The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-12-07
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC D. HAskIN. Director.
WaslaiHgEon, d. c.
JAPANESE EDUCATION IN
HAWAI-
Washiaton, D. c.

/ JAPANESE EDUCATION IN
/ HAWAII.
| Washington, d. c. Dec 4-That
Hawaii. no less california, has a Jap
! aneseS problem, is the report brought
| back by DR.. Frank Bunker and other
representatives of the bureau of edu-
cation who have been studying condi-
lions there.
! According to the new census figures.
| Japanese make up nearly half of the
255,000 of population in Hawaii, and
in a few years they will be able to
control the vote of the islands. This
| would not be such a disturbing pro-
| phecy except for the fact that the Jap
anese in Hawaii, especially the school
children, are being pulled two ways.
The United States government is there
| trying to educate them, hoping that
| those born under the United States
flag will make satisfactory American
| citizens At the same time. a Japan
csc influence is being exerted SO that
the children viii not forget to eele-
| brate the ernperor's birthday or grow
| up in ignorance of japanese ways and
traditions.
| Foreign language schools. presided
! over by teachers brought from Japan,
are set up all over the islands near
| the territorial public schools. Japan
ese parents are urged by Buddhist
! priests to send their children to these
! schools, and because the influence of
| is very great, the parents almost al
| ways comply. Twenty thousand chill
dren are enrolled in over 20 Japanese
schools.
The children, as rule, do not wish
to attend these schools. And no Won
der. The regular public school opens
| at nine. To attend the foreign Ian
guage school first, therefore, they
must rise at or even 3 o'clock
| They have to walk sometimes five
lac ffr,er hrna Il So
| leaving it out entirely. At the foreign
| language school they spend an hour
or an hour and a half learning the
| Japanese 1anguage-to speak, read,
and write it-and studying the history
and geography of Japan. Instruction
is given in the approved Japanese
style, the children studying noisily and
reciting in parrot-like singsong.
Two Schools Too Much
Tired alreadK> both in mind and
bocy, the pupils troop over to the pub
! lie school at O'Clock to sit stupidity
while an American teacher, or one
| trained in the Hawaiian normal school,
| tries to teach them to speak English,
and to give them a modern education.
Even after the public school work
ends at 2 o'clock the oriental child
may not be at liberty. Some of the
| foreign language schools teach the
older children in the morning and the
younger ones after two. Others insist
on the attendance of all pupils at both
sessions.
The complaint made universally by
| teachers in the public schools of the
islands is that these children are over
! taxed, and so tired that they cannot
learn the lessons presented in English
Many of them live in Japanese colo
MES, and speak English only at the
public school. Others hear at home a
pidgin English that is worse as n
| Foundation for the language than no
| vocabulary at all.
Il One teacher writes; Here is a
4 sample of the English we get from
little Japanese children of the first
grade: Little Red Riding Hood-oh!
Big teeth grandmother eat Little Red
Riding Hood-ohi Grandmother big
eyes see Little Red Riding Hood.
Another says: 81 have found in my
experience in Hawaii that if any school
work is to suffer it will be the wo1 X
of the American school. The children
try enough-their efforts to keep up
1.-The work of both schools are often
Ipitiful-but the Japanese schoolfnaster
will see that the work of the Japanese
school comes first"
Doctor Bunker says that II the ma
iority of these orientals were transients
in Hawaii, and expected to return to
Japan, there would be reason in their
determination to cling to japanese
ties. He thinks it natural that those
to be brief should want their children
taught in the language of their native
country, and he advocates that 1or
such families private schools should pc
permitted
But the great majority OF the
japanese are not transients, but per-
manent residents, and their children
are mostly American citizens THESE
. children grow up proud of their status
as Americans, and this leads some peo-
pie to say that the foreign languae
schools if left alone will die natural
death Doctor Bunker does not agree
with this belief.
The Picture Bride.
Japanese men," he says, especially
those of the old school, draw their
wives from Japan by the picture bride
system. In 1919 Sal of these picture
brides landed in Hawaii. and in the
! preceding year over 1000. So long as
these women come direct from japan
there will be a first generation OF
Japanese in Hawaii to teach it's chill
5 dren, born Americans. the customs OF
the Orient. p
moreover. the foreign Language
school system will persist until it is
abolished because fundamentally the
} lproject is legitimate. While use of the
, English language is growing in Hawaii
, and English is becoming necessary tC
the Japanese, in the colonies of labor
ers about the sugar plantations there
: is also need for the Japanese tongue
r To supply this need was the Original
Intention of the foreign language
school. There is not, however, in ar
American territory a need for Ameri-
can citizens to be taught foreign Gus
toms. ideals and morals. That is the
Objectionable part of the japanese
school in Hawaii. It is not aggres
sively anti-Ameriean, but it is un.
American. 1t includes in it's lessons or
t japanese heroes an occasional story
4 about George Washington or Genera