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Schools gratuitous elementary instruction, and this measure will no doubt, to a small extent, serve to increase school attendance. The fact that all elementary education will henceforth be given gratis all over the Colony is in itself a step in the right direction and a great gain.
10. RESULTS OF ANNUAL EXAMINATION.-The results of the annual examinations of the Schools under the supervision of the Education Department will be found detailed, as usual, in the Tables (X to XV) appended to this Report, and, as far as the Victoria College is concerned, in the Report of the Headmaster which has been published in the local newspapers in January, 1890. A few supplementary and statistical details, together with some general observations, regarding points brought out by the examination of the various classes of Schools in the Colony, may, however, be of interest.
11. VICTORIA COLLEGE. In the case of the Victoria College (which name has now been officially substituted for the former Government Central School), the result of the year's work has been tested as usual by a joint examination conducted by the Headmaster and myself. The exam- inations were conducted by myself only in the case of the Chinese and Anglo-Chinese classes, of English reading, and English and Chinese composition. As regards other subjects and classes, the examination was conducted by printed papers set by the Headmaster and approved by myself. I confined myself to see that the question papers proposed by the Headmaster were of a sufficiently searching character and not entirely confined to the groove in which the teaching had run, also that the standard of proficiency expected of the several classes of the College should not be allowed to fall below that of former years nor below that attained to in similar Schools in the Colony which compete with the Victoria College. The examination was, however, in this case conducted under exceptional circumstances. The transfer of the School in the middle of summer, from the cramped locality of the Old Central School to the new Victoria, College Buildings, affording so much larger accommodation, upset all the arrangements of the year and required a new distribution of the scholars among different classes. The consequence was that, at the close of the school year when the examinations were held, about one half of the whole number of scholars in the College were examined on barely half a year's work in the classes to which they were allotted. In view of this circumstance I consented to a slight reduction of the standard applied to the examinations for the year 1889. Owing to this exceptional irregularity, the result, though creditable as a whole, does not admit of a close comparison with the result of former years. This irregularity is not likely to recur in future years. It would also be desirable in future years to bring the examination rules of Victoria College into harmony with those in force in other similar Institutions in the Colony. The printed rules of Victoria College say, "100 marks maximum for each subject; less than 50 fails; a boy who fails in more than half subjects is a total failure." The examination rules for all the other similar Schools in the Colony are more liberal in that they put down a scholar as having failed if he has less than 66 marks (two-thirds), but they are inore severe in that they declare a scholar a total failure if he fails in one or two subjects out of five or six. The consequence of this disparity is that it is very difficult to compare the examination results obtained at Victoria College with those obtained at similar secondary Schools under the Grant-in-Aid System. Uniformity of the test applied to the examination of all Schools under Government supervision is manifestly desirable.
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The general value of the work done in the year 1889 in the Victoria College, as ascertained by this examination, will be found summarized in the Headmaster's separate Report, but I subjoin the usual Statistical Tables which indicate, in detail, the progress made in the year 1889 by the several divisions and classes of the College. These Tables speak for themselves.
These Tables speak for themselves. The following points require however special mention. The English composition papers in Classes I, IIA, and IIIB, and especially the papers on Shakespeare and English history in Class I were remarkably good, considering that the vast majority of the scholars in these Classes are boys who never hear English spoken out of school hours. But the examination in English dictation, which is of nearly equal importance, gave unsatisfactory results in Classes I and II, as in Class I half and in Class II one-third of the boys failed in this subject. Classes IIB and IVA deserve special praise for their translation papers (English into Chinese), and Class IIA for the solid attainments exhibited in Arithmetic, Algebra and Grammar. In the latter subject Classes VIA and VIIA did very fair work, and the whole of Class VIII in Arithmetic.
The teaching in the Anglo-Chinese Classes of the College has shown considerable improvement as compared with former years, but the examination of the Chinese Classes throughout the College continues from year to year to show poor results. In the three highest Classes of the College, attendance at Chinese lessons has been dispensed with several years ago, under the supposition that the boys will continue to keep up their Chinese knowledge by private study. But the translation papers of these Classes appear to me to indicate that most of the boys neglect their Chinese studies entirely, as they exhibit a lament- able amount of retrogression. I am in doubt, however, if it would be wise to interfere in this matter by demanding some proof of the continuation of Chinese studies, as I fear it would lead to over-pressure. The introduction of Shakespeare, Trigonometry and Mensuration, in addition to the ordinary school pensum of Class I, and Latin in Classes I, II and III, is in itself sufficient to cause over-pressure, with the attendant increase of home-work. It is always difficult to determine the limit between an admis- sible amount of work and work necessarily implying over-pressure, and it is highly desirable to err rather on the safe side of the problem, as, under the trying influence of a Hongkong climate, school- life anyhow exercises a visibly weakening effect.