網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

properties. New laws for the organization of towns and villages were carried out as far as practical, and a corresponding increase in school districts was apparent. Seventeen Fus and Kens, in 1889, were awaiting the issuance of a revised ordinance for elementary schools before rearranging their school districts, and two Fus and twenty-six Kens had already commenced such reorganization so as to receive the benefit of the greater educational advantages which would naturally accrue from such change. To date of 1889 the most material advantages were felt from the influence indirectly exercised on education in towns and villages by the operations of new laws for the organization of cities, towns, and villages. The rearrangement of school districts involved the establishment of new schools, the suspension of others, and the rearrangement of school property. The general outcome of such efforts tended more directly toward an increase in the number of schools, teachers, and pupils, and in the amount of income and expenditure. The local authorities, aiding in the general tendency toward progress, had in view measures leading to an improvement in the standard of teachers, to a greater accumulation of school funds, and to a wider diffusion of education for women. The principal events of these years, naturally leading to the statistical presentation which follows, may be summed up by stating that the educational laws in force were found to be contradictory in spirit to the laws which were passed in regard to the organization of cities, towns, and villages. In order to keep abreast with the reorganization mentioned above a general school revision must necessarily follow; then came the promulgation of general regu lations relating to local education; imperial ordinances relating to elementary schools, laws relating to salaries of directors of Fu and Ken normal schools; relating to pensions to retired officials, or to their families in case of decease; relating to retired teachers and the families of deceased teachers in city, town, or village elementary schools. As a climax to these movements the Emperor addressed his people, and in his speech, while considering the subject of education, he especially called attention to the necessity of a firm establishment of a standard of moral education, and of a course of conduct to be followed by children. The main points of these various ordinances and laws will be presented under the various heads into which this paper is divided.

In 1890 the population of Japan was 20,932,367 males, 20,389,638 females; total, 41,322,005. The school districts numbered 12,383. The school population numbered 7,195,412 (males, 3,765,984; females, 3,429,428). The number of pupils receiving instruction, expressed in its percentage to school population, was 48.95. The number of pupils to total population, expressed in percentage, was 7.79. Of the whole number in school 3,520,718 were receiving the prescribed course of instruction, and 3,674,694 were not receiving the regulation course. The institutions under the control of the department of education include 1 university, 7 higher secondary schools, 2 higher normal schools, 4 spe cial schools, 1 school for the blind and dumb, and several schools and

kindergärten attached to the higher normals. The pupils in the abovementioned schools were 7,160; graduates, 926. This does not include pupils in the elementary courses attached to the higher normals. The expenditure by the department for school purposes was 1,100,689 yen. Special expenditure, 265,312 yen. Under the control of the local authorities were 26,012 elementary schools, 47 lower grade normal schools, 54 lower grade secondary schools, 30 higher schools for girls, 55 special schools, and 1,650 miscellaneous schools, the total being 27,846. Of this number 25,425 were public and 2,421 private establishments. The number of instructors and teachers was 74,024, that of pupils, 3,211,931. In the public schools 311,505 pupils had completed their courses of study, and 17,823 in the private schools. The amount of expenditure for the public schools was 8,675,140 yen. It may here be stated that although the imperial ordinance relating to elementary schools had been promulgated in the year 1889–190 it had not yet been carried into effect on account of the various accessory ordinances which must necessarily be issued. The efforts of the authorities during the year were directed toward completing such measures as had been undertaken in the previous year. The following table more clearly presents the classification of schools than can be done by any other method. The majority of the elementary and higher schools are supported by Government and by local rates.

Tables showing the number of Government, public, and private schools for the twenty-third year of Meiji, 1890.

[blocks in formation]

The gold yen is worth 99.7 cents; consequently the amount in dollars is nearly the same. The last three figures usually represent the sen and the rin, which are, respectively, the one-hundredth and one-thousandth part of a yen.

ED 91-18

As will be observed, the number of elementary schools was 26,017. The number of school buildings for elementary schools newly constructed during the year was 731; the expenditures for the same being about 413,965 yen. The average number of new buildings for each Fu or Ken was 16; the amount of expense for each school, 566 yen. The number of teachers (including pupil teachers) in elementary schools was 31 in the Government schools, 66,463 in the public schools, and 1,236 in private schools. That is a total of 67,730. The average number of pupils for each teacher was 46.7, both in public and private schools; the average number of teachers for each school is 2.63 in public schools, 1.68 in private schools. These averages are apt to be misleading, however, as in the Ken of Loyama there were 74 pupils under the care of a teacher, and in the Ken of Nagano there were only 26. The average paid to teachers of these grades ranged between 144 and 75 yen in some of the Kens, and between 420 and 30 in other Kens, while the highest annual salary was 600 yen. The total number of pupils was 3,096,400, of whom 570 attended the Government schools, 3,038,032 the public schools, and 57,798 the private schools. The number of those who have completed the elementary course was 315,054, of whom 17,956 belonged to the higher elementary, 229,447 to the second division of the elementary schools, and 67,651 to the simpler elementary course. The average number of pupils in daily attendance, expressed in per cent, was 72.37 in the public schools and 84.54 in the private schools.

In Japan importance is attached to infant training, and an annual increase in the number of kindergärten is reported. In 1890 there were 138 of these schools, 99 of them Governmental and 39 private ones. The number of conductors was 271, of children in attendance, 7,486 (4,185 boys, 3,301 girls). As regards the prosperity of the kindergärten, those in the Fu of Tokio, Kioto, and Osaka take a first rank. A dearth of conductors there and elsewhere was reported, and this necessitated the opening, in connection with the normal school in Tokyo, of an institute for the training of teachers for infant schools, from which institute cight conductors were graduated in 1890. A private educational society of Tokio also established an institute of kindergarten conductors and sent out twenty persons to fill the kindergarten ranks.

The normal schools were affected by a revision in their regulations in 1886. Since that date great attention has been paid to the opening of new schools, to the furnishing of apparatus and appliances, and to the mode of teaching the subjects of study newly introduced. The number of lower grade normal schools in 1890 was 47, with 579 male and 45 female teachers; 4,410 male, and 885 female pupils; the graduates 'numbered 810 males, and 132 females. The annual expenditure during the year 1890 amounted to 800,307.186 yen; the greatest average amount for each pupil was 298 yen; the smallest average amount 82 yen, while the general average was 151.44 yen. The two higher normal schools

under the control of the Department, i. e., the Tokio Higher Normal School and the Tokio Female Normal School had their pupils distributed as follows: Nineteen Japanese instructors, 1 foreigner, 23 pupils each in the physical, chemical, and literary course, and 30 in the biological course; 15 graduates in the biological course, and 4 in the elective course, these graduates being now engaged in lower grade nor-. mal and secondary schools. In the elementary school attached to the higher normal were 423 pupils. The Tokio Educational Museum attached to the school contained 14,661 objects, and had been visited by 9,770 persons during the year. The amount of expenditure was 51,160.293 yen for the Higher Normal. In the Higher Female Normal School there were 10 Japanese instructors and 86 pupils. Thirteen pupils graduated in the female normal course and eight in the elementary normal course. The teachers in the attached elementary school numbered 71 Japanese, with 213 pupils. In the kindergarten there were 7 conductors and 183 children. The expenditure amounted to 30,608.67 yen. The lower grade secondary schools, 55 in number, had 650 Japanese and 3 foreign instructors; pupils, 11,620; graduates for the year, 529. The expenditure of the secondary schools established by Fu and Ken was 297,458.597 yen, an average rate for each school of 6,917 yen; for each pupil 29.998 yen. About 25 per cent of the pupils leave school before graduation, especially from the classes of the fourth and fifth years. The private secondary schools numbered 11; instructors 98; pupils 1,638; graduates 36; expenditure 28,170.701 yen; amount for each pupil 17.198. The 7 higher secondary schools had 320 Japanese and 15 foreign instructors, with 3,037 pupils in the main schools and 1,319 in the medical departments. Graduates during the year numbered 200 pupils in the main schools and 173 in the medical departments. Classified according to social orders there were 7 Kwazoku (peers); 1,784 Shizoku (military class), and 1,246 Heimin (the common people) in the medical departments. The expenditure during the year was 433,757.834 yen.

Lack of solid foundation is reported from some of the higher female schools, but this comes in part from the long years of neglect of female education, and in part from the fact that many of them are simply adjuncts of the lower grade secondary schools, so that no separate reports from these can be made. The higher female schools under control of Fu and Ken numbered 7 public and 22 private establishments, 132 male and 148 female Japanese instructors, and 17 foreign female teachers; pupils 2,983; graduates 317. The Imperial University is under the control of the Minister of State for Education, and depends for its revenue upon annual allowances from the treasury of the Imperial Government. Its tuition fees and other sources of income are allowed to accumulate year by year so as to have a large fund, a portion of which may, however, be paid out from time to time. The statistics of the university and its different departments may be best presented in the following table for 1890. The special changes in course of study and the general progress will be indicated on pages 298-299.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The College of Agriculture was first established in June, 1890, it being in reality a transfer of the Tokio Dendrological School to the university, and its course was made to extend over three years. Attached to the university are the library, botanic garden, astronomical observatory, and hospitals of the medical college.

The number of Government special schools is clearly indicated in the following table. They are under the control of the Department of Education:

[blocks in formation]

During the year 1890 the apprentices' school for merchants and artisans was transferred from the higher commercial school to the Tokio Technical School. The latter, formerly designed to train technologists, foremen and superintendents of factories, was changed to that of a school for preparing foremen and teachers of industries. The total number of public special schools was 53; instructors, 636; pupils, 11,729; graduates, 2,470. Among the pupils 5,521 were studying law; next in point of numbers were the pupils studying medicine, 1,521; commerce, 1,338, and mathematics, 1,257. The school of engineering had 593 pupils; agriculture, 427; literature, 390; philosophy, 288; surveying, 128; drawing, 94; veterinary surgery, 74; political economy, 54; navigation, 3. The number of pupils studying agricultural and commercial branches is steadily increasing, but as compared with the law schools those institutions are not prosperous as yet.

The miscellaneous schools maintained by public funds are not especially numerous, but they include a variety of subjects, and the private establishments not only make out in point of numbers what the public schools lack, but also show the tendency of training towards various professions. Hence a table is here appended:

« 上一頁繼續 »