Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-05-28

Toxic, Japan.-Tokio is nest OF
problems. Here the Far Eastern
Question" has its focus. And an in
vestigator finds that it is by no means
one abstract question, but an inter-
woven mass of perplexities, each with
a relation to the other. Out OF the
whole l have tried to extrlcate the
two that appear to be fundamental
education and morality; and both
have a direct bearing upon the mis-
sionary and religious situation which
l am studying.
Toxic is the greatest student cen
ter In the world, with more than So
600 students of the higher branches
Here young Japan, infatuated with the
western learning, has concentrated
its ambitions. The streets TEEN with
young men and women stud ents. The
procession of these that may be seen
any day along the moat by the i'm
perial palace is the most significant
spectacle in all Japan. 1t is the cruX
of the nations anxieties; | do not
wonder that the elder statesmen are
shaking their heads and looking grave
over it; for reasons which l shall
presently show.
So great is the craze for education
that, although the rather loose figures
of the Japanese government give SAB
per cent. of the population OF school
age as under instruction Gan Ameri-
can educator here figures it as 69O5
per cent, according to western reck-
oning), there is not room in the in
situations of higher grade for all the
applicants Japan has only eight col
leges and two universities, but each
of these has a very large enrolment.
| heard the other day of 1000 stu
dents being examined for entrance
into a class that could admit but TO-.
The rejected students feel disgraced,
and this is one cause of the suicides
that are so common among this class
of the Japanese.
1t is freely stated that much of the
modern education is quite superficial.
Certainly the stud ents prove a fertile
field for the exploitation of socialists
and other agitators. There are not
places in the nation for these educat-
ed young men commensurate with
their ambitions. So there is consid-
cradle political as we'll as social I'M
rest
One striking result of the craze for
education is the universal desire to
learn English, which is regarded as
the language of progress and civiliza-
ton. There is no similar zest for
French or German. The higher pub
lie schools teach English, and tens of
thousands are learning it privately.
Train boys, railroad men, walters,
shopkeepers, editors, students, fellow
passengers in trainS-all sorts of
Japanese have come to me since |
have been here for help in English.
Any good-natured foreigner could
keep busily employed "a hours a day
instructing the Japanese in the mys-
teries of English. Recently | visited
a mission night school in Kobe which
was literally damned with young men
employed during the day as teachers.
clerks, ETC. Not only were the rooms
crowded but outside of the doors and
windows stood clumps of eager stu
dents, each having paid the tuition
fee. The mission force was made
duate. and two outside helpers, Eng
lishmen, had been engaged Temperate
ly. 1t was highly edifying to hear
an enthusiastic young man teach his
class. as model sentences, There are
many dogs in England. | have got
a dog" 1t is only fair to the mis-
sionary force to say that they them
selves are college bred men and
women.
Leading a Nation to School.
It was the missionaries who intro
duced higher education into Japan.
One of them, DR.. David Murray, was
the governments educational adviser
and led in the organization of the
present school system. The first of
the Japanese institutions of higher
learning was the Doshisha, founded
by the runaway youth, Joseph Hardy
Neesima. who was trained in a home
and is now esteemed by the nation as
one of it's great men. The Doshisha,
which is located at Kioto, is the most
famous of mission schools in this
country. and ii is still doing success
full work, with about 600 students.
The average age of the latter is lower
than formerly, as seems to be he
case with all ong-established mission
schools.
Must Mission Schools Go?
The intensely national spirit among
the Japanese, together with the crea-
ton of the new educational system,
has largely altered the status and
character of the mission schools.
Whatever changes the future brings,
it is evident, however, that from the
mission schools Japan has received
a tremendous educational impulse, a
host of trained teachers, and com
pany of unselfish counsellors. Fur
thermore, it must be admitted that at
the present time great service is be-
ing done by the mission schools,
which are maintained throughout the
empire by the various denominations
in such numbers and variety that
space cannot be spared even to men
ton the score or more that / have
personally visited.
L L. Il