Normal Schools
In order to institute this new system of education, the government paid particular attention to the previous issue of a lack of teachers. In 1886, the Meiji government passed the Normal School Ordinance, which established a set of colleges to prepare elementary and secondary school teachers. Each prefecture was to establish its own academy for elementary school teacher preparation, and there was to be one central college in Tokyo that prepared graduates to teach at the secondary level.[i] In order to institute the government’s new focus on a nationalist populace by ensuring loyalty to the state, Minister of Education Mori Arinori conceived of a military-style training of teachers.[ii] This involved a regimented style with quasi-military exercises and even mandated the use of school uniforms.[iii]
[i] McClain, Japan, 263.
[ii] Duke, The History of Modern Japanese Education, 331.
[iii] Duus, Modern Japan, 127.
[i] McClain, Japan, 263.
[ii] Duke, The History of Modern Japanese Education, 331.
[iii] Duus, Modern Japan, 127.