Copy
The Bishop's House,
Hongkong.
5th June 1939
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Sir,
We have the honour to approach you in the matter of the proposed Grant in Aid Code.
1.
We wish first of all to put on record our gratitude that the need of Grand in Aid schools for some further assistance from Government is recognised in the proposed new Code.
2. We must, however, endorse the considered judgment of the representatives of the majority of the Grant Schools and the observations they have drawn up, of which we attach a copy.
3. We are completely unwilling to accept the change in system which is created by the method of calculation of the "recurrent grant" described in paragraph 29 of the Report.
4.
We concur with the judgment made by the Heads of Schools that the method of calculation of the proposed new Grant constitutes a fundamental change in the relationship between our schools and Government, a change so radical that, if there was any question of Government adopting the Report of the Revision Committee, we must refer the matter to the Home Authorities.
5.
We would also like, in faimess, to protest against the suggestion that has been made continually in conference since the Revised Code was submitted to us for consideration, that the staffs of the Grant in Aid schools and the educational results achieved from them are of an unduly low standard. This is true of a very small minority of the Grant in Aid schools.
It
6. We also feel bound to point out that the noticeable fact in the education of this Colony is this, that with well paid staff of high qualifications and with very good equipment, the examination results of the Government schools are, in propor- tion to numbers, not markedly better than, and in some cases not as good as, those secured by the Grant in Aid schools. must not, therefore, be assumed that increase in salaries or a higher standard of training will of itself improve the educational results of any school. There is a "spirit" in the Grant in Aid schools which must at all costs be retained.
7. We detect in the Report the beginnings of Educational Trades Unionism in Hongkong. Trades Unionism is fundamentally opposed to the true spirit of education. Schools are not run to give employment to trained teachers, but to educate children in the best way possible.
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