357
The Students'
work.
The admission
of non-metricu.
isted students to be dia
continued.
A less exacting
matriculation standard in mathematics.
"The underlying idea in having the Committee of the School of Chinese Studies a sub-committee of the Bourd of the Faculty of Arts is presumably to ensure co-ordination between all Chinese courses in the University. Even if this were obtained, the method of doing it is a de- cidedly round-about one, but actually there is no certainty that co-ordination of all the courses is obtained. On the Board of the Faculty of Arts as at present constituted there is no one who can have any decided opinion on the teaching of Chinese other than the Chinese teachers themselves." 38. The School opened in January 1929 with six students. In January 1930 three new students joined and in January 1931 six new students entered the first year class. Of this number seven have withdrawn and there are now ten students in the Chinese School the distribution being as follows:—
4th year 3rd 2nd "
- 2
"J
3
3
Ist
2
}}
Total
10
Of the two students in the first year one is a new student and the other is a student who failed at the annual examination and is repeating the course. Thus six teachers are employed in the School of Chinese Studies to teach ten students, but of these six teachers four are also lecturing in the Faculty of Arts.
VII The Test qualifying for admission to Chinese Studies.
39. The Chinese School having failed to fulfil the expectations of its founders, the first question with which this Committee found itself confronted was whether the University should continue to differentiate as between Chinese and the other courses of study which it provides and to teach the former to students who had not matriculated. The members of the Committee generally were im- pressed by a statement which Mr. Lam Tung who has taught in the School of Chinese Studies since its inception recorded in a memorandum which was circu- lated among them. The statement was to the effect that in Mr. Lam Tung's opinion the attempt to teach Chinese Studies to students who had not passed the University Matriculation examination and were therefore not qualified to study for a degree was fore-doomed to failure. The Committee was also struck by the unanimity on this point shown by the witnesses who appeared before it. The Committee is in fact unanimous in the view that the University's present practice of providing specialised Chinese and English courses to students who have not passed the Matriculation Examination should be discontinued and that henceforth such Chinese teaching as the University may be in a position to provide should be included in the University's normal curriculum and be taught to such internal students only as may be deemed in accordance with the regulations to have quali- fied for admission to the degree courses of the University. The Committee is also of opinion that if the teaching of Chinese in the University were confined to a Chinese School the students of which are not, and cannot be, members of the University, the obligation to make adequate provision in the Arts Faculty for the teaching of Chinese Language and Literature which Section 13 (1) of the University Ordinance imposes on the University would not be satisfied,
40. Under the University Regulations as they now stand a candidate for admission to the Faculties of Engineering and Arts must satisfy the examiners in English and Mathematics and in three other subjects taken from a prescribed list. A Chinese candidate (unless he or she be exempted by the Senate) is required as a condition of passing the admission test to either of these Faculties to satisfy the examiners in Chinese Language and Literature. The requirements under this head, as they stand at present, are shown on page 46 of the University Calendar for 1931, but the Education Department has recently revised the Chinese curriculum which is followed in Government schools. The Senate of the University have revised their syllabuses in Chinese for the Local and Matriculation examinations so as to bring those syllabuses into line with the curriculum of instruction follow- ed in Government schools. Copies of these revised syllabuses are attached.
41. It
candidate whose was suggested to the Committee that a intention it is to study Chinese throughout his course in the Arts Faculty
and to offer Chinese as one of the subjects for his degree in such a group of studies as we suggest below-a group in which Chinese is through- out the course a substantial factor-might be allowed to qualify in the mathematical branch of the Matriculation examination by a less exacting standard than would ordinarily be demanded, provided that such a candidate satisfied the examiners in an additional paper in Chinese, the additional paper being of a higher standard than the papers in Chinese language and literature which all Chinese candidates for matriculation are required to pass. The Committee commends this proposal to the consideration of the University authorities concerned but de- sires to make it clear that its intention is that those who may pass the Matricula- tion Examination on the less exacting standard of mathematics now suggested should be not be permitted to take up any University course, whether in the Arts Faculty or any other Faculty (including those existing groups of studies in the Faculty of Arts in which Chinese may be taken as an alternative subject) which does not provide for the continuous study of Chinese as one of its integral and obligatory factors. It is also the Committee's intention that a candidate who passes the normal Matriculation Examination shall not be debarred from taking the special courses above referred to.
42.
It has been suggested to the Committee that the scope of the Univer sity's influence as a potential centre of Chinese learning might be enlarged, with- out prejudice to the standard or range of its degree, if not only those who had not passed the matriculation but also those, who, whether they have qualified by the matriculation test or not, wish to make a special study of Chinese, could be allowed to attend the Chinese courses as external students. The Committee understands that there would be no difficulty about this, provided always that the person seeking admission as an external student were able to satisfy the Board of the Faculty of Arts and the Senate of his ability to follow intelligently the course or courses on which he desires to enter.
43. The obligation on the Chinese candidate for admission into any one of the University's Faculties to satisfy the examiners in Chinese Language and Literature came up before the Committee and it was pointed out that whereas the non-Chinese candidate could secure admission into the Faculties of Engineer- ing and Arts without passing in any language other than English, the Chinese candidate for admission to either of these Faculties had to pass in Chinese Language and Literature in addition to English, The Committee understands that in point of fact the Senate grants exemption from this obligation to those Chinese candidates whether educated in Malaya or elsewhere who have not had an opportunity of being taught Chinese language and literature in the schools in which they have been educated.
44. It was suggested that this was a handicap on the Chinese, especially on those educated in the Government Anglo-Chinese Schools in Hong Kong from which applications for exemption from the Chinese language and literature test were practically never submitted.
45. The majority of the Chinese members of the Committee feel strongly that it would be a mistake for the University to relax this obligation. The Com- mittee has therefore decided not to put forward any recommendation dealing with this matter which lies strictly outside the scope of its reference. The Committec notes that the Education Department has recently prescribed for use in the higher classes of Government Anglo-Chinese schools a simpler and less comprehensive syllabus of Chinese and that the University has modified accordingly its matricula- tion syllabus in Chinese Language and Literature,
46. It seems desirable to record here some mention of the Chinese medium of instruction. The Chinese used in the schools of Hong Kong is Cantonese, The Government of China is now attempting to make Kwok Yu-a modified form of Mandarin-the national language of China and with this end in view is trying to insist that Kwok Yu shall be used in all schools and universities in China. The Committee was told that the attempt to make Kwok Yu the language of schools and universities in Canton had met with only moderate success and that so far as the schools of the Colony of Hong Kong are concerned it would be impracticable for many years to substitute Kwok Yu for Cantonese. The substitution would have to be effected gradually, and in the upper classes to start with. The Committee expressed the hope that the Government of Hong Kong will take such steps as will encourage the study of Kwok Yu in the educational institutions of Hong Kong. Moreover, ability on the part of vernacular teachers
The admission of exterual studente to the Chinese Cou16 of the Faculty of Arts.
The obligation on the Chinese candidate for matriculation to pass in ChocoR
Cantores or
Kwok Yu?
358
8