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6.
We do not wish to call in question the wisdom of the Chinese in this matter; but we would point out that in a school in which the majority of boys are Chinese, who come to learn English and not for the sake of acquiring knowledge, the European boy, who comes to acquire knowledge and not to learn English, must be at a very serious disadvantage.
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The methods of education, moreover, have to be adapted to the instruction of the Chinese, and many an English boy is of necessity kept back, whilst instruction is labouriously imparted to those who have a very inferior knowledge of the medium of instruction."
These extracts are from the Petition headed by his Lordship, given in Appendix A of the Report (Section 2).
In the Report above quoted his Lordship is regarding the question from the boy's standpoint. Regarding it from the Chinese boy's standpoint, he subscribes to Section 21 B of the Report "Western Knowledge should be taught in Chinese."
If however the instruction is in Chinese, it is unintelligible to non-Chinese scholars. Thus it seems plain from his Lordship's own statements that a course of study suited to non-Chinese does not suit Chinese, and vice versa; and that therefore an education attempting vainly to combine mutually incompatible courses of instruction is not a "proper education" for State Aid.
It