Structure and the Ministry of Education
In terms of the actual structure of the education system domestically, the government moved fast to implement the Fundamental Code, subdividing the country into the adequate number of school districts. The Fundamental Code called for 53,760 primary school districts that fed into 256 middle school districts. In addition, it called for the formation of eight public universities.[i] In order to facilitate the divisions of the school system and implement general reforms, the government created a powerful Ministry of Education. It was charged with preventing the intrusion of old, feudalistic traditions into the education system and implementing a Western curriculum. Curricula were to be maintained through a system of government inspectors, and private schools who met Ministry of Education standards were to be accredited through a licensing system.[ii] The Ministry soon found out how difficult it was to implement the necessary reforms. While the government inherited many teachers and classrooms from the old Tokugawa system, there was a drastic shortage of teachers who were able to comprehend new textbooks with Arabic numerals, much less teach complicated new subjects like world geography.[iii]
[i] McClain, Japan, 260.
[ii] Pittau, Political Thought, 27.
[iii] Peter Duus, Modern Japan, 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 93.
[i] McClain, Japan, 260.
[ii] Pittau, Political Thought, 27.
[iii] Peter Duus, Modern Japan, 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998), 93.