Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 80.djvu/449

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continuous growth. In all fairness it should be noted that, compared with Chihli, the other provinces would make but a sorry showing, though those which have within their borders large treaty ports, such as Hongkong, Shanghai, Hankow, Ningpo, Amoy and Foochow, have also done well, and the remote province of Ssu-ch'uan, especially so, considering its remote geographical position. It will be perceived that support of the new system is almost proportional to acquaintance with the foreigner, and in developing this support the educational work of the missionaries, both protestant and catholic, has had a preponderating influence, though the material rewards derived from the foreigners' superior knowledge are not unperceived and unappreciated.

A false impression may easily be obtained from figures such as these, by inferring that the results accomplished in these schools are comparable to those of similar foreign schools, which is far from true as yet. This results from a number of causes. Perhaps the chief of these is that the control of the national and provincial educational boards has remained largely in the hands of the officials of the old system, who naturally are rather ineffective in putting the new in force. This has already begun to change for the better, and young men who have studied abroad have been appointed to minor positions on the Peking board, as well as to provincial and local boards. Another drawback is the lack of properly qualified teachers—the pay of teachers in the lower schools is naturally small and the demand for educated Chinese in commercial