Home » History » Asian History » The Roots of Education in Japan - Part 2

The Roots of Education in Japan - Part 2

© Maria Christensen

Continuation of Part 1

Some of the earliest debates at the onset of the Meiji Era over educational reforms were about curricula. During the Iwakura Mission, officials embraced the American style of education, and one of the earliest of the private Western schools was founded by a man who would be considered “the pioneer of modern education in Japan”(Sansom,1962,p.454). Fukuzawa Yukichi believed that not only should an education be obtained for itself, but that education should also serve practical purposes. In an excerpt from his book, Gakumon no Susume (An Encouragement to Learning), the idea is stressed that

the only purpose of education is to show that Man was created by Heaven to gain the knowledge required for food, shelter and clothing, and for living harmoniously with his fellows…How many Chinese scholars have been good at managing their domestic affairs? How many clever men have been good at poetry? No wonder that a wise parent, a shopkeeper, or a farmer is alarmed when his son displays a taste for study!…What is really wanted is learning that is close to the needs of a man’s daily life(Sansom,1962,p.454).

Not all believed as Fukuzawa did, and there was alarm that the old morals would no longer be taught. This went hand in hand with another cause for concern: the decentralization of the educational system. After the Meiji officials discovered that their system as originally planned would not work, autonomy was granted to local school boards with final curricula and textbook approval in the hands of the central Ministry of Education. This policy backfired on the administration as peasants grew increasingly suspicious over the foreign ways and the increased expenses such a school system would bring. Rioting occurred and schools were sometimes destroyed.

Resistance to a decentralized and westernized educational system also came from higher up. Motoda Eifu was a Confucian scholar and tutor to the emperor who believed “the primary goal of education should be the moral education of the young…”(Lehmann,1982,p.262). With the appointment of Mori Arinori as the Minister of Education in 1885, centralization and more traditional, nationalistic values became the features of the system. Guided by the idea that national interests and education were inseparable, the government proceeded to shut down some of the private schools. The Ministry of Education also undertook the training of all teachers and school inspectors, appointed school principals and controlled the curricula and textbooks. Patriotism and moral principles were encouraged, though a purely Confucianist education was not the intent.

The copyright of the article The Roots of Education in Japan - Part 2 in Asian History is owned by . Permission to republish The Roots of Education in Japan - Part 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.