1878 — Page 217

evening, a great portion of their time to mercantile engagements or private tuition, and did not there- fore come as fresh to their work in school as might be desired. Through the alteration in the time table which was introduced by order of His Excellency the Governor in May last year, when the early morning of every day, formerly occupied by Chinese teaching, was appropriated for English teaching, there is little objection now to be raised

on that score.

The European masters are competent men, and all the masters without exception I found attend- ing to their duties with exemplary punctuality and fidelity. Altogether the general organisation of the school and the masterly discipline main-

tained in almost every department of it, secms to me well-nigh perfection. But as regards one or two details and the method of teaching adopted in the school, there is considerable room for im-

provements.

In the first instance, in the Preparatory Classes, where the first rudiments of English pronunciation are taught, the teaching of English was left in the hands of native assistants, whose own pronuncia-

tion is by no means perfect. Next, there is a system in vogue in the Central School of filling

up, all through the nine classes of the school, every seat that happens to fall vacant for more than two days, in consequence of which the Pre- paratory School receives a new contingent and sends on boys to the higher classes every month, so that by the end of the year scarcely two-thirds of any one class in the whole school have had the same uniform teaching all through the year. I regard this system as unfair to the masters, on whom the consequent disparity of attainments among their pupils throws additional trouble, and

as unfair to the scholars themselves, the continuity

of whose studies is thus arbitrarily interrupted. But the matter has a far more serious aspect when it is considered that anyhow the classes are too large for effective teaching and especially that the boys sit so crowded, in every class, that not only

have they no elbow room in writing, but copying and prompting by whispers is absolutely im- possible to prevent. The evil of this overcrowding is most conspicuous during Chinese lessons, where from 80 to 90 boys are crowded into one class under one teacher. Thus the moral lesson of

self-reliance, which the school otherwise might

teach, is lost, habits of dishonesty and deception are fostered, and moreover, in a hot climate like this, among a people among whom skin diseases are naturally prevalent, such overcrowding of the classes becomes positively dangerous to health as well as to morals. Three out of the five school.

rooms are very lofty and provide sufficient cubic space. But the rule observed in England, of admitting one boy only for every 8 square feet,

is persistently disregarded in the Government Central School. The only gain this system can show is a seemingly high rate of average attend- ance and a proportionate diminution of the ap- parent cost of the school when calculated for each boy in average attendance.

益

補書

故候教

但此事现向未

凡有何不妥之

處故亦難言長

因去歲五月間

督憲嘗命

候改作教英文

教習華文之時

向來每日上午

易書院課程將

之未嘗遵守如此所可見之益處不過是長補短而計學童之數較多書院支消每名科派較少耳 間三館甚是高昻氣息流通亦甚清爽惟英國書館素有規制可遵卽每八方尺之間准接學童一位而在香港大書院一向輕 而壞矣盛夏炎熱之時每見土人皮膚多有疥癩之疾兹也位大密邇則不但壞其心且將害及其身矣在大書院分五館舍其 受一師之教如是教學者專心致志之道不已失乎况并竊他人文字近自已天再欺騙之心由是而生小子之性亦由是 摹寫硃艱師長難防竊摸更易且也低聲細語彼此相通此弊於教華文時尤甚蓋是時有學童八十名以外之名合作一班而 當由淺入深夫如是保無獵等之弊歟但此事之關係尤有要者以每班之中所有學童溢於教師所能善教者況坐位太密 足令師徒均受其害耳蓋教師之訓誨各位不同而學童之練習各有差別移易頻頻是令教之者更覺艱苦也蓋5學之道固 初學之童進第十班况另每月升班故在十班之內每班學童終歲畫一誦讀其書者幾無三之二照做監院意見如此館規適 惜蓋彼語音未能盡安基址砌壞腕惜其多又在院内向有舊章各班不論何時個席位僅三二日卽着升種致此每月可接 上之境矣第間有一二事宜院中教法或可爲修飾潤澤耳在第九第十班教初進院學英語者只有華人掌教此事深爲可

諸歐洲人掌教瓘乃醋罈者而英華教師級監院亦常見於盡心竭力以守和院內規模諸凡整產照做監院意見錢臻無