Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1873-04-24
Education in China.

EDUCATION begins at a very early age in
China, and one meets very small, dumpy
boys in the street on the way to school,
with an armtul Of books-the satchel be
ing a piece of blue cloth. | entered
school the other day-they are easily dis
tinguishcd from the noise Of voices proceed
ing from them-and found an old man
with about twenty pupils. The boys do
not sit on forms, as in England; there
were number Of small tables, each with
boy or two sitting at them. a very
prominent object was a large new coffin,
which the schOOlmaster had evidently pro
vided to be ready when he should require
it. 1t was decorated at the end with a
piece Of bright red paper, and the charac-
ter "Shih" upon it, which is used as SYM
Dol for happiness. This would indicate
that they have not the same sepulchral and
dismal ideas in connection with a coffin
that we have. a school is very noisy
place; all the boys are bawling at the
same time at the very top of their voices.
They do this to get by heart the books
which they are reading, and when they
have done so they come to the school
master, and, standing with their backs to
him, 50 that they cannot see the book in
the masters hand, they repeat what they
have learned. 1t is system of cramming
in which the boy with the best memory
will stand highest, and this seems to be
the Chinese plan all through in education
| was rather astOnished to find that instead
of horn-b books those little fellows were
reading the Chinese classics One boy
was pointed out to me as reading Men
cius; and whoever at last gets the most
of these works by heart is the best
scholar, Imagine boys at home in
a village school, reading Plato, Ho-
mer, or Milton, and being able to
repeat them by memory, and you will
realize the Chinese mode of education.
All this is working up to the public ex-
animation system which occupies such an
important place in China; so important is
it. that it may be called the core of the po-
litical and social fabric. AS it is an old
institution here, it would be well if itwere
carefully studied in reference to our own
examination system, which is but a thing
Of yesterday. The principle upon which
full of defects. A system which has been
thousand years at work, however per
feet and ADAPTED to the times when it be-
gan, is not likely to be in accordance with
the altered circumstances of the times
COnfucius and Mencius is no doubt good :;
but examining mere words into one is not
quite the best system Of training. The
mind has other and more important pow
crs than that of mere memory. Limiting
the resources of knowledge to these old
classic authors is another defect Of the
Chinese system. We have had the strug-
Gle about the classics and more modern
knowledge going on in our own UNIVERSE
ties No sensible person would object to
the study of ancient knowledge. The
limiting of national system of education
in any way must be fault. The whole
temple should be thrown open. The
American who announced THE History
of the World from the Creation till Half
past Ten Last Night" was upon the right
track Of education. Our kilograms from
all round the globe which we read at our
breakfast in the morning, are the last page
in the world, and bring that history up to
somewhere about halfpast ten last
night"
In China the literati, or educated class,
are said to be haters Of foreigners the OPP
ponents Of telegraphs, railways, and of
everything new. Their classic books date
! from the time of Confucius, and the his
tory Of the world, or of intellectual thought,
knowledge, ceases at that time. The Chi
naman has been grinding his teeth on these
dry bones ever since, and he growls if any
other dog should venture to approach.
| This education, confined to such narrow
| limits has been going on until his mind is
as compressed and diminutive as the small
| feet of the women of the country A Chi
nese girls feet are stopped growing in her
| infancy, and literary mans mind has its
growth arrested at the early date of Con.
fucius. A woman here goes about some
thing very like a goat trying to walk on its
hind legs, and an educated Chinaman
seems equally incapable of treading the
paths OF modern knowledge; hence his
total incapacity to comprehend the strange
| foreigners who have of late invaded his
soil. The whole civilization OF these
foreigners began ages after the date OF
Contucius, and the educated Chinaman has
not in his training acquired even the pre-
liminary knowledge necessary to reform