COPY:
MEMORANDUM with reference to the action taken within the Education Department in respect of:-
(1)
(1) Chinese Syllabus in "English" schools. (2) Vernacular Middle School.
(3) The study of Kwok Yu.
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In December 1930 the Director of Education invited six Chinese gentlemen under the chairmanship of the Senior Inspector of Vernacular Schools to examine the existing Chinese syllabus in "English" schools with a view to the revision thereof.
too heavy.
The Committee found that the existing syllabus was
A new syllabus was drawn up affecting each of the eight years from the beginning of the study of English to the Matriculation stage.
Classes in "English" schools are numbered 8 to 1, the latter being the last year of school life. 6, 5 and 4 Mencius is read and in Class 3 selections from the
In classes first part of the Analects.
Thus in the school syllabus generally only a portion instead of the whole of the Four Books is taken. Geography has been omitted, the syllabus of Chinese History
Chinese has been reduced and the gim of the whole of the revised course is to give students a more practical knowledge of the written language so that ability to read and write Chinese becomes the standard for the Matriculation.
The revised syllabus came into force on January 1st 1932, and that for the final year has been accepted by the University of Hong Kong for the (ordinary) Matriculation examination, in which an essay from the first volume of the Confucian Analects is alternative to an essay on a general subject.
(2)
In July 1931 the Retrenchment Commission recommended the abolition of the Vernacular Middle School, on the grounds that it was a "luxury", and that the somewhat special education there provided should not be conducted by Government.
This school was to some extent connected with the existing University School of Chinese Studies. 1931 a Special Committee had been appointed by the University
In April Court to review the arrangements in force for the teaching of Chinese and to advise the Court and Council as to the future provision which should be made for the teaching of Chinese within the University.
It seemed advisable, therefore, to await the finding of the Special Committee before dealing with the recommendation of the Retrenchment Commission with regard to the Vernacular Middle School.
The Special Committee reported in March 1932 and recommended, inter alia, that the School of Chinese Studies as then constituted be discontinued and the teaching of Chinese within the University be confined to Matriculated students. Further the Special Committee recommended the adoption of a modified Matriculation test "for those Chinese students who wish to take up such new groups of studies as involve a special and continuous study of Chinese"
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