New-York tribune., 1907-03-20
FEW JAPANESE PUPILS.
jLr. Kcnnan Found Only 90 in San
Francisco Schools.

Touching on the japanese situation in san
Francisco in the course OF his lecture yester-
day at the League fer Political Education on
Tho japanese in America and at Home
George Konnan said The present agitation had
heen begun by the labor unions, which row
control san Francisco absolutely.
They have seduously disseminated the i'm
preston" said Mr. Kennan, that the schools
are orerrun with japanese pupils. mostly males
OF twenty-one and over Of immoral habits. l
went over the field carefully and found that
there were 2SO00 American pupils III the pub
lie schools and rinety-three japanese. OF these
japanese twen;y-eight were girls. leaving only
sixty-fve boys Thir;y-four Of these boys were
under ffteen: the others averaged a little over
seventeen. There were besides six boys in pri-
vate schools The Superintendent OF Schools.
himself an Italian. told me no case of improper
conduct the part of the japanese pupils had
come TO his attention. The object of the unions
was 20 get a cry TO use against the japanese to
stir up the country with. The whole thing is a
fraud"
Mr. KEENAN, interested his hearers greatly by
his description of the methods adopted by the
japanese in their own schools for the teaching
OF morality.
"They are confronted by the same difficulty
as We" the lecturer said "in having three re-
Mgl0nS 10 Geal NlLLs edcn OF NlikCu IL SiiAAoNS
to get its theology introduced into the schools.
AS q consequence they have adopted a moral
code based on human association which ignores
not only a belief in the eternal life but even in
the existence Of Cod.
Whenever two men meet. this code says,
moral relations are at once established, and
upon the observance of these relations. which
become more complex as one passes to the fam
ily group and the community, but which do
not change in essence. the prosperity Of ma
tion depends
They have graded this system Of utiltarian
morality and teach it progressively, from the
primary grade through the high school"
Here Mr.. Kennan paused TO read the titles Of
the twenty lessons in the first book OF moral
conduct adapted to children from six to eight
years. Your duty to your mother. TO your IA
ther, your own life. food. cleanliness. honesty,
keeping promises, the choice of friends finding
fault, how 10 treat living things, what 10 do
with things found on the road-so the titles ran.
But the japanese depend little on text books
and much on models. according TO Mr. Kennan-
The teacher will give out hypothetical ques-
ton. founded on the lesson of the day: Now
John, II Jim here did so and so. what would be
the right thing for you to do?"-and when John
has answered the class is appealed TO- Then
another boy will be asked TO state his views,
which may may not coincide with those OF the
text book, with the result mat lne class Deco44IeS
a sort of town meeting, with the teacher as
moderator. So they thrash the whole thing out
and get a firm hold Of the principles Of human
conduct
Also the japanese teach morality much by
the eye through maxims printed in japanese
and English and hung in the classrooms.
What the success of these methods may be
no one can tel,'' said Mr.. Kennan, in conclud-
ing. ''but with their persistence believe the
Japanese wiz fn time. succeed in moulding the
character OF ne rising generations If we in
this country do not cease To make money
making our object and give more attention to
morals IN our public schools, I fear we shall
find these people leading US in honesty, good
government and good citizenship"