Sessional_Paper_1906 — Page 86

were given on the results of the before-mentioned examination, which was under- taken by the Principal Civil Medical Officer and the Medical Officer of Health. The papers set are given in Appendix B. Appendix C shews the arrangements made for the conduct of the examination: these were left to Some suggestions as to how the conditions of the examination might be modified by the present experience, are given at the end of this Report.

me.

6. The examination for the Advanced Course was held for the boys at Queen's College, and for the girls at the Belilios Public School. The questions were, with one exception, the same for boys and girls. Seven boys' schools and five girls' schools competed, the total number of candidates being 79. The first prize fell to N. J. EZRA of St. Joseph's; the second to W. DRUDE of the Diocesan School and Orphanage; the third to ENRIQUETA FELICES of the Italian Convent and to HUNG IU-CHI of Queen's College, bracketed equal.

7. Without wishing to detract in any way from the credit due to the success- ful schools, it will be worth while to regard the results rather closely, in order to see as clearly as possible how far each of the competing schools has succeeded in reaching the standard that might reasonably be expected of it.

For this purpose

I have analysed the marks, as given in Apendix D), and have endeavoured to shew that allowances should be made for immaturity of years in the competitors, and for scanty numbers in the Classes from which the competitors were chosen. I have disregarded in my analysis the work done by all but the 3 best candidates from each school, partly because some schools sent in only 3 candidates, but also be- cause others sent in many for the educational advantage which those candidates would derive from the examination, and without any regard to the question whe- ther they were not thereby pulling down the school's average of marks. Thus marked, and paying heed for the moment to nothing but the actual result, it will be seen that five schools-Italian Convent, Queen's College, Diocesan Boys', St. Joseph's, and Ellis Kadoorie School-obtained 70 or inore marks per cent., a result which, (taking into consideration the short time during which the subject has been studied) cannot be regarded as otherwise than very satisfactory. Next comes a group of 5 schools-Belilios, French Convent and Kowloon School bracketed, Diocesan Girls' and Saiyingpun-with rather more than half marks, and very little to choose between them. Making the same allowances as for the first five, these on their marks must be considered to have done well. Last come the Victoria School and Cathedral School, whose papers earned exceedingly low marks: of these the latter is not a strong school, (see my last two Annual Reports); the failure of the former is considered in Appendix F

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8. If the figures in Appendix D are now further considered, it will be seen that there are two other factors which, while they cannot detract from the cre lit won by results, seem to reveal cases where the mere figures can scarcely be considered to Lave plumbed the efforts of teachers and pupils. Eliminating Saigingpan, which was unavoidably late in beginning the Advanced Course, the schools in the second category, while they scored about 18 per cent. fewer marks than the first five schools, sent in competitors who were younger by 14 years, and were selected from 19 pupils instead of from 254. It may be argued that the Chinese comperi- tors, if their age favours them, are hampered by their difficulty in expressing their ideas in English; and that the masters of big Classes, if they have more inaterial to choose from, have also to give their attention to greater numbers at the same time. To say that victory must go with the big battalions because it has done so on this occasion, would be unreasonable. I have, however, thought it worth while to draw attention to these points, in order that when, another year, the terms of the competition are considered, the facts may be accessible. There is nothing to shew that the girls are at a disadvantage as compared with the boys.

9. Reference to Appendix B shews that the questions set on the Advancel Course were easy; but this was only fair, as the time for preparation was so short. Appendix D also gives a Table shewing the sum of the marks gained by the three best competitors from each school on each question. Attention is also drawn to the best and worst answers. It is hoped that this Table will be of use to teachers, shewing them where their weak points lie. The noticeable unevenness in the figures given for different questions in the same school can best be accounted for