Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol 4, No. 6. June 18, 1941
[Introduction]
On June 4th, Dr. T. Z. Koo, of China, gave an address which those who heard will not easily forget. He spoke with forceful sincerity in faultless English, seeming to shape with his hands the clear images of his brain. The subject of his address was "China and its' Students." The outline ran thus:
The Confucian system of education is centuries old. From it has come the governing class of China. In 1905, by Imperial Command, it was replaced by a formal system of modern education which has made great changes by broadening the base of education and fostering national consciousness. For the last fifteen years no men's university has been granted a charter by the Government unless it admits women on an equal footing with men. Already women have risen to positions of great responsibility where previously they were excluded from education and public affairs.
The old education was ethical; modern education has added technical and scientific training to an increasing extent. For China there is a very rich period ahead; the country's resources are only just beginning to be used. Minds also are changing. The old education had one great defect: it made youth look to the past, so that China reached intellectual stagnation five hundred years ago. The movement led by Dr. Hu Shih is typical of modern China. It has advocated the adoption of a modern style of writing in place of the classical style which had grown so different from the spoken word.