The Spanish American. [volume] (Roy, Mora Co., N.M.) 19??-19??, 1919-02-15
Japan and the United States Ex.
-
change Ideas.
island Empire Owes lts Systems Of
Technical Education to an AmerI-
can, and In Return Has
Taught us Much. -


mission of eight officers Of rank and !,
distinguished record from japan is !
proof Of at least two things. 1t wit !,
nesses to the steadfastness Of the ma /,
ional character. in seeking progress ,
Slveness as well as progress: and to /.
Japan's purpose to keep In the fore ,
ground of invention and achievement, /!
remarks New York Sun. No other I.
nation realizes more keenly that In the .
rivalry of civilization the old must per-
petually be renewed. There can be no
standing stu.
From the dawn Of history Japan has
sxceIled In fine and dainty work. Her
museums illustrate tie fact that her
craftsmen invented and adapted. A lit
tie more than a real. not q pOetlcal,
'cycle Of Cathay," that is, sixty years
ago, according to oriental reckoning.
the hermit nation suddenly found her
self in the market place OF the world.
Though at first dazed, resources Of
mind and material were not lacking.
Age-Old taste. skill, experience and
reserve armies Of trained craftsmen
we're at band. Foreign teachers con-
ferred no gift Of brains or secrets Of
cunning. They simply pointed out the
new paths and taught the modern
methods OF meeting the nations needs.
AS early as 1S61-63, after three years.
labor, our own Raphael Pumpelly, still
among us In yigor, revOlutIonized min
Ing methods In Japan. When, In 1868,
the intense inward political struggles
between the old and the new were over,
and Juvaa had truly national govern
mcnt, tae alertness Of her people to the
new s1tuation supplied a striking fea-
lure in the history Of modern educa-
ton. Is rEsA
At a date when In Europe manual
and technical training was still new,
and among us the Rensselaer, P0lytect4
nc school at Troy was lonely vet
eran, Yale and Harvard were at be-
ginr lnss in this form Of education, and
eyei the Massachusetts Institute OF
Technology a baby Japan had started
In the raca Even before the depart
melt Of education had been created,
the necessity Of Japan's training her
bwu satsi beers. chemists ana masters Of
applied science was pointed out to the
important government. The newly
elaborated scheme dividing the empire
into eight great educational districts
was, with the currIcula, submitted to
an American for criticism. He noted
the serious defect Of no provision for
technical education. A long letter out
lining courses OF technical education
and addressed to the Dai 10 Kuan, the
supreme council, fell as spark upon
powder. The department Of education
was created and archaeological school
started simultaneously in Tokyo. The
system has ever since that time had a
henlthfrt development.
In addition to the eight universities
and $3.50 lower schools of all sorts.
there are now in operation under the
government eighteen technical schools
of the higher order, requiring a four
years course after graduation from the
middle schools, while those under lO-
cal or private auspices number many
more. II WAS settled a. court, by the
United States minister In Yeddo, in the
case OF Raphael Pl.mpelly, that an en-
gnecr, civil, mining, or mechanical,
was gentleman and eligible TO audi
ence Of both the president Of the Unit
ed States and the emperor Of Japan,
Ever since, HE official and social status
of man trained 10 use his hands ard
brain in unity has been secure in the
mlkado's empire. At least two score
Of Americans have received imperial
decorations for promoting technical
science in japan.
Nothing but good can come Of mu-
tual exchange OF IDEAS What the Jap
ancse have borrowed from us Is in the
limelight, and we boast of it; what
hundreds OF American inventors and
seekers for knowledge have found in
Japan and taken as loan is cryptic and
untrumpeted. Yet cur debt is none the
less real. 1t is well for the two clvili-
cations to enrich eaca other. If, in adj
miring legend, King solomon set the
mechanic on the throne to signify the
basis Of his realms wealth, rome the
less should both republic and empire
/ honor the technician who unites power,
Of brain and the dlsci 2line Of education.
to dexterity of manipulation. Honor
to the technical workers of Japan ant :,
America