After two or three years of this meaningless study of the character, the pupil begins to learn its meaning, and advances into the study of Chinese history, philosophy, and poetry as they have been handed down from the days of Confucius. There is no end to this line of study, so the boy who starts out to make a scholar of himself has the work of a lifetime before him; and the saddest part of it all is that he can never be a scholar in any true sense of the term. On the contrary, when he has devoted his life to literary pursuits he will not have as much general knowledge of the world and all that goes to make a scholar as do the boys and girls in the ordinary graded schools of our country.
There is one thing in which our village school excels, that of training the pupil to memorize. All these numerous books must be memorized, and by this means the pupil acquires high efficiency in this line of work. This does not mean that these village boys have not the ability to think; it means that the system under which they are compelled to study does not train them to think. It has been proved time and time again that the boys who are taught in schools conducted on Western principles learn quite as readily as do their American cousins. This is true also of the girls, many of whom are now being trained in the Christian schools.
