Education in the Empire of Japan was a high priority for its government, as the leadership of the early Meiji government realized the need for universal public education in its drive to modernize the nation.
Education in the Empire of Japan was a high priority for its government, as the leadership of the early Meiji government realized the need for universal public education in its drive to modernize the nation.
During the Edo period, education that were given to the commoners and outcasts were limited to none. What these low-class people did learn was generally geared towards the basic and practical subjects such as reading, writing, and arithmetic. [1] By the late 1860s, the Meiji leaders had established a system that declared equality in education for all in the process of modernizing the country.
After 1868 new leadership set Japan on a rapid course of modernization. The Meiji leaders established a public education system to modernize the country. Missions like the Iwakura mission were sent abroad to study the education systems of leading Western countries. They returned with the ideas of decentralization, local school boards, and teacher autonomy. [2] [3] Such ideas and ambitious initial plans, however, proved very difficult to carry out. After some trial and error, a new national education system emerged. As an indication of its success, elementary school enrollments climbed from about 30% percent of the school-age population in the 1870s to more than 90 percent by 1900, despite strong public protest, especially against school fees.
In 1871, the Ministry of Education was established. Elementary school was made compulsory from 1872, [4] and was intended to create loyal subjects of the Emperor. Middle Schools were preparatory schools for students destined to enter one of the Imperial Universities, and the Imperial Universities were intended to create westernized leaders who would be able to direct the modernization of Japan. In December, 1885, the cabinet system of government was established, and Mori Arinori became the first Minister of Education of Japan. Mori, together with Inoue Kowashi created the foundation of the Empire of Japan's educational system by issuing a series of orders from 1886. These laws established an elementary school system, middle school system, normal school system and an imperial university system. With the aid of foreign advisors, such as American educators David Murray and Marion McCarrell Scott, normal schools for teacher education were also created in each prefecture. Other advisors, such as George Adams Leland, were recruited to create specific types of curriculum.
By 1890, Imperial Rescript on Education was signed to articulate government policy on the guiding principles of education on the Empire of Japan. The Imperial Rescript along with highly centralized government control over education, largely guided Japanese education until the end of World War II.
With the increasing industrialization of Japan, demand increased for higher education and vocational training. Inoue Kowashi, who followed Mori as Minister of Education established a state vocational school system, and also promoted women's education through a separate girls' school system.
Compulsory education was extended to six years in 1907. According to the new laws, textbooks could only be issued upon the approval of the Ministry of Education. The curriculum was centered on moral education (mostly aimed at instilling patriotism), mathematics, design, reading and writing, composition, Japanese calligraphy, Japanese history, geography, science, drawing, singing, and physical education. All children of the same age learned each subject from the same series of textbook.
During the Taishō and early Shōwa periods, from 1912-1937, the education system in Japan became increasingly centralized. From 1917-1919, the government created the Extraordinary Council on Education (臨時教育会議, Rinji Kyōiku Kaigi), which issued numerous reports and recommendations on educational reform. One of the main emphases of the Council was in higher education. Prior to 1918, "university" was synonymous with "imperial university", but as a result of the Council, many private universities obtained officially recognized status. The Council also introduced subsidies for families too poor to afford the tuitions for compulsory education, and also pushed for more emphasis on moral education.
During this period, socialism and communism exerted influences on teachers and teaching methods. The New Educational Movement (新教育運動, Shin Kyōiku Undō) led to teachers unions and student protest movements against the nationalist educational curriculum. The government responded with increased repression, and adding some influences from the German system in an attempt to increase the patriotic spirit and step up the militarization of Japan. The Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors became compulsory reading for students during this period.
Specialized schools for the blind and for the deaf were established as early as 1878, and were regulated and standardized by the government in the Blind, Deaf and Dumb Schools Order of 1926. Blind people were encouraged toward vocations such as massage, acupuncture, physical therapy, and piano tuning.
After the Manchurian Incident of 1931, the curriculum of the national educational system became increasingly nationalistic and after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, the curriculum became increasingly militaristic and was influenced by ultranationalist Education Minister Sadao Araki.
In 1941, elementary schools were renamed National People's Schools (国民学校, Kokumin Gakkō, translated from German Volksschule ) and students were required to attend Youth Schools (青年学校, Seinen Gakkō) vocational training schools on graduation, which mixed vocational and basic military training (for boys) and home economics (for girls). The Seinen Gakkō also conducted classes at night for working boys and girls.
Normal schools were renamed Specialized Schools (専門学校, Senmon Gakkō), and were often affiliated with a university. The Senmon Gakkō taught medicine, law, economics, commerce, agricultural science, engineering or business management. The aim of the Senmon Gakkō was to produce a professional class, rather than intellectual elite. In the pre-war period, all higher school for women were Senmon Gakkō.
After the start of the Pacific War in 1941, nationalistic and militaristic indoctrination were further strengthened. Textbooks such as the Kokutai no Hongi became required to be read. The principal educational objective was teaching the traditional national political values, religion and morality. This had prevailed from the Meiji period. The Japanese state modernized organizationally, but preserved its national idiosyncrasies. Emphasis was laid on the Emperor worship cult, and loyalty to the most important values of the nation, and the importance of ancient military virtues.
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, the United States Education Missions to Japan in 1946 and again in 1950 under the direction of the American occupation authorities abolished the old educational framework and established the foundation of Japan's post-war educational system.
Saishū Onoe was the pen name of Hachirō Onoe, a Japanese tanka poet, educator, and calligrapher.
Educational reform in occupied Japan encompasses changes in philosophy and goals of education; nature of the student-teacher relationship; coeducation; the structure of the compulsory education system; textbook content and procurement system; personnel at the Ministry of Education (MEXT); kanji script reform; and establishment of a university in every prefecture. The reforms were directed by the Education Division of the Civil Information and Education Section of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. Also influential were the two reports of the United States Education Mission to Japan.
Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels.
The Imperial Rescript on Education, or IRE for short, was signed by Emperor Meiji of Japan on 30 October 1890 to articulate government policy on the guiding principles of education on the Empire of Japan. The 315 character document was read aloud at all important school events, and students were required to study and memorize the text.
The Kyushu Institute of Technology is one of the 87 national universities in Japan. Located in Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, it is dedicated to education and research in the fields of science and technology. It is earlier abbreviated to KIT and is now officially abbreviated to Kyutech.
Kagoshima University, abbreviated to Kadai (鹿大), is a Japanese national university located in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.
The Imperial College of Engineering was a Japanese institution of higher education that was founded during the Meiji era. The college was established under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works for the training of young Japanese engineers.
Higher education in Japan is provided at universities, junior colleges, colleges of technology and special training schools and community colleges. Of these four types of institutions, only universities and junior colleges are strictly considered postsecondary education providers. The modern Japanese higher education system has undergone numerous changes since the Meiji period and was largely modeled after Western countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the United States of America combined with traditional Japanese pedagogical elements to create a unique Japanese model to serve its national needs. The Japanese higher education system differs from higher education in most other countries in many significant ways. Key differences include the method of acceptance, which relies almost entirely on one or two tests, as opposed to the usage of GPAs or percentages or other methods of assessment and evaluation of prospective applicants used in countries throughout the Western world. As students only have one chance to take this test each year, there is an enormous amount of pressure to perform well on it, as the majority of the time during a student's senior high school years is dedicated to performing well on this single test. Japanese high school students are faced with immense pressure to succeed academically from their parents, extended family members, teachers, guidance counselors, peers, and society at large. This mindset is largely based on a result of a traditional society that has historically placed an enormous amount of importance on the encouragement of study on top of the merits of scholarship and benefits of pursuing higher education, especially in an education system that places all of its weight upon a single examination that has significant life-long consequences on one's eventual socioeconomic status, promising marriage prospects, entrance into a prestigiously elite white-collar occupation, and a respectable professional career path. Unlike higher education in some other countries, public universities in Japan are generally regarded as more prestigious than private universities, especially the National Seven Universities.
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Budo Senmon Gakko also known as Butoku Gakko, Bujutsu Senmon Gakko, or Busen (武専), was a school for training young men and women in Japanese martial arts. There were four departments; kendo, judo, naginata and kyūdō.
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Diploma in Japanese has 2 meanings. They can be translated into "Senmonshi"(Japanese:専門士), the Japanese original academic degree, and the certificate of graduation.
Advanced Diploma is the Japanese original academic degree given to people who had spent more than 4 years and successfully completed a particular specialized course of study at the vocational schools certified by Japanese MEXT. The vocational schools in this article mean a "senmon-gakkō" (専門学校) which means a professional training college and a "senshū-gakkō" (専修学校) which means a Specialized training college. This academic degree was established in 2005 to improve the graduates' reputation and to promote lifelong learning. Its level is equal to Bachelor given by the university.
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Polytechnic schools in Japan are vocational education institutions for short and long-term programs, a group of public human resources development facilities under paragraph (1) (i) of Article 15-6 of the Human Resources Development Promotion Law. It involves designated private sector as well.
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Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialising in special needs education, which are typically known as special schools. Specialist schools often have admission criteria making them selective schools as well.
