
class of children. think it is very important in the next few years that
we work gu som form of perfectly just and fair organization that will re-
move that penalty from the English speaking child; because his parens
pay taxes just as do the parents OF the nonEnglsh speaking child. usually
more. and their children ire penaHzed and forced into private schools
And this leads to another consideration. The school tax is Two dollars
a year 1t is part of the five dollar poll tai or head tax which is universal
throughout the Territory. The two dollars is a contribution to the school
fund. SO that for the man who sends six children to the public schools
it is two dollars, and if he sends none it is two dollars. That amount is
entirely too small We look forward to legislation that will increase very
materially the school tax. 1t is worth ten dollars at least It costs the Ter
rtory about Thirty Dollars a year for each child for education. If the Ter
rtocy is willing to spend thirty dollars on the child OF a man for education,
the man should be willing to pay ten dollars IF that. Each should chip IN
his share. We should have an increase in this tax People wish children
educated, but the bulk of the population, under existing conditions, are not
paying their share of the school money.
URGES HIGHER SCHOOL TAX
Just a word concerning what Hawaii spends. said we spend about
thirty dollars per year per child. That is a very meagre amount The
average for the mainland taking the New England States and the great
barren places Of the west, rs well as the peoples of the middle west, the
average is thrtysix dollars a year; so e are six dollars below them; and
California spends about sixty dollars pei year for each child, which is about
twice what e spend, and California is poorer than Hawaii And the dis
crepancy is very apparent when you consider that these children in Hawai-
are N especial need of education, and of Amencanzation. If we canno
Amercanze them through public organizations there is little hope of dong
it by any other means, If we believe in American organizations we shall
have to increase or per capita expenditure. If W. don't believe in American
organizations, perhaps we had better dispense with them. That is the alter
native. If these boys and girls are going to grow up and help to build u
the industries of America we must train hem TO understand the American
forms of government. We car do that only through the public schools.
a word more in conclusion, then we open the subject discussion
see before me this group of women. vou who came here vo,ntarIy This after
noon. ask you: What do you want for the public interest of Maui? What
ever it is you want, you an have it, You have prodetous power: your
moral power, the power of public opinion, and the power of an educate
grOupf focusing OF a single problem What do Vu ant? That is Nbat Won