The result of the sub-committee’s investigation of parks showed that all were inadequately lighted, with an occasional concert forming the only entertainment offered. Open pavilions in the parks, with public dances under proper supervision ought to be an ideal means of fighting the dance hall evil in Honolulu. Since the recent passing of an ordinance regulating dance halls there has been little activity among them, the most notorious remaining closed. It is thought that they will soon reopen, and the volunteer supervisors which the ordinance provides will, it is to be feared, find themselves faced with a difficult problem. A dance hall ordinance cannot be made really effective unless an argus-eyed person is on the premises continuously every night until it is learned which managers are to be trusted to abide by the law. This has been the invariable experience elsewhere.
The Settlements, Missions and other organizations are assisting several hundred men and a few women to learn English in classes conducted for the most part in crowded quarters, and taught by workers who have many other duties which are in consequence neglected.
The large number in attendance at these classes, the fact that several Japanese classes are self-supporting and that Hawaiians are attending a class intended for Chinese only, proves a healthy demand for instruction.
Hawaii owes a peculiar debt to its foreign element—to its Portuguese, Spanish, Porto Rican and Filipino population especially, who are brought from their native land to perform the work of the country, but have no opportunity to learn its language. Their children sometimes grow up to working age with only the slightest knowledge of English.
If it is necessary for private philanthropy to aid in establishing night classes in English, there are surely few better ways in which money could be expended. In New York the first classes in English for immigrants were started on the lower East Side thirteen years ago, by private philanthropy, and six years later were taken over by the Board of Education. Day classes were also maintained for immigrant children, who were thus enabled to enter school with a working knowledge of English.
Afternoon classes which household servants might be able to attend, and to which could also be sent the children who were backward in their studies because of lack of English, should prove valuable in Honolulu.
The Department of Education should not, however, be urged to undertake any of this work until every child in the Territory has been provided with school accommodations.
A study made under the auspices of the Bureau of Municipal Research in the recent New York School Inquiry of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment of that city, brought out the fact that there were 76 agencies offering “direct, continuous and gratuitous co-operation” to the public schools. These agencies included the Public Schools Athletic League, teaching the folk-dancing to the children at the recreation centers; visiting-teachers—the friendly visitor from the school to the home—supplied by the Public Education Association, church societies, etc.; vacation schools for backward children started by the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and later taken over by the Board of Education; and numerous other activities, supported by independent agencies.
“Helping School Children,” by Miss Elsa Denison, published by Harper & Brother, and Perry’s “Wider Use of the School Plant” published by the Russell Sage Foundation, describes the successful ways in which communities have used the school plant, and in this manner filled their needs without erecting expensive and unnecessary buildings.