258 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. ( 



spectacle is one of the mightiest triumphs 

 of education and of government ever 

 known, despite all the baitings and failures 

 to Avhich the undertaking is subjected. 



In carrying out the system the making 

 of text-books has become an important fac- 

 tor. Text-books have been produced in 

 enormous quantity and one great variety. 

 Many of them are translations of English 

 or Japanese text-books. In some of them 

 the Japanese influence is strong. Of them 

 all, perhaps none are more important than 

 the Chinese National Readers. The series 

 contains readings on subjects of all sorts- 

 scientific, historical, ethical. It may be 

 added that these books frequently argue 

 against superstition and idolatry. One 

 who knows them has said that they contain 

 nothing which opposes Christianity. But 

 besides this series are numerous others, es- 

 pecially in the sciences. History is also 

 wen represented. 



But more important than the system of 

 education or the text-book is the teacher. 

 The old Chinese teacher does not easily 

 lend himself to the new order. He is by 

 nature conservative'^ He clings to the old 

 methods. He is himself so wedded to the 

 old that he confesses to a sort of intellectual 

 awkwardness when he tries to use the new 

 learning and methods. He keeps himself, 

 in his fear of making mistakes, closely to 

 his text-book. He still emphasizes the 

 value of memory. He himself is not a 

 thinker, and he is not inclined to adopt 

 methods -v^hich quicken thinking in his stu- 

 dents. Modern pedagogy is to him so new 

 a science and art that either he has little 

 appreciation of its worth, or, if he is able 

 to appreciate, he is not able to use it with 

 facility and efficiency. 



The teacher, the text-book and the course 

 of study are all designed for the advantage 

 of the student. The Chinese student has a 

 mind strong and virile. The mental qual- 

 ity is akin to the physical. But his mind. 



like the feet of his sisters, has been fettered 

 by ages of unreasoning limitations. The 

 education of his forefathers has been either 

 no education at all, or, if it has existed, it 

 has been unreasoning and irrational. He 

 himself in his newly-found freedom feels 

 himself strange : he sees trees as men walk- 

 ing. But gradually he is finding himself. 

 His conception of education is rather of a 

 vocation than of culture. The vocation 

 may take on somewhat of a materialistic 

 basis and color. He desires those physical 

 advantages which education is supposed to 

 create. "What are you going to do?" 

 asked a teacher of a graduate— an able 

 man— of Nan Tang College. "Com- 

 merce," was the answer. "And why com- 

 merce?" persisted the questioner. "Is it 

 for the sake of enriching yourself or help- 

 ing your country?" The reply indicated 

 that the purpose was not altogether altru- 

 istic. 



The inspiring motives of the casting off 

 of the old education and the adoption of 

 the new are manifold. The immediate 

 occasion is, undoubtedly, the failure of the 

 Boxer movement of 1900. The entrance 

 of the allied forces into Peking in the sum- 

 mer of that year was the entrance of intel- 

 lectual light quite as much as of armies. 

 The government became aware, as perhaps 

 never before, that there was a world outside 

 of China, and superior in at least some re- 

 spects to China. 



Connected with this occasion is the rise 

 of Japan into a place as a world power. 

 China saw and was moved. She saw, more- 

 over, correctly— that the rise of Japan was 

 due in part at least to education. China, 

 therefore, determined to adopt similar 

 means and methods. She went about the 

 business of education. Japanese methods, 

 text-books, she adopted. She imported 

 Japanese teachers. She sent thousands, 

 even tens of thousands, of her young men 

 to Japan, to Tokyo, to "Waseda University 



