The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1922-09-08
TEACHERS AND TEACHERS

One day last week a Maui school principal remarked that she
wished Maui News would say something on behalf of the mainland
school teachers who come to Maui, those maahinis who, she said,
are so frequently spoken of as "tourist teachers and of whom it
is said that they come to the Islands to see them and use their teach
ing abilities only as a means to that end. She said that she had re-
Gently been Looking back over the teachers she had known" and
that she found a very large proportion of the malahni teachers
were as earnest, as energetic, as enthusiastic and interested as if
they had been Island born or intended to remain in the Islands all
their lives. For such teachers she felt a good word should be spoken
There are teachers and teachers, both among those who come
from the mainland and the home educated product. Both the Main
land and the Island women are frequently made subjects of a gen
eral criticism of the class to which they belong which might be
directed against the few but does not apply to the many.
The teacher who comes to the Islands from away starts her work
here handicapped. She faces the same difficulties as do those who
enter any business or profession in the Islands, having to learn con-
dtions and then learn how to adapt herself to them. But in teach
ing and in newspaper work the new conner has a more difficult task
than in other lines of endeavor unless it be sociological or welfare
work. While she is learning conditions and then adapting herself
to them she needs sympathy and not criticism. There are very few
of them who do not try and try hard to make good and in facing
and overcoming difficulties there is much to discourage. 1t is small
wonder then that numbers give way to Encouragement and leave
the Islands after one year Of experience. Were the attitude differ
ent and a helping hand extended, more would stay on year after
year, make Hawaii their home, than do. In reality the number of
intentional "fitters" is not large.
And with the Island teachers. 1t is true that there are some
who have been careless and slipped into a use of "pidgin English"
in the school room. There are others who have not shown the ability
to rise high in their profession but to a large extent the fault has
been III the training they had received, not in the men and women
themselves and that cause for criticism is being steadily removed
by improved methods in training teachers. Experience shows that
no finer lot of men and women can be found in the Islands, far
and wide, than those who devote their lives to teaching.
Constructive criticism is always helpful. Destructive criticism
is ever harmful. Less criticism and more helpful suggestions are
what Is necessary to raise further the standard Of teachers in Ia-
wall nei.
To the new teachers who have come from the Mainland, Maui
News extends the Aloha of the Valley Isle and bids them not to be
discouraged if they find things different from what they had ex-
pected. The experiences they will encounter will be valuable to
them. There will be much to interest if viewed in the right aspect
and they cannot expect to famiiarze themselves with novel educa-
tional problems and meet them as do those who have been students
of Hawaii child life for years from the very beginning.
To the new teachers from the home educational institutions
Maui News extends congratulations and best wishes for success in
their chosen profession and for both the maihinis and kamaainas
starting work here ut asks the indulgence and sympathetic support
of the community.