The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-10-04
A CHINESE BOYS SCHOOL.

INV! ~
A CHINESE BOYS SCHOOL.
nesses of Tibet, the frozen lands of New
chwang and the fever ridden districts o.
Yunnan, no matter how small, poor anC
miserable the community may be, its frs
expense is for the education of its little
ones.
Its morals may be queer, its habits
questionable, its ideas grotesque, yet new
ertheless China is today, as it was 1900
years ago, the land of scholars and scholar
ship.
No Discipline and No Silence.
The schools are interesting to an Amer
fcan. To one accustomed TO the handsome
public schools of the great cities, to the
improved and attractive schoolbooks OF
the modern age, to the aids to teaching
and to the methods OF our pedagogues a
Chinese school seems chapter from an
Gent history. 1t has no discipline and no
science. You can hear one a hundred feet
away and recognize it Immediately. 1t is
"a babel of shrill voices, raised to high
pitch and keeping on in maddening mo-
notony. This is the noise made by the
children committing their lessons to mem
DRY. Recollection is the great quality TO
be developed in the pupil. He does develop
it in way that is simply startling. He
starts in life better equipped in this regard
than the boy of any ether race. For 40
centuries his ancestors have been trained
In the same manner, and he inherits a
power that is phenomenal Imagine an
American boy who can recite the Bible
from end to end. No such boy exists.
But this would be a bagatelle to young
Celestial Scholars of 10 and 16 years of
ago can usually recite 90 books by heart
and then not excite remark or praise.
Scholars Of mature age can recite so or 60
as q matter of course.
Yet Nervous Prostration Is Unknown.
The schooIroom is neat, clean and not
unattractive. On the wall are long ban
ners containing inscriptions from the
classic writers. The teacher sits in hand
some armchair at finely carved table
Before him are the ink, brushes and pa
per, a few books and his inseparable COM
panion, the pipe. The boys, ranging in
number from to 40, occupy smaller chairs,
or stools, and tables. There are no classes
nor divisions. Each boy works ION his
own hook" and according to the teachers
estimate of his abilities and tendencies.
The teacher is parsonage greater than
q college professor at home. 1.-The five
good powers we should reverence" says
The Chinese proverb, "are heaven, the en-
peror, your schoolmaster, your ancestors
and your parents" The teacher selects the
name for the scholar instead of the par
ents. He determines and marks out the
intellectual and often the commercial or
professional path that is to be followed in
hitter life When the scholars arrive in the
morning, they kow tow TO him as TO a su-
perior being. They advance slowly few
steps, then stop and bow until they are
nearly bent double. Next they fall forward
on their hands and touch the floor three
times with the forehead. The teacher
thanks them and tells them to rise and
study. Each stands up, bows and goes to
his own place. Here he opens book and
forthwith starts believing his lessons at
the top of his lungs.
The Chinese Primer.
There is little or no mischief and no
horseplay. The master is furnished with
a vicious looking rattan or bamboo, but is
very seldom required 10 use it. When he
iioes, it is long remembered. The curricu-
lum is exceedingly odd There is no spell
ing in Chinese and no letters. Every char
acter is an telegraph and as such is mem
orized at the very first. 1t is not until long
after that the teacher explains their nature
and shows how they began, grew, COM
bined and were modified into their present
condition. There is no geography nor
grammar Chinese is essentially a gram
marless tongue. The first book the child
takes up is in rhyme and written In lines
~ ,hr-a mol Of - 4
paraphrased as follows:
Your father love
All things above.
Your mother cherish
Unless you perish.
BE always kind
TO halt and blind
All men on earth
Are good at birth.
AS the literary language IS different
from the vernacular. the poor child under
stands nothing at all at first Nevertheless
he commits ii TO memory and with il the
Gngainly tea chest characters He next be-
gins writing and is compelled TO trace
endless pages He begins at daylight, has
light meal about noon and keeps ii up
until dark. This is the course for many
years In America, when school is in.
quiet reigns supreme; when school is out,
the streets are full of uproar In China.
The land of turvy topsyGom. it is the op-
posite- When school is in. the neiEhbor-
hood is a chaos of noise. when school is
out the little scholars, tired and heavy
eyed, walk home in utter silence.
What They Learn.
What do these little almond eyed ur-
chins learn No geography not even of
their own country or district No arith-
merIc, except enough TO add. suotrat-.
multiply and divide. No mathematics.
art science, gymnastics, music. singing,
foreign tongues. The curriculum Of a
modern university, college, high school or
even public school would be a sealed book
70 the average Monaghan scholar.
He learns rhetoric, prose and poetic CON-
position, letter writing, engrosSing and
illuminating, the history and the litera-
ture of China. He commits To memory a
hundred books ard thousands Of poems
and essays He learns the development Of
his language and his writing. He learns
law, etiquette and custom sIe acquires
aiso a Heir1 and woefili RpaOuraf Of ffl;Siy