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Of the 90 odd children in attendance at the end of the year, one-third were girls in the Upper School, one-third were girls in the Lower School, and one-third were boys in the Lower School. Miss BATEMAN, the Lower School Mistress, em- ploys methods in grounding small children which I consider to be most successful, and the Lower School is in a very healthy condition. Turning to the Upper School, I cannot, in the face of such rapidly declining numbers, say as much. The fault certainly lies not in the capacity nor in the industry of the teachers: nor can it be altogether attributable to the raising of the fees, since parents would not refuse to pay the same fee in the Upper School which they are willing to pay in the Lower School, if equally satisfied with the education. The fact, I believe to be, that a specialising process is at work in the educational system of the Colony. There seems a natural tendency for schools to aim at providing an education specially suited to the requirements of one or other section of the community. The Kowloon School, the reorganisation of the Diocesan School and Orphanage for Girls, the special classes at Queen's College, the gradual elimination of Chinese from St. Joseph's, all point in this direction. If this view is correct, it follows naturally that a school avowedly cosmopolitan will attract few scholars from classes of society for which more particular arrangements are made elsewhere, and will only appeal with certainty to classes which are too small to make their own particular wants a matter of special study. That the Belilios School is actually tending more and more to provide for this residuum is, I think, not unlikely. And the opinion is strengthened by reference to the roll of the Upper School, which contains the names of Japanese, Indians, Filipinos, and Chinese from the Colonies, besides the more normal elements.
'Meanwhile in the same building there is a Vernacular School for Chinese Girls, totally distinct, and in a flourishing condition, under the management of a Chinese Staff. The school is about as good as can reasonably be hoped for under purely Native management. I quote from an examination recently held by Miss BATEMAN, whose good knowledge of Chinese makes her opinion valuable :-
"At your request I examined some of the highest classes in the Chinese Department of the Belilios School for Girls.
I
Arithmetic.
With two
gave all the classes sums to do in the first three rules. exceptions they were all correct in their answers. The exceptions had taken two Multiplication sums as one sum. They were perhaps not accustomed to my English method of setting down the sums.
Reading.
All the classes read each from the book learned this year. The lowest from Book I, the next from Book II, and the highest from Book III. The reading was correct enough, but it was done at express speed, and once a pupil was shown where to start she went on, as if wound up, to finish the book. Without an instant's pause she would be off to the next lesson, and read it as if it were merely a continuation of the last.
Explanation of the Reading.
This too was correct, but done at the same rate as the reading.
But
I found, when I put one or two leading questions on the reading, I got perfectly correct answers without any hesitation.
Questions on various Subjects.
I questioned all the classes together. With one or two exceptions I got correct answers at once. Once or twice I had to get an answer by asking some other questions. In getting the questions ready I took their reading books as a guide. If I kept to the books I was on safe ground, but I could not get much that was outside the book matter. They told me to whom Hongkong belonged, but had no idea of there being a