388
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
33. Attention is, as usual, called in Table VI. to the number of uneducated children in the Colony. This is done simply because it is well to have such a fact fairly presented and fairly looked at. If blame is attachable to anyone, it is to the parents, because they have only to show the slightest willingness to have their children taught, to secure attention to their case. It will probably be sufficiently evident from what has already been said, that if left to themselves the parents, in the majority of instances, have no great desire for the instruction of their children. If education were made obligatory one point would certainly be gained, but only one. The extreme poverty of many of the people in the villages and in boats would throw on the Government the onus of clothing and feeding, as well as educating, if any compulsory scheme were enacted.
34. To find an exact parallel to the state of things here we must go back a century or two in the history of our own country. Education there has not had its present extensive diffusion by any fiat. It has been a gradual, and a very gradual, process. We have the whole of that gradual process to go through in Hong Kong, although there is a tendency in most of us to forget or ignore that fact, and to imagine that the nineteenth century in England means the nineteenth century in Hong Kong, or, which comes to the same thing, that there is no reason why what is done in England should not have its exact counterpart here. It is argued, moreover, that education is universal in China, and that the poorest "Coolie" can read and write. This is one of the many fallacies which prevail on the subject of China and its people. It is only after a certain stage of material comfort has been reached that people can turn their thoughts to anything which is not material; and, until we have many more people among the poorer classes in Hong Kong who have not to go and earn a meal before they can eat it, it is almost folly to discuss comprehensive schemes of education for their benefit. Those who have been in the way of visiting the villages on the mainland say that the state of Hong Kong is not peculiar. Every village has its school, but only a fraction of the village children attend it. As the Chinese Government affords them no assistance, those who wish their children taught must take the whole burden of the schoolmaster's salary on themselves. This, in such poverty-stricken places, excludes the very poor, who are by far the majority; and if poor parents, by dint of much self-denial, should be able to send one of the family to school, it is all that they can possibly accomplish. The result is that, while ten or twelve may be found in the school, scores of children are to be seen on the hill sides tending the cattle.
35. Perhaps the greatest educational want in Hong Kong is that of a school, or schools, for European and American children of both sexes. In spite of the facilities afforded by St. Saviour's College and the Convent, many residents must have much difficulty in knowing how to get their children taught. The school need not be a free one. After the preliminary expenses of site and building, with which Government might fairly charge itself, the fees would go far to make the school self-supporting. It has been often suggested that the Colonial Chaplain might have such a school under his immediate care, but subject to Government supervision. Under whatever regu-
388
Hong Kong Annual Administration Reports, 1841-1941
OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.
33. Attention is, as usual, called in Table VI. to the number of uneducated children in the Colony. This is done simply because it is well to have such a fact fairly presented and fairly looked at. If blame is attachable to anyone, it is to the parents, because they have only to show the slightest willingness to have their children taught, to secure attention to their case. It will probably be sufficiently evi- dent from what has already been said, that if left to themselves the parents, in the majority of instances, have no great desire for the instruction of their children. If education were made obligatory one point would certainly be gained, but only one. The extreme poverty of many of the people in the villages and in boats would throw on the Government the onus of clothing and feeding, as well as educating, if any compulsory scheme were enacted.
34. To find an exact parallel to the state of things here we must go back a century or two in the history of our own country. Edu- cation there has not had its present extensive diffusion by any fiat. It has been a gradual, and a very gradual, process. We have the whole of that gradual process to go through in Hong Kong, although there is a tendency in most of us to forget or ignore that fact, and to imagine that the nineteenth century in England means the nineteenth century in Hong Kong, or, which comes to the same thing, that there is no reason why what is done in England should not have its exact counterpart here. It is argued, morcover, that education is universal in China, and that the poorest "Coolie” can read and write. This is one of the many fallacies which prevail on the subject of China and its people. It is only after a certain stage of material comfort has been reached that people can turn their thoughts to anything which is not material; and, until we have many more people among the poorer classes in Hong Kong who have not to go and earn a meal before they can cat it, it is almost folly to discuss comprehensive schemes of education for their benefit. Those who have been in the way of visiting the villages on the mainland say that the state of Hong Kong is not peculiar. Every village has its school, but only a fraction of the village children attend it. As the Chinese Govern- ment affords them no assistance, those who wish their children taught must take the whole burden of the schoolmaster's salary on thein- selves. This, in such poverty-stricken places, excludes the very poor, who are by far the majority; and if poor parents, by dint of much self-denial, should be able to send one of the family to school, it is all that they can possibly accomplish. The result is that, while ten or twelve may be found in the school, scores of children are to be seen on the hill sides tending the cattle.
35. Perhaps the greatest educational want in Hong Kong is that of a school, or schools, for European and American children of both sexes. In spite of the facilities afforded by St. Saviour's College and the Convent, many residents must have much difficulty in knowing how to get their children taught. The school need not be a free one. After the preliminary expenses of site and building, with which Government might fairly charge itself, the fees would go far to make the school self-supporting. It has been often suggested that the Colonial Chaplain might have such a school under his immediate care, but subject to Government supervision. Under whatever regu-
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