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A Introduction
China has been in the process of modernizing her education during the last two decades, but no greater progress has ever been made in any time of the period than in the last five or six years.Prior to 1919, roughly speaking, education in China was on a crossroads of foreign examples.At one time, she had to model after the Japanese system;at another, the German system;and at still another, the American system.The imported systems of education from foreign countries, however fruitful they might be on their own soils, could not blossom well when thus transplanted.It was not until very recently that an awakened realization began to set in in the minds of educators and people in general that they must thoroughly study and examine their own needs and problems before they can adequately work out a system of education which will be truly Chinese and of real service to China.But in order to understand fully the effects of this realization and of its subsequent deliberations and solutions as set down in the following pages, it will be well here to indicate the forces that have brought about this great change.
Perhaps the most profound influence is undoubtedly the so-called Chinese Renaissance.The Renaissance began in 1917 as a “Literary Evolution” when Dr.Hu Suh and his followers declared that the old classical language had outlived its usefulness and that Pai-hua, or the spoken language, should be its legitimate heir.The“Literary Revolution”met with astonishing success.In spite of strong opposition on the part of the conservative scholars, the younger generation received it with overwhelming enthusiasm.This rediscovery of a living language for the Chinese has enabled China to produce new literature fitted for the new age, has revolutionalized elementary school reading materials as well as methods of teaching them, and has made it possible for the mass education movement to go on with its program of eliminating illiteracy in the country.
But the influence of the Renaissance is more than this.It is a movement through which all the traditional values, including the educational, are judged from a new standpoint and with a new standard.Tradition is often thrown overboard, authority is cast aside, and old beliefs are being undermined.In the words of Dr.Hu, this“systematization of the national heritage is a revival or rebirth of that spirit of criticism and research which animated the works of the Han Hsueh scholars of the last three centuries.” 2 As has been said before, China in the former years followed her neighbors rather blindly.At first, she sacrificed everything old for the new.But now and only gradually, she has begun to realize that the old is not necessarily bad and the new is not necessarily good.Her reaction to new theories and practices is no longer imitative adoption, but question, examination, experimentation, and selection.This undoubtedly is a wholesome attitude, and the logical outcome of this attitude in the field of education is the creation of a new system which is best fitted for the need of New China by assimilating what is best in the old as well as in the new, in itself and from outside.
B Administration of Education
1.Administrative Units
ⓐ Central Administration The administration of education in China is highly centralized in theory but decentralized in practice.At the head of the educational system, there is the Ministry of Education which legally is the final authority over all the educational matters of the country.It has three bureaus, namely (1) the Bureau of General Education, (2) the Bureau of Higher Education, and (3) the Bureau of Social Education.The more important officers of the Ministry are the minister, the vice minister, three councilors, three directors of the Bureaus, four secretaries, and sixteen national inspectors of education.Important actions of the Ministry are generally brought to the consideration of the Ministry conferences, which are attended by the councilors, directors, secretaries and others who may be requested by the Ministry to be present from time to time.Such conferences are presided over by the minister.He is a member of the Cabinet and he chooses his subordinates subject to the approval of the Cabinet.Owing to the political instability of the country in recent years, the position of the Ministership changes hands frequently, sometimes as many as five times in a year.But the vice minister usually holds a longer time and the councilors, directors, and the secretariat remain in office for a still longer term.It is to them that the continual functioning of the Ministry is largely due.
However, in spite of the fact that the activities of the Ministry have often been restricted and held back by the frequent changes of its head, it still enjoys much of its old prestige.With the coming of a united country and the appointment of a right person at its head, the Ministry may still become a driving force in the advancement of education in the years to come, although it is likely that local initiative will be more encouraged and the Ministry's former bureaucratic influence will be curtailed.
ⓑ Provincial Administration In the provinces, there are now three existing forms of educational administration, namely the bureau form, the department form, and the commission form.The province of Kwangtung has tried a fourth plan under the name of the Committee of Education, but it is now abandoned.In those provinces in the Southwest, the bureau of education has generally been adopted.Thus in Yunnan, Kweichow, and Hunan, the bureau form of education exists.The director of the bureau is appointed by the governor of Yunnan and Kweichow, but is elected in Hunan by the Provincial Assembly.The department form of education is found in the provinces of Kwangsi and Szechwan and is legally vested with less power than the bureau form of education.The rest of the provinces all have the commission form of educational administration at the head of which is the commissioner of education.He is appointed by the president of the Republic upon the recommendation of the minister of education, and is under the direct control of the Ministry.But in directing the educational affairs of the province and in supervising his subordinates in the management of local education, the commissioner of education is required to work under the governor of the province, being thus doubly responsible both to the minister and to the governor.As a consequence, the power of the commissioner varies with the different provinces, depending upon the will of the provincial governor.As he is farther away from the Ministry and nearer to the governor, there is every temptation for him to follow the dictates of the governor rather than his superior at Peking.
The commission of education has two or three departments for carrying out the main groups of educational affairs.Besides, there are generally from four to six inspectors of education for each province.
ⓒ Local Administration The local administration is divided into two units, the county unit and the school district.Below the province there is the county.There are two systems of county school administration.First, we have the Bureau for the Promotion of Education, whose function is to assist the magistrate in the educational administration and in supervising the school work of the self-governing district.The bureau has a superintendent and a few assistants.But besides the superintendent, there is under the magistrate an educational secretary and also a county inspector who is independent of the superintendent.These three men hardly agree with one another.This triangular administration of county education has proved very troublesome.It is now being gradually replaced by the new creation of the County Board of Education.
The County Board of Education was inaugurated in 1922.It attempts to unify the county school administration.Under this system, the inspectors are brought under the direction of the superintendent, who is appointed by the provincial commission of education upon the recommendation of the magistrate of the county.There is another attempt in this new scheme, that is, the granting of more powers to special cities for the independent management of their schools and making the county government take charge of the village education only.This principle, however, has not been vigorously applied, although the seeds have been widely sown.
The lowest unit of local administration is the school district.The county is divided into several school districts, each of which has a delegate of school affairs, sometimes with an assistant.The school districts in China are not vested with sufficient power to cope with their responsibility.It is most loosely and inefficiently organized.The province of Shansi alone has the best organization of the local unit.Every village in the county and every street in the city has responsible persons to take charge of the educational welfare and they are given much power to perform their duties.Reorganization of the lowest unit, therefore, is one of the most urgent problems today.
2.Inspection and Supervision
In China, there are three grades of inspection.Namely the national, the provincial, and the county inspection.
According to the regulations of 1913, the whole country is to be divided into eight inspectional districts.Each district has two national inspectors.The regular school inspection generally begins in the latter part of August and ends in the first part of June.The inspection covers all phases of general and social education.Special inspection may be made by the special order of the minister.When the inspectors are not on their inspection tours, they are required to be present in the Ministry to attend to other duties that may be assigned to them.During the last few years, all these regulations appear in letters only, the national inspection of education being almost entirely absent.
The provincial inspectors of education are appointed by the commissioner of education.There are four inspectors for the smaller provinces and five or six for the larger ones.Below the province there are county school inspectors.Under the old system, they act as agents for the county magistrates for the school affairs.But with the adoption of the system of the Board of Education, the county inspectors are put under the direction of the county superintendent of education.The county inspectors visit the schools under their charge from once to three times a year.
The functions of the inspectors of education are enumerated in the educational code.There are seven duties for the national and provincial inspectors, and thirteen duties for the county inspectors.But in actual practice, the inspectors are simply visitors, reporters, and, worst of all, faultfinders.Most of them do not realize that their mission is to give inspiration, encouragement, and a helping hand to the principals and teachers in service.In recent years, there has been a tendency to protest against this negative inspection and to advocate in its place a system of constructive supervision.The province of Kiangsu has set up a noble example in this respect.Beginning with last year, the commissioner of education has invited experts from the National Southeastern University and other institutions to serve as supervisors of special subjects.Thus the supervision of vocational education, science teaching, physical training, and normal education was instituted.This year, the supervision of social sciences and national language has been introduced.It has thus opened in China a new era in school supervision and inspection.
3.Educational Finance
Roughly speaking, there are three grades of schools supported by three respective sources of funds.The higher education is mainly supported by the national funds, the secondary education by the provincial funds, and the elementary education by the county or local funds.There are exceptions, but in general, this statement holds true.
As the national revenue comes from the customs duties, salt tax, stamp tax, tobacco and liquor licenses, profit from telegraphs, railways, and postal service, land tax and the like, the national funds for national education are drawn from the complex of these sources.With the exception of a few institutions such as Tsing Hua College, the University of Communications, the Wuchang Normal University, which derive their respective support from special sources, others get their shares from the general appropriation.The national institutions located outside of Peking secure their appropriations from the national funds put under the custody of the provincial treasury.According to the budget of 1919, the only one accurately constructed, the appropriation for the national education of $5,028,836 was really less than one per cent of the total government appropriation for the year.
Although there are professional schools and colleges conducted by the provincial governments, the province is still mainly concerned with secondary education.There is a tendency for each province to maintain a full college, but so far very few provinces have succeeded in their realization.The main sources from which we draw funds for provincial schools are the surtaxes, especially the surtax on land.Kiangsu and Chekiang are now levying special taxes on tobacco for the specified use of provincial education.Two years ago, the province of Szechwan tried to devote its almost two million dollars of pork tax to education but without much result.The tax on transfer of deeds and ownership adopted in Honan yields an annual income of$1,000,000 for provincial support.In the face of financial distress, a number of new solutions have been proposed.They are still at the stage of trial and error.In order to give some idea of the extent of provincial support of education, we may mention as representatives of the extremes that Kiangsu is spending$2,800,000, Chekiang$1,500,000 and Kiangsi, only$600,000 annually.
As a general rule, the county supports the elementary education by surtaxes on land, miscellaneous assessments, rent and interests from the academic properties handed down from the old dynasties.The Shansi system of supporting schools is, so far, the best that has been evolved in this country.In the cities, stores and houses are graded and assessed according to their standing for the support of the city elementary schools.In the villages, a land tax is levied according to its quality for the support of the village education.
On account of the political unrest and irregular expenses for military purposes, the schoolmen are confronted with the uncertainty of educational funds.The provinces that have been seriously short of funds are Kwangtung, Fukien, Kiangsi, Szechwan, Anhwei and Hunan.The provinces that are better off are Fengtien, Yunnan, Shansi, Shensi, Shantung, and Honan.But, in general, the teachers in China are serving the country at the greatest personal sacrifice.
The problems with which we are now chiefly concerned are:(1) How to insure regularity of payment of the educational fund by legal protection and economic devices, so that those who are in educational service can be free from financial anxieties and give their whole-hearted devotion to the educational cause; (2) how to reorganize the tax system so that the burden as well as opportunity for education can be equalized; (3) how to stimulate educational activities through a proper system of distribution and subsidies without curtailing local initiative; and (4) how to economize the use of the present fund so that the maximum of educational results can be achieved at the minimum cost.
C The New System of Schools
1.The System
“China has had at least four systems of schools within the last twenty years.”The newest one was adopted in 1922, as a result of three years' deliberation initiated by the Seventh Conference of the National Federation of the Provincial Education Associations in 1919.There is no space for us to discuss the historical development of the system.The issues that have been evolved in its make-up will be touched upon in connection with the discussions of the grades and types of schools which follow.Since 1922, committees have been organized and kept busy drawing up new courses of study in order to cover this skeleton with flesh.This year has witnessed the completion of all the new courses of study except a small part in vocational education.They were voted upon and approved by the Tenth Conference of the National Federation of the Provincial Education Associations and were submitted to the Ministry of Education for promulgation.
On the next page is a diagrammatical representation of the new system of schools adopted by the Twenty-Third Ordinance of the Ministry of Education.It will be noted that the left column in the diagram represents the standard ages at which students should enter the different grades.In practice, however, these are to be determined according to intelligence, record, and other considerations.
2.The Divisions of Schools
ⓐ Pre-School and Kindergarten Education Kindergarten education has been given a place in the new system and admits children under six years of age.The practice schools of the normal schools, especially the normal schools for women, usually have kindergartens attached to them.There are also kindergartens conducted by private persons and by the missions.But the total number of kindergartens is yet very small.As kindergarten training gives the children an opportunity for active self-expression and also for interaction between the child and the teacher, it is very necessary to have first the adequate institutions for the training of kindergarten teachers.The resolution for more trained kindergarteners passed in January, 1924, by the Kiangsu Conference of Educational Administrators is an indication of the need felt.The Hunan Education Association has also this year advocated the establishment of more kindergartens in cities and towns.The Kiangsu Compulsory Education Association has even recommended the adoption of kindergarten methods in the lowest grade in the elementary schools.Another very encouraging and more significant fact is the experiment on kindergarten education conducted by Professor H.C.Chen of the National Southeastern University.Impressed by the fact that the subject matter and methods used in the kindergarten are borrowed from foreign countries and some of them may not be suitable for the Chinese children, he and his staff began in the fall of 1923 to experiment on the self-made toys, Chinese Mother-Goose stories, and other materials.He is also trying to make the kindergarten a training center for mothers as well as a center for the education of young children.The Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education and Professor Chen have agreed to cooperate in including in his plan an experiment on the least possible cost of conducting the kindergarten education so that it could be duplicated in the largest number of communities.
ⓑ Elementary Education According to the new system, attendance at the elementary school is limited to six years, but it may be extended to another year in order to suit local needs.The elementary school is to be divided into the lower primary and higher primary grades.The former consists of four years and may be established separately.
The courses of study drawn up by the Committee of Eighteen for elementary schools are as follows:
It is further recommended that there should be at least 1,080 minutes per week for the first two years, 1,260 minutes per week for the third and fourth years and 1,440 minutes for the two higher primary grades.The number of minutes are to be distributed into suitable periods for the six days' work.In village schools the subjects may be combined and simplified, but the time allotted to national language and arithmetic should by no means be reduced.
According to the new system, compulsory education is temporarily limited to four years.If local circumstances are favorable, the period may be extended.The school age for compulsory education is left to the determination of different provinces and special districts in accordance with their local situations.
Compulsory education has been contemplated by the central authority ever since the Tsing Dynasty.It was not until 1920 that the Ministry of Education mapped out the definite steps for the enforcement of the same in different communities at specific times.The specifications are as follows:
1921, provincial capitals and open ports
1922, county seats and cities
1923, towns above five hundred families
1924, towns containing above three hundred families
1925 and 1926, towns containing above two hundred families
1927, villages containing above one hundred families
1928, villages containing below one hundred families
On account of the political disturbances in recent years, the above program has rarely been vigorously enforced.The province of Shansi alone, however, stands out most prominently in its achievements.The Shansi program has seven steps to be completed in seven half-years, from 1918 to 1921.Although complete success has yet to be achieved, the latest return of statistics shows that more than seventy-two per cent of the children at school age are now in schools.Illiterate adults below twenty-five years of age are also required to attend continuation schools to study common Chinese, arithmetic, and things which a citizen ought to know.
Another phase in connection with elementary education which may be mentioned here is the village school movement.As more than eighty per cent of the total population live in villages, it is of the greatest importance that village education should receive our closest attention.Recently, the Back-to-the-Country Movement has gathered much strength.The Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education has created a special committee on rural education.The Tenth Conference of the National Federation of the Provincial Education Associations, which met in Kaifeng last October, has also devoted much deliberation to this important matter.The Kiangsu Compulsory Education Association, which met in Wusih in August, spent three days in drawing up seven practical suggestions for the development of the village schools.Beginnings of special investigations of typical village schools in typical communities have been conducted by the Kiangsu Compulsory Education Association and the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education.The reports, fragmentary as they are, have already stirred up great interest in and enthusiasm for the village education.As the average village generally cannot support an expensive education, the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education has selected a few village schools where the principals have shown ability in new village leadership to conduct experiments on the best possible village education with the lowest possible cost.It is hoped that in the course of a few years standards for village education can be developed for a nationwide adoption.
The language problem has practically been settled after China has struggled through centuries against the diversity of dialects throughout the country.Dr.Hu Suh's Literary Revolution has exerted the most profound influence on the elementary schools.The vernacular language, or the“living language,”is now welcomed by most of the elementary schools.The Fengtien authorities, however, have shown some reaction against the use of the vernacular language.Kwangtung is still hesitating to adopt this change.But in the long run, the living vernacular language is destined to prevail in all the elementary schools.
ⓒ Secondary Education In regard to secondary education, the new system has the following to say: “Attendance at the middle school is limited to six years, which are to be divided into two periods of three years each, the junior middle school and the senior middle school.The junior middle school offers general education, but it may give various vocational subjects according to local needs.The senior middle school is divided into the general, the agricultural, the technical, the commercial, and the normal course.These courses may be given independently or severally in one school at a time.”
In the secondary schools, the credit system is adopted.A credit is defined as one hour of class work plus preparation.Subjects with no preparation will have a proportionate reduction in credits.The junior middle school requires the satisfactory completion of 180 credits for graduation, of which 164 credits are for required work.The required courses of study for the junior middle school as drawn up by the Committee of Twelve are as follows:
The courses of study drawn up for the senior middle school by the Committee of Nine are composed of three years of study, namely: (1) General study required of all students should account for about forty-three per cent of the credits;(2) studies required of students who take the course of the special group vary with the course of the group;(3) pure elective studies should not exceed twenty per cent of the credits.The vocational courses of study for the senior middle school have not been published yet.The liberal courses of study are of two groups, namely, that of the Arts and Social Sciences group and that of the Mathematics and Natural Sciences group.These two courses of study are as follows:
A.Courses of Study for the Arts and Social Sciences Group 文学和社会科学组
B.Courses of Study for Mathematics and Natural Sciences Group 数学和自然科学组
Secondary education, as pointed out by Dr.Paul Monroe after his general survey of Chinese education in 1921, is the weakest spot in the entire Chinese educational system.Since then, two national organizations, the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education and the Chinese Federation of Secondary Education, have given much thought to the study of different phases of this grade of education.The attention of the administrators as well as of the secondary school teachers and officers has also been concentrated on this direction.Some of the more important problems and tendencies in regard to present-day Chinese secondary education may be briefly mentioned here.
First, the improvement of science teaching in secondary education occupies now a most important place in the minds of the students of education and also of secondary school officers and teachers.Of all the weak spots in secondary schools, the weakest is the teaching of science.Here science has been taught through lectures and text books with very little opportunity for the students actively to engage themselves in laboratory work.Science study that results in the function of an experimental attitude and in the acquisition of effective control of nature has been greatly neglected.In view of this fact, the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education sent an invitation through Dr.Paul Monroe to Professor G.R.Twiss of Ohio State University of America to make a special study of the science teaching in China and make recommendations for improvement.Professor Twiss, after a careful investigation of 187 schools in ten provinces, left with us a most comprehensive report with constructive recommendations, which is now already published under the title Science and Education .
It is also very encouraging to mention that the Science Society is undertaking to include the improvement of science teaching as part of its regular work.The Society has among its members nearly all the prominent students of science in this country and will be able to exert great influence in the promotion of science education.Kiangsu province has been selected as a starting point for their investigation and experimentation.
The next subject that has received much attention in recent years is the teaching of the national language in the secondary schools.This important subject has been previously taught in a very unscientific and uninteresting way.The teachers without training in education and psychology have to rely on the pour-in and word-by-word methods.For the first time, national attention was called to the needed reform in teaching this subject when Dr.Hu Suh read his paper on the“Teaching of Chinese Language and Literature” at the Tsinan Conference of the National Federation of the Provincial Education Associations in 1922.Following Dr.Hu's address, there have been more than thirty articles written on the improvement of teaching Chinese, most of which have been published in the last two years.The discussions are now passing from that of a subjective and empirical nature to an objective and experimental basis.The place of the vernacular language in the secondary schools is different from that in elementary schools.The tendency is to have less and less vernacular language as the students go along and each decrease is made up by the classical language.
The second tendency is the increasing emphasis on school discipline in the secondary schools.Since the May Fourth Movement, there has been much relaxation in school discipline.Many principals and teachers have simply lost control over their students.A reaction, however, has set in during the last two years.On the one hand, there is a tendency towards negative control, prohibiting the students from participating in a number of activities in which they have hitherto taken an active part.On the other hand, the students are encouraged to organize themselves for self-control, naturally under the supervision of the school authority.Many ways have now been tried to substantiate these two tendencies, and there is every reason to believe that the students' conduct will be improved thereby.
The third tendency is a national feeling against the use of foreign languages as a required study in the junior middle schools.Although thirty-six credits have been put down as a requirement for foreign languages, yet in the presence of such vigorous attack, it is questionable whether it can maintain its present number of credits in the future.
The fourth tendency is the increasing emphasis on vocational training in the secondary schools.As shown by the Entrance Examination Statistics of the National University of Peking and the National Southeastern University at Nanking, less than ten per cent of the applicants could be admitted, and this ratio has remained for the last few years without much change.The vocational advocates feel that it is imperative that the preparatory nature of the secondary schools should be greatly reduced.The schools have answered this call by adopting more vocational courses.But just how these courses can suit the students in their work and furnish them with life positions is a question for which a satisfactory answer is yet to be sought.
The fifth tendency is the segregation of sexes in the secondary schools.Some middle schools have tried the co-educational system in recent years, but they are very limited in number.In spite of the fact that there is a favorable attitude toward co-education in institutions of higher learning and in the elementary schools, there is a decidedly strong opposition to co-education in the middle schools.Hunan, in March, and Shantung, in August, this year have actually prohibited the middle schools from becoming co-educational.Kiangsu takes a milder attitude.It authorizes the normal schools for men to take in women students and permits city middle schools to become co-educational on the condition that adequate provisions be made.
ⓓ Higher Education According to the new system of schools, “the institutions of higher learning may consist of several colleges or of one college.Attendance at the college or university is limited to four to six years.”At the top, there is the postgraduate school, which is an institution of research for college and university graduates and students similarly prepared.
The following two tables will give some idea of the extent of higher education in China:
A few more universities have been added to the list this year and the more important among them are the Kwangtung Government University and the Northwestern University at Shensi.
As to the modern tendencies of Chinese university education, we may take Chancellor Tsai's statement as an indication of the first tendency in scientific research.He says:“The University is not merely intended to offer ready-made courses for students to attend at fixed hours, but primarily to be an institution for corporate work in scientific research.And by research, I mean not merely the introduction of European culture, but original contribution on the basis of what is already done in the West;nor merely the preservation of our national cultural heritage, but seeking by means of methods of scientific research to show what that heritage has actually been.”
The second tendency which may be mentioned is the demand for academic freedom, for no scientific thought and research can ever be properly developed if exterior interference is too strong.Government intervention has always been resented and repelled by the high institutions.This year, when the Ministry of Education announced the new University Regulations, it met with severe opposition from the professors of the National University of Peking and it was finally compelled to lay them on the table for a while.
There is also tendency for closer cooperation on the part of the universities and colleges in the country.This last July, when the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education met in Nanking, the Chinese Federation of Universities was formally organized dealing with problems of common interest in regard to higher education.It is believed that such an organization, if it functions properly, will certainly raise the general standard of university work.
The fourth tendency is the extension of higher education to women.Most of the Chinese universities have opened their doors to women and have been made co-educational.The Peking Higher Normal College for Women has also been promoted to the university rank.
Finally, there is an abnormal increase of private colleges.In Peking alone, about ten private colleges came into existence this fall.A similar condition can be found in other big cities.The government, however, has refused to recognize those institutions, the purpose of whose existence is questionable.
ⓔ Trade and Vocational Education Vocational education has been given an important place in the new system of schools.“The curriculum of the elementary schools may include prevocational training… The junior middle school…may carry on various vocational courses… The senior middle school is divided into the general, the agricultural, the technical, the commercial, and the normal courses (domestic science being added later)… The year limit and the standing of the vocational schools may be determined in accordance with local needs and situations.”
On the basis of these provisions, the Committee on the Courses of Study for Vocational Education has spent three years in drawing up sixteen different courses of study.These are practically completed.Besides the prevocational courses in elementary schools and special vocational courses in colleges, three steps of vocational education have been worked out, namely:(1) vocational courses for graduates of four-year lower primary schools;(2) vocational courses for graduates of six-year elementary schools; and (3) vocational courses for graduates of junior middle schools.
In regard to the distribution of time for practice and nonvocational studies, the Federation of Vocational Schools has made the following recommendations, which have been duly accepted.First, the time allotment for practice should not be less than that for class work which should have eighteen to twenty-four hours a week.Second, the subjects of study in vocational schools should be of three kinds, the vocational, subjects as prerequisites to vocational and the nonvocational.The nonvocational subjects should account for at least twenty per cent of the total time allotment.
Among the important developments of vocational education in recent years, we may mention the following: Szechwan, Kweichow, Kwangsi, Chekiang, and Fukien have promulgated plans for the reconstruction of vocational education according to the new system.Shansi has organized a provincial committee on vocational education and appointed one supervisor for each of the twenty educational districts to take charge of vocational education, compulsory education, and popular education.Yunnan has set aside the tobacco tax for the development of vocational education.Hupeh has ordered all the counties to appropriate twenty per cent of the educational fund for the promotion of vocational training.The One Week Campaign for Vocational Guidance conducted in Shanghai, Nanking, Tsinan, and Wuchang has aroused much interest in this type of education.Lastly, the Ministry of Education has ordered all the girls' middle schools to offer practice opportunities for domestic science.There is also a special fund raised by the National Association of Vocational Education for the special purpose of promoting vocational education for girls.
D The Training of Teachers
In regard to the training of teachers, the new system of schools has the following provisions: “Attendance at the normal school is limited to six years.The normal school may be composed of only the last two or three years in order to admit the graduates of the junior middle schools….To supply the need of teachers for the lower grades of the primary schools, normal schools or normal institutes, varying in number of years, may be established.”It is also provided that institutes for the training of vocational teachers may be opened in any suitable school.For the training of secondary school teachers, there is the normal college at which attendance is limited to four years.“In due time the higher normal schools established according to the old system should raise their standard in order to admit the graduates of the senior middle schools, with an attendance limited to four years;they shall then be known as Teachers Colleges.”“To supply the teachers for the junior middle schools, a two-year normal course may be offered.It may be organized in the College of Education of a university, or in the Teachers College, or in the normal school, or in the senior middle school.It admits the graduates of the last two named institutions.”
The courses of study for the normal schools are now completed by a special committee.Three sets of courses of study have been worked out.
The first set is for the three-year normal schools, corresponding to the senior middle school.Its general requirements are the same as the senior middle school with the addition of four credits of music, and have a total of sixty-eight credits.The professional requirements consist of Beginners' Psychology, two credits;Educational Psychology, three credits;General Methods, two credits;Methods of Teaching Special Subjects, six credits;Teaching Materials in Elementary Schools, six credits;Educational Statistics and Measurements, three credits;Elementary School Administration, three credits;Principles of Education, three credits;and Practice Teaching, twenty credits, making a total of forty-eight credits.The elective studies are of two kinds:(1) group electives and (2) pure electives.Group electives aim to meet the needs of three classes of prospective teachers, namely:(1) those with special inclination towards language, literature and social sciences;(2) those with special inclination towards mathematics and natural sciences, and (3) those with special inclination towards arts and physical education.Each group of students shall elect at least twenty credits from group studies.Besides, all students shall elect at least eight credits from the nine educational studies.Pure electives are left for the schools to determine.
The second set of courses of study is drawn for the six-year normal school corresponding to the six-year middle schools.In a general way, the junior middle school feature is preserved in this type of normal school, yet the whole course of study aims at a continuous process rather than at a break in the middle.It is much simpler and is recommended for adoption in the smaller schools, where, as a consequence, there is no group differentiation, and very few electives.Out of three hundred and thirty credits required for graduation, there are three hundred and nineteen credits for required studies and only eleven credits for electives.
The third set of courses of study is drawn for the training of teachers of the four lower grades of the primary schools.It has three forms, namely:the three-year course admits graduates of the six-year primary schools, the two-year course admits graduates from the old higher primary schools, and the one-year course admits graduates from the junior middle schools.All three forms have been very carefully worked out.Since space does not allow full presentation, they are given in tabular forms as follows:
Note :The study of Elementary School Material and Methods of Teaching Elementary School Subjects are included under each subject taught.Practice Teaching is given eight credits in Forms I and II, and is incorporated in each subject in Form III.
说明：小学各科教材教法包括在所教的各门课程中。教学实习在第一、二种形式的课程中，各占8学分；在第三种形式中，则和各门课程的教学结合进行。
In the new courses of study for the normal schools, four important changes can be observed.In the first place, there is more flexibility and variety, which enables the normal school principals to adapt their schools to special conditions instead of having one standard course of study as was the case in former times.In the second place, there is more emphasis laid on the professional subjects.The newer developments of education which will make a better teacher are included.In the third place, more time has been given to practice teaching.In the fourth place, great emphasis has been put on teaching materials and methods of teaching subjects.Formerly, the needs of elementary schools had not been adequately felt and met, and most of the normal schools were run on the middle school basis.This emphasis on elementary subjects certainly indicates a new era in normal education.
In actual practice, the higher normal schools have been busy in transforming themselves into teachers colleges.The old normal schools are also taking steps to adopt the six-year course or the three-year course, according to their needs and conditions.Some senior middle schools have also opened new normal courses.Another very important move is found in the increasing emphasis on training the village teachers.Kiangsu has since last year established five village normal schools.The Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education, the College of Education and College of Agriculture of National Southeastern University, the National Association of Vocational Education, the Kiangsu Compulsory Education Association, and the Kiangsu Commission of Education are cooperating in establishing an experimental normal school for training village teachers.Mr.C.T.Chao, professor of rural education of National Southeastern University and director of village education of the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education, has been selected to organize this school.
Students in most of the normal schools enjoy free tuition and board.There are students who are admitted on payment of half fees or whole fees, but these are very few.The regular normal students whose fees have been exempted are required to render service in the elementary schools or the secondary schools, as the case may be.A few years ago, an investigation made in Kiangsu province showed that more than eighty per cent of the normal graduates take up teaching after graduation.This rule of required compulsory service has been rather leniently enforced.The tendency is for a more strict enforcement, as is shown in the resolutions adopted at the Kaifeng Conference of the National Federation of the Provincial Education Associations.Kiangsu province has this year prohibited graduates of the county normal institutes from taking more advanced education before the fulfillment of the compulsory service.Fengtien province has even introduced the plan of withholding the diploma until the term of compulsory service has expired.
With the exception of the normal school graduates, all other elementary school teachers should apply for certification.The certification of teachers are of two kinds: (1) certification with examination and (2) certification without examination.Those who have studied in the secondary schools for two years or more, or have taught in the elementary schools for one year or more, or have graduated from normal institutes lasting six months or longer, or have a sufficient knowledge of educational principles and have studied the special subjects to be taught which are shown in the articles or essays written by the applicants, are qualified to teach by passing an examination in the subjects of the regular normal schools with due consideration to grade and sex variation.The examination for assistant teachers is much easier.Those who are certified without having to go through the examination on the subject are (1) middle school graduates who have been elementary school teachers for one year or more;(2) graduates of secondary industrial schools who have made good record in their studies;(3) graduates of professional schools whose special studies will qualify them to teach the subjects, and (4) elementary school teachers with three years' teaching experience who have made good record of service certified by the county superintendent of schools.
All the applicants for certification should produce school diplomas, and statements of good conduct by guarantors, and should go through a physical examination.
The certification of teachers in China is under the charge of the Provincial Committee on Certification.The results shall be reported annually by the governor of the province to the Ministry of Education at Peking.
In regard to the recompensation of the teachers in China, a brief survey was once made in the province of Kiangsu.The result is as follows:
In 1921, another investigation conducted by Mr.Tai, covering six provinces, gives a medium annual salary of $160.25 Mex.for all elementary school teachers, and a medium annual salary of $125.10 Mex.for their first year's service.Making sufficient allowance for the very high purchasing power of money in China, we must still consider the present salary paid to the elementary school teachers as very low.The new tendency is for a higher pay on the basis of increase in teaching experience and professional preparation.The immediate problem,however, is how to make the pay more regular.
Besides the tendency for a higher salary, there are attempts at remuneration for encouraging longer service.The importance of the pension system has not yet been fully realized, yet a beginning has been well made.The Chekiang Conference of Educational Administrators has recommended a sabbatical year for elementary school teachers who have served for six years and an annual pension of a quarter of the last year's salary after twenty years of services, or, if made disabled, after ten years of service.It has also recommended a system of special grants from a quarter to the equivalent of the whole salary to be made to the families of the teachers when the latter die.The Kiangsu Commission of Education has this year adopted a temporary system of pension.According to this system, an elementary school teacher shall be given annually one third of his last year's salary, if (1) he is disabled on account of sickness after a continuous tenure of service for eight years, or (2) he is disabled or seriously wounded in performing his official duties, or (3) he retires on account of old age after a continuous tenure of service for twenty years.Besides, one of his children may attend any government school in the province without paying the fees.
In regard to the tenure of elementary school teachers, very little investigation has been made.The contract of the teachers is, as a rule, on a half-year basis.The data on the tenure of service of teachers in thirteen schools in Kiangsu gathered a few years ago may give some idea of the situation.But it will be a mistake to take this meagre data as representative of the whole country.
The need for teachers is imperative in China.Estimating on the basis of forty million children of school age for the four years' elementary education, we shall need at least one million teachers for the four elementary grades.But according to the latest report we have only 223,279 teachers who are now serving in the lower primary schools.More than three times as many as the present number have to be added in order to enforce a nationwide compulsory education.There are now 43,846 students in the normal schools and normal institutes, and no more than 10,000 teachers can be turned out every year as against the need for 770,000 teachers.The problem is both serious and urgent and will have to be solved only gradually.
E Some Recent Educational Activities and Developments
1.Educational Tests and Measurements
The educational test movement began in China four or five years ago when Professors Liao and Chen of Nanking, and Professors Lew and Chang of Peking started to give courses on scientific measurements in education and did some original work in the construction of tests.It was not until the coming of Professor William A.McCall of Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1922 that this movement began to start its great momentum.In cooperating with Chinese psychologists at different centers, Professor McCall succeeded in getting twenty tests constructed for the use of elementary and secondary schools.The tests added this year are as follows:
1.Comprehensive English Test
Anderson
2.Geography Test
Young
3.Arithmetic Practice Test
Yui
4.Drawing Test
Yui
5.Intelligence Test
Liu-Bradshaw
6.Self-Survey Comprehensive Test
Terman
7.Lower Primary Non-Verbal Intelligence Test
Chen
8.Higher Primary Non-Verbal Intelligence Test
Chen
9.Chinese Grammar Test for Higher Primary
Chen
10.Composite Mathematics Test
Liao
11.Composite Science Test
Liao
12.Chinese Language and Literature Test
Liao
13.Chinese Grammar Test
Liao
14.History Test
Liao
15.Geography Test
Liao
There are two special features which are worth mentioning of the test movement in China.In the first place, all the tests are scaled according to a new uniform system, the T.B.C.F.system, so as to secure comparability of scores from test to test and thus facilitate the tabulation and interpretation of results, and all the direction books are modeled after one standard design so that the teacher will find it necessary to learn only one procedure.In the second place, all tests are published at one place, that is, the Chinese National Association for the Advancementof Education.This has saved the schoolmen much trouble in locating and securing the tests.
In the fall of 1923, Professor Terman of Yenching University at Peking, and Professor Cha of the Peking Normal University were requested by the Chinese National Association to conduct a cooperative self-survey, using especially designed and self-administering tests.“The purpose of this survey is to acquaint educators with tests, to motivate teachers to make use of self-helps to be published by the Association, and to conduct a national contest among the pupils.”This survey, in spite of its shortcomings, has accomplished its original purposes.The final report of its findings, known as the Efficiency of Chinese Elementary Schools , by Terman, was published this spring.
2.Medical and Social Welfare of School Children
The health and social welfare of students have received more attention in the elementary schools than in the secondary schools.The better schools, such as the Shian-Shan Children's Home, the Practice Schools of Southeastern University, of Peking Normal College for Men, and of Peking Normal College for Women, and the Tsu Yih School in Hunan, have given much opportunity for children to take active participation in social activities and have given much attention to the physical well-being of the pupils.The report that could be secured on this topic is that of the Practice School of the Peking Normal College for Women.It is a school of 590 pupils.The school physician was introduced in 1920.Medical inspection is conducted once every semester.Vaccination is a requirement and is done once every year.In extra-curriculum activities, free play and athletics are emphasized.Chinese games as well as foreign games are introduced.Correction exercises are given by physical training, and general knowledge on health is given in a course on hygiene.Attention is also given to ventilation, lighting, seating, etc.School gardening furnishes another opportunity for healthful recreation.Out-of-door activities are encouraged.Excursions are arranged for each class at least once every semester.There are also student self-government, a literary society, class meetings, weekly mass meetings, the cooperative store, the children's club, the children's reading room, the savings society, and tens of other organizations which furnish ample opportunity for the development of the social life of the child.
Perhaps the most important thing that has been done this year is the enormous amount of research conducted by Professor C.H.McCloy under the joint auspices of the National Southeastern University and the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education.The following have been completed:
1.A series of studies in anthropometry and physical examination.Some of the results may be enumerated as follows:
a.A study of weight for body types has been completed.A new weight card has been prepared in which a new basis of calculating weight has been adopted.
b.A study of chest measurements has been made.
c.All measurements commonly taken have been intensively studied to determine whether or not they are really diagnostically useful.This has narrowed down the study to a few really important measurements and these have been studied as to how they can contribute to the welfare of the students.
d.The chest index as a basis of a test for hereditary stigmata of degeneration has been made and is nearly completed.
e.A study has been made of the vital measurements and school grades to see what the relation might be.
f.A new weighting for age-height-weight and athletic performance has been devised.
g.A careful statistical study of medical examination has been made and a new form devised to give results in graphic as well as numerical forms has been worked out.
2.A study has been made of a few athletic events to determine which of the quite similar events should be utilized.This has been done, for example, with three forms of the potato race and the best form has been statistically determined.
3.A careful study has been made of standard tests in athletics.A study of eleven events was made with three hundred primary school boys and a study of eighteen events with three hundred and thirty middle school boys.The best events for each standard test have been statistically determined.
4.A universal scoring table has been devised for over seventy events in track and field athletics.These give an approximately equivalent degree of difficulty for all events when the same point value is attained.
5.Methods have been evolved of determining the Motor Quotient of a boy or a girl in athletic events based on the standard events and the above-mentioned age-height-weight weighting.This is quite accurate.
6.Studies of standard tests in football and basketball have been undertaken and the preliminary steps finished.
Some of the above material has been published, but some has yet to be published.When all ready, it will put physical education and physical examination in China at least ten years in advance.
3.Mass Education—A Movement to Remove Illiteracy
Mass illiteracy presents a unique problem in China.Deducting one hundred and twenty million children who are either below or in the school age, and eighty million who have spent on the average three years in the old schools, there are still about two hundred million, or fifty per cent of the whole population, who have never had any schooling.This is a gigantic problem for the advocates of popular education to solve.The National Y.M.C.A.several years ago started the new experiment on popular education.At the Second Annual Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Education held at Tsing Hua College, 1923, the National Association for the Mass Education Movement with Mme S.L.Hsiung as its president was organized, and the movement immediately received nationwide support and backing.
In substance, the so-called mass education utilizes four popular readers based on a vocabulary of about twelve hundred most common Chinese characters.An average illiterate can complete the four readers in four months by spending one hour a day.At the end of four months, he will be able to read newspapers, books, and correspondence based on the vocabulary and to express himself by using the same.As these four readers cost altogether only twelve cents Mex., even the poorest can afford to buy.There are three ways in the teaching of illiterates.First, there is the People's School, which has a teacher who meets his classes regularly at definite periods of time.Second, there is the People's Reading Circle, which takes the home, the store, etc.as a unit, and encourages the literate people in the home or in the store to teach his own associates.Third, there is the People's Question Station where the illiterates may stop and ask questions on any point in the book which he does not understand.These stations are generally under the charge of shopkeepers who are willing to contribute their time to the work.With these means, the readers have been introduced into the homes, stores, factories, schools, churches, monasteries, yamens , steamships, prisons, and army camps.Within two years' time, the circulation of these readers has reached the two-million point.These readers are followed by a series of booklets on various branches of knowledge.It will not be long before we see a compulsory popular education in operation in China with its tax on ignorance.Friends of popular education have the ambition to achieve the miracle of eliminating two hundred million of the illiterates in a generation.
4.The Development of Science Instruction
For some time, there has been a growing dissatisfaction at the result of science instruction, especially in the secondary schools.The dissatisfaction was directed not only to the poor equipment, but largely to the methods employed.In 1922, Dr.Paul Monroe of the International Institute of Education, New York, visited China and his observation confirmed the opinion of many regarding science instruction.Upon his recommendation, the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education invited Dr.G.R.Twiss of the Ohio State University to come to China to assist in the improvement of methods of instruction in the science subjects.He made very extensive trips throughout China.Though brief has been his sojourn and limited have been his recommendations, his visit has provided a great stimulus to the science teachers of the country.Another important fact that may be mentioned is the establishment of summer institutes for science teachers in which the teachers of science can pursue, under expert supervision, further studies during the summer months.Such institutes are to be held under the joint auspices of educational and scientific organizations.The first one was held in 1924 in Tsing Hua College, Peking, and the second one will be held in the National Southeastern University at Nanking.
5.The Library Movement
China has had libraries ever since the Chow Dynasty, several centuries before the Christian era.But they were only accessible to the few intellectual aristocrats and could hardly be reached by ordinary students, not to speak of the mass of the people.With the advent of new education, school libraries have gradually come into existence, until this year there are a dozen college libraries with the best modern equipment and quite a number of fairly equipped secondary school libraries in this country.This means more opportunities for the teachers and students to get at the sources of knowledge.In the meantime, the classical libraries in various educational centers, however hesitative they may be, are gradually opening their doors to more advanced readers.
Having realized the needs of modern methods for the management of modern libraries, institutions of higher learning have sent, from time to time, a number of students abroad to study library science.When the Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education held its First Conference in Tsinan in 1922 there were already several Chinese librarians with modern training, who immediately set to work to organize a committee on library science under the auspices of the Association.Their aims are to promote more libraries, to have better methods of managing libraries, and to draw more people to use the libraries.In order to carry out these projects more effectively, they put through, at the Second Conference held in Tsing Hua College in 1923, a resolution for organizing local library associations.Thus, in 1924, eight such associations were formed.It was simply natural and spontaneous that when the Third Annual Conference was held at National Southeastern University in July, 1924, they looked forward to organizing a national library association of China to unify the efforts of individuals and institutions interested in this movement.This national organization is to take form in 1925.Thus, the cry for more books and better books, more libraries and better libraries, has become nationwide.Our librarians are losing no time in making their unique contributions.At the same time, the cry for more people to use books and libraries is being answered by promoters of the Mass Education Movement.Miss Wood, one of the best friends of our library movement, and others are kept busy in securing portions of the American Boxer Indemnity Fund for founding model public libraries in this country.The Chinese National Association for the Advancement of Education has requested the American Library Association to send a library expert here to help make a systematic plan for such an undertaking.
F Missionary Education
According to the statement of Dr.Wallace, the associate general secretary of the China Christian Educational Association, it is probable that the total number of students in the Protestant missionary institutions at present is near three hundred thousand.It is still in the direction of increase.The college students have increased in the four years from 1920 to 1924 by seventy-six per cent.Archbishop Ceiso Costantini gives 253,953 as the number of students under the training of the Catholic churches.Thus, out of every hundred students in China, there are eight in the missionary schools.
The outstanding event of the year in regard to the missionary education has been the organization of the China Association for Christian Higher Education.This Association has appointed a council to act as an interim body, also as the Council of Higher Education of the China Christian Education Association, thus linking up the higher education with other activities of the latter organization.Rev.E.C.Lobenstine, the Council's secretary, is now engaged in making a study of the institutions, particularly with reference to their financial position and the possibilities of coordinating their efforts.The chief purpose of the Council is to enable the Christian institutions of higher learning with their limited resources to make the most effective contribution to the needs of China.
Missionary education, in spite of its good record, has been attacked on three diTherent grounds.First, it is generally attacked on the ground that the Christian institutions are entirely under foreign control.Even qualified Chinese Christians are rarely given opportunity for holding responsible positions.Secondly, it is criticized for teaching religion to young children who are not mature enough to make intelligent decision for themselves.Finally, there is serious suspicion on the part of the Chinese that the missions are organizing a system of Christian education parallel to the Chinese government system which might become in time an irreconcilable group within a larger group.
As a consequence of these facts, we have witnessed two successive attacks on the missionary education in the two National Educational Conferences held in July and October this year.The more conservative Chinese, however, think that, in this transitional stage, missionary education of the more liberal type does have a unique contribution to make by way of supplementing the government education in providing wider educational opportunities for the students and setting up a better example in school discipline.They also believe that missionary education should be more socialized, liberalized, and made more Chinese.Finally, they feel that the missions would be able to make a better contribution, if they should concentrate their efforts and resources on a few institutions of higher learning and not for the establishment of secondary and elementary schools of poorer grade.They believe that secondary and elementary schools of experimental nature might be opened by the missions as well as by other private agencies, and any attempts to multiply them and build a system out of them are bound to conflict sooner or later with the government system.
G A Few Concluding Remarks
The Chinese schoolmen are working under overwhelming difficulties and adverse conditions.It is generally true that instead of being discouraged under such circumstances, they regard these as opportunities for effort and endeavor.China may be said to be a virgin soil for educational service or as a social vacuum which absorbs any amount of energy that one is willing to put into it.In order to understand Chinese education today, therefore, we must see it in terms of the difficulties that are involved and the effort that has been put into it.