and to shackle the intellect of Japan beyond all hope of growth. Science was never taught, mathematics was confined to the four fundamental rules of arithmetic. Independent thought and investigation were branded as criminal. The might of priestcraft hedged in the mind in the direction of metaphysical speculation. The Chinese classics dominated, with a despotism that can at the best be but faintly conceived by a foreigner, over the field of politics and morals; while the all-overshadowing power of the great usurper in Yedo prevented all historical research, study, or composition, except what related to the distant past. Shut off from all contact with other intellects, the "ripe scholar" and the "great teacher" of old Japan were but school-men. The intellect of this nation, like the arboreal wonders of the Japanese florist, with its tap-root cut, deprived of fertilizing moisture, and stinted as to soil, became like the admired dwarf-pines four inches high, and as gnarled and as curious as they. The manner of life of the old Japanese instructor was to squat on the floor with his five or six pupils about him on the same seat, who supported their elbows on a sort of table one foot high. Beginning with the first, he taught each pupil the pronunciation of the Chinese characters; after the entire book had been committed to memory by sound, without any reference to sense, the pupil began again, and learned from his teacher the meaning of the characters. On the third reading the book was expounded to the pupil. Rarely did a class number more than six pupils. The work of the teacher was simply oral communication and that of the pupil imitation; memorizing and copying constituted a Japanese youth's education; the old teachers of Japan and the Chinese scholars, though a very respectable body of men, did undoubtedly help to repress the intellect of their countrymen, and must be looked upon as co-workers with the bonze and the official spy. The old teacher poured in; the new teacher must draw out; the old teacher was a drillmaster, the new one must be that and more; the old one stifled questioning, the new one must encourage it. We believe it to be the right of every student to drain his instructor dry; a scholar, unless manifestly endeavoring to waste the time of the teacher and class, should be heard and answered. The teacher should be very careful how he calls any question foolish. The native teacher of the future must depend less on traditional authority and more on the resources of a richly-furnished mind. He must be a student himself; he must be able to get out of the ruts; he must be capable of developing the minds of youth, not merely of stuffing them; he must welcome the appearance of an unusually bright and eager mind as a gem to be polished with extra care, and not as a stone to be crushed into regulation-shape and size for the common turnpike-road. The new teacher must banish his pipe and pouch, his "hibachi" and tea-cups from the school-room; he must taboo his lounges and abandon the habit of being regularly sick; he must stand up to his work. The great difference between a foreigner and a Japanese is that one stands up to his work and the other sits down at it. He who can stand can do more and better work than he who sits. We have set forth our ideal of a teacher in a former paper. Is it too high for a Japanese to aspire to? We think not. The measures taken and the institution established to supply the need of good native teachers we have described at length elsewhere. Our former article on the Tokei normal schools details the method pursued and the system set on foot by the education-department, for which they deserve all praise. If the native officials are not in too great a hurry to dismiss the foreigner who now serves them, their enterprise will undoubtedly turn out, as it now bids fair to do, a splendid success. That the young men now training there have it in them to make good teachers, we fully believe. The social customs of this country and the habits of the Japanese mind are invaluable aids to the native teacher, as we have in another article intimated they are to the foreign teacher. The temptations of the new Japanese teacher are that he will yield to ease and indolence, undervalue strict discipline, and be too easily satisfied to keep in the ruts of mere authority, and thus lead his pupils after him. We hold to the belief that scholars are largely what their teachers make them, provided they are not changed frequently. Every possible encouragement should be given both by the government and the people to elevate the social as well as the intellectual standing of the teacher. In a country like this, where the government is creator and leader of public sentiment, most of this work must be done by the personal encouragement of high officials. It is very gratifying to know that His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress have so conspicuously shown their great interest in education by visits of inspection to the chief schools of Tokei. "It is the prerogative of royalty to do good by presence alone." Besides this, one who reads of the frequent and often generous private contributions to the cause of education in Japan cannot but believe that the coming native teacher will be appreciated. Certainly the mission of the teacher in Japan is a noble one, and to be envied. His country is passing through social revolutions in which he may be not only a helper, but in a large sense a leader. To be one of the "beginners of a better time," to be in the advance of a new and nobler civilization, to rescue his fellow-countrymen from superstition and to shield them from priestcraft, both native and foreign, is a high and glorious aspiration. To all, then, whether enjoying the advantages of the excellent course of the Tokei normal schools or whether attempting self-development under foreign helpers abroad or at home, we send fraternal greetings and congratulations. We hope that soon it may be said of Japan as emphatically as Brougham said it of England, "the school-master is abroad in the land." The teacher's office is even more honorable than the soldier's, in that he defends his country from ignorance, a foe worse than foreign enemies. The teacher may be greater than the civil ruler; for while one governs all kinds of citizens, the teacher makes good ones. That it is in the power of Japan, under that divine Providence that is no respecter of nations, to produce as noble specimens of the teacher's calling as are Wolsey, Hopkins, or Hadley in America, and as Temple, Arnold, or Jowett are in England, we do not doubt. Such men, however, are but growths of the social soil and mental atmosphere of their respective countries. To help in preparing the soil and atmosphere necessary to grow the men, character, and intellects who will adorn Japan as the western lands are adorned, is the work of honor and difficulty which now devolves on the department of education. 186 CIRCULARS OF INFORMATION OF THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION. No. 3-1875. AN ACCOUNT OF THE SYSTEMS OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN WASHINGTON: PRINTING OFFICE. GOVERNMENT 1875. |