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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH MARCH, 1866.
more satisfactory than the work of revision with the Chinese; for, when the correct translation has once been given them they rarely forget it; but, if teacher or scholars were to rely on this as an evidence of progress nothing could be more fallacious. Much of the blame which attaches to this is due to their previous training. The Chinese have no education in the real sense, of the word. No attempt is made at a simultaneous development of the mental powers. These are all sacrificed to the enlti vation of memory. The boy who can repeat correctly the writings of Confucius and Mencius is considered a great scholar although he may be as ignorant of their meaning as if they were written in a language of which he did not know the alphabet. If docility and regular attendance are necessary to progress there is nothing left on these points to desire. Nothing can be casier than the maintenance of proper discipline, and the daily attendance will bear favourable comparison with that of any day-school in England. With the exception of a few weeks last summer, during which sickness was prevalent among the Chinese, there are seldom more than two absentees a day. Such regularity in a School of nearly two hundred may be consi- dered as perfect as it is possible for attendance to be.
The Scheme proposed by J. J. Mackenzie, Esq., and sanctioned by the late Board of Education, is now followed as closely as circumstances will permit. In another year there will be nothing to interfere with its operation.
You are aware that this Scheme altered the original constitution of the School. It was, henceforth, to be no longer optional for a boy to learn English. Previously, he could read Chinese, or English, or both if he chose; and this accounts for the high average of attendance in 1862, the year in which the School was opened. As none were, in future, to be admitted except those who wished to study English the first step necessary was to reduce the numbers--the staff of teachers being then inadequate for the proper instruction of so many,
To secure that attention to Chinese studies which are no apt to be neglected by those who learn English, an Entrance Examination, on the more commonly used elementary books, was made compulsory. Boys who passed this examination were to be admitted into the School to read Chinese for a year, after which, on a second examination, they were to be admitted into the English classes. They were then to devote four hours a day to English and four to Chinese.
It took some time before this Preparatory Class could be got into such a state of efficiency as to supply the English classes. The standard of Chinese among applicants for admission was so low that many more had to be rejected than conld With a be admitted, and many of those who did pass were unwilling to remain unless they were taught English at once. little firmness, difficulties of this description were overcome; and now, when it is understood that the examination is a reality and not a name, boys willingly conform to the regulation. Fow, and in a short time, noue will be admitted to the Eaghsh Without it, it classes who do not remain the stated time in the Preparatory Class. The wisdom of this measure is evident. would be difficult, if not impossible, for the boys to acquire that knowledge of their own language which is so necessary for the acquisition of another.
The English School is divided into two Sections, of three classes each-the Upper and the Lower. The latter is under the care of Mr. Willcocks, the Assistant Master, and the former is under my own immediate superintendence, Hero, also, pro- motion to a higher class is regulated by examination.
To enable this Scheme to compass the end at which it aims it would be desirable that the boys should remain for the period of seven years which it implies; that is to say, one year in the Preparatory Class, and one year in each of the six English classes. In shorter time than that it is hardly possible to reach a standard of scholarship which would confer lasting good on the boys themselves or raise the character of the School. With a shorter course of study I should despair of getting beyond the present elementary instruction.
At present, two obstacles to a lengthened attendance operate unfavourably on the School. In the first place, there is such a demand for English-speaking Chinese that many of the boys leave as soon as they can perform the duties of compositors or copying clerks; and, secondly, the majority are so poor that they are glad to avail themselves of any situation which offers them the means of subsistence.
This state of things will work its own cure here as it did in India. Mere smatterers in English will soon become too numerous for the demand, and those only who have made some solid attainments in the language will be sought after and employed.
When the atention of the late Board of Education was drawn, last year, to the increasing expense at which the School was maintained, and the necessity of making some arrangement by which it might be reduced, they proposed that the boys should pay a monthly fee of one dollar in the Upper School and half-a-dollar in the Lower. In this way they hoped to raise about a thousand dollars. This plan, not adopted without some mis-givings, may be considered successful. The fees paid into the Treasury amounted to $1,021.89. This result is desirable not merely for the sum raised, which is, in one sense, in- significant, but for its moral effect on the Chinese who, like every other people, appreciate most that for which they have to pay. It will stimulate the boys to diligence and cause their parents to see that they make a good use of their time,
I propose, soon, to double the fee in the Lower School, Ultimately, I hope to have a fee also in the Preparatory Class: and probably, in a few years, the system may be extended, on a small scale, to the Village Schools. The Chinese must gradually be brought to pay directly as well as indirectly for education. As I shall show hereafter, in the conclusion of this report, it would involve too great a drain on the present Revennes of the Colony to extend, gratuitously, the benefits of education to all who are in want of it. The children of Europeans and others,--
-now a numerous class, must soon share with the Chinese in the annual grants made by Government for public instruction. Means must therefore be obtained from other sources if the rising generation is to be educated.
Having stated so much that is, in a manner, favourable I must refer to one or two points of an opposite character. The Chinese assistants have given rise to great difficulty in the proper management of the School. There had to be no fewer than three changes last year. Although it was with the utmost difficulty that others could be found to supply their places, their leaving was more a subject of congratulation than of regret. Attainments the most limited added to defects of a more serious nature led to mutual dislike, and frequently to recrimination, between them and the scholars.
Chinese whose knowledge of English would be of service to the School can find inore lucrative employment elsewhere, It has therefore hitherto been necessary to engage a very inferior class of assistants.
There is no possible escape from this difficulty, in the ineantime, except the very obvious one of having assistants trained in the School itself. A beginning has already been made with considerable prospect of success. Two of the best boys in the first class do duty for one assistant master. For the first two years I propose that they shall teach, and be taught, alter- nately- -a week at a time. At the end of the two years they will cease to be scholars and become masters, remaining for two years more. They will then be at liberty to accept of any other situation which may present itself. By making arrangements to have other ready to supply the place of those who leave, the School will, in fime, overcome the difficulty under which has been labouring And the advantage will be mutual; for the teaching of others will make these boys more familiar with the language and render them eligible for more responsible duties than they would otherwise have been."
One great desideratum in the School is the impossibility of knowing anything of the private character of the scholars. of the respectability or otherwise of the houses in which they live, and of the opportunities they possess of prosecuting their studies at home. Judging from the ideas one cannot but form of the lax morality of the Chinese, and from the peculiar temptation. to which the young among them are exposed in this Colony,-living especially, as many of the scholars do, in the houses t friends, away from parental control,--it is to be feared that any good which may be derived from their lessons in School is sometimes more than counterbalanced by the evil influences brought to bear upon them in the houses where they live. Hul dled together, as they often, perhaps always, are, in some small Shop---partners, assistants, coolies, and all--it is inevitabi but influences for evil must predominate and the bumanizing effects of education frequently obliterated.