COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHI~NOT TO]
BE REPRODUCED
ALLY WITHOUT PERMIC WEAPHIC- |
OF THE
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON |
22
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :
C.O. 133
[296]:
RETURN of the principal Publications during the preceding year, including Newspapers and
Reviews, and (if known) the circulation of such Newspapers and Reviews.
This of Pablleation.
The Chinese Classics Vel 11. Carls 1 and 2 (By Dr Ligge).
The Orina Directory; 18lo." —–—
The Cheniers and Linding 165.
hire hargling Gernment Gazelle.
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Wurly
in Chisneer
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The Chinia Mail.
Burely
The Evening Mail.
Daily
The Oveland China Mail. fortight
0.
The Daily Prep
Daily
0.
The Chinese youre of the Daily prefe. This inc
freesh
!
The Borland Trade Repeat..
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10 Eche de love.
Wendly
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*77.
.141.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION..
The following Annual Report on the State of the Government Schools in Hongkong for the Year 1865, is published for general information.
By Order,
Colonial. Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 19th March, 1966. -
W. T. MERCER, Colonial Secretary.
VICTORIA, HONGxoxo, 12th February, 1868,
SIR,-I have the bonour of presenting to you the Annual Report on the Government Schools in this Colony for the
rear 1885,
In reporting on the Central School it unfortunately happens that I have to review the principal part of my own duties. My report, in this respect, will not therefore, assume the form it would have done had I been differently situated.
The instruction given in the School is, I need hardly state, still of an elementary character. Nothing has yet been attempted beyond the most common branches of an English education as taught in the National Schools at home.
The School-books used are those of the Commissioners for National Education in Ireland. Complaints are not unfre- quently made at home against the series, and graver objections might be made to their suitability for the Chinese; but, with all their faults, it would be difficult to find others which could advantageously be substituted for them. To have proper School-books would entail the necessity of compiling a series for the special use of the School. The modes of life and the forms of thought in the West are so different from those that prevail in the East that a lesson which would be simplicity itself to a class of English children is beset with numberless difficulties to a class of Chinese-difficulties, too, which tax all the powers of the teacher to obviate or explain.
As to the progress of the boys I have every reason to be satisfied. Up to a certain period it is, in fact, remarkable. During the two or three first years of their stay at School they advance rapidly in reading, spelling, writing, and the simpler rules of Arithmetic. After that, progress is not so marked; and, out of a class of thirty, not more than five or six, perhaps, attain aar great degree of proficiency in those subjects which depend more on the independent exercise of their own intellectual faculties than those just referred to.
Translation and Composition are subjects of considerable difficulty, arising from the great disparity between the English and the Chinese idiom. The first or highest class have translated into English Esop's Fables, by Thom, and the First Book of Mencius. If a stranger were to examine them on these books he would at first be struck with the translation, but more minute enquiry would show him that memory had been cultivated at the expense of judgment; and, if he were to set them a passage they had not previously read, he would immediately discover where the weak point lay. Nothing seema, at first sight, more satisfactory than the work of revision with the Chinese; for, when the correct translation has once been given them they rarely forget it; but, if teacher or scholars were to rely on this as an evidence of progress nothing could be more fallacious. Much of the blame which attaches to this is due to their previous training. The Chinese have no education in the real sense - of the word. No attempt is made at a simultaneous development of the mental powers. These are all sacrificed to the culti ration of memory. The boy who can repeat correctly the writings of Confucius and Mencius is considered a great scholar although he may be as ignorant of their meaning as if they were written in a language of which he did not know the alphabet. If docility and regular attendance are necessary to progress there is nothing left on these points to desire. Nothing can be casier than the maintenance of proper discipline, and the daily attendance will bear favourable comparison with that of any lay-school in England. With the exception of a few weeks last summer, during which sickness was prevalent among the Chinese, there are seldom more than two absentees a day. Such regularity in a School of nearly two hundred may be consi- dered as perfect as it is possible for attendance to be.
The Scheme proposed by J. J. Mackenzie, Esq., and sanctioned by the late Board of Education, is now followed na closely as circumstances will permit. In another year there will be nothing to interfare with its operation.
You are aware that this Scheme altered the original constitution of the School. It was, henceforth, to be no longer aptional for a boy to learn English. Previously, he could read Chinese, or English, or both if he chose; and this accounts for the high average of attendance in 1862, the year in which the School was opened. As none were, in future, to be admitted except those who wished to study English the first step necessary was to reduce the numbers-the staff of teachers being then inadequate for the proper instruction of so many,
To secure that attention to Chiness studies which are no apt to be neglected by those who learn English, an Entrance Examination, on the more commonly used elementary books, was made compulsory. Boys who passed this examination were to be admitted into the School to read Chinese for a year, after which, on a second examination, they were to be admitted into the English classes. They were then to devote four hours a day to English and four to Chinese.
It took some time before this Preparatory Class could be got into such a state of efficiency as to supply the English classes. The standard of Chinese among applicants for admission was so low that many more had to be rejected than could be admitted, and many of those who did pass were unwilling to remain unless they were taught English at once. With a little firmness, difficulties of this description were overcome; and now, when it is understood that the examination is a reality and not a name, boys willingly conform to the regulation. Few, and in a short time, none will be admitted to the English classes who do not remain the stated time in the Preparatory Class. The wisdom of this measure is evident. Without it, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the boys to acquire that knowledge of their own language which is so necessary for the acquisition of another.
The English School is divided into two Sections, of three classes each-the Upper and the Lower. The latter is under the care of Mr. Willcocks, the Assistant Master, and the former is ander my own immediate superintendence. Here, also, pro- motion to a higher class is regulated by examination.
To enable this Scheme to compass the end at which it aims it would be desirable that the boys should remain for the riod of seven years which it implies; that is to say, one year in the Preparatory Class, and one year in each of the six English classes. In shorter time than that it is hardly possible to reach a standard of scholarship which would confer Insting good on the boys themselves or raise the character of the School With a shorter course of study I should despair of getting
yond the present elementary instruction.