Excerpt from Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education: No; 1-1877; Reports on the System of Public Instruction in China

Sir: The accompanying paper on education in China, prepared at the request of the late Hon. Benjamin P. Avery, then United States minister resident at Peking, by Rev. William A. P. Martin, LL. D., president of the Imperial College, Peking, a native of the United States, was furnished to this Office some time since through the courtesy of the Hon. Secretary of State. It has not been printed before from want of sufficient means.

The peculiar fitness of the author to make an authoritative statement in regard to education in China will be generally admitted, while the estimate of the value of this paper expressed by Hon. Peter Parker, M. D., for many years resident in that country, and formerly United States commissioner to that government, will be recognized as the verdict of a competent judge.

The subject is one of great and general interest, not only in view of the increase of Chinese immigration to this country, but also as furnishing a basis for intelligent comparison between such widely divergent civilizations as are represented by the two nations. It may be possible to trace in their system of education the causes that have arrested the further development of a people whose civilization dates from such a remote antiquity, and who were once far in advance of western nations in all knowledge of the arts of civilization. The causes of a result so well defined and so general must be worthy our study if we would avoid falling into a similar error, while the means that at so early a period led a whole people to so high a development and held in unity as a nation so many millions during many centuries, are well worth investigation. The evils resultant from a rigid, uniform, and universal system of training may be noted, and similar mistakes avoided.

In striking contrast with this account of the ancient system of education in China will be found the accompanying statement made by one of the two government commissioners in charge of youth who have been sent by that government to this country to be trained in a knowledge of the science and literature of the western nations.

As of general interest to educators, I recommend the publication of the accompanying documents as a circular of information.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education