TEE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITIES OF JAPAN 253 



morals, geography and history and is given in Japanese. At present 

 96 per cent, of the children of school age are in school, and the records 

 for attendance and proficiency are enviable. Beyond the age of twelve 

 the boys and girls separate, but, contrary to American experience, it is 

 the girl rather than the boy who drops out or is kept at home. The 

 demand for instruction has from the first far outrun the financial 

 ability of the Japanese government to provide and from the elementary 

 school up there are more applicants than can be admitted. In general 

 selection is made on the basis of efficiency, and competitive examina- 

 tions are the usual means. The boy who, therefore, at the age of 23 or 

 23 finally reaches the university after passing through middle and higher 

 schools, is the one left by a long process of elimination. It would be 

 interesting to follow the boy through this course, but the limits of this 

 article forbid. Those interested will find the elementary, middle and 

 higher schools, excellently described by Baron Kikuchi, in his most 

 instructive and readable book " Japanese Education."^ It is sufficient 

 to state that the student comes to the university with long training in 

 English and one or more other languages and with about the mental 

 training and culture that American students have when they enter the 

 junior year of a first-class university. He is ready to specialize, has in 

 fact prepared to specialize, and has received his training in how to study. 

 The university course is therefore concerned more with subject matter 

 than with method. The course is three years long and at its completion 

 the student is entitled to assume the title of gaJcushi in law, medicine, 

 science, engineering, or whatever line he may have followed. This, it 

 may be noted, is not a degree conferred by the university, though 

 roughly equivalent to our own bachelor's degree. Upon attaining to this 

 rank the student is ready to study for the doctorate, for which five years 

 work in University Hall is required. During the last two of these years 

 he ma}^ under certain restrictions, engage in practise away from the uni- 

 versity, and before becoming gakuslii he must, in engineering at least, 

 spend six to eighteen months in practical work. In the latter case he is 

 sent to a mine, smelter, or other works, and required to follow a pre- 

 arranged course, reporting to the university on each piece of work as 

 completed and receiving meanwhile help from the university, much like 

 that given to students in correspondence courses in the United States. 

 While in this preliminary practise he is not allowed, except by special 

 agreement, to receive pay; the object not being to put the student into 

 regular work on a money-making basis, but to permit him to learn 

 practise in a commercial plant. The university reserves for its own 

 field the teaching of principles. 



Degrees are not given by the university, but by the Minister of 

 Education upon proper recommendation. This may come either from 

 the university or by a two thirds vote of the assembly of Hakushi, those 



* John Murray, London, 1909. 



