The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-03-16
SHOWS CHANGES IN
CHINA'S EDUCATION

Paul Corbin, D. D., gave very in.
teresting talk in Chapel Saturday
February rs, on the Evolution OF
Education in China. He has lived in
China for eighteen years and in the
province of Shansi.
He said that in 1904 was the be-
ginning of the modern public school
system, and that so far eighteen prov
inces have been touched by this
movement. However, he thought that
in fifteen years China will be on the
road to her proper place in educa-
tional development.
He described the old and the new
systems Of education. The old sys-
tenn taught the people to be very con-
sentative. In fact China is the most
conservative nation on the earth. Their
religion, Confucianism, is responsible
for this. They had set forms Of lit
eraure and language and even their
thoughts were fixed to a certain ex-
ent because they could only express
themselves in certain ways. DR.. Cor
bin described the old system of ed
ucation somewhat in this manner. At
the age Of six or seven the boys (the
girls are not educated) start to
school. They are given very effic-
lent primer to memorize. All the
studying is done audibly and on ap-
preaching a school, there are sounds
very much like swarm of bees. Of
ten the shrill voice of the teacher is
heard correcting mistake. After
studying these characters for two or
three years the meaning of them is
next taught. If the boys are bright
enough to get through this stage,
at the age Of eight or ten they pass
on. Their degrees correspond some
what to ours but are named different
ly. The first degree is called the
Bachelor of Letters, the second, Mas
ter of Letters, and the last, the Doc
tors Degree. Examinations for these
degrees are held at the county CAPT
tai and at the national capital. All
the work is memory work. Some of
the disadvantages are that there is
no thought given to science and ge-
ography.
The speaker went on to say that
one reason for the weakness Of Chi
ma is due to the fact that all men
were trained under this system with
no thought of outside influence. q.
They believe that China is Gen.
trail kingdom and all the other coun-
tries inferior, and that their way is
the best and only way.
The new system Of education is
modelled closely after the West, d.
rectly from that Of Japan and ia
pans is from Germany's system.
Their schools are divided somewhat
in this manner: the first four years
are called the first primary, the next
three, the higher primary, and the
next is the middle school which cor
responds to our four years of high
school. They find, however, that
they have to insert one year between
the higher primary and the middle
school because the children are not
ready to take up the work of the mid
die school without an extra year.
They also have three years Of Uni
preparatory work and three
or four years of technical work.
Their one serious handicap, however,
is their language. In one district
in China 100000 different characters
had to be learned before students
could progress in school. In ordin-
airy speech the number used is 1000
to $500. This difficulty is being over
come in very promising way, how
ever. A simplified writing of thir-
ty-nine characters carries some hope
of improvement.
The illiteracy of the people is as
founding. In county of 100000
people 95 percent of the people We're
illiterate. In a county of 92,432 peo-
pie, only 1000 boys and thirty-two
girls were found in school and there
should have been from 10000 to
$4,000 in school. In some counties
there are no schools at all. This is
due to the way people live.
V. C.
MAN uTNr,c cDrCrrr