EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS IN CHINA. 349 



institution of learning. All that they want their sons to obtain is a 

 knowledge 'sufficient for the need/ By this expression they mean 

 that as soon as their sons are able to take positions as clerks, their 

 education is ' finished.' Their highest ambition is to have their sons 

 become chief clerks or compradores in commercial houses, thus insuring 

 comfortable livelihoods. 



Even the students who aim higher than 'business English' are 

 anxious to find a short cut to learning and to obtain a general knowl- 

 edge of science, philosophy or law in a very brief period. They are not 

 willing to spend weeks, if need be, on a single point. They have no 

 desire for original investigation; no craving for research work; no 

 yearning to become wise above ' that which is written.' They are not 

 willing to sacrifice time, pleasure and money and make everything 

 subservient to the one aim of getting a thorough education. 



Filial piety, inculcated into them by generations of usage and en- 

 forced upon them by their parents, is another great drawback. For 

 instance, if a paternal relative is indisposed, the student must leave 

 school and travel to his village to pay his respects to the sick one, 

 thereby losing from a week to ten days' schooling. In the event of 

 the marriage of a relative or of any other important festivity, the 

 parents desire that the student be excused for another ten days or so, 

 thus breaking into the continuity of his studies. 



The poor physical condition of most of the students is another 

 hindrance to their progress, and necessitates many days of absence 

 from classes. Having been accustomed under the old Chinese system 

 of education to commit to memory what was written, many of the 

 students, who enter an institution of foreign learning where they are 

 required not to memorize but to reason out the cause and effect and 

 to give explanation for all that they do, find the work very hard upon 

 them physically. Their ability to think and reason has been dwarfed 

 by their previous training, and the transitional period of their mental 

 readjustment is a great strain upon their weakened constitutions. 

 One might ask, ' How have their constitutions become weakened ? ' 

 By the use of tobacco and by the conditions under which they have 

 studied. In the Chinese schools they have sat at their books from 

 dawn until dark and read far into the night, seven days a week almost 

 the whole year round, without physical exercise or proper ventilation. 

 Consequently, the physical condition of many of the most diligent 

 students is most deplorable. 



Western education in China, like many pioneer undertakings else- 

 where, has not had a proper start. Until recent 3 r ears, very few real 

 educators have come to China to establish schools. Formerly, most 

 of the schools in which western learning was taught were conducted by 

 zealous missionaries; unfortunately, most of the missionaries were not 



