按照督撫們聯名具奏立停科舉章程的原意，停並非廢，而是將科舉與學校熔於一爐，使培才與掄才相統一。科舉與學堂並途之下，中西學難以兼顧，體用、專通的辦法不能實現兩全。相關爭論，自科舉改革前已開始，卻並未因立停科舉得以解決，反而在清末最後幾年的考試與用人中不斷凸顯。在一切喧鬧紛繁表象背後，隱伏著一個近代中國長期懸而未決的問題，即千古未有的大變局之下，如何在學習引進西方文明的同時，保存發揚文化傳統，並在異質文化衝突中，調適重建價值觀念、道德體系及評估標準的重大命題。

The original intention of the governors-generals and governors who jointly submitted the memorials appealing for the immediate abolishment of the traditional imperial civil service examinations was not to abolish the system in its entirety. Rather, they sought to merge the imperial examinations with the new educational system in oder to integrate the training and the selection of future official. But it proved difficult to continue to emphasize the teaching of Chinese traditional learning while simultaneously pursuing Western learning, not to mention various forms of specialized training. Policy debates and discussions started before the reform of imperial examinations, but the reforms failed to solve the problems that stemmed from the exams and employment of officials in the last years of the Qing dynasty. A deeply rooted dilemma remained the problem of how to keep and enhance the Chinese cultural tradition while importing and learning Western culture, and the related problem of how to adjust and reconstruct values and the moral system during this period of deep turmoil in modern China.