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five students. They look upon their matron as their mother, and feel towards one another as sisters. Cooking, washing, setting tables, decorating the rooms, the economical management, and everything that concerns the house is under the control of the residents. Their daily life, therefore, reminds them of their home-life, and teaches them practical lessons on the building up of well-ordered and attractive homes. The girls who live on the premises of our University breathe something of a home atmosphere. The results hitherto attained in this respect do not at all completely satisfy us, but we are glad to say that our endeavours have not been fruitless, and we are encouraged to make greater efforts for the future in the hope that we shall be able to contribute to the world some new light towards the solution of this important problem. At any rate, we sincerely believe that harmony between girls’ school-life and their home-life must be one of the distinctive features of their education in the future.
Furthermore, we must bear in mind that the girls we receive into our schools are Japanese girls, not the girls of any other nation. Their past associations, their present condition, and their future needs must be taken into account in the aims and methods of their education. They need a peculiar education suited to their own sex. We must not fall into the error of foreign missionaries in planting a system of education in foreign countries, which is the cause of failure of their worthy and noble endeavours in the educational line. At the same time, we must reject the policy of education supported by men of narrow mind and national bigotry. We ought to be ready to adopt all the good things of Western nations, while preserving all that is best in our own. The aim and purpose of the education of Japanese girls should be to make them perfectly develop their innate gifts, and help them to assimilate the good qualities of their foreign sisters.
Women must be educated not only as women, but also as members of Society and citizens. The education of our girls hitherto has been very defective on this point. It has made women a little better qualified for their household duties than before, but not qualified for rendering service to Society. It has been entirely overlooked that a woman has duties to Society as much as to her family. In the education of the future we must look upon a woman in her broader relations, and endeavour to strengthen in her the consciousness that she is a member of Society, so that she may contribute something both directly and indirectly to Society at large.
Still further, women must be educated not only as members of Society, but also as souls. They must not be looked upon as things or instruments for practical uses, but as sacred human