CHAPTER VI._Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign Missions

EDUCATIONAL WORK IN THE STATION DISTRICT.

The difficulty of providing tables for the survey of educational work is

as great as that of finding tables for medical work, and for the same

reasons. There is the same separateness, the same diversity of immediate

aim, the same alteration of character, the same uncertainty of policy.

Educational missions have been designed to convert the young whilst they

were yet pliable, to influence the growing generation in order to

prepare for a great advance of Christianity later, to Christianise

society, to educate young Christians in a Christian atmosphere, to

prepare leaders for the Christian Church, to elevate an ignorant and

illiterate Christian Church. All these various objects have been set

before us as the reasons for the establishment of schools, both

separately, each in different circumstances, and unitedly, all at the

same time, as though one school could fulfil all these different

purposes without any confusion. At one and the same moment Christian

children were to be educated in a Christian atmosphere, and

non-Christian children in large numbers were admitted, and non-Christian

teachers employed. At the same time non-Christian children were to be

converted and not converted, but filled with Christian ideas.

All these aims and objects are confusedly set forth, each as its turn

comes round, as the immediate aim of our educational missions; but the

attempt to draw tables for a survey which shall embrace impartially all

these objects is enough to satisfy the inquirer that they are not easily

combined into one. We propose, therefore, in this bewildering maze of

mixed purposes and ideas, to follow the line which seemed possible in

the case of medical missions--to accept the idea that there is an

educational need of the people which it is the business of the

educational mission to meet so far as it can; and then to add a further

inquiry concerning the direct evangelistic influence of the educational

mission, and its relation to the evangelistic and medical work.

But in educational mission survey there is an added difficulty which

arises from the fact that scholastic education is divided into many

grades, and this division has no common standard in different countries,

sometimes not even in the same country. We, then, who are seeking light

not from one country only but from all, are compelled to simplify these

grade distinctions as much as possible, and to accept the local

definitions. This does not really invalidate comparisons between

different areas so seriously as we might at the first glance be tempted

to expect. There is in every country a grade which is primary; there is

a secondary, or middle, or high school; there is a normal, or college,

or arts course. The primary in one country may run into higher primary

and be at its best far in advance of the primary in another country; and

so far the two are incomparable; but, nevertheless, this primary grade

is the lowest grade in each country, and if the inquiry is, what number

of pupils are taught in this local first grade, then the comparison is

admissible. Similarly of the second grade and the third. If the inquiry

is understood to imply no more than it states, and no conclusion is

drawn as to the relative stage or merits of the education in the two

countries in relation to one another, it may justly be argued that the

primary pupils in one country stand in relation to the illiterate and

more highly educated pupils in their own country in a similar position

to that in which the primary pupils in another country stand to the

illiterate and more highly educated pupils in their own country; though

the primary pupils in the one may be far more advanced than the primary

pupils in the other. On this basis a possible comparison can be made.

But since colleges and normal schools generally serve a larger area than

the station district, these are reserved for provincial survey, and the

present tables deal with nothing above the secondary, or middle, or high

school. In the station district area the matter of chief importance is

the extent to which the need of the district for primary and secondary

education is met, and the proportion in which the needs of the many and

the few are met.

Of course where the surveyor has before him more elaborate tables

prepared for some board, he can serve all purposes best by keeping those

tables carefully and sending copies of them to those who may be

interested. Our hasty division into primary and higher than primary is

only designed to save trouble in those districts where no elaborate

distinctions and definitions have been made. If it is desirable for

purposes of comparison to reduce tables from different parts of the

world to a common basis, so long as the tables supplied from any part do

not contain _less_ than the tables here suggested, the comparison can

easily be made, for what it is worth.

We begin then with the educational work done in the station district as

designed to meet a distinct educational need. The first tables,

therefore, correspond to the first evangelistic and medical tables and

set forth the quantitative extent of the educational work in relation to

the area and to the population.

_______________________________________________________________

| | | Number of |

| | Number of | Secondary or | Remarks and

District.| Area.| Primary Schools.| Middle or | Conclusions.

| | | High Schools.|

_________|______|_________________|______________|_____________

| | | |

_________|______|_________________|______________|_____________

---------|------|-----------------|--------------|--------------

_________________________________________________________________

| Popula-| of | to | of | to | Re-

_________|________|__________|________|__________|________|______

| | | | | |

_________|________|__________|________|__________|________|_______

Here it will be noted that whereas in the area it is the number of

schools which is considered, in relation to population it is the number

of teachers, because in the area the point of importance is the

accessibility of the schools; whilst in relation to the population it is

the number of teachers which reveals to what extent the population is

served.

Then similar reasons to those which led us to take into account the

non-missionary medical assistance in the area force us to consider the

non-missionary education. If we are to consider scholastic education as

a need of the people at all, we must acknowledge that the presence of

Government or private schools makes a great difference to the situation,

and if an appeal for medical missions ought to be affected by the

presence or absence of non-missionary medical assistance, equally ought

an appeal for educational missions in any area to be affected by the

presence or absence of non-missionary educational facilities.

It may be true that if the aim of educational missions were defined as

the provision of educational facilities under Christian influence, the

presence of non-Christian educational facilities, in proportion to their

magnitude, might be a challenge to Christians to increase theirs. On

this basis the mission would deliberately compete with Government

schools where Government schools were strongest. But if the mission is

designed to supply a liberal education for Christians, the presence of

Government schools does not necessarily induce competition. We might

well ponder the question put by a Christian convert in India, when

discussing the use of educational missions by the missionary societies:

"Hindus," he said, "are not deterred from sending their children to

Christian schools by the fear that they will cease to be Hindus, and do

the societies think so little of our religion that they are afraid that

our children would cease to be Christians if they attended a Government

school?" Whatever answer we give to that question, in either case the

existence of non-Christian schools is a serious and important factor in

the situation.

We therefore inquire into the non-missionary educational work done in

the area. We are well aware that in many cases the surveyor will find it

difficult to supply the required information, and may be driven to make

an estimate; but the information ought to be provided for any true and

just administration of educational mission funds, and estimates must be

here regarded as at the best a poor substitute, though under existing

circumstances perhaps a necessary one.

_____________________________________________________________________

| | |

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Missionary| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --

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Non- | | | | | | |

Missionary| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --

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Then we need to consider the extent to which the educational efforts of

the mission are used to meet the needs of the better educated and of the

more ignorant. This will be revealed by the average attendance in the

different classes of schools.

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| | | | | | |

________|________|________|_______|_________|_______|________|_______

Then we must inquire into the proportion in which the education given in

the schools is given to boys and to girls. This is peculiarly important

in considering the influence of school education upon the rising

generation of Christians, since well-taught girls make intelligent and

helpful wives and mothers, and this tends enormously to the advancement

of the Christian community. And the same truth applies to the

non-Christian population.

| Mission | Mission |Remarks and

|Primary Schools.| Secondary Schools.| Conclusions.

-----------------+----------------+----------------------------------

-----------------+-------+--------+-------------------+--------------

-----------------+-------+--------+-------+-----------+--------------

-----------------+-------+--------+-------+-----------+

Here we divided Christians from non-Christians, and thus the table

serves a double purpose. It tells us the division of the scholars by sex

and also by faith. It throws light upon the condition of the Christian

community and upon the extent to which mission school education is given

to Christians and non-Christians.

One other point must be considered in connection with mission schools

because it throws great light upon the character of the schools and

their purpose. It is the extent to which the educational mission

receives Government support. If there is any doubt as to the dominant

aim and purpose of a school, the fact that it receives Government aid

reveals at once that in the eyes of the Government it stands for the

general enlightenment of the population rather than for any direct

evangelisation. The dominant aim of the Government is general

enlightenment, and the Government gives no grant without some sort of

control. If then a school receives a Government grant the dominant idea

of general enlightenment will certainly exercise great influence over

its direction. Consequently, if we know what proportion of the schools

in any mission receive a Government grant, we have at least some

guidance as to the extent to which the mission accepts the aim of

general enlightenment. We have also some assurance that the schools

reach the Government standard of efficiency in the teaching of secular

subjects.

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Primary | Proportion | Higher | Proportion | Remarks

Schools | Receiving | Schools. | Receiving | and

| Government | | Government | Conclusions.

| Grant, if any. | | Grant. |

---------------------------------------------------------------------

| | | |

________|________________|__________|____________|___________________

Hitherto we have dealt only with schools in which the pupils are

probably for the most part children; but in some countries the mission

makes a great effort to enlighten the illiterate adults, especially the

illiterate adult Christians, and thus, as in China, missionaries

propagate simplified systems of writing the language, or in other

countries have reduced to writing, languages which possessed no script.

We have already set out the reason why this appeals especially to

Protestant missionaries. The reading of the Bible is a keystone in their

evangelistic system, and with them Christianity and reading go hand in

hand. We must then make room in our survey for a movement so profound,

so widespread, and so vitally important, and a movement of this

character deserves and demands a separate table. It cannot be confounded

with the establishment of ordinary primary schools. It is essential that

we should inquire what education is given to the illiterate adults of

the area; and we must inquire in what proportion this teaching is given

to Christians and non-Christians, because this proportion is very

significant. The teaching of reading to the illiterate is by some

missionaries viewed as a means preparatory to the preaching of the

gospel, a gift to be given as widely as possible, in the belief that

the more who can read, the better will be the hearing given to the

preachers of Christ; by others the teaching is given rather to

illiterate inquirers and converts, and it is given to them as a

definitely Christian gift for the edification of the individual and of

the Church.

By the one this teaching would be classed with the general work of

Christian educational missions for the whole community, the meeting of

the general intellectual need of the district; by the other it would be

classed as a part of the work done by the educational mission for the

enlightenment of the Church, the meeting of a need of the Church. By the

one it would be classed with the tables which deal with the relation of

the educational to the evangelistic work; by the other with the tables

which deal with the educational work viewed as meeting a special need.

The table suggested is:--

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Population. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Illiterate Population. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Number of Teachers of Illiterate Adults. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Number of Illiterate Adult Scholars. |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Christian. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Non-Christian | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Proportion of Illiterate Population. |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Proportion of Teachers to Illiterate Population. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

Remarks and Conclusions. | |

--------------------------------------------------------+------|

This table leads us naturally to consider the educational work done in

the station area from an evangelistic point of view. We must inquire

then into the extent to which evangelistic missionaries assist in the

schools, and educational missionaries assist in evangelistic work, and

the evangelistic results so far as they can be traced of the work in

schools.

We ask first the extent to which educationalists employ the services of

evangelistic workers in their schools and institutions. As we pointed

out in dealing with the relation between medical and evangelistic work,

so here we would insist that this particular table is not by itself a

good guide. There is a serious danger in an institution, whether medical

or educational, of dividing the work in this way. We have already

asserted our conviction that medical missionaries should be

evangelistic, and educational missionaries evangelistic also. But when

evangelistic workers distinctly so called are on the staff of hospitals

or schools, there is a danger lest the medicals and the educationalists

should consider themselves absolved from personal effort by the

occasional presence of an evangelist. "Let him do the religious

preaching, and let me do the secular teaching. Preaching is his job,

teaching is mine." Thus a division is created which reacts seriously

upon the work of both. The pupils learn to distinguish the one work from

the other, as separate and distinct departments. They prefer the one,

they are bored by the other. No man can serve two masters; and if the

religious teaching is plainly in the hands of one teacher and the

secular teaching plainly in the hands of the other, they will tend to

think that they can hold to the one and despise the other. This we say

is a danger, but it is not an unavoidable danger. Only we must not judge

that an institution is doing good evangelistic work because evangelistic

services are held in it. The table is as follows:--

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Schools. | Number of Schools | Proportion of Schools | Remarks and

| Regularly Visited | Visited by | Conclusions.

| by Evangelists. | Evangelists. |

| | |

-------------------------------------------------------------------

| | |

_________|___________________|_______________________|____________

Then there is a most important work which the educational evangelist

does, or might do, outside the school. Perhaps we ought to explain this;

for many supporters of missions are unfamiliar with the idea. They think

of the work of educational missionaries as necessarily bound up with

schools and institutions. A teacher without a school, or outside a

school, seems to them rather like a gunner without a gun. If an

educational missionary goes on an evangelistic tour it is, they think,

as an evangelist that he goes, not as an educationalist. Yet, if we

understood the work of an evangelistic educationalist, we should not

think it strange to meet an educational missionary on tour, doing

evangelistic educational work. Evangelistic work is educational to the

core, and it leads to educational results. No evangelistic work amongst

an illiterate, or a literate, people can be really complete, if it does

not lead at once to the organisation of education amongst the converts

and hearers. The illiterate must be taught to read the Gospels, and it

demands an expert in the teaching of illiterates to direct their

studies; the illiterate and the literate converts alike must be taught

to transform that education which they all give daily to their children,

whether in the home or in a school, into Christian education, and this

too demands the attention of a skilled educationalist. This work is

invaluable and most exciting and interesting work, and must produce

results which, for the establishment of the Church, are almost

incalculably important. As then for the medical missionaries, so for

the educationalists we ask:--

------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------

Evangelistic| Number of | Number of | Number of |Conclusions

Tours. |Evangelistic|Educationalists|Days Spent by|and Remarks.

| Workers. | Assisting. | Evangelists |

| | | on Tour. |

------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------

| | | |

------------+------------+---------------+-------------+------------

When we turn to the immediate evangelistic results of the education

given in the station district, we labour under difficulties even greater

than those which we met when we tried to formulate tables to reveal the

extent to which medical missions were effective as an evangelistic

agency.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the educational missionaries who

set before themselves as the aim of their work a far distant goal to be

attained by the cumulative effect of Christian influence brought to bear

upon generation after generation of children who do not themselves

become Christians, naturally resent a table which seems to demand a

present, immediate, result in the tabulation of baptisms, and we fear

that the other tables will hardly reconcile them, because we are afraid

that few educational missionaries have yet learned to understand what a

vast and important and absorbingly interesting work the education of the

converts outside the schools affords. Consequently we shiver when we

think of the reception which these tables are likely to receive at the

hands of some of our friends in foreign countries, and our ears tingle

in anticipation.

Nevertheless, if we are to be told, and to act on the hearing, that

Christian schools are founded because it is easier to convert the young

than the old, and the twig can be bent while the tree resists till it

breaks, we must inquire how far this saying is justified by experience.

A survey which neglected the factors which throw light upon it would be

a partial and unjust one.

Hence we ask first--

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| | of | of | or Admission | and

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and secondly--

----------------------------------------------------------------

Number of Places Opened to | | Remarks

Christian Teachers by the | Proportion of Total | and

Influence of Scholars. | Places Occupied. | Conclusions.

----------------------------------------------------------------

| |

___________________________|_____________________|______________

These two tables will give us some idea of the direct influence of the

educational mission as an evangelistic force.

Some are anxious to know what support the educational and medical work

call forth from the natives for whom these are set in hand. They want

this information, we suppose, as a help towards an understanding of the

influence exercised by these different forms of work. If the natives

support them generously then they have obviously been impressed by them

favourably. And perhaps the extent of native support may suggest the

measure to which our work as medical and educational missionaries is

approaching a successful end.

We therefore include a table identical for medical and educational

workers:--

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| Total | Total | Total Native | Volunteers

| Expense | Foreign | Contribution | for

| of Work in | Contribution. | Fees and | Training.

| Station | | Donations. |

| Area. | | |

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Medical | ---- | ---- | ---- | ----

------------|------------|---------------|--------------|------------

Educational | ---- | ---- | ---- | ----

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Missionary Survey As An Aid To Intelligent Co-Operation In Foreign Missions · 第 6 / 11 章