外国人から見た「学制」(明治五年)

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The first educational ordinance in modern Japan, Gakusei, was hastily proclaimed in 1872 by cabinet members who had remained in Japan while Ambassador Iwakura was visiting the USA and Europe. As a result, it contained various problems and mistakes even in its provisions. Nevertheless, foreigners who did not know the inside story of Gakusei were strongly interested in it. This paper examines foreign perceptions of Gakusei and of Japan's education system at the time of Gakusei, and among other things makes the following four points.1. Initially Gakusei received strong applause from non-Japanese critics. 2. However, their applause was naturally based on the point of view of Western culture. 3. Related to this fact, they felt strong opposition to the possibility that backward Japan would catch up and pass Western countries as the result of its rapid modernization. 4. A nine-part series on education in Japan that appeared in an Englishlanguage newspaper published in Yokohama, The Japan Weekly Mail, pointed out very sharply the defects in Japan's education system. The writer of the series seems to have been a good Japan watcher. Comparing its content with the facts of the Gakusei system, we find some questionable statements or mistaken comments as well as identifiable facts, but we can grasp what kind of matters foreigners in Japan were concerned about. The writer of the series asserted that the teaching of religion should be prohibited in public schools and should be entirely outside the province of government control. He even hoped to see the day when the reading of The Bible ceased to be obligatory in public schools in the United States. From the editor's note attached to this opinion, we can discover that the writer was W. E. Griffis, a foreign professor hired by the Japanese government. His assertion of the need for religious toleration was based on his awareness that Japan had already established a Ministry responsible for religion, namely, the Ministry of Doctrinal Instruction (Kyobusho), and we can take it as his warning that Japan was moving in the direction of connecting state and religion.
2010-10-20

外国人から見た「学制」(明治五年)

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