CHAPTER II ORIENTAL EDUCATION. EDUCATION AS RECAPITULATION THE SECOND STAGE IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT is represented by people in the earliest stages of civilization and by those Oriental nations that still preserve the characteristics of early civilization. Consequently many historic systems of education are to be included in this stage. Since our interest is in historical evolution and not in the antiquarian study of details, we shall consider carefully only one system, that of China, with brief reference to others. For of all these systems, the Chinese not only is the most elaborate and of longest duration, but also offers the best opportunity for study in the present. CHINESE EDUCATION. The Written Language. In this second stage in educational development, formal education centers in the mastery of the language and literature. A brief explanation of the nature of the Chinese language will indicate why this is true in their case, and will serve as an illustration of the dominant characteristics of all such systems of education. The characters of the Chinese language represent ideas, not sounds: it is an ideographic, not a phonetic, language. Consequently it has practically as many characters as it has ideas. Like the arithmetical digits, these characters have a meaning primarily for the eye, not for the ear. Most authorities estimate their number, exclusive of obsolete words and synonyms, at about 25,000. Considering as totally different those characters to which a stress mark gives a different meaning, other estimates make the number 260,000. When it is remembered that this list is practically to be learned like our alphabet, even the smaller number presents an appalling task for the schoolboy. However, many of these 25,000 characters are seldom used. In fact, Chinese lan guage con sists of many thousand ideo graphs the nine sacred books, which form the bulk of their educational material, contain less than 5000 different characters. Again, it is to be remembered that there are six distinct types of handwriting-similar to the script, Roman, italic, blackDiffers from letter, of the English. These are the ornamental, the official, spoken lanthe literary or pattern style, the common hand, the running guage hand, and the angular style similar to printing. Of these forms several must often be acquired. But more important than this so far as concerns the schoolboy, it is to be remembered that this language of the school is practically a dead language and hence has little connection with that which he uses in his everyday life. Moreover, verbs have no tense, voice, or mood; nouns have no gender, number, or case. Since the meaning and use of a word are determined altogether by collocation, — by its relationship as shown by position or by stress of voice,the very simplicity of the grammatical structure adds to his difficulty. The use, then, of a literary style, that approved by scholarly standards, -is acquired only after years of practice of a most rigidly imitative character. Their literature a dead language to the school boy Religious books the basis of their education Chinese Literature. -The character of the literature and the use made of it will indicate further the extent to which this education consists in the mastery of literary form. In addition to being a "dead language" - that is, not the spoken onefor many years, it carries little meaning to the student. "It is," says Martin, "as if our schoolboys studied Latin alone, and were compelled to commit to memory the leading Latin classics, so that they could be repeated without a single error, and yet with no knowledge of what the words, much less the literature, meant." The Four Books and the Five Classics composing their sacred literature are about equal in bulk to the Old and New Testaments. Their content relates wholly to external forms of conduct, similar to some portions of the Old Testament. There is seldom any formulation of general principles. These sacred texts are the productions of Confucius (551-478 B.C.) and of his followers, and form the basis of the fundamental religion of the Chinese, -Confucianism. While Buddhism and Taoism furnish a cere-' monial and a rationalistic religion, Confucianism in a remarkable way unites social and political ethics with private morality, and absolutely dominates Chinese education. The following brief selection embodying the highest ethical principle of Confucianism that of filial piety-illustrates its characteristic features: Selection from Confucian Text. "1. The sovereign and king orders the chief minister to send down his (lessons of) virtue to the millions of the people. 2. Sons, in serving their parents, on the first crowing of the cock, should all wash their hands, and rinse their mouths, comb their hair, draw over it the covering of silk, fix this with the hairpin, bind the hair at the roots with the fillet, brush the dust from that which is left free, and then put on their caps, leaving the ends of the strings hanging down. They should then put on their squarely made black jackets, knee covers, and girdles, fixing in the last their tablets. From the left and right of the girdle they should hang their articles for use: on the left side, the duster and handkerchief, the knife and whetstone, the small spike and the metal speculum for getting fire from the sun; on the right, the archer's thimble for the thumb and the armlet, the tube for writing instruments, the knife case, the larger spike, and the borer for getting fire from wood. They should put on their leggings and adjust their shoe strings. 3. (Sons') wives should serve their parents-in-law as they served their At the first crowing of the cock, they should wash their hands, and rinse their mouths, comb their hair, draw over it the covering of silk, fix this with the hairpin, and tie the hair at the roots with the fillet. They 'should then put on the jacket, and over it the sash. On the left side they should hang the duster and handkerchief, the knife and whetstone, the small spike, and the metal speculum to get fire with; and on the right, the needlecase, thread, and floss, all bestowed in the satchel, the great spike, and the borer to get fire with from wood. They will also fasten on their necklaces, and adjust their shoe strings, etc."1 The Work of the School consists first in the mastery of these language forms; second, in committing to memory the sacred texts; third, in the study of the almost innumerable com1 Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 37, p. 449. and are Confucian precepts con cerning the proper con duct of chil dren Reading is of forms of language mentaries on these texts, for the purpose of developing a liter ary style similar to that of the sacred writings. Reading. For several years school work is devoted to comfor mastery mitting to memory the characters of a series of six text-books. The third of these, the Millenary Classic, will serve as a type of all. It consists of one thousand characters, no two of which are alike in form or meaning, but which are arranged to secure both rhythm and rhyme. With the memorizing of this text a considerable portion of the characters of the language is mastered, but how complex the task when compared with the mastery of our alphabet! It is true that the content of some of these texts consists chiefly of moral maxims, and that thus the child gets some guidance in conduct. This, however, is incidental. Writing, also, is purely formal imitation In the study of literature, mastery of ary style is the chief aim Writing is also mastered in the elementary schools. On account of the number and the intricate nature of the Chinese characters and the similarity between many of them, this is a far more difficult task than with us. Yet success in the literary examinations depends to a considerable extent upon the calligraphy of the contestant. Throughout the period of elementary education, little or no relation exists between the writing and the reading. The characters the child learns to write he probably has never seen before, and they afford no assistance in his other studies. Only when the pupil reaches the essay-writing stage, are the two combined. Mastery of Literature. — Higher education is devoted to the memorizing of the nine sacred classics together with many of formai liter- the commentaries upon them. Here some mastery of content is necessary, but attention is centered chiefly upon the formal literary structure. The duration of this period of higher education is indefinite. It is terminated only by the passing of the governmental examinations which admit to official position. Thus it happens that many spend the greater part of a lifetime preparing for an office to which they never attain. Instances have been known of father, grandfather, and grandson partici pating in the same examination - and hence engaged in the same studies. literary style is the highest attain ment Literary Composition. For the purpose of developing an An approved ability to imitate the formal literary style of the Chinese, many more commentaries on the sacred classics must be studied than are committed to memory. This ability is the final test of an educated person, and is to the Chinese the noblest achievement of the human mind. To this devotion of an entire educational system to the development of power to imitate in formal essays the literary structure of a dead language, a striking parallel is found in the Latin prose and verse composition of English and American schools of past generations. With the latter, however, it was but a means; with the Chinese it is the end. Moreover, there is an immeasurable difference in the content of the literatures which served as models of literary structure. The Organization of Education is twofold. There is, first, a system of schools; and, second, a system of examinations conducted by the state and serving as the controlling part of their educational system. merous and unsystema Schools.-Elementary schools, wherein is mastered the cur- Schools nuriculum as previously described, are found in practically every village. Such schools are supported by private tuition, patron- tized ized voluntarily, and taught by unsuccessful candidates for the degrees or by those less fortunate recipients of the lower degrees who have found no office awaiting them. Schoolhouses there are none to speak of; school is kept in any vacant room of a private house, of a temple or public building,—most often the ancestral or Confucian temple,—or it may be in a shed, or in any covered nook or corner. School days are long and continue practically throughout the year. The schoolboy, as also the schoolmaster, is sharply separated from those of his own years and relationship. He must devote all of his time to learning, and is disgraced by any labor or even by amusements such as lation fall to the lot of common mortals. Though the expense is very but affect a small portion of the popu |