Semi-weekly herald., 1913-06-09

der the pink mist Of the cherry bios
SONS and the crimson glory Of the
naples, in the sunny green and yellow
fields, or with mountain slopes of wild
azslea for romping place and Won
derful sky of blue for a cover. By
inheritance and environment he is an
artist in the use of color, says Fran
ces Little in the Century. Form, too,
IS as easy, for when crude toys have
failed to please, it is his privilege to
build ships, castles, gunboats and tenn
Piles with every conceivable household
IA. ticle from the spinning wheel to
tile family rice bucket.
There is tendency in most Japa-
ne sc kindergartens to make Of them
elementary schools in which much Of
the spirit of play is an effort on the
part of the teachers to give formal
instruction. The inclination is to fit
the child to the rule; to follow to the
last detail a written law, at the sac
rifice of spontaneity. Formality finds
steady resistance in the buoyancy of
youth; and how childhood will have its
fling, refusing to wear the shackles
till it must, is expressed in the de-
spair of little Japanese teacher who
had worked in vain to make an un-
essential point in posture: 81 have the
great trouble. They just will kick up
their heels spiritually (spiritedly.)"
In addition to the gifts, games, and
songs usually found in the kindergar-
tens, there is a specific training in
patriotism, loyalty and physical en-
durance by the constant repetition OF
certain stories emphasizing these vir-
tues that have been told from gen
GRAFTON to generation. Stories of brave
men and women are dramatized. Day
after day the child takes part in these
simple plays. So earnest is the act
ing, so unwavering are the ideals pre-
serted at this very early age that the
mind is saturated with the principle of
the sacrifice of the individual for the
good of the whole.
During the period of elementary
school, the training for Japanese boys
and girls is much the same except in
special cases when very young boys
are instructed in fencing and jul
jutsu. In these first years it is a
sharing of all experiences, and the
girls pluckily take their chances in the
rc' gh and tumble games with the
toys. Then comes the parting of the
ways. The sign post for each points
to difference in school and subjects.
For the boys, the road leads to the
sterner things of life. Every step of
TIE girls path is trained for the in
evitable end-marriage. Whatever the
future, it never yields-to the girl,
at least-the same golden hours of
freedom and equal right to joy and
pleasure as in the glory days of youth.
Every boy in Japan is prospective
soldier or sailor, every girl wife;
and a training toward the end best
fitting each for the duties involved is
the principal aim Of the carefully
planned curriculum. In all grades the
teaching is en- masse; individual at
tention is rare.
1t would be difficult in brief space
to estimate the whole influence of Eu-
ropean and American methods on jap
anese education. While these influ-
ences, especially those of America,
have enjoyed successive waves Of IA
vor and disrepute, it is undoubtedly
true that the educational department
is slowly but surely feeling its way to
the final adoption of general Ameri-
can plan.
So far the most marked tendency of
the western spirit has been a bolder
assertion of individual freedom, less
tolerance of the teachers supreme au-
thority, demand for more prac-
teal education and not so much eager
ness for the Chinese classics.
Whatever criticism might be offer
ed as to the methods OF training or
defects thereof in school or home, one
undeniable truth stands out boldly:
Despite its faults, or because of its
virtues, Japan's system Of education
has produced men splendidly brave
and noble, and women whose lives
stand for all that is tender and beau
tiful in womanhood and motherhood.