CO129-608-3 Occupation reports- education in Stanley Internment Camp 7-11-1945 - 18-7-1947 — Page 36

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We were constantly dogged by lack of time, lack of space, and lack of materials, and at our discussions in July 1945, were reluctantly compelled to admit that the 7 and 8 year old groups in the Camp school were in all subjects of the curriculum fully a year behind children in British schools in Hong Kong in normal times. The 5 and 6 year olds probably suffered to a lesser degree.

3. Social. Socially and morally the children were liable to suffer

by the bad example of adults, by deprivation of the means of satisfying their proper needs, e.g. playgrounds and play-apparatus, and by constant prohibitions. These conditions tended to breed defiance or timidity. The open rebels were in the minority. This probably means that the majority will take longer to recover from the bad effects of Camp life. Damage to the children's social and moral nature will probably be harder to eliminate than physical or mental damage.

By July 1945 we realised that, in spite of all our efforts, we had on all fronts been fighting a losing battle, and we looked forward with consternation to the future.

A

In the light of our subsequent release, it is possible to entertain the hope, and to hold the belief that with the hatural resilence and adaptbility of childhood and nature's patient genius for repairing damages and making up deficiencies suffered in the early stages of development, our Camp children will not far too long bear the stamp of their internment, and that after a year of two in a happier environment, they will be able to do more than "hold their own.

B.

COMPENSATIONS.

In seeking to discover whether Camp life held

any compensations for the children, it was suggested that freedom from the well-meant, but often unintelligent attentions of Amahs should have made them self-reliant and saved them from the necessity of unlearning "pide on-English,

ff that early experience of the want of the necessities of life may give them an active sympathy with others in like cicumstances, and that hardships endured and difficulties overcome may, in some ways, have been a fitter preparation for life in a post-war world than the somewhat pampered and often over-stimulated life of the Hong Kong child.

C.

Education of Eurasians. The poor standard of achievement in both spoken and written English was partly to be explained by the fact that about half the children attending the school were bi-lingual, and that English was not always the language with which they were most familiar. Cantonese-English was the most common combination and a few children had so definitely a Chinese cultural and language background, that they were put in a special class in charge of a Cantonese-speaking English mistress. Some of them were later drafted into the ordinary classes where they were working with children a year or two younger than themselves. Clearly where Cantonese is the Mother-tongue it should be the medium of instructions, at least in the Primary stage of Education.

Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and French were other languages spoken in the children's homes.

I