Untitled

CHAPTER IIITHE GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS OF CHINA.under the supervision of the Government, isGENERAL system of schools for the whole Empire,of such recent date that available information asto what has been already accomplished is limited inscope and frequently lacking in detail. After the establishment of the Board of Education in 1905 there wasworked out, largely under the direction of Their Excellencies, Sun Chia-nai and Chang Chih-tung, a comprehensive scheme, which included the establishment of aCentral University in Peking, affiliated Colleges, Technical and Normal Schools in each Provincial Capital,High Schools in each Prefectural city, and PrimarySchools in each Departmental city and village. This isa bare outline of a plan which contemplated as its finaloutcome compulsory education in Primary Schools ofall boys and girls, and provision for the more promisingstudents to be able to advance, through higher schools,to a normal, technical or university education. In orderto give uniformity to these schools, an elaborate Courseof Study was laid out as a general guide in the formation of a completely articulated system of national education. The whole scheme, including regulations, coursesof study, suggestions as to the method of establishingschools, etc., etc., was embodied in a large tome, prepared by H. E. Chang Chih-tung, and authorized byImperial Edict. A careful perusal of these volumesshows that the underlying principle of their compilationwas the desire to maintain and provide for thoroughinstruction in the classical and historical literature ofChina, thus enabling the new system of education toattach itself, without too great a wrench, to the earlier