A kindergarten after the pattern of Froebel was first established in Tokio in the higher normal school for girls. Now the number reaches as many as 605. The object is to train eildren of three years and upward, until they reach their school age. These institutions are to help to complete home edu cation in the sound development of the mind, the body and of good habits. The subjects of training consist of games, singing, conversation and hand work. The kindergartens are fre quented mostly by the children of middle or high classes. Such kindergartens as are prev alent in Europe and America where poor chil dren are kept and trained are yet few in Japan. Competition of life among the lower classes is not so great as to leave parents destitute of means for training and bringing up their children.
Schools for Blind and In schools for the blind and dumb general education is im The grade is that of elementary schools, ut there is a professional course which aims to enable them to earn their own living. These institutions, together with kindergartens, come under the Imperial Ordinance relating to ele mentary schools. The education of the blind and dumb is not yet made obligatory, still the number of the blind and dumb schools has in creased recently through the encouragement of the local authorities made in other spheres of education, but the government has shown a dis position in recent years to give more attention to the development of this, work. In 1910, the Tokio Blind and Dumb School was separated into the Tokio School for the Blind and the Tokio School for the Deaf in order to separate these two sorts of education. The former is divided into ordinary, industrial and training courses. The industrial course is divided into two courses, viz., music, and acupuncture and massage; and the training course, into three, viz., ordinary, music and acupuncture and mas sage. In the ordinary course, morals, Japanese, arithmetic, history, geography, science, singing, gymnastics and sewing are taught. The latter is divided into three courses of ordinary, in dustrial and training, and the ordinary course is subdivided into lower and higher courses, the industrial course into three courses of painting, woodwork and sewing, and the training course into the ordinary course and the courses of painting, woodwork and sewing. In the ordi nary course morals, Japanese, arithmetic, his tory. geography, science and gymnastics are taught.
Middle Schools.— Secondary education is conducted in the middle schools for boys and the higher schools for girls, and consists in giving pupils the knowledge and arts essential for the middle classes of society, and also pre pares them for special education. Their equiva lents are found in the secondary schools of England, lycee of France, gymnasium and ho here madchenschule of Germany. In Europe
and America the schools where secondary edu cation is given have for the most part pre paratory departments of their own, while in Japan there is no need of preparatory depart ments to be provided in the middle schools or high schools for girls, because all children, re gardless of the rich and poor, go to the ele mentary schools.
The middle school deals with intermediate education coming between the and the elementary school. After several revisions the present ordinance for the middle school was issued in 1899, and departmental regulations for carrying it out were enacted in 1901. The Hokkaido as well as each Fu and Ken must establish at least one middle school. The Min ister of Education can order Fu or Ken to es tablish middle schools when he deems it neces sary to do so. Cities, towns and villages can found their own middle schools if they do not impede in any way the progress of the elemen tary schools. Private individuals may set up middle schools also.
Boys of 12 or older, and who have passed the sixth year of their ordinary elementary course or have similar attainments, are quali fied to enter the middle schools. But the in crease of these schools; though remarkable, does not afford sufficient accommodation and the applicants have to be admitted by competi tive examination. The course extends over five years and a post-graduate course of one year may be added. The school year begins on the 1st of April and ends on the 31st of March of the following year. The number of school days must be over 220 in a year. The number of pupils must not exceed 600. In some partic ular cases it may be increased to 800. The maximum number of pupils in one class is 50. The subjects taught are morals, Japanese and Chinese, foreign language, history, geography, mathematics, natural history, physics and chem istry, civics, industry, drawing, singing and gymnastics. Industry is agriculture, or com merce, or manual training, and is permitted to be made an optional subject. The foreign lan guage may be either English, German or French, but at present the language taught is practically English. Civics, industry and singing may be omitted for the present. The program of every subject is fixed, as it is in the case of elementary schools. The Imperial Rescript is the basis of morality here as elsewhere. Moral principles that may form a character suitable for the middle or higher class of society are taught here. The teachings of Confucius and Mencius which enforce piety toparents and loyalty to the sovereign have been firmly rooted for over 1,000 years in Japanese homes. Bush ido* is also an effective teaching for inculcating higher moral standards and is freely referred to in these classes.