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"3. I arrived at a time when the work at the Central School had "been publicly called in question, and my opinion, as a stranger, was "desired. At the Prize Distribution, after conducting the examina- "tion, I was able truthfully to say to Sir JOHN POPE HENNESSY "that I was surprised at the success of Chinese boys in coping with "the difficulties of the English language; and I may add that this "impression has not faded, but on the contrary has been confirmed "with increased experience. That a Chinese boy should in five "years advance from the study of the Alphabet to an intelligent "acquaintance with a play of Shakespeare and a period of English History is to me little short of the miraculous; when due allowance "is made for the novelty of the simplest ideas, which are conveyed in "idioms, without parallel in his own language.
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"4. The chief points of contrast between the Examination held by "ine in 1882, (which naturally is indelibly printed on my brain) and "the Examination just concluded, are as follows. The papers now "are nearly all clean and remarkably well written; whereas twenty "years ago these were the exception, the majority of papers being "dirty and almost illegible. The standard now applied is infinitely "severer; in 1882, the action of the gauge was very delicate and "sympathetic; e. g., if from a hopeless translation, you could deci- "pher that the boy had a fairly correct idea of the original, he was "allowed to pass; in Composition, three sentences grammatically "correct constituted the test of a pass, irrespective of subject matter; "in Arithmetic, there was an allowance for method, which was sup- "posed to condone for a wrong digit in even a total or product; "beyond all this, a personal element was introduced into the equa- "tion in the case of delicate or weak minded boys, or of boys whose "attendances had been affected by sickness or other cause. I "objected to anything but a rigid uniform standard being applied to "all alike; and maintained that, in mathematical subjects, except for some slight clerical error, no leniency could be shown. The severer standard was gradually adopted, to avoid pressing too "heavily at first.
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5. A further proof of the increase of standard is to be found in "the larger proportion of boys examined in certain subjects. Every "boy is now examined in Reading, as against three-quarters of the "school. All the Chinese are examined in Translations, whereas in "1882 twenty per cent. did not offer these subjects. More than "half the boys are now examined in English Composition, as against "less than one quarter in 1882; in Grammar 85°, as compared with "46%, and in Geography 69% with 39%. The full siguificance of "the difference will be more apparent when it is understood that 781 boys were in 1902 examined in English Grammar as against “170, in 1882. On the other hand, twenty years ago, Copy Writing was accepted for more than three-quarters of the whole school as a "subject which might assist in averting failure; this concession is
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now made to only one-seventh. Several subjects now forming part "of the curriculum were not taught in 1881-Shakespeare, Algebra, "Euclid, Mensuration, Book-keeping, Natural Science and Physio- "logy. One outcome of this general raising of the standard of 'education in Queen's College has been that for the last twelve "years, through entering for the Oxford Local Examinations, our "boys have, with varying success, been able to submit to a test of "their English attainments by English Examiners in England.