Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/294
Mongolia, where she is engaged by a native chief as instructress in his household.
Women’s education, however, has always been a problem. From the very nature of the case, it is very difficult to arrive at a satisfactory solution. Still, we realize the importance of it as much as do Europeans. Especially have we done so from the time of the inauguration of the new régime. Here I might cite an instance, which is not without interest. In 1871 a number of young girls were sent to America for their education, one now the wife of Admiral Uriu, whose name is well known in connection with the present war; another is the Marchioness Oyama, wife of Marshal Marquis Oyama, head of the General Staff of Japan.
I am far from speaking confidently of the problem as solved in Japan. I will but give a brief description of its present condition, basing my materials mainly on different official reports.
In Japan the system of elementary education is most extensively carried out. There is no village where a school is not provided for at the public expense. It is compulsory, every child having to be educated, though some relaxation is made under exceptional circumstances. Elementary schools are divided into two grades: ordinary elementary and higher elementary schools. Ordinary elementary are for children of the age of six and upwards for four years, and that of higher elementary education from the age of nine. In the case of the latter the period of their school education is not uniform, because some may join higher schools after certain years, and some may leave school in the middle. But in case of children who go through the ordinary course the period is four years.
In these preliminary schools boys and girls are taken in without any distinction, though, for the convenience of teaching, the classes are generally formed separately. Let me now proceed with statistics, taken from the annual reports of the Minister of Education for 1901–02. It relates to Japan proper, including the islands of Yezo and Liuchiu, but not Formosa.
The number of children in that school year was: Boys, 3,876,495; girls, 3,590,391; total, 7,466,886.
Of these, children attending the ordinary elementary schools were: Boys, 1,714,509; girls, 1,632,018; total, 3,346,527.
Those who completed the ordinary elementary course were: Boys, 1,462,977; girls, 911,422; total, 2,374,399.
The total number of children of school age receiving the prescribed course of education was therefore: Boys, 3,177,486; girls, 2,543,440; total, 5,720,926.
The total number of pupils in higher elementary schools was as follows:
Those belonging to public schools (including those attached