April 12, 1902.]
their education in the Anglo-Chinese schools attached.
42. The salaries of the English-teaching Chinese masters are inadequate. They should be made equal to those proposed for the Chinese masters at Queen's College.
43. Boys desirous of entering the Anglo- Chinese Schools from Private Schools must pass the Examination laid down in section 38 A. 44. English misters should be engaged to and. Western give instruction in English Knowledge in the Anglo-Chinese schools; it should also be their duty to supervise the work of the Chinese masters.
GRANT SCHOOLS.
45. Assistance under te code is at present refused to Private Schools, ie, schools where
admission is restricted, and to schools which are carried on with a view to private emolument - Adventure Schools. The propriety of aiding schools where the admission is restricted was recognised by the Government, when it c30- sented to establish the British School and to
assist the Chinese High School. The ruling against Adventure Schools, such as many of the Vernacular Schools ara, has in practice never been enforced, and there appears to be no reason why it should b3, so long as they are efficient and meet a real want. It is therefore recommended that Private Schools and Ad- venture Schools shall not as such be excinded
from the benefits of the Code.
46. Grants should be made to three classes of schools:-1. English Schools, giving an eluca- tion to Europeaus and other non-Chinese; 2. Anglo-Chinese Schools. 3 Schools.
English Grant Schools
Vernacular
47. The following enggestions are made for their improvement:-(1.) The proportion of teachers fo scholars should not be less than one to forty, reckoning by the average attendance, (2.) The proportion of Chinese scholars to non- Chinese should not exceed ten per cent. reckon- ing by the average attendance. (3.) The great importance of physical training should be recognised.
48. The maximam Grant obtainable should be $18 for each scholar, reckoning by the average attendance.
Anglo-Chinese Grant Schools.
49. The services of an English master should be secured for every Anglo-Chinese School in the following mauner:-No school should be considered affic ent unless instruction is given and supervision iexercised by a qualified English master for one and a half hours daily for every fifty boys in average attendance. The English master should speak and read Chinese. The following recommendations are made:-(i.)' A limited number of Elementary Anglo-Chinese Schools under Chinese teachers should by assisted by the Government. (ii) A Grant of $6 for every scholar in average attendance should be given them. (7) No Grant should be given for tuition above the Third Standard. (iv.) There is no need at present of any increase in the amount of money set apart for this class of school; and as soon as the number of English Classes in the Vernacular Schools of that ex- is sufficient, and the success periment assured, it is recommended that the the Government should then co sider
Grant advisability withdrawing
of altogether from these Elementary Anglo-
the
Chinese Schools.
50. Besides the English master, Chinese not less a masters should be engaged in proportion than one to every fifty boys in average attendance.
51. Boys des rons of entering these schools from Private Schools must pass the examin- ation laid down in Section 33Ă.
52. The maximum Grant obtainable should be $18 for every scholar, reckoning by the average attendance.
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
Grints in aid of Rent.
•
281
54. The maximum Grant obtainable should eaconraged to keep up and extend their know. be $7 for each scholar, reckoning by the average | ledge of English, & otherwise the teaching în the Junior Classes especially will be apt to deteriorate. This tendency should be met by attendance.
making promotion in the Tenching Staff of the Government Schools, and the maximum Grant in Grant Schools, depɔnd upon the m sters passing 10gular qualifying examina tions.
55. A Grant equal to two-third of the r nt paid shon'd be made to schools occupying leased premises.
Building Grants,
56. The instability of Grant Schools, especi-
95. It is still less easy to see how the Normal School proposel would effect any radios! ally the Vernacular Schools, arises from their bei g too often housed in premises leased from month to month. No increase in the Grant in improvement in the masters of the Vernacular Schools. If Chinese who have spent a number aid of rent will remedy this stat, of affairs, But Managers have no encouragement to erect of years in Anglo-Chiness Schools are still not permanent school-buildings unless they can feel competent to teach English or Western Know- assured of liberal assistance from the Govern-ledge without European supervision the present ment. The provisions of the Code governing teachers of Chinese in Vernacular Schoo's Building Grants appear to be satisfactory, but would be even less qualified to teach Western the sum now voted for this purpos (33,000 for Knowledge or their Writt n Language in a practical way, notwithstand ng that they barl three years) is insufficient.
spent one or two years in a Normal School But it is certain that after such a course of study they would d· mand an increase in their emoluments. This increase would eventually fall on the Government, as well as the cost of the Normal School: but the Committee do not recommend any more money to be spent on Vernacular Schools unless real efficiency can be assured.
The Code.
57. It is not the purpose of the Committee to draw up a new Code, but only to indicate what its general character should b. Its priu- cipal shortcomings aream rated in the report, TO COMPLETE THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
58. The present system of education is in want, not of amendment merely, but of enlarge- ment as wall. In the Colony the British population has hitherto had no distinct part in the system of education such as its numerical There and intrinsic importance entitles it to. is a very decided demand among the Chinese for a better education than can be obtainel at present. A third direction in which the educa tional system requires extension is among the inhabitants of the New Territory.
BRITISH SC.40018. -59-60. Ona school should be established in Victoria and one at Kowloon.
61. A hoarding-house should if possible be established in connection with the Victoria British School.
62. All boys of sufficient age should be re- quired to join a Cadet Corps, if tho Military Authorities can arrange to form one.
A HIGH SCHOOL FOR CHINESE.
64. The school should be open to all Chinesa of respectable antecedents and connections.
65. The fees should be fixed on a high scale.
THE NEW TERRITORY.
To commence with, it will suffice to open Anglo-Chinese Schools at Uen Long and Sheung Shui, and to attach Vernacular Schools to them. Female Education.
19. The time bas not come for assisting female education in the New Territory.
FINANCE.
70-89. It is certain that the inauguration of a number of new schools and the extension of others will necessitate some increase in the cost of working the Department. No estimate of this inci caso, which will not be large, is attempted.
The total increases recommended are thus: Queen's College, $9.207; District Schools, $6,760; Grant Schools (English and Anglo- Chinese), $6.485; Grant Schools (Vernacular), $2,000; British Schools, $1,700, Chinese High School, $4,700; New Territory, $3,0 0; Total, 234,912.
MISCELLANEOUS RECOMMENDA-
TIONS.
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ORGANISATION.
96. Under the existing arrangement the Education Department is organised under two distinct heads. Queen's College, by far the most important school in the Colony, is under its Headmaster: the Inspector of Schools is responsible for the other scholastic establish- monts,
ans itis- This arrangement, obviously an factory one, should be abandoned when occasion offers.
CONCLUSION.
97. It is desirable to state bi fly the prin ciples which were accepted by the Committee as these which should govern the distribution of the expenditure upon education. The Por- tuguese community present no difficulty: ther education is already provided for by the Roman Catholic Corporations, and all that remains to be done is to increase the Government share of the cost. The education of the children of British parents has been provided for on grounds which are justified y the interest of the Empi1e and of the Colony alike. The only difficult Chinese in the Colony is considered. problem is met when the education of the what extent is that education a duty incumbent upon the Government? Beyond that point, how far is it expedient in the interests of the Colony or the Empire? Should the funds available be so or would they be handled as to give the greatest number a limited course of instructio; expended to grea'er. advantage in thorougbly educating a smaller number?
To
The Hongkong Government has never pre. tended to supply education to all the children within its jurisdiction, never having asked the ratepayers for the very large sum which would be needed, were it so largely to increase its responsibilities. It is equally unnecessary and should be made. A very large number of the undesirable that such an extended provision Chinese resident in Hongkong prefer to send their children to be educated in their own country: they do not pretend to be citizens, than strangers in the would be impossible to 93. There should be no attempt to provide or anything more any sort of University Education, until a farl-nd; yet it
discriminate so as to avoid taxing them for an firmer grounding for it can be found than now
education which they would never take advan- exists in the schools of Hongkong.
tage of. Moreover it would be necessary auder the conditions contemplated to, put narrow for instance, that taxation should be extended in order to pay for a ten years' course for every limits upon the courses of study. To suggest,
child in the Colony a reductio ad absurdum.
HIGHER EDUCATION.
Generally speaking, the Committee view with disfavour the idea of selecting one or two promising students, and giving them a free
Professional or
University
Education in England, as has been done in past years
NORMAL SCHOOLY,
94 There is a very general idea that the main desideratum of Education in Hongkong is a Normal School. While it is fully recognised that the qualifications of the prosent teachers leave much to be co-ired, financial difficulties in the way of such a school appear very great, and no practical scheme has yet been suggested. As nglish are far as the Chiness teachers of
•Vernacular Grant Schools; 53. The Vernacular Grant Schools for boys are not at all in a satisfactory en lition; nor is any very material improvement likely to take place, until more thorough supervision cau be given them by the Managers. It is not, how-concerned, the system recommended in sections ever, proposed to disestablish them; they should 39, 44, and 49, ensures that they shall teach be retained as a framework on which to build under the control of an English master, and it an improved system. All that can profitably is hard to see what more they could gain from a Normal School. At the same time it is be attempted for the preseat is to weed out
recoguised that Chinese masters should be some of the less competent masters,
Thus, the argument that provision should be made for the entire population leads naturally to the conclusions, firstly, that taxation should i e large'y increased in order to provide a smatter- ing for the children of persons who neither ask for it nor desire it; and, secondly, that no at empt should be made to provide a thorough educa- tion. The committee hold that what ednostion is given should be thorough, and that better results will be obtained by assisting to en-
Civilised ideas lighten the ignorance of the upper classes of on the mass of the people. Chinese than by attempting to force new ideas among the leaders of thought are the best and
I