The report was produced by a committee chaired by C.W.S. Kynnerseley, which was asked to "enquire into and report upon the system of English Education in the Colony [of the Straits Settlements]." The report is interesting in some of the assumptions it makes regarding the value of English medium studies and, implicitly, English Studies.
The full text of the Kynnerseley Report is reprinted in Francis H.K. Wong and Gwee Yee Hean, Official Reports on Education: Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States 1870-1939. Singapore: Pan pacific, 1980.
FROM PART 1 -- REVIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF ENGLISH IN THE COLONY
9. A grave fault in nearly all the schools is the want of play-grounds. The only school with a really satisfactory play-ground is the Raffles Institution. Play-grounds would be of immense benefit to the boys physically, morally, and also as a direct aid to the teaching of the English language and of English habits of thought. Most of the boys as soon as they leave school go to homes where they hear and speak no English. Had they a playground in which, to associate and play English games, the advantage would be enormous. The smaller boys would no doubt converse with each other in the wretched town Malay generally spoken by the Chinese; but the nomenclature of our games is mostly English, the bigger boys would certainly be encouraged to speak English, they would acquire a more manly and less selfish habit of thought, and their health and physique would be greatly improved. We therefore consider it very desirable that the managers of schools should secure the use of suitable play-grounds and organise games for the pupils.
PART 4. - COMMERCIAL EDUCATION
25. The complaint is constantly made that is impossible to get as clerks boys
able to read and write English well, and it is argued that there must be something
wrong with the system of education. One great cause of this complaint, as has
been pointed out already, is that employers take boys before they have gone
through the regular school course; hence it is unfair to blame the schools for
the boys' defects. Until a boy has passed the 7th Standard he cannot be said
to have learnt English thoroughly, and if a boy is withdrawn from school in
the 4th or 5th Standard, as is often the case, it cannot be expected that he
is qualified to be a clerk. The great difficulty experienced in the schools
of the Colony is that boys will not remain at school. No sooner have they acquired
an elementary knowledge of English than they leave in order to earn a few dollars.
So long as there is a demand for imperfectly educated boys, it is to be feared
that all attempts to improve the standard of education are doomed to failure,
and the results must be discouraging.
It is frequently asked why boys are taught Latin and other subjects which can
be of little use to them, instead of their receiving a good Commercial training.
When however the question is put to the heads of firms whether book-keeping
should be taught, the answer given by many of them is that they prefer to get
sharp boys young and teach them themselves.
If a boy can earn say $20 a month when he is in the 5th Standard, he will not
be likely to remain on at school till he passes the 7th Standard, knowing that
probably he will not be offered any higher rate of pay.
26. A Shorthand class in connection with Raffles Institution has been carried
on for some time but it will be seen from Mr. HAYWARD'S evidence that the result
is not very encouraging. The Brothers' School, Singapore, has lately paid special
attention to Commercial instruction, and has a satisfactory "Commercial Class"
for which a grant is given by Government. This Grant was sanctioned early in
1901. The only Schools which immediately took up the course were the St. Joseph's
Institution and the Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore. The class at the latter
school speedily dwindled down, and only one boy was presented in the "Commercial
Class" at the 1901 inspection. The St. Joseph's class appears to be more permanent.
There are about a dozen boys now in the class, who are learning shorthand, typewriting,
commercial correspondence, arithmetic, geography, and book-keeping.
A Commercial class has recently been started also at St. Xavier's Institution,
Penang.
27. The Commission is of opinion that if Raffles Institution and the
Penang Free School are taken over by Government, a Commercial class should be
established at each of these schools with a properly trained master, and it
is hoped that the Merchants of the Straits will find the advantage of taking
boys who have been through the course, and will pay larger salaries than they
do to badly-educated boys from the lower Standards.
The experiment might be
tried of offering a certain number of Commercial Scholarships to induce the
boys to remain at school and complete a Commercial course.
SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT
We have signed the General Report of the Commission, but we desire to modify it so far as it relates to Secondary education by the following Supplementary Report:-
I. Separation of Primary and Secondary Education.
1. Whilst we wish to record our opinion, that the separation of Primary and Secondary education is desirable, yet at present, owing to the comparatively small demand for the latter, this separation cannot be effected without undue expense. We suggest, however, that with regard to the Raffles Institution, it should be recognised that, when the time is ripe, this Institution should become ultimately the Secondary and Technical School of the Settlement, the lower classes being gradually moved, as higher education requires additional space, to the new school which it is proposed should be formed in place of the Cross Street School, and that the plans of such school should be drawn with this object in view.
II. Curriculum of Secondary Education.
2. The great object which pupils who continue their studies after passing the 7th Standard, have in view is to get a Queen's Scholarship. The examination for these- scholarships shows what is the scope and aim of the highest Secondary education in the Colony and this examination dominates Secondary education generally. It is a competitive examination on the papers set by the Cambridge Local Examiners. The question is whether the scope and aim of this examination is best suited for the requirements of the Colony.
3. In our opinion it is not. The Cambridge Examiners in framing their syllabus have in view English boys who have studied in England, and it is clear that it is a very different and much wider and more trying examination where the language in which it is conducted is a language foreign to the examinees. True education is better obtained by a thorough study of a few subjects than by a superficial knowledge of a large number of them, obtained practically by a cramming process for the object of passing an examination. In order to obtain the largest number of marks, pupils are encouraged under the existing regulations to take up too many subjects. Thus evidence shewed that as many as 17 subjects have been of late prepared. This appears to us to be too great a strain on boys in the tropics, especially when the language, in which the examination is conducted, is to many of them a foreign language. We will consider the subjects taken under their different heads:-
(1.) English: - As might be expected this subject is studied from the point of view of a pupil to whom it is the mother tongue. In preparing for it, attention must be paid to the history of the language, rather than to the acquisition of a working knowledge of modern English, and of the alternative subjects of literature set for study in the present Syllabus none is later than Addison's Spectator.
(2.) History: - History to be of the greatest value should have some relation to the life of the pupil, so that he may apply the lessons taught by it. The subjects on the present Syllabus are - The History of England to A.D. 1215 and the History of the British Empire from A.D. 1492 to 1784. As the latter stops short before the acquisition of Penang, Ceylon or Hongkong, it will be seen that these subjects have not much bearing upon the history of this portion of the world.
(3.) The Geography, prescribed by the present Syllabus, does not include that of the Colony or of the surrounding countries. Thus the chief and most valuable geographical knowledge of the boys is thrown away.
(4.)Latin: - We think that it is undesirable that this language should be taught except under special circumstances and as an optional subject.
(5.) Modern Languages: - French or German are the only two permitted and thus a knowledge of Dutch, an important language locally, is barred.
(6.)Mathematics: - A mere enumeration of the subjects of the examination in this subject will, we think, convince most people that the standard is much too high and too theoretical for the boys here. The subjects are - Geometry, Algebra, Trigonometry, Conic Sections, and Applied Mathematics including Elementary Statics and Dynamics.
(7.)Natural Science: - Three subjects may be taken up here. Of these, two, viz: Zoology (a subject largely taken up),and Botany can only be studied for the examination in text books written for English boys; so that instead of their being studied as they ought, to be of any use, in relation to the objects of daily life, they must be studied out of diagrams and dried specimens. An amusing instance of the result is given in the evidence of the Director of Public Instruction as follows: - "Zoology is studied not on local but on English specimens. There was rather a ludicrous example of that at the last examination. They sent 2 newts as subjects to be identified; some of the boys here had never seen a newt, but in their text books they had a picture, very much reduced, of a dogfish, which looked very much like a newt, and they identified the newts as dogfish!" The study of these subjects in this manner is in our opinion of little, if any, value whilst a study of the varied objects to be found in the tropics would be of real educational advantage to the boys and might perhaps lead to valuable observation.
4. To sum up, under the present system, only one Scheme of Education is open to a boy whatever his subsequent career is intended to be, and this scheme is too wide, tending to superficial study. Moreover, it is of a literary rather than of a practical character. In our view the Queen's Scholarship should cease to be awarded on the Cambridge Examinations, but we would go further and suggest that if the Raffles Institution and the Free School are taken over by Government the course of instruction in Secondary education should be framed quite independently of the Syllabus of the Cambridge Examiners and should constitute a practical training, having in view the subsequent careers of the pupils, and be adapted to fit the boys for such careers. Examinations would be held on the subjects prescribed and should be conducted by Examiners in England. Diplomas would be granted by the Education Department on the result of these examinations, and these diplomas should in time, at any rate, constitute a better certificate of real fitness for the requirements of the Colony, than the Certificates of the Cambridge Local Examinations.
5. With regard to the objection which has been raised, that the Colonial Diplomas will not be found to be of as great value as Certificates of the Cambridge Local Examinations, we do not consider this is entitled to any great weight: the real test should be which course of study will best qualify the boys to be of value to the Colony. Application might be made to the different universities in England to recognise the Colonial Diploma as of equal value with the Cambridge Certificate, and if this application should be acceded to, it would add to the value of the Diploma.
6. Whatever the subsequent career of a boy is to be, it is certain that the primary requisite is a thorough knowledge of the English language, and the teaching of this to all non-English boys should be recognised as the first and most pressing necessity. Apart from this, the course of study will vary according as a boy is intended for a commercial or a non-commercial career.
(a) Education for a Commercial Career.
7. Commerce being by far the most important interest in the Colony, it is, we think, clear that the chief practical object of our educational system would be to turn out young men properly qualified to take their part in it, and it is to be hoped that a good Secondary educational system in the Colony will enable mercantile firms to draw a larger portion of their mercantile assistants from the Colony, than at present. As to the subjects of instruction, we do not wish to add to the recommendation contained in the General Report, except that we would recommend provision being made for the teaching of German and Dutch.
(b) Education for a non-Commercial Career.
8. This education should, we consider, be of a scientific nature, calculated to draw pupils towards those professions, members of which are mostly needed in the Colony. We refer to Engineering in its different branches and grades, and to Medicine. The line of study is well set out by Mr. HULLETT in his memo - (Appendix B), and we desire to express our concurrence with the views expressed therein, though at present we do not consider it practicable to carry them out to the extent to which he indicates.
WALTER J. NAPIER.
LIM BOON KENG.
JOHN ANDERSON.
W. GRIGOR TAYLOR.
H.W. FIRMSTONE.
Last updated: July 8, 2003