- Usajaw
C.O. 133
22
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I I I T
PUBLIC
143
to me that Government should lend no hand to the continuance of the present diversity of dialects. The principal reasons that might be given for ceasing to employ Hakka Schoolmasters and engaging Punti anes in their place are, first, the difficulty, if not impossibility, of getting properly qualified Hakka masters, more so than in the case of the Puntis; and, secondly, the fact that nearly all the Hakka children in Hongkong-nine out of ten-can speak the Punti dialect, or, at leses, understand it when they hear it spoken. To teach these, therefore, through the medium of the Punti dialect-the dialect of the majority, and of the best educated-would involve no greater hardship, if hardship it be, than exists in many parts of Scotland and Ireland, where the children use their native dialect at home, but at Church and in School make use of, and understand, English. A third reason is a personal one-the impossibility of my being able to learn the Hakka dialect in mihition to the Canton colloquial and the prosecution of my studies in the written language so essential to the proper discharge of my duties in the Central School.
I shall not, however, press this point in the meantime, but refer to it, if need be, on a future occasion.
To give any adequate idea of what the education given in these Schools is, except to those who understand something of the language, would be a very dificult task. It would be much easier to say what it is not.
It embraces then, neither History, nor Geography, nor Arithmetic, nor the simplest elements of science-subjects which, in the West, are considered so indispensable. There is nothing to gratify the youthful imagination, to cheer the learner in his course, or explain to him the most ordiary occurrences of his life. These things are beneath the notice and unworthy of the attention of the Chinese Scholar. There is simply nothing but the dreary round of Chinese ethics, written too in a language which to beginners is unintelligible. To repeat the maxims of the ancient sages from memory, to know some thousands of characters, and to write these tastefully is, in six cases out of ten, all that is aimed at. If a boy is able to remain at School for six or eight years be may then be able to explain what he has read or committed to memory, but those who cannot afford to do so must be content to read without understanding. To the majority the language is an end, not a menkl It is an accomplishment which may be very showy in the eyes of the Chinese themselves, but which contains within it none of the elements of the warful or of the improving.
A Chinese Schoolmaster is truly an object of pity. He is simply a drudge. He is expected to be in his desk by six o'clock in the morning and to continue there till nearly the same hour in the evening-always ready to teach his scholars when it suits their parents' convenience to send them to him.
What knowledge I have obtained of the language has enabled me from time to time to draw up rules for the conduct of the Schools; to limit and define the books to be learnt, insisting especially on the children being taught the meaning as well
as the forms and sounds of what they read; and to provide Time Tables that the work may go on regularly and satisfactorily. In many cases this is very difficult of attainment. The parents are poor and cannot always have their meals when they would. This forms a great drawback to the Village Schools. I am aware it does not exist to the extent alleged, and that if the people had the will they would find the way. When the Central School was opened the boys seemed quite astonished that late breakfast' was not accepted as a sufficient exense for not being in time; but, when they found that punctuality wa insisted on, the point was yielded without further difficulty.
All attempts at improvement on my part have been confined to the manner rather than to the matter of the teaching. In no case have I interfered with their own peculiar ideas of education either in the way of change, or of the introduction of other books. I trust this may ultimately be effected, but in the meantime it is hopeless. The temper of the people will not admit of it. Their prejudices must be sapped and not taken by storm. Parents who cannot read a word dispute persistently, if not learnedly, with the masters about the books their children are to learn, and others, having by some accident fallen upos a book, insist on their children reading it, not because they really believe it to be good, but because it saves the trouble and expense of buying another.
From what has been stated it would appear that no great or immediate reformation in Education can be hoped for in Hongkong. The only course left is to take advantage of opportunities as they occur, and bring about gradually those results which, however desirable, cannot at present be attained.
Before any real good can be effected the Chinese must have learnt to appreciate the value of education, and of their own education, such as it is. Nothing seems to find favour with them which does not bear a market value. Ilence, the comparative success of the Central School, English being convertible into dollars; hence, also, the neglect of the Vernacular Schools, Chinese being unsaleable.
In several instances I have had appeals printed which have been left in every house, and posted in conspicuous places, arging on the people the necessity of sending their children to School, and showing them the advantages which Government gratuitously puts in their way. Unfortunately, all this is too readily admitted. Promises are profusely given, but the matter ends here, and the Schools are as badly attended as before.
I grant that the Schoolmasters have their share of the blame. Their fixed salaries and their low ideas of duty make them less zealous than they ought to be. But, this objection has not the same weight that it had formerly. The masters begin to understand that it is necessary to pay some attention to their duties, as means now exist of knowing whether they
do so or not.
One great means of bringing about the desired change would be for the Inspector to spend the greater portion of his time in teaching the masters-showing them, and not merely telling them, how to conduct their classes, for to classes the Chinese have an inveterate objection. But such a course, in my present position, is simply impossible.
To say that there has been no progress during these four years would be to be guilty of exaggeration, but, after viewing the various signs of improvement in their most favourable light I cannot help thinking that Government is receiving a very inadequate return for the outlay it incurs. I have been at some pains to obtain correct statistics of all the children in the Colony who attend School and they do not exceed eighteen hundred and seventy. Comparing this insignificant number with the Registrar General's Returns, in which the boys are computed at 12,764 and the girls at 9,537-a total of 22,301, it is impossible to over-estimate the detrimental consequences which must inevitably result to the well-being of the Colony with so many growing up uneducated and neglected. If we deduct 8,301 as a fair estimate of those who are too young to learn wa shall have 14,000 left of whom 1,870 attend School, Engrossed in the pursuit of gain, the Chinese who have flocked to Hongkong have left behind them their traditional regard for education, and allowed themselves to settle into an apathy characteristic only of barbarism. A community which can subscribe twenty thousand dollars, as was the case last year, for theatres and processions can well afford to contribute a handsome sum to rescue from ignorance and degradation the thousands of children who are growing up in their midst.
Whether the Chinese are to continue to enjoy the exclusive privilege of a free education or to share it with the Europess and the Half-Caste is a question which cannot long be deferred; and when one thinks of the number of children in our streets and on the Prays, who are growing up in ignorance and bidding fair to surpass their predecessors in the practice of violence and theft, the suggestion of a member of the late Board of Education that the Colony should possess a Government Reformatory on an extensive scale must, sooner or later, claim to itself that consideration which it seems to demand. My own impression is that nothing short of an Education Tax and Compulsory Attendance at School will meet the existing evil. | I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART,
Head Master and Inspector.
1. Aberdeen 2. Bowrington
3. Central School..
4. Girl's School....
5. Mah: Mosque
6. Stanley...
281.
Xumbers and ATTENDANCE in the Guernment Schoola during 1805.
7. Tang-lung-chau (Hakka)
8. Tang-lung-chan (Punti).
9. Webster's Crescent...............................................................................❤
11. West Point.
12. Wong-mai-chang
Maximum Minimum Enrolment.
Enrolment.
Maximum Minimum Attendance. Attendance.
18
207
178
18
12
|856988888825 |ĝ
(=~2798=82882|3
(82888*=*=8873
35
30
21
24
19
597
418
535
330
COMPARATIVE Statement of Numnahs and Attesdance in the Government Schools during 1802, 1865, 1864, 1865.
1809.
1863.
1804
1863.
Average Average Average
1. Aberdeen.
2. Bowrington
5. Central School
4. Girl's School................ 5. Little Hongkong-
6. Mab: Mosque
*7. Sai-wan .............
8. Shek-a..otagasummama
*9. Ehau-ki-28 «*****
10. Stanley
11. Tang-long-chau (Hakka)
12. Tang-lung-chan (Punti).
14. Webster's Crescent...
*13. Tai-tam-tak.
16. West Badan
18. West PoinĚJAKART
17. Wong-nal-chung
Maximum Enrolment... Maximum Attendance
Minimam Enrolment Minimum Attendance
Average Average Average Average Average Enrolment. Attendance. Enrolment. Attendance, Ezrolment. Attendance.' Enrolment. Attendance.
M
340
$2
17
27
30
19
18
200
150
54
12
10
40
24
16
14
17
16
17
16 11
1517
161
161
103
190
20
21
24
(AAEM IR ⠀ ⠀ 18** 12282 |§
[2268 18 1 1 1020 182998
6992 12 1 1 1802 18583 |§
45%
424
405
16
400
• Schools marked with an asterisk have been discontiased.
AMER IN 1 1 1820 18292|2
614
SUMMARY of Enrolment and ÁTTENDANCE.
1862.
1863.
1804.
1866.
283
633
502
507
021
417
635
505
414
434
418
290
301
324
330
400
RETURN of the Number of SCHOLARs at the carious Schools in Hongkong for 1885.
Government
Schools
Roman Catholis
#
Private (Chinese)
Church of England
"
London Mission
Baale Mission
"
Foundling Hospital
37
597
685
.410
125
70
40
43
Total,...
.1,870
The Honourable W. II. ALEXANder, Esq.,
Acting Colonial Secretary,
fe
je. je.
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