THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 9TH FEBRUARY, 1867.
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37
I have not yet been able to get the Chinese department into the satisfactory state in which I could wish to see it. The inability of the Masters to comprehend a system of teaching that differs from their own, and, it may be, their tacit opposition to any change that is proposed, from their knowledge of my comparative ignorance of what a Chinese education really is, doubtless go far to retard the efficiency of this part of the work. Improvement is appearing although slowly, and it is to be hoped that ere long this duty will be not less carefully performed than the others. There seem to be grave doubts in the minds of many as to the propriety or necessity of devoting the half of the boys' time to the study of their own language. For myself I have none. I hold it to be an axiom that a boy cannot be taught a foreign language without a knowledge of his own, unless, indeed, he is sent to the country where the language is spoken, and that his progress in the one will be in proportion to his attainments in the other. Chinese is not studied at the Central School so much for the sake of making the boys acquainted with what their sages have written as that they may master as far as possible the language as a language, in the investigation of its elements, and in the construction of its parts. I know of no more humiliating spectacle than to see boys, as we frequently do in Hongkong, who know English much better than they do Chinese, who entirely neglect their own language when they begin to learn the other, and who when asked for the translation of a letter or a petition fail to render it intelligibly. If there is anything which ought to be aimed at in connexion with the School it is that this disgrace shall not attach to it.
The payment of fees has not proved the slightest drawback to the school. The sum paid into the Treasury during last year amounted to $1,231.97. I had it in contemplation to propose the raising of the fee in the Lower School this year, but, on consideration, I think it would be advisable, in the present rather unsettled state of the minds of the Chinese, to make no change for at least six months. As a rule, the parents of the boys are not in very prosperous circumstances, and hence any additional tax on their resources would not be likely to be well received. As soon, however, as trade revives among the Chinese and the Colony regains its previous status I shall propose the increasing of the fee. To do so in the meantime would be highly impolitic, and this conclusion has not been arrived at without consideration and enquiry.
I think it but right in concluding this part of my Report to take the opportunity of recording my sense of the obligations under which the school lies to C. C. Smith, Esquire, Registrar General, for the handsome contribution he put into my hands in order to increase the Prize Fund. In the present, comparatively speaking, infant state of the school any encouragement of this nature is invaluable, and I need scarcely say that I wish it were more common.
THE VILLAGE SCHOOLS.
I shall not enter, at any length, into this part of my Report as, on consideration, I find that it would involve the repetition of a great deal of what was stated last year. An attempt was then made to show what these schools are, how they are conducted, and the nature of the instruction of which they are made the vehicle. In all these respects they continue as they were. They are simply schools where the villagers can obtain for their children, free of all cost, such an education as would be given to them in any native school in China, and, although this may be very barren of what we consider as the necessary elements of any education that is worth the name, it is not to be supposed that it is useless. It is founded on principles which are strictly moral, which have minute reference to all the relations of life, and which have sustained, from centuries before Europe was civilized to the present day, the whole fabric of Chinese polity and manners. It, at least, deserves to be maintained until the Colony is in a position to substitute something better in its stead. This is not intended as a defence of a Chinese education but merely a statement of the grounds on which the Government bases its present relations with these schools.
I have, in conclusion, to refer you to the following Tables for all statistical information.—I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient Servant,
FREDERICK STEWART, Head Master and Inspector.
The Honorable W. T. MERCER, Esq.,
Colonial Secretary,
1. Aberdeen
&c., &c., &c.
NUMBERS and ATTENDANCE in the Government Schools during 1866.
2. Bowrington.
3. Central School.
4. Girls' School.
5. Mosque ....t
6. Stanley
7. Tang-lung-chau (Hakka).
8. Tang-lung-chau (Punti) 9. Webster's Crescent..
10. West End...
11. West Point (Hakka).
12. West Point (Punti) 13. Wong-nai-chung
Maximum Minimum Maximum Minimum Enrolment. Enrolment. Attendance. Attendance.
623
69895843897 & 8
25
18
14
5
42
16
34
10
222
200
222
195
36
42
26
12
37
12
29
34
22
9
11
2
20
46
8
16
25
10
27
35
20
9
13
4
33
43
20
20
13
16
3
435
572
337
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