The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-10-07
EDUCATION IN JAPAN.
the Teacher is n Patriarchai Ccntlc;nas
Seated on q Cushion.

the Teacher is n Patriarcnai Ccntlc;nas
Seated on u Cushion.
If you can imagine long room in Il
ong house with thatched roof. dark
)lastered walls, broad doorways closed
With paper covered latticed frames
which slide in grooves, bare floors GOV.
cred with perfect 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
IN ancient schoolroom in Japan.
Again, IL you can imagine patri.
archal old gentleman. with sparse
beard. head half bald. n small twlg
)f hair turned back on the top of his
mead. then seated on little cushion
behind one of the tiny tables on which
IS n fiat stone inkstand. Il manuscript
school book and n long bamboo pencil
at one end of which is n fine pointed
brush for writing; then think of some
tiny children-a half dozen probably
the boys heads shaved except for q
circular bunch of hair exactly Mt the
,rown, the girls with long tassels Of
straight black hair hanging in front of
SdCll Nll tEPSStNl Ill lllllt ubN lll-
garments with sleeves like the wings
of birds-these children sitting behind
other little tables their brushes in
hand. and writing. from the teachers
1ictation. strange shaped characters on
Ioarse copy books-imaginc 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 eff
/ ,ient educational system, Western in
theory and practice, is now in full
operation throughout Japan. Commo.
| lious common schoolhouses. and i'm.
| posing 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 of morality,
! both Oriental and Occidental.
Besides the regular course. which OK
tends from the common school through
the high common school, the middle
school, the high school. TO the univer.
sity. there are government technical
schools for every branch of trade and
the professions-commercial, army,
navy, agriculture, textile, mechanics,
law, medicine. normal. language. etc.
The government maintains a snecia'
school for the teaching of every modern
language of Importance English,
French, German, Russian. Spanish,
Italian, Chinese and Korean. But the
English language preccdes 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 pri
vate schools of equal grade and eff
ficiency with the government schools
cannot pass on to the upper official
schools with the same facility as pu'
pills of the government schools. When
we remember that the government
schools are not free schools. and that
many excellent private schools sup
ported by foreign capital give students
an education practically free. this dis
elimination of the government would
seem to be unwisc, and it is likely tc
be corrected in the near future.
The American nation should he cSNc
cially proud of Japan's educational
'acord. since it is from America that
japan has taken her lessons in West
M learning.-Harpcr's Weekly.