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cases of overpressure that have come under my personal observation are there in which delicate Chinese youths are stimulated by ambition to mental exertions beyond their physical strength. It does not seem to me possible to provide any safeguard against much exceptional cases; though as I have pointed out in my Annual Report submitted to H. E. the Governor (about January 1887) the system now inaugurated in Victoria College precludes too rapid promotion (such as was considered necessary in the crowded Central School), and it will be no longer possible for boys to progress, in the short space of five years, from the alphabet to Shakespeare.
Chinese Studies.
The School hours are as under:
In English School 24 hours weekly, the same as in England, Chinese School 9 hours (or 10 from 2 to 3 PM) weekly.
In my Report on the Requirements of Victoria College January 1887, I recommended that the Upper School Classes I, II, III should be exempted from the study of Chinese to afford greater opportunities for the study of advanced English studies. This came into force February 1888.
Dr. Eitel wrote a minute on my Report 1887 recommending that the study of Chinese should be entirely removed from the curriculum of Victoria College. This view was opposed by the late Mr. Stewart and myself on the following grounds. The art of Chinese Composition requires years of closest application. More than half the boys who seek admission at Victoria College are incapable of writing an Essay in Chinese. If we could rely on all parents providing sufficient private tuition in Chinese, the College might be relieved of this responsibility. As it is, the Chinese scholarship (hardly worth the name scholarship) of Chinese boys, whose chief aim and desire is to acquire English, is of the most meagre description. It is an undoubted fact that translation from English into Chinese, and vice versa, is of paramount importance to Chinese youths who desire employment as interpreters and clerks. These translations form part of the lessons given in English School, and the results obtained are below the standard of what is desirable.
I am therefore of opinion that to deprive the "Lower and Preparatory Schools" (660 boys) of the opportunity of increasing their Chinese attainment is a course opposed to a true Educational Policy. For a boy may maintain a knowledge of Chinese Literature, can translate Chinese into English, nor unless he is an adept at Chinese Composition translate English into Chinese. That the combination of English and Chinese studies cannot be attended with risk of overpressure to the average boy in these classes will, I hope, be made evident by the following statement of work required in each School from Class IV—the highest class of the Lower School where boys are supposed to have completed three years of English study.
Class IV
Reading and Dictation in English
Grammar and Accidence, In...
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