Education, Science and the Economic Development of Japan

The subject of this Paper is the change that took place in Japanese education and in the Japanese attitude to science, technology and professional or vocational training in the period just before the Restoration of I868 and during the early years of the Meiji era (I868-I912). The relation of this change to the economic development of the country during the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the present century will be considered in the course of the discussion. I must begin by stressing that Japan in I868 was better prepared for her new career, by reason of her attitude to education and her provision for it (as well as in other ways) than was once supposed in the West. Among the ruling classes there was a reverence for learning that had deep roots. In the eighth century an Imperial University was in existence, with departments of ethics, history, jurisprudence and mathematics, and scholars pursued their studies even during the long and turbulent feudal period that ended with the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The Tokugawas themselves tried to foster learning, and by the middle of the nineteenth century, when their day was almost over, formal education of some kind was widespread. It is as difficult to estimate the numbers who had attended schools and colleges as it is to judge its quality. But Professor Dore and others seem to agree that by the middle of the nineteenth century 40-50% of the boys and about I5% of the girls were receiving some kind of formal education [I]. The education differed profoundly according to the orders and ranks in society. The Shogun had set up schools in Yedo (Tokyo) for training officials for the fiefs directly administered by him. The feudal lords (daimyo) had founded schools for the education of the sons of their retainers (samurai). There was a special boarding school in Yedo for the scholarly study of Chinese classics and philosophy. Finally, for the masses there were village schools (terakoya literally temple schools) originally established by the Buddhist monks and later by well-to-do peasants and merchants [2]. The subjects studied by those of samurai rank were mainly the Chinese classics, Confucian ethics, calligraphy, military arts and etiquette. The purpose of this training was not vocational or utilitarian, but rather character-building. The aim was that of fitting pupils to practise the Confucian moral code as interpreted by a martial society. The education received by the masses was simply in reading, writing and arithmetic, including the use of the abacus. Towards the end of the Tokugawa period, when feudal society was disintegrating, the divisions became blurred. The sons of rich peasants and merchants were getting above themselves and were beginning to study subjects properly reserved for their betters. Some of the terakoya became so well thought of as to attract the sons of samurai. Moreover, the minds of men were coming under an influence that owed nothing to Chinese learning or to Japan's own educational traditions. This was Rangaku Dutch learning

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Art · Economic history · Feudalism · Higher education · Meiji period · Meiji Restoration · Political science · Politics · Reverence · Social science · Sociology · Vocational education · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law

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