Sessional_Paper_1906 — Page 626

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History. Is the strongest subject. Some very good papers were sent up. Class V has been working with Classes VI and VII and the same paper was set to all three. But it proved too hard for Class V. The most important mistake made was common to all the papers corrected, ie., that the Feudal System was an invention of William the Conqueror. Its essential features were not understood.

Hygiene.At the end of the school year a paper was set on the first few chapters of the Government Manual. It is perhaps too early to criticise, but the answers were not at all satisfactory.

Arithmetic.--This subject is so very weak that it seriously reduces the value of the work of the School. An easy exchange problem such as must be done by any one who buys goods in England brought 9 girls out of 11 in the 3 highest Standards hopelessly to grief. I drew attention last year to the weakness of the subject, the syllabus of which should be amended. Standard IV waste, over troy and apothecary's weight, time which might be better used to teach them simple decimal and vulgar fractions. The teaching in the lowest Standards was satisfactory. But I am strongly of opinion that in a country with a decimal coinage it is better to begin with that, rather than with £. s. d.

General. The school has distinctly improved during the year.

No. 8.-Diocesan School, Boys.

Staff-Headmaster, G. PIERCY, 7 Assistant European masters and mistresses, and 2 Chinese inasters.

Discipline and Organization.-Discipline very good. The lower Forms have been re-organized, and there is now a Chinese Side to the Lower School. This is, in my opinion, a great improvement.

Sanitation. Very satisfactory.

Floor Space.-Sufficient for 470 pupils.

Apparatus. Very satisfactory.

English, Colloquial. Further observation has led me to doubt whether the many Chinese day-boys can be left to pick up their knowledge of spoken English, and therefore of Written English, from their English-speaking school-fellows. The subject should next year be taught on the Chinese Side, as it is in the Anglo-Chinese Schools of the Colony. Reading.Good. Writing. This most important subject needs some attention. The work done at examination was good in Form IV, and fair in the highest Forms. But there was a marked inferiority in the work shewn up by the boys with Chinese names, and some of it was by no means up to the mark. Much of the work was untidy. Attention should be specially paid to this subject in the coming year. Unless the Chinese boys in Form V im- prove greatly in this respect, I fear that in a year or two the highest Forms will of necessity deteriorate.

Geography.-The teaching of this subject continues to be very good. I received most intelligent replies in the lower Forms. Form V had, I should say, more work set before them than they conveniently could digest. Their Syllabus was Asia and Africa, and China in more detail. They did not do well; and a question on the railways of China beat them altogether. Forms VI and VII did well; but the political side of the subject seems to require more attention.

History. The wars of the Roses was the period selected for the two highest Forms. Instead of examining them on that, I set a very general paper on English History, one which seemed to me to call, not for any recent reading up of the subject, but for some un- derstanding of general principles. I received no answers worth speaking of to questions on the effect of the Fall of Constantinople in driving the tide of exploration Westward, and on the reason why the wars of the Roses led to the increased power of the Tudor sovereigns. But the facts and dates taught were well known. While the present method of teaching History prevails in Hongkong, masters will be under a present temptation to teach such fifets and those alone, as have a bearing on the passing of Oxford Local examinations ; and the students will still fail to perceive the wood for the trees.