The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-22
CHINESE EDUCATION.
Attempts to Introduce Reforms-Sub-
 stitution of Western Science.

Attempts to Introduce Reforms -Sub-
 stitution of Western Science
 The curious information upon native journalism and native journalists in China, which we publish from our Shanghai correspondent this morning lends fresh interest to the somewhat startling intelligence as to Chinese ed- eucation which he forwarded to us some days ago. An imperial edict was stated to have been issued which pur- ports to revolutionize the higher edu- cation of the Celestial empire. The of fficial degrees which constitute the in- dispensable qualification for office are to be conferred in future upon an ex- animation in '''modern subjects Con- fucius and the other native sages and poets who have attained classic rank are no longer to form or to warp the minds of the future rulers of China For scores of generations proficiency in the works and in the style of these writers has been the whole aim of Chi nese education. A profound knowl- edge of the classics and mastery of the refinements of the language as they had shaped it were in theory the sole keys to distinction at the famous annual examinations In practice, &C., ademic attainments had to be not in- frequently supplemented by other means, but the mere theory was enough to exercise on incalculable in- fuence on the education of millions of men. The amount of labor devoted to the minute study of the recognized au- thors was prodigious, for the Chinese scholar seems to possess in a high de- gree the indefatigable patience and the faculty for close imitation which are common to his countrymen. The schoolmen of medieval Europe were not more subtle or more exact, and to the schoolmans passion for authority the Chinese student added an enthusi- asm for form of expression unknown in Europe since the first days of the 1tal- ian Renaissance. Native annals are full of touching stories of the tolls and priyations undergone by poor scholars in the pursuit of learning, and of the honors and rewards which followed their achievements in the examination halls. In modern times, at least, the honors and rewards have not always fallen to the lot of pure learning. The numbeer of graduates far exceeds that of the vacancies to be filleed up, and even a good deegree does not suffice to procure immediate access to the dig mites and emoluments of office. The academic distinction merely enables the successful scholar to join the host of hungry office-seekers who tnrong every metropolitan and provincial Ya- men, and in their company he loses any rudimentary instincts of common honesty he may possess. There, what ever pristine innocence he may have brought with him, he soon learns that a round sum in cash distributed in the proper quarter, or the support of some powerful mandarin, is of much greater utility to the aspirant to public life than all the hmoralities of thee four shu and the five kings.
 The first reflection suggested by the attempt to introduce so great a change into the domestic life of China is whether the people themselves will be prepared to acquiesce in it. At first sight the difficulties of effecting so comprehensive a reform at a single stroke even of the vermilion pencil may well seem insuperable It may be doubted whether any community has ever been subjected without prepara- tion to such a radical revolution in it's educational ideals as this, which it is proposed to impose upon a race com monly regarded as the type of immuta- bIe conservatism. All the intellectual and educational innovations made by Peter the Great taken together were but trifiing compared with the substi tuition of western science for Chinese philosophy. Save that both involve in- teileetual effQEt, they. have hardly 8