Principle, Praxis, and the Politics of Educational Reform in Meiji Japan

Notes

249 Notes Introduction 1 Hiramatsu Akio, Meiji jidai ni okeru shògakkò kyòju-hò no kenkyû (Tokyo: Risòsha, 1975), 29. The school’s name was changed from Shòheikò to Shòhei Gakkò in August 1868, as part of the Meiji government’s initial attempt to reorganize the institutions of higher education it had inherited from the Tokugawa bakufu. See Richard Rubinger, “Education: From One Room to One System,” in Japan in Transition: From Tokugawa to Meiji, edited by Marius B. Jansen and Gilbert Rozman (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986), 202–203. According to one early historical essay, subjects tested on the entrance examination included Japanese language (kokugo), literary Chinese (kanbun), and composition (sakubun), which were staples of the traditional curriculum taught in schools during the Tokugawa period. Once enrolled in the new school, however, the fifty-four successful applicants spent most of their time on subjects deemed more modern and practical by reformers in the early Meiji government, such as English, mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, and history. See Aizawa Hiroshi, “Gakusei hanpu tòji no kyòiku,” Educational Review (Kyòiku jiron, hereafter KJ) 1351 (October 25, 1922): 10–11. 2 At the time of his appointment to this position, Scott had been teaching English at the Daigaku Nankò, part of the first university established by the Meiji government. Hiramatsu, Meiji jidai, 29. The university opened in July 1869 by amalgamating several schools founded by the bakufu, including the Shòhei Gakkò. By Scott’s time, the university had already forsaken its initial support of Confucian and nativist studies in favor of a curriculum dominated by Western studies. See Rubinger, “Education,” 203–204, and chapter 1 of this study. 3 Kyòikushi Hensankai, ed., Meiji ikò kyòiku-seido hattatsu-shi (Tokyo: Ryûginsha, 1938–1939), 1:777. The full text of the proposal is reprinted in 1:777–779. 4 In August 1877, the Tokyo Normal School inaugurated a middle school teacher training program, in addition to its original course of study for the preparation of primary school teachers. Then, in 1886, during Mori Arinori’s tenure as minister of education, the school was renamed the Tokyo Higher Normal School, and its responsibilities were narrowed to the training of teachers and principals for the middle schools and ordinary (i.e., prefectural) normal schools. Thereafter, the task of supplying teachers for the nation’s primary schools was carried out at the local level in the ordinary normal schools. See ibid., 1:802–805 and 3:496–498. 5 Prior to the establishment of prefecture-funded ordinary normal schools, the Meiji government, in its rush to meet the demand for more teachers, briefly provided financial support for the creation of six regional normal schools and the Tokyo Women’s Normal School in 1873–1874. It is interesting to note that thirteen out of twenty-one students in the Tokyo Normal School’s first graduating class accepted positions not in primary schools, but on the faculties of these regional normal schools (two more joined the staff of the Tokyo Normal School itself)—further evidence of Meiji Japan’s haste to build up a corps of professional teachers. The six regional schools were all abolished in 1877–1878 owing to financial difficulties incurred by the central government, leaving the Tokyo Normal School and the Tokyo Women’s Normal School as the only state-supported normal schools. See Hiramatsu, Meiji jidai, 31; and Inagaki Tadahiko, “Sòsetsu,” in Naka Arata, Inagaki Tadahiko, and Satò Hideo, eds., Kindai Nihon kyòka-sho kyòju-hò shiryò shûsei (Tokyo: Tokyo Shoseki, 1982), 1:730–731. 6 For a critical discussion of the concept of “school knowledge,” see the following books by Michael W. Apple: Ideology and Curriculum (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979), chapters 1 and 2; and Education and Power (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1982), chapters 1 and 2. 7 Whereas the English terms “pedagogy” and “education” are often used interchangeably, Meiji discourse requires that a rough distinction be made between them. Accordingly, the former will be used to translate the term kyòjugaku , that is, the study of teaching theories, methods, and techniques. “Education ” will perform double duty: it will be used to translate both kyòiku-gaku, referring to the study of general principles and methods of learning, and kyòiku, meaning the process of developing the mental and physical abilities, and of imparting and acquiring knowledge. 8 Dai kanwa jiten (Tokyo: Òshûkan Shoten, 1985), 11:719; Meiji no kotoba jiten...