To the Editor of the "Norra-Cuina Dany News"
Sin—Year by year a number of foreign boys and girls, having obtained their School Certificates (and possibly with exemption from Matriculation) leave the various schools in this huge city, and seek a livelihood. -With such meagre qualifications, what is ahead of them? Perhaps, after a course of type-writing and shorthand, they become typists: what then?. It seems to me that they have no chance whatever of rising high—simply and solely because they cannot receive further education whereby they might obtain qualifications which are essential, for most posts of responsibility. I cannot believe such boys and girls lack ability: what they appear to me to lack is opportunity. They simply have not the chance to qualify for a profession: surely a city of this size and importance should see that they have that chance?
Present conditions—which may not speedily alter—render it far more difficult than ever, ahd in many cases utterly impossible, for parents to send their boys and girls overseas to obtain qualifications. The cost of living and Of receiving higher education for, say, five years, is completely beyond the pockets of many parents who, therefore, have to see their sons and daughters, however gifted, doomed to a life with little or no prospects, There are several excellent institutions for the higher education of the Chinese: but are there similar facilities, and at a comparable cost, for foreigners?
It is possible to sit for the external examinations of London University locally: but I doubt if many aspirants gould possibly afford a long course of private coaching for this Degree—even if he or she could obtain the tutors in the required subjects. I think I am right in saying that, in practically every large city in the world, a poor but industrious student- can obtain at an extremely moderate cost, not only schooling but also university training. Certainly in the British Isles, the rate-aided secondary schools lead up to provincial universities, and at both the fees (for non-resident students) are extremely reasonable: further, there are numerous scholarships enabling students to go right through a University at little or no cost to themselves at all, Of course, the ratepayer and the taxpayer have to foot the bill: but do they not, it may be very indirectly, derive practical benefits therefrom? If the Universities and professions are only possible to those blessed with well-to-do parents, then many, very many, gifted and capable men and women are being debarred from a chance to benefit the community—and simply because their parents lacked sufficient money. En passant, I may perhaps say that I have recently ended a long and fruitless correspondence with the powers-that-be of one profession; I tried hard to persuade them that articles could be served, and exams taken, in Shanghai. I tried in vain: the result is that members of that profession must. be "imported," and paid accordingly, and hence their services to Shanghai will have to be paid at such rates as will induce them to come here: which does not make things easier for those who need their services.
l maintain it is definitely for the advantage of Shanghai that higher education for foreigners should be provided locally, and cheaply. Not to mention other concerns, the Council alone is in constant need of a variety of qualified men—men qualified for some particular line, and surely, not unconversant with the special requirements of Shanghai. To get the former, it is and will be, necessary io secure men from abroad, and pay them accordingly (bearing in mind the rate of exchange): but my point is that such men could be trained locally, if given the chance.
My suggestion is that the Council open an Institute, Technical College—eall it what you will—at which higher education in various branched be provided. The fees must be low, the tuition of & distinctly high order. On the completion of a course, a diploma should be granted, and this diploma must be of a definitely good standing, one fully acceptable as an ample qualification for local requirements.
Holders of this diploma would naturally not expect agreements embodying "home leave" (Shanghai being their home); hence, if one takes a long view, such an Institute might not prove so uneconomical as at first sight it would appear to be.
Being but a new-comer to Shanghai, I put forward this suggestion with diffidence: yet, as a new-comer definitely interested in education, I am struck with the apparent lack of opportunities for higher education. I wonder if anyone else thinks as I do, or if my ideas are based on an ignorance of facilities which may exist for foreign students of very limited means.
Shanghai, June 8.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.