Sessional_Paper_1901 — Page 319

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Many of the boys seem ignorant of the nature of a petition, and very few can translate one. surprising fact that scarcely any boys knew the English equivalent for the Chinese title of the Regis- trar General. We append a few of the attempts at rendering it :-

Lord of Wa Mang.

Your Regisstresous General.

Your Honour Colonel General.

Office of the Pritty.

Dear Restoni General.

The Benefactor.

Colonel Registerer.

The Governman, &c.

While the Chinese character Hat (2) is constantly mistaken for a man's name and is variously rendered:

Mr. Lord Hard.

Our Lord master Lord Hart.

Sir Lord Hut, &c.

The boys did not seem to understand the meaning of idiomatic sentences in their own language, and have little conception of the distinction between sense and nonsense.

(b) English into Chinese.-The percentages of passes were 15 %, 6%, nil, nil, and 2 %. in I A.B., II A., II B., III A., III B., respectively. Very few boys were able to write correctly the characters of their own language. In fact, Chinese appeared a foreign language to them and they left us with the impression that, while learning little English, they were rapidly forgetting Chinese.

In all, 5 boys-HUNG KWOK LEUNG, HUNG HING KAM and HO SHAI WENG (in I A.B.), WONG SHING SHEUNG and CHAN SUI UN (in II A.)-bave passed in both papers, while 5 boys-FUNG MUN CHAK and CHUNG TAT MAN (in I A.B.), NG CHI KWAN (in II A.), Ho YAU SIK and U SHING (in III A.)-passed in translating Chinese into English, and 2 boys-U KWAN PO (in II A.) and Ho SHAI SUN (in III B.)-passed in translating English into Chinese. The performance of II B. obtaining no passes in either paper, was lamentable in the extreme.

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History was very weak. The boys labour under the initial difficulty of expressing their thoughts. For example- "Acre was a town in Jerusalem it was taken by the French and made him king 88 years" (III A.); "Cromwell was a statement in England" (II A.); "Mayflower was denoted the Plantagenate Kings of the Crown" (II A.); "The Bank of England are many manufacture towns and a great number of sea port and also very rough" (III B.). Ignorance of history adds to the confusion The way how Lady Jane Grey came to the throne was that she married, the Dauphin (Philip II) (N. 2); Ironsides is a brief and generous nobleman" (HII B.); "Magna Charta was a great charta was a famous outlaw man who lived in the Sherewood Forest. He robbed the rich but help the poor (N. 3); "Act of Security was used to make some matter secure (II A.); “Pil- grimage of Grace was a book written by John Bunyan during his confinement in Bedford jail

(II A.). Ignorance of the elements of geography leads to such statements as "India on the continent of Europe has been subject to England" (II B.); "Bank of England has beautiful mountain ranges high peaks" (II B.). A boy asked to give the provisions of the Treaty of Union says--" Tea was brought to England by the Dutch from China; tobacco and pottatoes was brought to England by Drake." In conclusion we must point out that in 3 forms (N. 2, II A., and II B.) not a single boy has passed. However, 3 boys-SILAS in N. 1, HUNG HING KAM in I A.B., and CHAN SZ Yui in III A.-showed considerable historical knowledge.

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Geography was worse. Out of 9 forms only 3 have obtained a percentage of passes. We hasten, however, to express our regret that the papers for I A.B., and N. 1 and 2 were not set strictly on the syllabus, and we have, therefore, adopted the suggestion of the Headmaster that "for purposes of settling the order in these classes, and for prize winners, this subject be not counted.” Of the remain- ing forms, in N. 3, N. 4, and III A, no boys have passed, while II A, II B, and III A, show 12 %, 12% and 35% of passes respectively. The only boy who showed a competent knowledge of the subject was TAM WING KWONG.

For example the following was given as an answer to the question "What are the boundaries of Bulgaria?":-

N.

Arctic Ocean.

E.

Ural Mountain, Ural River and Caspian Sea.

S.

Caucuses Mountains, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea.

W. Atlantic Ocean.