In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

7 Elementary and Secondary Schooling The two New England states where the CEM boys were sent were at the forefront of American educational reform in the second half of the nineteenth century. Influenced by Horace Mann and Henry Barnard respectively, Massachusetts and Connecticut had by mid-century each established a statewide system of free, compulsory, co-educational schools at the elementary level. Furthermore, by the 1870s the two states were mandating free, though not compulsory, schooling at the secondary level as well. At the same time, private educational institutions, some of them with a long history, played an important role at the secondary and, particularly, tertiary (or collegiate) level.1 At both public and private schools, however, the curriculum was undergoing a fundamental change. Against this background, where did the CEM boys get their primary and secondary education? What did they study? When the CEM boys arrived in New England, only three were ready for admission into American schools: Yung Wing’s nephew, Rong Shangqin (#47), and CEC translator Zeng Laishun’s two older sons, Zeng Pu (#57) and Zeng Dugong (#26). As previously noted, these three boys already possessed considerable knowledge of English when they were named to the mission. As a result, they could be directly enrolled in schools, where they made rapid progress. Rong Shangqin, who had attended Monson Academy in the mid-1860s, returned to school in 1873, when he was made a member of the second detachment. However, for unknown reasons, he did not re-enroll at Monson but instead attended another private secondary school, Wesleyan Academy, in Wilbraham, a suburb of Springfield. After one year at Wesleyan, Rong Shangqin entered Yale in the fall of 1874.2 The two Zeng brothers had come to the United States with the first CEM detachment, and lived in Springfield with their father, mother, and four siblings. In September 1872, almost immediately after their arrival, the younger brother, Zeng Dugong, was enrolled in one of Springfield’s public schools, the Elm Street 88 Stepping Forth into the World Grammar School. A year later, both brothers were admitted to Springfield High School. After another year, in 1874, the older brother Zeng Pu entered Yale, thus joining Rong Shangqin. Meanwhile, Zeng Dugong had transferred from Springfield High School to the Springfield Collegiate Institute, a private school newly founded by M. C. Stebbins. (The former principal of Springfield High, Stebbins was the replacement host for Zhong Wenyao [#30], when Zhong’s original host family, the McCleans, could no longer take care of him because of Mrs. McClean’s illness.) In 1875 Zeng Dugong, too, was admitted to Yale, but he was forced to withdraw shortly afterwards, presumably for scholastic reasons. He spent the rest of the 1875–76 academic year at Hopkins Grammar School, a private academy in New Haven, after which he was re-admitted to Yale.3 In other words, by the fall of 1876, a mere four years after the launch of the CEM, Rong Shangqin and the two Zeng brothers had all reached college, and the college all three went to was, perhaps not surprisingly, Yung Wing’s alma mater. The educational experience of the other 117 CEM boys essentially replicated that of Rong Shangqin, Zeng Pu, and Zeng Dugong. The only differences were that the other boys went through the different tiers of the American school system less rapidly, and, because of their poor command of English on arrival, they had first to go through a preparatory phase. Thus, unlike Rong Shangqin and the Zeng brothers, the other CEM boys were all initially assigned to host families whose main responsibility was to get them ready as quickly as possible to attend regular American schools. It was the CEC’s hope that this could be accomplished within two years; as its instructions to the families taking in the boys from the fourth cohort stated explicitly, “Two years after they have been in the country, they [the students] are expected to join either a grammar school, academy, or high school, in the places where they are located; or be sent to places where such institutions sustain the best reputation.”4 Some students surpassed the CEC’s expectations. Liang Dunyan (#13), after only one year of tutoring by the Bartlett family in Hartford, was able in 1873 to enroll in the local grammar school, the West Middle Public School.5 Others met the CEC’s target of two years. Two of Liang’s housemates at the Bartletts—Cai Shaoji...

Share