The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-12-27
EDUCATION IN JAPAN.
Comparison Between Ancient and Mod
 ern School Control.

From Harper's Weekly.
 If you can imagine long room or a long house with matched roof, dark plas- tered walls, broad doorways closed with paper covered latticed frames which slide in grooves. bare floors covered with per- feet fitting straw mats, some tiny tables one by two feet in size and eight inches high-if you can imagine this, then you can conceive of an ancient schoolroom in Japan.
 Again, If you can imagine a patriarchal old gentleman, with sparse beard, head half bald, a small twig of hair turned back on the top of his head, seated on little cushion behind one of the tiny tables on which is a flat stone inkstand, a manuscript school book and a long bamboo pencil at one end of which is a fine pointed brush for writing; then think of some tiny children-a half dozen prob ably-the boys heads shaved, except for a circular bunch of hair exactly at the crown, the girls with long tassels of straight black hair hanging in front of each ear, all dressed in little flowing gar ments with sleeves like the wings of birds-these children sitting behind other little tables, their brushes in hand, and writing, from the teachers dictation, strange shaped characters on coarse copy -books-imagine this and you have an ancient Japanese school in session, both teacher and pupils sitting upon the floor.
 They never went beyond reading and counting upon the soro-ban (abacus).
 Things have changed now. The old has utterly passed away. A most ef- ficient educational system, western in theory and practice is now in full oper- ation throughout Japan. Commodious common school houses and imposing col lege and university buildings are dotted all over the country. A thoroughly graded system operates from the pri- mary school to the imperial university, which ranks the highest American in- stitutions. The official or government schools are worked out to cover the whole field of education except the relig- ious feature, and this they are endeav- bring to supply by an eclectic system of morality, both oriental and occidental.
 Besides the regular course, which ex- tends from the common school through the high common school, the middle school, the high school, to the university, there are government technical schools for every branch of trade and the pro- fessions commercial, army, navy, agri- culture, textile, mechanics, law, medi- cine, normal, language, etc
 The government maintains a special school for the teaching of every modern
 
 German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Chin CSC and Corean. But the English lan- guage precedes all other languages, and it is making such rapid progress that it is destined to become the spoken language of the nation.
 One serious criticism against Japan's educational system is that it discourages private schools Pupils of private schools of equal grade and efficiency with the government schools can not pass on to the upper official schools with the same facility as pupils of the government schools. When we remember that the government schools are not free schools and that many excellent private schools supported by foreign capital give students an education practically free, this dis elimination of the government would reem unwise. and it is likely to be cor rected in the near future
 The American nation should be especial ly proud of Japan's educational record. since 1t is from America that Japan has taken her lessons in western learning.