c. The Educational Policy of Education Minister Mori Arinori

As Minister of Education, Mori Arinori strongly emphasized education for the sake of national prosperity. Inoue Kowashi (1844-1895), shortly after Mori's death, described Mori's educational philosophy as "the philosophy of education for the national polity." In January, 1889, in a directive to principals of schools directly under the Ministry of Education, Minister Mori had said, "The reason for supporting education is for the sake of the state," and he continued, "You must remembert hat education is not for the sake of the student but for the sake of the state."

In the opinion paper to the Cabinet mentioned above, Mori indicated his fundamental opinion concerning education, and there the question of the goal of education is explained in some detail. It outlines his statist views on education as follows:

Civilization is gradually spreading in today's world. The things in daily use are steadily developing and changing. Is the spirit of our people sufficiently hardened and trained that they may withstand adversity, bear up and endure under pain, and shoulder the heavy burdens of the long road ahead? This must be doubted. Since the Middle Ages, in our country only the samurai have labored in civil and military matters and administered the affairs of government.

Now, as a result, only one portion of the people adequately understands and supports the modernization of the state. The situation is such that the great majority are simply confused and even lack the important and essential character for guaranteeing the independence of the state .... Even if the broad principles of education are established, according to what specific method shall we advance the purpose of education? Consider for a moment. Our country has never been subject to indignity from a foreign nation thanks to the authority of the Imperial Throne which has continued as an unbroken line of Emperors from ancient times. Thus the people's spirit of defending the fatherland and the ethos of exhausting one's self in loyalty to the Emperor have been nourished as traditions from our ancestors, and thus spirit has not yet been lost. This is the foundation for national wealth and strength of which there is no other. If the character of the people is advanced according to this spirit, and if this is made the goal of education, there will be no necessity to seek elsewhere. The people will hold a strong sense of loyalty to the Throne and of love for their country, have a strong character, and be pure in thought. If we can establish a principle for education which abhors the receiving of insult and considers the lacking in courage shameful, and if this is adequately instilled, will there not be such a spirit among the people? There is no doubt they will be able to endure much difficulty and strive together to carry out their tasks. This is the vital energy which is the motive power for advancing by one's self, exerting one's self in the pursuit of learning, polishing intellect, and advancing the civilization of the state. This vitality, if channeled into productive labor, will develop the national wealth. There is not one element in advancing the fate of the state and casting away all danger which does not come from this vital spirit. The elderly pass this vital spirit to the young. Fathers and ancestors pass this vital spirit to their posterity. From person to person and household to household, all are made the same according to this vital spirit. The vital spirit of one nation is fixed, and when it is unswayed forever, the base of that nation naturally becomes something of great strength.

This view of education which places the state first is typical of the content of Education Minister Mori's educational thinking. This educational policy was made clear about 1887 and was continued thereafter.

The policy that Education Minister Mori established with respect to school education followed from this statist view of education. For example, when Mori first outlined a draft for the order on a university, he gave this institution the designation of the Imperial University, and he defined the University's goal as teaching and research in those arts and sciences essential to the nation. Moreover, in the opinion paper to the Cabinet cited above, Mori called for military style education for all males between seventeen and twenty-seven years of age for the purpose of nourishing the spirit needed to defend the fatherland.

In the draft of Report to the Throne concerning Military Style Physical Education, Mori elaborated on his proposal:

The wealth and strength of the country will be realized to the degree that the spirit of loyalty to the Emperor and love of our nation prospers. Therefore, the man who is the Minister of Education must meet the responsibility for generally encouraging and displaying this spirit. For this reason it was recognized that physical education is of the utmost importance, and it was added to the course of study. However, as yet there is no result to be seen. Essentially, this is because few military men have been summoned as instructors and the great majority of school teachers have only had one or two occasions to learn exercises from military men. Generally speaking, the will of school teachers cannot even be spoken of in the same way as that of the military men. The ordinary school teachers do not know how to cultivate an attitude of obedience to superior authority, to develop an attitude of courage like that of the samurai nor do they understand how to teach young people to strictly observe rules and regulations. Therefore, even though there is a subject on physical education in every school, it cannot advance students to the same degree as subjects in intellectual education. Physical education exists in form only. While other subjects are steadily developing the students, only physical education has shown no significant result. If this situation persists for long, the people will become weaker and weaker. They will lose courage and be of no use in the defense of the fatherland. Their power to deal with fortune and adversity and to carry out endeavors will decrease, and eventually they will fall into a state where it will be difficult to rescue them. If this comes to pass, will it be possible to create a strong and wealthy nation? Of course it will be impossible. The Minister takes the great national responsibility of being Minister of Education. He cannot stand by quietly with arms folded. The Minister has been thinking about this in private, and if it is thought to now remove the abuses and begin to take the necessary steps to build a firm base for the future wealth and strength of the state, then it is desirable as a first step to take a portion of the instruction time of middle schools and various other schools and devote it to physical education. That subject of physical education should be separated from the Ministry of Education and placed under the management of the Ministry of the Army, and pure military style physical education should be given to the students by military officers. Thus the Ministry of Education ought not to engage in conducting military style physical education, but rather leave this to the Ministry of the Army. If this is done and the regulations strictly enforced, we will see the development of physical education. Students will take on the superior character of military men. A spirit of loyalty to the Emperor and love of country will be encouraged. The vital energy for persevering under hard labor will be born. And, at some future day when these students are selected for conscription, the results of the military style physical education will be most conspicuous.

On the basis of this thinking, Minister of Education Mori introduced a completely military style education into the normal schools and military style physical education into middle and elementary schools.

Minister of Education Mori also had a strong interest in women's education. His view of women's education is welln revealed in a speech in July, 1888, at the graduation ceremonies for Tokyo Girls' High School. In that speech, he traced the wise or foolish character of the people to the education received from their mothers, and he emphasized the impotance of women's education for "wise and virtuous mothers." Moreover, he noted that women's education had important meaning for the advancement of the nation and society. His thinking is also clearly indicated in a speech delivered in the Fall of 1887 while he was on an inspection tour to Kinki and its adjacent district. In that speech, he said, "The foundation of the wealth and power of the state is in education. The foundation of education is in women's education. It is not to be forgotten that the quality of women's education has relation to the security of the state. Moreover, in women's education, nourishing a spirit which thinks of the state is extremely important."

Another interesting aspect of Mori's educational policy was his concern with educational economics, or school economics. For him, this was not a simple matter of finances, but involved an expectation that results should be proportional to the resources put into education. This concern derived from his characteristic rational approach to problems and his recognition of the economic difficulties of the regional and central governments at that time. This thinking led to the principle of assessing tuition fees even for the local public elementary schools which offered compulsory education. It also resulted in the consolidation of various schools directly operated by the Ministry of Education, so as to reduce administrative costs.

In addition to the above points, Minister of Education Mori placed special emphasis on a policy of regional inspection of schools. For this purpose, in October, 1887, within the Ministry of Education was created the General Education Bureau whose divisions were to participate in regional school inspection and these respective divisions were to be under the direction of each School Inspector. Thus, the system of school inspection was strengthened and expanded.