Of the whole
school population are actually at school, and the inspector of
schools states that a person who cannot read and write is rarely met
with. Each common school is graded into two, three, or four
classes, according to the intelligence and proficiency of the
pupils, and the curriculum of study is as follows: -
CLASS I. - Reading, mental and written arithmetic, geography,
penmanship, and composition.
CLASS II. - Reading, mental arithmetic, geography, penmanship.
CLASS III. - Reading, first principles of arithmetic, penmanship.
CLASS IV. - Primer, use of slate and pencil.
The youngest children are not classified until they can put letters
together in syllables.
Vocal music is taught wherever competent teachers are found.
The total sum expended on education, including the grants to
"family" and other schools, is about $40,000 a year. {453}
It has been remarked that the rising race of Hawaiians has an
increased contempt for industry in the form of manual labour, and it
is proposed by the Board of Education that such labour shall be made
a part of common school education, so that on both girls and boys a
desire to provide for their own wants in an honest way shall be
officially inculcated. There is a Government Reformatory School,
and industrial and family schools for both girls and boys are
scattered over the islands. The supply of literature in the
vernacular is meagre, and few of the natives have any intelligent
comprehension of English.
