VICTORIA COLLEGE. CHINESE EXAMINATIONS. PERCENTAGE OF PASSES IN EACH SUBJECT, IN 1889.
281
Anglo-Chinese Class.
Division.
Total No. Examined.
Copy Writing.
Reading.
Dictation. Characters.
Transla- tion.
Total Percentage Passed.
I.,
18
100
100
61
94
83
100
II.,
13
100
92
77
46
100
100
III.,
IV.,
15
73
93
66
86
100
12
100
75
14
75
91
100
I.,
II.,
III.,
IV.
√.
VICTORIA COLLEGE.- Chinese School.
Total No.
Class.
Examined.
Essay.
Letter.
Prosody. Tui-tui.
Total Percentage
Passed.
영의 영영
50
100
98
72
88
100
60
92
95
90
93
57
94
79
65
79
55
84
73
82
76
52
77
71
92
50
84
86
90
59
62
8888888
83
71
88
56
88
VI.,
VII.,
VIII.,
Mr.
Whilst on the whole fully recognizing the excellency of the organisation, method and dis- cipline of the Victoria College, and without wishing to find fault with the College on either of these points, I would draw the attention of the Authorities of the College to a matter of some importance, viz. to the monitorial and pupil-teacher system adopted in this School. In his Report for 1889, the Headmaster makes the following remarks. "A Normal Class and a special examination paper on education and school discipline for pupil teachers and monitors are a new feature of this year. BOARDS, who has been in charge of these junior assistants in front of the Preparatory Class, is on the whole able to give me only a moderate report, though he speaks highly of one or two pupil teachers. I trust that next year some marked improvement will be observed." Considering that these monitors and pupil teachers received no special teaching with the exception of two hours a week, I considered their examination papers on the whole satisfactory. But the facts I would draw attention to are these. This pupil-teacher system has taken the place of the former Government Normal School. The latter was condemned in the year 1882 for the expressed reasons that "a separate Normal School is not required" and that "when the Central School has been put on a proper footing, the Headmaster will be able to make all necessary arrangements for the training of the limited number of teachers required for the various Schools in the Colony." Evidently the authors of these arguments fully re- cognized the need of trained teachers. Eight years have passed and the question now is, where and how teachers are at present trained in the Colony. In 1885 the Secretary of State approved of a scheme for articling six pupil teachers for a period of three years, to provide efficient Chinese assistant teachers for the Victoria College. In 1887 five Chinese monitors were articled, that is to say, monitors previously drawing pay at the rate of $5 a month, were appointed and did duty as pupil teachers, drawing in the first year $10 and in the second and third years $15 a month, and were then appointed assistant masters at $25 a month, with prospect of eventual further increase up to $50 or $60 a month. They received no special teaching nor training. Before the three years were quite over, five other Chinese monitors were appointed at the same rates of salary, two of them were shortly afterwards promoted to act as assistant masters at $25 a month, one was dismissed for misconduct, and two now remain drawing $15 a month, doing duty as pupil teachers and receiving two hours a week special teaching. The first point, therefore, to which I wish to draw the attention of the Authorities of the College is this, that this system appears to need a radical reform, if it is to produce trained teachers for the use of the College, for at present it appears to be simply a scheme for the gradation of the salaries of the Chinese masters employed in the College. The second point for consideration is this. The pupil teachers are practically recruited from the staff of monitors. To illustrate the working of the monitorial system, I will mention a typical case such as actually occurred and frequently recurs. A boy one year comes out first in Class I.B. At the beginning of the next school year he is
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