The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1874.

Evening Star, Issue 3557, 17 July 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 17, 1874.

In no country in the world has education been more thoroughly systematised than in China. In that country there are at least twenty educational “degrees.” Matters are so arranged that all Government appointments are made to depend entirely on the success of the candidates for such appointments in reaching a high grade. There seems no reason to doubt that this system is honestly carried out. When we find that such

men as the famous Commissioner Yeh, of Canton, have been raised from the very lowest round of the social ladder to a position scarcely inferior, as regards power and dignity, to that Jof the Emperor himself, solely through their success in passing all the examinations on the Government educational programme, we can scarcely doubt that we have in China an example of a country where the system of competitive examinations and payment by results has been fairly and honestly tried. We must confess, however, that the result can hardly be considered as satisfactory. The Chinese, whatever their other merits may be, are certainly not a progressive nation. The fact is that they seem in ancient times—probably nearly up to the Christian era—--1 to have made very considerable advances in physical and social science. At that period they were in many respects eertainly far ahead of the nations of the West. Soon, however, they began to adopt that soul-deadening system which has brought about such deplorable results, and made them proverbially the ‘ ‘ stagnant nation. ” The main object of this system appears to be to make all men conform exactly to a certain stereotyped model, to discourage as far as possible every divergence from the : Chinese programme, so to speak ; to make, in short, the very idea of a departure from established custom a crime. This system once firmly established makes any kind of improvement ; an impossibility. It is, in effect, an institution for the encouragement of dull I mediocrity, and for the repression of ■ genius. At the present day we see very clearly some of the consequences which have quite naturally followed from this adherence to a “ cast iron ” system. While the Japanese, their neighbors, are seizing with the utmost eagerness every opportunity of “ getting a wrinkle” from the Westerns, while

they are introducing as rapidly as possible railways, steamers, telegraphs, tind so on, the Chinese still maintain their contemptuous abhorrence for everything that has not had its origin in the “ Flowery Land.” They learn nothing, they want to learn nothing ; they go further, indeed, and even hate the idea of learning anything. Now it might be said that this is the nature of the Chinese, and not the result of the Government system ; but our own experience of “John” flatly contradicts any such statement. We know perfectly well that when the Chinese are freed from the trammels which surround them in their native land, they are as cute, and as ready to take advantage of

any “ new dodge ” as any down-east Yankee can possibly be. In short, from what we see of the Chinese who have come amongst us, we can hardly doubt that their backwardness in the arts and sciences is not the fault of the people, but of the Government—of the system under which they live. Now, it is not intended to insinuate that there is the slightest danger of our drifting into a : state of stagnation similar to that which exists in China. We have i merely adduced that country as an example of the deplorable results which may follow a too close adherence to a stereotyped system of education. Believing as we do that all steps in any such direction must have a tendency to do harm, it seems to us that the Education Board can hardly be too cautious in carrying out the good work they have taken in hand of framing regulations for the guidance of teachers for examinations for Provincial Scholar-

ships, for partial payment of teachers according to results, and so forth. On the one hand it is very necessary that measures should be adopted to thoroughly test the efficiency of teachers, and the condition of their schools ‘ on the other, to bring the schools under such conditions as would make them assume a character of dull uniformity, and allow no scope to the teacher for carrying out his own views, would be certainly a step in the Chinese direction. We must confess that we do not feel any very great affection for the proposal to pay teachers according to results. It may be all right enough m theory, but, like other theories, it is found not to work well. It is thought by many competent authorities on the subject that “ Payment by Results” is the one great defect in the Victorian system, which is so excellent m other respects. As those of our readers who are interested in such i matters know, the “ results ” examina-

tion is really the test on. which every schoolmaster’s status as a teacher, and a considerable portion of his salary depend. His classes are examined with reference to a certain programme, according to the average age of the members of the class. If his pupils can pass in the subjects contained in this programme, it is well ; if not, it is anything but well. It is easy to be seen that this programme will naturally have, in the eyes of the teachers, about the same amount of authority attached to it as the Ten Commandments have : in some cases possibly more. In short, it may be said that the one obiect of a teacher’s professional life is to bring backward children of a certain age up to the standard for that age, and to keep clever children of the same age down to the standard for the same. If he act otherwise, if he should allow his bright scholars to go up to the next class, he will in all probability totally disarrange the nice adjustments with regard to age, which are required to be made in order that he may be able to receive the maximum allowance for children of that age. The result, on the whole, is that mediocrity is encouraged ; clever children are unduly kept back ; and unfortunate dullards are unduly spurred on, often to the great injury of their physical, and, no doubt, of their intellectual health. Of course, it may be possible for the Inspectors to devise some system of payment by results which may not entail these disadvantages ; but it is doubtful. We can only hope that if the principle be i adopted, the regulations based upon it will be as different as possible from those which have been made in Victoria.