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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 685 



were naturally united the necessity of giv- 

 ing to China such a system of education as 

 had seemed to lift the rest of the world into 

 civilization. But with it China did not 

 enter with that spirit which moved the 

 German people after their Napoleonic dis- 

 tresses into education both university and 

 common. The Germans were inspired by 

 most personal and national ambitions ; and 

 the result is read in the history of the Uni- 

 versity of Berlin. The Chinese were pri- 

 marily moved from without ; the degree of 

 cooperation which the outside influence 

 found in the Chinese heart was and still 

 is a matter of grave doubt. This element 

 of doubt in the sincerity and earnestness of 

 the Chinese heart in promoting public 

 education is a chief difficulty which the 

 educationists meet. It is not a stone wall, 

 which can be struck down ; it is a malaria 

 which represents conditions that can be 

 dealt with only by indirection. 



A second difficulty is the constant change 

 of the educational purposes of "the au- 

 thorities" and also of the less constant 

 change of these authorities themselves. 

 Shall the provincial colleges be literary or 

 scientific institutions? If scientific, shall 

 they train agriculturists, or mechanical, or 

 civil, or electrical, engineers? In the 

 course of a few years these different pur- 

 poses may be imposed upon the teachers of 

 a college by their official superiors- 

 superiors who are superiors in only the 

 official sense. Such changes are disastrous. 

 No less disastrous are the changes wrought 

 in the transfer of governing powers from 

 one official board to another. At one time 

 Nang Yang College, at Shanghai, for in- 

 stance, may be under the charge of the 

 Board of Agriculture, and at another under 

 the charge of the Board of Communica- 

 tions—Post and Telegraphic. At one time 

 a college may have a president who serves 

 as the source of immediate authority, at 



another it may have no president, but be 

 governed by a council. The changes, too, 

 in the viceroys of the different provinces 

 may fundamentally affect the fortunes of a 

 college. One viceroy esteems education 

 and promotes it; his successor may despise 

 it and seek to limit its progress. All these 

 conditions throw doubt into that most im- 

 portant part of college administration — 

 the budget. Such instability is most try- 

 ing and perplexing to the heart and the 

 mind of the educationists of China. 



Another difficulty lies in the divorce 

 which has for many centuries existed in 

 China between the scholar and the maji of 

 affairs. The scholar, be it always remem- 

 bered, has from the early time held a high 

 place in Chinese society. The learned man 

 has been esteemed, and learning honored. 

 The learning has, however, been an end in 

 itself. The scholar has filled his mind with 

 the paragraphs and the sentiments of the 

 old moralists. Such stuffing has given him 

 pleasure. That his knowledge should be of 

 any worth or benefit to humanity has been- 

 quite foreign to his thought. Most egoistic 

 has he been ; and the community has been 

 content to let him be egoistic. But mod- 

 ern education has for its primary note 

 service. It is in purpose, method and con- 

 tent altruistic. If it promotes scholarship 

 and makes scholars, it looks beyond the 

 accumulation of knowledge to the worth 

 which this wealth may prove to be to 

 humanity. It is the introduction of this 

 altrusitic ideal which the teachers of many 

 Chinese schools find of great difficulty. 



Allied to this specific course is a general 

 condition. Out of which possibly the cause 

 to a degree springs. I allude to the doubt 

 which pervades at least some orders of 

 Chinese society regarding the real worth of 

 human character. Is man, the ordinary 

 man, worth educating 1 Is it well for man 

 to seek to lift man by education? Once a 



