By 1883 state authorities had come to four conclusions: (l) the Indies badly needed technicians, whoever it ending up training for those jobs; (2) education of the Inlandsche kinderen should be limited to practical know-how, as they had no need for more and anyway the costs were too high; (3) European students should not be turned into common workers but into persons suitable as managers, supervising the work of others; and (4) the practically trained Indo and European youths should be provided with the opportunity to enter low-ranking government positions for which exams were not required.

Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ E…, loc. 752