140
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24тп MARCH, 1866.
The School which stands third in order is the one at West Point. Here there is a very great improvement over last year. To so low an ebb had it been reduced then, not in numbers, but in efficiency, that it was found necessary to warn the master that, if no improvement was found in another year, he would either be put into the second grade or dismissed. He made a promise of amendment and he has so far fulfilled it.
The Girls' School comes next in order. Here too there have not been wanting signs of improvement during the last ⚫ two years,
I should be glad if more could be done for girls in the Colony in the way of giving them a purely Chinese education, as is done at this School, without turning their heads by teaching them English or any other so-called accomplishment which would give them a distaste for their future humble sphere of life. I could wish to see a male and female School in each of the villages-the master giving instruction in reading and writing during certain hours of the day, and his wife in sewing, knitting, and other things which may be considered necessary in every family. But, I am afraid, it will be many years before this can be accomplished. The masters though anxious to have the addition to their incomes which such an arrangement would imply find it impossible to carry it out on account of the ignorance and helplessness of their wives, scarcely one of whom is able to read a single word or make the most necessary article of personal attire.
I have been led to entertain hopes that the Chinese themselves will soon do something in the matter of female education. At present, the fear of "kidnapping" prevents many who would otherwise do so from sending their girls to the School in the Upper Bazaar. During last year six girls were removed on this account. A gambling house was established in the immediate neighbourhood, and parents, knowing the extremities to which frequenters of such places are sometimes reduced, were afraid to allow their daughters to continue at School. Nearly all those who do attend have some one to guard them in going to and returning from School.
It is much to be regretted that so many obstacles stand in the way of giving due effect to female education here. Taking the present School as a incans of judging of probable results there would seem to be every prospect
of success. The girls are by no means behind the boys in intelligence; they learn their lessons with laudable accuracy, and their copy books are models of taste and care.
I ought to mention that in this School, as well as in the three before reported on, great attention is paid to the reading of the Bible in Chinese. All the masters are Christians and they appear to discharge this part of their duties with praiseworthy diligence. The Scriptures are read in the other Schools also, but not nearly to the same extent or with the same
success.
屠
Without reporting individually on each of the other Schools, it will be sufficient to give the order in which, 23 regards efficiency, they follow each other:—
5th...
6th..
7th.
8th.
9th-
10th. 11th.
Bowrington, West End. .Aberdeen. .Mosque.
Wong-nei-chung. Tang-lung-chau (Hakka.) Webster's Crescent.
The first of these, Bowrington, has suffered much from masters of bad character, rendering no fewer than four changes necessary in as many years. I hope, however, to give the School a higher place next year. The present master has been known to me for three years, and I shall be disappointed if he does not give satisfaction.
On the three Hakka Schools now remaining, these, namely, at West End, the Mosque, and Tang-lung-chan, I have little that is favourable to report. I doubt much whether the distinction of Punti and Hakka Schools should be allowed to remain longer. There is great difficulty with interpretation in the Courts and other public offices in the Colony, and it seems to me that Government should lend no hand to the continuance of the present diversity of dialects. The principal reasons that might be given for ceasing to employ Hakka Schoolmasters and engaging Punti ones in their place are, first, the difficulty, if not impossibility, of getting properly qualified Hakka masters, more so than in the case of the Puntis; and, secondly, the fact that nearly all the Hakka children in Hongkong-nine out of ten--can speak the Punti dialect, or, at least. understand it when they hear it spoken. To teach these, therefore, through the mediuin of the Punti dialect-the dialect of the majority, and of the best educated-would involve no greater hardship, if hardship it be, than exists in many parts of Scotland and Ireland, where the children use their native dialect at home, but at Church and in School make use of, and understand, English. A third reason is a personal one-the impossibility of my being able to learn the Hakka dialect in addition to the Canton colloquial and the prosecution of my studies in the written language so essential to the proper discharge of my duties in the Central School.
I shall not, however, press this point in the meantime, but refer to it, if need be, on a future occasion.
To give any adequate idea of what the education given in these Schools is, except to those who understand something of the language, would be a very difficult task. It would be much easier to say what it is not.
It embraces then, neither History, nor Geography, nor Arithmetic, nor the simplest elements of science-subjects which, in the West, are considered so indispensable. There is nothing to gratify the youthful imagination, to cheer the learner in his course, or explain to him the most ordinary occurrences of his life. These things are beneath the notice and unworthy of the attention of the Chinese Scholar. There is simply nothing but the dreary round of Chinese ethics, written too in a language which to beginners is unintelligible. To repeat the maxims of the ancient sages from memory, to know some thousands of characters, and to write these tastefully is, in six cases out of ten, all that is aimed at. If a boy is able to remain at School for six or eight years he may then be able to explain what he has fead or committed to memory, but those who cannot afford to do so must be content to read without understanding. To the majority the language is an end, not a means. It is an accomplishment which may be very showy in the eyes of the Chinese themselves, but which contains within it nose of the clements of the useful or of the improving.
A Chinese Schoolmaster is truly an object of pity. He is simply a drudge. He is expected to be in his desk by six o'clock in the morning and to continue there till nearly the same hour in the evening, always ready to teach his scholars whea it suits their parents' convenience to send them to him.
What knowledge I have obtained of the language has enabled me from time to time to draw up rules for the conduct of the Schools; to limit and define the books to be learnt, insisting especially on the children being taught the meaning as well as the forms and sounds of what they read; and to provide Time Tables that the work may go on regularly and satisfactorily. In many cases this is very difficult of attainment. The parents are poor and cannot always have their meals when ther would. This forms a great drawback to the Village Schools. I am aware it does not exist to the extent alleged, and that the people had the will they would find the way. When the Central School was opened the boys seemed quite astonishe! that late breakfast' was not accepted as a sufficient excuse for not being in time; but, when they found that punctuality insisted on, the point was yielded without further difficulty.
All attempts at improvement on my part have been confined to the manner rather than to the matter of the teaching, In no case have I interfered with their own peculiar ideas of education either in the way of change, or of the introduction other books, I trust this may ultimately be effected, but in the meantime it is hopeless. The temper of the people will not admit of it. Their prejudices must be sapped and not taken by storm. Parents who cannot read a word dispute persistentl