Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 207, 3 Iune 1891 — THE STATE OF OUR SCHOOL. [ARTICLE]

THE STATE OF OUR SCHOOL.

. v erliai»s therc is nothing in Hawaii ;i.s often pointed out to strangers and referred to at home with pride and satisfaction as our -sysleni of puhlie shools. It is true we havc many excellent educational institutions and the results attained bear comparison favorably with the best work of other countries. Our plan of having a central Board of Education is very superior to the loeal trustee system that prevails in the states. ln general we believo in loeal self-government, p.nd in keeping the polilieal puwer ?iear the people, but the education oft.he masses forms a very important exception to the principle. To give a loeal eommiUee of parents eontrol of their neigliborhood school is practical]y and actuallv making the children masters over their teacher. No teacher ean do good or honest work when his position and reputation depend upon pleasiDg alot of fbnd and foolish. ignorant and bigoted papas and mama*s, anxious to show their authority and deriving their knowJedge of the school and its working solely from the ingenuous reports of their dear k . offspring, and of schools and education in general from the vague remembrance of their own y©uth. The results as seen in American schools are far from satisfactor3 r . Therefore w ? e believe in leaving the management of the schools in t'ie hands of one Board of Education. But the present constitution i of our Board falls far short of what it should be. The matter shoald not beh|ftin the hands of an unpakl and unskille(] Board who leave everything to a hired secretary, i The Board should consist of ex-i perienced educators \rho should re-! ceive a fair compensation for thier i services. The Board might conaist | of a president, a secretary, and i inspector-general, all elected by the from our experienced educat3rs. The action of the present Board in importing foreign teachers has been mueh criticised, in a mistaken spirit, we think The object of education is to elevate the growing generation above the level of their fathers. As we said above parents Rhould not have the supervision of tiie schools whieh their children attend, boonu&o the object is to lift; theui by l>etter mctliods above the level of the parents. Hawaiians more especiaily require the best and the most advanced of foreign methods and men to lift them out of the old and into a better and more active life. If o!der Hawaiians are to educate the children, where ran we hope for progress ? result must be a standstill or retrbgression. Exi>erience shows that Hawaiian teachers are too kind anlenient; they faii in discipline, Lhey are too mueh given to singing and coucert. reoitations. There ia no doubt that many Hawaiians ean and do make excellent pii- • * i

niary teachers, but there will never i be enough to s«pply our schooly until we hav« a good normal eehool. Hawaiians cannot be expected to piek up the art of teaching. Last year the Board replied" to

the inquiries of the legislature in a waj f that showed gross ignorance an<l insincerity. They said they woulel stop the importation of teachers as soon as they could iin'i enough eompeleni ,Hawaiiafts, and that they would -.pay better wages if they had more nioney at their disposa3. But they have never fecomniended any measure or taken anv steps to make Hawaiians* eompetent, nor have t!Īey raised the i wages to make th*e profession respectable and attractive to our intelligent young people. The legislature appropriated a large sum in excess of the amount asksd by the Board, and recommended an increase of teachers' wages; but $25 a month is still tne standard wages paid to the native, teachers. i Though foreign teachers are j treated and paid mueh better, verv i .few of them continue at the work | more than a year or two, and enn- i stant imDortatious of inexperienced, j raw material must be made to fill, up the vacancies. The pay is less i tnan tbat for pētty \ clcrks and book keepers, or skilled niechanics, and socially they occupy an ano malous position of shoddy semirespectabilitv hard to define and hard to oecupy.