The Pros And Cons Of Japanese Education

1154 Words5 Pages
Most historians would agree that the education system in Japan saw a great deal of development under Emperor Meiji's ruling, however, rather than a consequence of his own actions, it was the pressure from foreign countries to establish trading relations that led such changes to occur. The Japanese government solely recognized that due to the technological advances of these countries, it would be beneficial to adhere enterprise connections. In order to uphold this affiliation, highly trained technocratic civil servants had to fulfill the bureaucracy necessary to enable the employment of modernizing projects, which could only be achieved if those were given a higher level of education. Consequently, the first state colleges emerged, the Tokyo and Imperial universities, utilizing Western models to teach Eastern concepts. Contrastingly, private universities embodied Western philosophies in their curriculum, securing greater political autonomy and providing incentives towards studying abroad. As private institutions allowed its students…show more content…
The office of state colleges believed that teaching those concepts would be detrimental to Japanese nationalism. Even though public universities borrowed from Western concepts in the beginning stages, they did not pursue foreign ideals in their academics. Their objective was to fulfill political roles needed for the expansion of economic ties between Japan and foreign countries, aiming to utilize 'Western technology' while teaching 'Eastern morality' (Kumazawa 55). On the other hand, private institutions focused on providing freedom of research to its students, enabling them to acknowledge foreign perspectives, as opposed to the conservative state university’s notion that politics should only be interpreted through the eyes of Japanese

More about The Pros And Cons Of Japanese Education

Open Document