Examine The History Of The Legal Changes Of The Meiji Period Japanese Education

Like other subjugated Asian nations, the Japanese were forced to sign unequal treaties with Western powers. These treaties granted the Westerners one-sided economical and legal advantages in Japan. The political elite during the Meiji Restoration was greatly exposed to European civilization and quickly saw the great advantages of its importation, not only to preserve national independence, but also to strengthen their own political leadership in the domestic arena. Realizing from the outset that education was fundamental to nation building and modernization, the Meiji leaders established a public education system to unite as well as bring the country up to the western standard . Missions were sent abroad to study the education systems of leading Western countries. These missions and other observers returned with the ideas of decentralization, local school boards, and teacher autonomy. The education system was reformed after the French, then after America, and later after the German system. Among those reforms was the introduction of compulsory education. After some trial and error, a new national education system emerged. Their system established three levels: primary school, middle school, and university. Both boys and girls were required to attend school at the primary level. As an indication of its success, elementary school enrollments climbed from about 40 or 50 percent of the school-age population in the 1870s to more than 90 percent by 1900.In the Fundamental Law on Education of 1872, the French and American principles of education were accepted: the purpose of education was the material and intellectual advancement of the individual. Education for a period of 16 months was made compulsory for all children 6 years of age. Japan would be divided into 8 educational regions. In school, Confucian moral lessons of the past were replaced by progressive and modern curricula based on the French model. Western knowledge and science were taught.In the Education Act of 1879, more power in educational matters was given to local authorities. Local educational authorities began re-introducing traditional elements into school curricula. Without central guidance, the percentage of children attending schools declined instead.In the Education Act of 1886, the administration of education was again centralized. The period of compulsory education was extended to 4 years. A Dual System was adopted. The supremacy of the state at every educational level, from primary school to university, was confirmed.By the 1890s, after earlier intensive preoccupation with Western, particularly German, educational ideas, the 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education was issued by the Emperor Meiji. It asserted that loyalty and filial piety were the fundamental characteristics of the Japanese Empire and the roots of national education. The utmost objective was to "guard and maintain the prosperity of our imperial throne coeval with heaven and earth. "The Imperial Rescript of Education demanded the nation to develop its intellectual faculties and to perfect its moral powers. Thus the school system was burdened with the incessant pressure to synthesise a modern curriculum and a feudalistic ideology.Meiji Japan's education system played a central part in enabling the country to meet the challenges presented by the need to quickly absorb Western ideas, science and technology. Among the non-Western nations, only Japan has reached a level of industrialization and urbanization comparable to the advanced countries of Europe and America.