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Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841–1941
OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
4. The highest attendance was in June, when there were 248 on the roll for the month. The lowest was in January, when the number was 208. The average for the year was 237. There is very little cause for complaint about irregularity. It would be difficult to find anywhere a school of the size more regularly attended. Sickness is the principal cause of absence, but even that prevails to a very small extent. The only absences which cause annoyance are those necessitated by some family matter, a marriage or a funeral. In such a case, nothing less than a month is thought sufficient, and, sometimes, no persuasion, not even a threat, avails to reduce the period of leave below six weeks. Nothing could more clearly show the extraordinarily little value which the Chinese set upon time, except, perhaps, what is seen at some of the villages, where many of the children leave school at the end of the tenth month, because it is then the end of the year. Of recent years, the number of long absences has been decreasing, and this is probably due, in a great measure, to the fact that the school holidays are fixed to suit the two most important Chinese holidays, those, namely, at the New Year and the Tomb Festival.
5. The greatest number of absentees was in August, when they amounted to 17; but of these 13 were absent from continued ill-health. The smallest number was in February, when there were 5, of whom 3 were sick. The average number of such absentees for the year was 12 per month. Taking all things into consideration, this number is exceedingly limited.
6. The result of the year's work, was, as usual, tested by written examinations in all the classes. A paper is set on each subject which the class has been taught during the year, and those who get less than one-third of the total number of marks assigned to the subjects of their class are considered as having failed. The total number of such failures in the six English classes was 20, or an average of about 8 to each class. Even this proportion, though small, is not due entirely to idleness, but arises, in the majority of cases, from promotion to a higher class but a few months before the examination. Another cause of failure is found in the case of boys other than Chinese. These, knowing but little of Chinese, lose the marks assigned for translation from and into that language.
7. It would occupy too much space either to give the examination lists and papers, or to analyze them minutely. They are, however, all recorded, and are available at any time when required. The boys themselves take great interest in these lists. They carefully note the number of marks they have gained in each particular subject, and take them as a guide to future study. The masters, too, look forward to the results with no little anxiety, as they find in them a test of their success or failure in teaching. The work of examination is necessarily very laborious, but what is gained by it more than compensates for the unusual exertion.
8. The first or highest class was examined in ten subjects,— Algebra, Arithmetic, Chemistry, Dictation, English Composition, Geography, Geometry, Grammar, Translation from Chinese into English, and Translation from English into Chinese. The total number of marks assigned to these subjects was 780, and the marks