SCIENCE -Supplement. 



FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1886. 



EDUCATIONAL TENDENCIES IN JAPAN 

 AND IN AMERICA. 



It has for some time past been a cause of 

 wonder that the bureau of education has been 

 able to do so much and so good work with the 

 limited means at its disposal, and receiving but 

 slight recognition from the other governmental 

 departments. Two recent circulars of this bureau 

 will, by then great interest and value, serve to in- 

 crease this wonder. 



One of them deals with education in Japan. 1 

 The population of the empire in 1882 was 37,041,- 

 368, and the school population, comprising all 

 children between the ages of six and fourteen, 

 made up 5,750,946 of this number. 



Education is given more official consideration in 

 Japan than here, for it constitutes one of the ten 

 departments of the privy council, and has a min- 

 ister allotted specially to it. The school organiza- 

 tion follows closely the division of the empire for 

 administrative purposes into nine circuits and 

 eighty-four provinces. A school committee is 

 organized in each minor civil division, ward or 

 village ; and it conducts all business relating to 

 school attendance, the establishment and mainte- 

 nance of schools, etc. , within its jurisdiction. The 

 tenure of such a committee is not less than four 

 years, and it is composed of men selected by the 

 governor of the province, from a list nominated to 

 him by the citizens of the school district. A com- 

 mitteeman must be over twenty years of age, a 

 property-holder, and a bona fide resident of the 

 district from which he is nominated. The di- 

 rectors, librarians, professors, and teachers are 

 appointed and dismissed in various ways, accord- 

 ing to the importance of their office. Some are 

 appointed and dismissed by the emperor himself, 

 others by the prime minister on the recommenda- 

 tion of the minister of education, others by the 

 minister of education himself. Their salaries range 

 from 4,800 yen (one yen is equivalent to 85.8 cents) 

 in the case of a rector or a professor of highest 

 grade, to 540 yen or less in the case of an ordinary 

 teacher. 



Education has been under government super- 



1 Circulars of information of the bureau of education. 

 Ho. 4, 1885. Education in Japan. Washington, Government, 



vision in Japan since 270 A.D., but it was in the 

 years from 1868 to 1871, following the political 

 reform of the country, that it was placed on its 

 present footing. The present educational code 

 only dates from 1880. The school system com- 

 prises kindergarten, elementary schools, middle 

 schools, and a university at Tokio. There are also 

 female schools, commercial and industrial schools, 

 and normal schools for the training of teachers. 

 Nineteen libraries and four museums of high rank 

 are under the control of the department. Students 

 are frequently sent abroad to complete courses 

 of study, fifty having been so sent since 1875. 

 Twenty-two such students are abroad at present, 

 seventeen of whom are in Germany. The school 

 funds are raised as part of the national taxes, and 

 the lands occupied by schools are usually govern- 

 ment lands : when they do not belong to the gov- 

 ernment, they are exempt from taxation. In 1881 

 the educational expenses of the empire amounted 

 to 6,591,878.123 yen, — about 36 per cent of the 

 total expenditure. 8.8 per cent of the entire popu- 

 lation were under instruction in 1883 in 30,156 

 elementary schools, engaging the services of 24,- 

 605 teachers, 1,878 assistant teachers, and 64,017 

 pupil teachers. 



The second of the reports to which we have 

 referred is no less replete with information than 

 the former, but from its character it contains more 

 that is suggestive. It was drawn up by the late 

 Charles O. Thompson, Ph.D., of Terre Haute, 

 Ind., and is an essay on technical instruction in 

 Europe. 1 



Into the details of this report space forbids us to 

 enter, but it is a valuable compendium of the sys- 

 tem and methods of technical instruction in the 

 various countries of Europe. America is by no 

 means deficient in recognizing the importance of 

 technical schools ; but we need to learn all we can 

 on this subject, and call to our aid, when attain- 

 able, the experience of other countries, for techni- 

 cal education bids fair to be the education of the 

 future. In our development of free education we 

 have tended to overestimate the dignity of the 

 professions and to underestimate the dignity of 

 the trades. From Germany comes the cry that 

 there are too many educated men, and not enough 

 places for them ; and in our large cities we see 



1 Circulars of information of the bureau of education. 

 No. 3, 1885. A review of the reports of the British royal 

 commissioners on technical instruction, with notes, by the 

 late Charles O. Thompson. Washington, Government, 

 1885. 8°. 



