Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1903-12-11

Changes That Have Been Made In Re
cent Years.

II you can imagine a long room In
a long house with matched roof, dark
plastered walls, broad doorwayB closed
with paper-covered latticed frames
which slide in grooves. bare floors COW
cred with perfect-itting straw mats,
yome tiny tables one by two feet In
size and eight inches hight you can
imagine this. then you can conceive
OF an ancient school-room In japan.
Again. IL you can imagine patriar-
chaI old gentleman. with sparse beard.
a head half bald. small twig Of hair
turned back on the top Of his head,
then steated on a little cushion be
hind one OF the tiny tables on which
Is a fat stone inkstand. a manuscript
scho0lbOok and a long bamboo pencil
at one end Of which is q hne-pointed
brush for writing: then think OF some
tiny Children half dozen probably
the boys heads shaved, except for q
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 now
Ing garments with sleeves like the
wings OF birds-these children sitting
behind other little tables, their
brushes in hand. and writing from the
teachers dictaYon. strange-shaped
characters on coarse copybooks-
imagine this. and you have an ancient
Japanese school In session, both teach
er and pupils sitting upon the floor.
They never went beyond reading
and counting upon the osro-ban aba
cusl
Things have changed now. The old
cient educational system. Western In
theory and practice is now In full
operation throughout Japan. Commodi-
Gus common schoolhouses. and impos-
ing college and university buildings
are dotted all over the country. A
thoroughly graded system operates
from the primary school TO the I'm
perial University. which ranks with
the highest American institutions.
The official or Government schools are
worked out to cover the whole field OF
education except the religious feature,
and this they are endeavoring to sup
ply by an eclectic system or morality.
both Oriental and Occidental.
Besides the regular course, which
extends 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 or
trade and the ofessions--commer.
cial. army. navy. agriculture, textile,
mechanics, law, medicine, normal
language, etc.
The Government maintains a spe-
cial school for the teaching OF every
modern language of experimenting.
fish. French. German. Russian, Span
Ish. Italian, Chinese and Korean. But
the English language 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 discour-
ages private schools. Pupils Of private
schools of equal grade and efficiency
with the Government schools cannot
pass on to the upper official schools
with the same facility as pupils OF the
Government schools. When we re-
member that the Government schools
are not free schools, and that many
excellent private schools supported by
foreign capital give students an edu.
cation practically free, this discrimf
nation of the Government would seem
to be unwise. and 1t is likely to be cor.
rected in the near future.
The American nation should be es.
pecially proud of Japan's educational
record, since 1t is from America that
Japan has taken her lessons in West.
ern Acknowledgements Weekly.