The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1918-07-04

VI eiiSSS 'ioIi1ueiohS 10 W supply IedCH-
ers to innumerable secondary schools,
and the great burden of improving and
spreading education also rests with
them.
The decisions made at the confer
ence were in the form of recommended
tions, but all of them have now been
approved by the minister of education,
who is sympathetically disposed to-
ward the reforms The constitute for
China comprehensive educational
program worthy of special attention.
The resolution to teach Mandarin to
country teachers so that they can
some day conduct their teaching in
that language, when it is properly
carried out, will unity the country and
tear down the wall of provincial
prejudice. Even Chinese themselves
1nd it difficult to travel from one part
of the country to another on account of
the use of many different dialects.
which frequently leads to misunder-
standings and sometimes to real al
tercations. Many schools, colleges and
universities throughout the length and
breadth of the republic have already
commenced to give courses in Man
DARN. bat the effort of the High Nor
nal Colleges to teach it to country
teachers is the latest.
The suggestion to send an cducn
t'onal commission to America was
made by DR.: p. w. Kuo, a Columbia
University graduate, and one of
China's most brilliant young educators.
The commission will consist OF the
presidents Of the High Normal Col
leges and delegates from the minis
try of education and will be similar to
the commission despatched to the Phil
ippines and Japan in the summer of
1917. The Forthcoming visit of PROM
inent Chinese educators will undoubt-
edly result in the adoption by China
of many of the features of Americas
educational system.
The unification of educational meth
DDS planned by the conference pro-
vldes that two-thirds of the students
for each high Normal College should
come from the other II provinces and
the special dominions, and one-third
from the province in which the school
is located. Such system, aside from
removing loca! prejudice, is bound 70
make the educational methods more
uniform. Recommendation for the i'm
mediate certiication of secondary
school teachers. when carried out, will
result in the elimination of those who
do not possess sufficient qualifications
and the taking into service of normal
college graduates. The division of the
country into six educational districts
in which are located these colleges is
no less praiseworthy. The presidents
will be required to visit their districts
and study their needs with view
to meeting them. It is hoped that
more practical teachers will be turned
out in future. The formation of an al
lance among the High Normal Col
leges for mutual assistance will make
educational work much easier and less
irksome, as its heads will meet once
year to exchange ideas, thrash out diff
ficulties and consider questions of COM
mon interest. The first conference took
place in the capital, and the next one
will probably be held at Marking, the
second important city of the country,
which has already supplied the repub-
lie with two of its presidents.
The High Normal Colleges each en-
roll from 600 to 1900 students, and
are laid out for the most part on the
plan of American colleges, giving all
the prescribed academic courses, and
gymnastics of every sort Special en-
phasis is laid on boxing, an old Chi
nese science long neglected. Social
clubs, cooperative stores, college banks
and student bands remind one of
American universities. A number of
the colleges also ocer the courses of
an agricultural college and maintain
model farms; others are equipped with
machine shops and foundries.
China is laying stress on education,
and visit to her High Normal Col
leges offers most reassuring promise
that she is approaching a new indus
trial and economic era thoroughly
equipped to meet it's problems.
THE NATIONS