CONTENTS. Letter of the Commissioner of Education to the Secretary of the Interior.... Letter of Dr. Peter Parker to the Commissioner.. EDUCATION IN CHINA: 1. Influence on national character.. 2. Home education 3. Commencement of school life. 4. Stages of study.... 5. Grades of schools...... 6. System of examinations APPENDIX: Letter of Mr. Yung Wing............. Statement concerning Chinese students in the United States.. LETTERS OF HON. BENJ. P. AVERY* AND DR. PETER PARKER TO THE COMMISSIONER. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: Before my departure for China, I received from you a request to secure for use by your Bureau an accurate and full statement of the methods of education in China and "the relation of the methods to the failure of their civilization." On my arrival at Peking, bearing your request in mind, I was confirmed in the opinion entertained before, that to no one else could I apply for the information desired with so much propriety as to Dr. W. A. P. Martin, our fellow countryman, president of the Imperial College for Western Science, at Peking, whose long residence in China, scholarly knowledge of Chinese literature, and familiar acquaintance with native methods of education must be well known to you. Dr. Martin, at my solicitation, agreed to furnish a paper on the sub*The sudden death of Mr. Avery, on the 8th of November, 1875, while minister of the United States at Peking, was mourned as a loss not only to his large circle of personal friends, but to the country which he represented so acceptably. The following estimate of his character and usefulness is taken from the somewhat extended notice of his death which appeared in the Overland Monthly Magazine for December, 1875. Mr. Avery was formerly the editor of this magazine, and his influence in California was recognized as ever exerted in the direction of the highest culture: * * * "Mr. Avery was in many respects a remarkable man. He typified the ripest fruitag e of our western thought and culture. He was essentially Californian. Perhaps no one person did so much to educate the people of the State in the right direction, to lift the thoughts of men above the sordid interests of the hour and the mean ambitions of personal gain. He embodied in his life and character that spirit of a broader culture, purer morals, and loftier aims which constitutes the basis of all healthy growth. He loved California with an almost idolatrous love, but lamented it s hard materialism and strove to make it more worthy of its great destiny; and he was unwearying in his efforts to elevate and refine. The hours that other workers gave to rest and recreation he devoted to the building up of new æsthetic interests and the study of those gentler arts that uplift society and smooth down the sharp angles of our western life. He was one of those rare men who are estimated rather below than above their true value. His capacity for work was marv el ous. * * We cannot recall a journalist, with perhaps the exception of the late Henry J. Raymond, who could write so rapidly yet so pointedly and correctly. His well stored mind poured forth its treasures in a rapid flowing copious stream. He was equally ready in all departments of journalistic activity. He is dead; but the seed of thought and culture he has sown has not fallen on barren ground. His work survives him. The interests he promoted and the institutions he helped to found are living monuments of his beneficent activity." connection with the Chinese educational mission, (which, according to the statement of Mr. Yung Wing, consists of 115 select Chinese youth pursuing a thorough collegiate and scientific education,) are facts of deepest interest. It is difficult to express or conceive the full influence these youth of rare talent and thorough education according to western standards will exert when, returned to their home, they shall become the educators of their people and coadjutors of the government itself. Yours, truly, Hon. JOHN EATON, Commissioner of Education. PETER PARKER. |