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With the shortage of teachers, the turning of the village elite away from the traditional learning to a westernized education, the widening gap between the classical syllabus and the modern world, and the continuing reluctance of the small schools within the village to reform their educational practices, traditional village education, and its relevance to the average villager, clearly declined in Sheung Shui during the early decades of the 20th century. In fact, according to the official census reports, there was a decrease in the rate of literacy among the male populations over the age of five in the New Territories as a whole from 56.6% in 1921 to 54.22% in 1931. The following table, compiled from statistics of the 1913 Census, also shows the decline of literacy rate in the younger generations:
TABLE III
Year of Birth Age Able to read and write Unable % of literacy rate within age group 1927 0-4 4108 1926-1921 5-10 942 5657 14.27 1920-1916 11-15 2215 3008 42.41 1915-1911 16-20 2968 2523 56.83 1910- over 21 18274 9416 66.00The very small percentage in the 5-10 age group may be due to the fact that most children started school at about the age of seven or nine and they could hardly be expected to be able to read or to write after only one or two years' schooling. The declining rates in the two age groups below 21 might be due to other factors such as delay in acquiring education or an influx of educated adults. But, as far as Sheung Shui was concerned, the figures help to support our belief that there was a decline in village education in the early decades of the 20th century.
The inadequacy and disappointing conditions of the village schools must have also been noted by leaders of the village. In the late 1920's, people like Liao Kang-wai **[Liu Hong Wai], Liao Shao-hsien [Liu Siu Yin], Liao Hsin-yeh 新業 [Liu Sun Yip]** who had received a westernized education in urban Hong Kong, started a campaign to set up a modern school in the village in the ancestral hall. The movement was
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With the shortage of teachers, the turning of the village elite away from the traditional learning to a westernized education, the widening gap between the classical syllabus and the modern world, and the continuing reluctance of the small schools within the village to reform their educational practices, traditional village education, and its relevance to the average villager, clearly declined in Sheung Shui during the early decades of the 20th century. In fact, according to the official census reports, there was a decrease in the rate of literacy among the male populations over the age of five in the New Territories as a whole from 56.6% in 1921 to 54.22% in 1931. The following table, compiled from statistics of the 1913 Census, also shows the decline of literacy rate in the younger generations:
TABLE III
Able to read
% of literacy rate within
Year of Birth
Age
and write
Unable
age group
1927
0-4
4108
1926-1921
5-10
942
5657
14.27
1920-1916
11-15
2215
3008
42.41
1915-1911
16-20
2968
2523
56,83
1910-
over 21
18274
9416
66.00
The very small percentage in the 5-10 age group may be due to the fact that most children started school at about the age of seven or nine and they could hardly be expected to be able to read or to write after only one or two years' schooling. The declining rates in the two age groups below 21 might be due to other factors such as delay in acquiring education or an influx of educated adults. But, as far as Sheung Shui was concerned, the figures help to support our belief that there was a decline in village education in the early decades of the 20th century.
The inadequacy and disappointing conditions of the village schools must have also been noted by leaders of the village. In the late 1920's, people like Liao Kang-wai ** [Liu Hong Wai], Liao Shao-hsien [Liu Siu Yin], Liao Hsin-yeh 新業 [Liu Sun Yip] who had received a westernized education in urban Hong Kong, started a campaign to set up a modern school in the village in the ancestral hall. The movement was
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