OCR Text |
Show j EDUCATION IN JAPAN. Tlis T i, I." I. r I'.ilrUn l,l n.nlt. msn Cel. . I on t uslilmi. If you can Imagine n long room In a long Ii.iisp will, tlintehed roof, dark plaster, il walls, bro.id doorways closed Willi paper cowrcd latticed frames I wiio h slide In u-iooves. lime II s cov- ri.-.l wltli p" Me. t titling straw mills, some tiny tabb . one by two feet In size ami eiulit luetic blcli if you ran Imagine this, then ou inn conceive of an ii in I.-nr s. l;c..li.,om lu .lapiin. I .V'-'.iln, If you can Imagine n palrl-. palrl-. nr. 1 . , 1 eld conn. o. en,, with sparse I beard, a load hair bald, a small twig of hair Inr ii .1 I. nek mi the t,.p i.r his lea. I. then ltd mi a llllle cushion I behind oii of lie. liny table on which Is n Hat one Inkstand n manuscript school bo..l, and a long bamboo pen. il I at on.- end of which I a line pointed brush f,.- wrilinc; il, eu think of some i tiny .-lill.li -ii n half ilmen probably-tlie probably-tlie boys' bead sinned, except for n circular bun. h of hair ea. tly ar the crown, the i-iii Willi long lossel of straight black hair hanging lu front nf each ear, all dressed In little tinning garments with sleeve like die wings of bird- these children sitting behind I other little table, their brushes III baud, nnd writing, from the teacher's dlctnion. stratiee shaped characters on course copy book Imagine till, end yon have nn ancient .lapnnesp school In session Pott! t,a, h.-r and pupils silting noon the floor. Tbcv never went beyond reading nnd counting upon the soroban fubaeitsi. Thing have cliani;ed now. The old hns utterly passed away. A most prurient pru-rient educational system, Western In theory and prncllee, Is now In full operation tbrotiuliout diipnn. ('oinmo-dlous ('oinmo-dlous common schnolhoiisps. and Imposing Im-posing college and university building ore dotted all over the country. A thoroui:bly graded system operates from the primary sclnsd to the Imperial Im-perial I'nlverslly. which ranks with tha highest American Institutions. The ouVhit or government schools nre worked out to cover the wholo field of education except the religions feature, and this they nre endeavoring to supply sup-ply by nn eclectic system nf morality, both Oriental and Occidental. Itesldes tlip regular course, which extend ex-tend from the isuninon school through the high common school, the middle school, the high school, lo the university, univer-sity, there nro government technical schools for every branch of trade and the professions commercial, army, navy, agriculture, textile, meehnnlca, law, medicine, normal. Innguage. etc. The government mnlutaliis a sneelsl school for the teaching of every modern Iniigunge nf Importance Kngllsh, French, f!ermnn, Itusslnn, Spanish, Itnllnn, Chinese and Korean. Hut the English language precedes all other languages, and It Is making such rapid progress that It Is destined to become Uie spoken language of the nation. One serious criticism against Japan's educational system Is that It dlseonr-ages dlseonr-ages private schools, l'liplls of private pri-vate schools of equal grade and efficiency ef-ficiency with the government eehnols ennnnt pass on to the upper ofllclsl schools with the same facility as pupils pu-pils of the government school. When we remember tliot the government schools aro not free schools, and that many excellent private schools supported sup-ported by foreign cnpllal give students an education practically free, this discrimination dis-crimination nf the government would seem to be unwise, end It Is likely to be corrected In the near future. The Amerlcnn nation should be especially espe-cially proud nf Japan's eilucatlnnnl record, since It Is from America that Japnn hns taken her lessons In West-oru West-oru leainliig.-llnrper's Weekly. |