Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/283

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EDUCATION
245

section, where are found those who are to enter the Engineering, Science and Agriculture Colleges, or the pharmaceutical course of the Medical College, the curriculum includes morals, Japanese language, English, German (or French), mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology and mineralogy, drawing, and gymnastics. Here English is obligatory to all, and either German or French is to be selected; there are some differences in the third year curriculum for the different courses. In the third or medical section, the subjects taught are morals, Japanese, German, English (or French), Latin, mathematics, physics, chemistry, zoology and botany, and gymnastics. Here German is given first place, and English or French is to be selected as an additional language. For those who have entered the higher school after an examination in English, the time devoted to German is much more than for others. In the first section more than 30 per cent. of the total time is spent in the study of each of the foreign languages, in the second section more than 20 per cent., whereas in the third section the time spent for the study of German reaches 40 per cent., and for English or French 10 per cent.; so that the percentages of the total times taken up by European languages are respectively 60 per cent., 40 per cent., and 50 per cent. for the first, second, and third sections. In spite of the fact that so much time is spent in the study of the European languages, the knowledge of these languages possessed by the University student is far from being satisfactory, and what is more deplorable is the fact that this deficiency shows signs of increasing from year to year. Its cause is perfectly evident, the recent sudden increase of middle schools having not been accompanied by an increase in the number of good English teachers. The result is that the students in the higher schools have to grapple with two foreign languages. If they had been well taught in English in the middle schools one of the languages at least would not be so formidable. As it is, however, some educationalists argue for one foreign language in the higher schools instead of two. But surely a professional man, who aims at a high position, could never be satisfied with one language! Certainly it would be impossible for anyone to keep up with the rapid progress of the world, which takes place in all the higher branches of education, with only one European language at his command. If a foreign language is well taught in the middle schools, that language need occupy very little time of the student in the higher school. Thus, it will be seen that the bad teaching of foreign languages in the middle schools is the cause of disastrous result in the branches of higher education. It is not only the teaching of foreign languages, but in all the subjects taught in the middle school there seems to be need