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103 3 Bound by the Old School Tie The forms of research many educational scholars employ are not only the logical equivalent of hammers and saws, and, perhaps, microscopes. They are also ways of being with others. They have a politic attached to them. Michael W. Apple, Teachers and Texts Chapters 1 and 2 examined teaching manuals that were published for use either as textbooks in normal schools and other teacher training programs, or as practical guidebooks for primary school teachers already in schools. To varying degrees, they all shared two main objectives. The first was to provide a comprehensive statement of the fundamental principles, or natural laws, underlying a universal science of education. The second was to introduce specific instructional methods and techniques belonging to the art of teaching . Although based upon scientific principles, these methods were supposed to be flexible. In theory, at least, teachers had both the right and the responsibility to selectively adopt, adapt, or reject them, depending on such variables as their pupils’ level of development and interests, class size, and local economic conditions. As Calkins explained in his manual Primary Object Lessons: “A principle of teaching is a law based upon conditions of the minds of those to be taught. A method of teaching is simply the form or manner of presenting the subjects of instruction. A true principle remains the same always; while there may be many methods of presenting a subject, each in conformity to the same principle” (emphasis in the original). It was one of many educational associations that sprang up in Japan during the 1880s. Though they often claimed to be private (shiritsu), “semi-official” would probably be more accurate. Most were established in 1883 at the urging of the Ministry of Education , which viewed local study meetings as a means to improve the quality of teachers already in the field. They were typically chaired by a local educational official or the principal of the prefectural normal school.@ The Tokyo Meikei Society conducted a national survey of these associations in 1885, sending out questionnaires to each prefecture that asked about the names, locations, objectives, activities , means of financial support, and monthly expenditures of all such organizations within its borders. The survey turned up one national organization—the Educational Society of Japan (Dai Nihon Kyòikukai)—and thirty-two local associations scattered as far north as Hokkaido and as far south as Kumamoto. Most of them listed the improvement and dissemination of education among their primary goals.^ Although the Tokyo Meikei Society counted itself among the local associations listed in its survey, there is one feature that set it apart from the rest and begs for its inclusion in this study of developmental education. Specifically, membership in the Tokyo Meikei Society was restricted to graduates of the Tokyo Normal School and to a small number of honorary members who claimed some special affiliation with that school.‘ This provision is significant for two reasons. First, although officially based in Tokyo, the Society actually enjoyed a nationwide membership—inasmuch as graduates of the school took up teaching and administrative posts in every corner of Japan—that was guaranteed to multiply with each new graduating class.~ Second, it conferred upon the Society an aura of clubby exclusivity. In a speech to the Society in November 1883, Takamine Hideo—himself an honorary member by virtue of his position as principal of the Tokyo Normal School—compared it to alumni associations catering to graduates of American institutions of higher learning. Like them, he said, the Tokyo Meikei Society should strive to promote among its members a sense of pride and affection toward their “alma mater” and a mutual camaraderie,‚ in addition to the more objective goal of improving Japanese education. Bound by the Old School Tie 107 The Medium versus The Message With the future growth of its membership assured and their wide geographic dispersal an accomplished fact, publication of a monthly journal was crucial for promoting their “mutual cooperation and inquiry.” To see that the journal accomplished the goals set for it, editorial discretion over its contents was circumscribed by article 6 of the Society’s regulations, which specified the sort of contributions that members could submit for publication: articles pertaining to the Society itself; essays on education; information, reports, and announcements about educational matters; sample teaching methods , textbooks, and other instructional materials or devices; questions and answers on education and the arts and sciences; reports on (local) educational conditions; as well as news about...

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