Private Academies of Chinese Learning in Meiji Japan: The Decline ...

244 PRIVATE ACADEMIES OF CHINESE LEARNING IN MEIJI JAPANsecularization, the industrial revolution and the rise of stateeducation systems brought us to largely equate education withschooling and schooling with instruction. 12THE IDEA OF JUKU EDUCATION TODAYAll this suggests that, apart from a particular combination ofcharacteristics in a certain historical situation, very little aboutthe juku is unique. Moreover, even for the perpetrators of the“juku myth” in the 1930s, the alleged Japaneseness of the jukuwas of secondary importance. Some even attempted to show theuniversal appeal of the “juku spirit” by referring to examples inother countries. In fact, they saw the juku through the lenses ofwhat they knew about European education. Names likeRousseau, Pestalozzi, Herbart and others were well known tothem, as were the famous English public schools, shaped byThomas Arnold’s (1795–1842) insistence on moral and religiouseducation, training in the classics and the importance of a healthyschool communtiy. 13 Washizu Kōun, praising juku education inthe late nineteenth or early twentieth century, quoted Rousseau,not Japanese or Chinese authorities. Matsumae Shigeyoshi, thefounder of Bōsei juku, acknowledged the influence of Christianeducation and of the Danish folk high schools. Viewed from thisperspective, it is only logical that the modern heirs of Senkō jukuand Bōsei juku, and the universities they are part, of stress theirinstitutions’ internationality on English language web pages andengage in activities involving international exchange.The link between the juku and continuing education is equallylogical. At its best, the juku was a place for independent, adultlearners who pursued learning for its own sake. Since there wereno strict criteria for entering or leaving, no tightly organizedcourses and no examinations, learning could be, and often was,flexible and free. These are features which are often associatedwith continuing education today, where it is not vocational.Today many call for a change in our conception of learning;words like lifelong learning, independent learning and calls formore flexibility and freedom of choice are common. In The Age ofUnreason, Charles Handy introduces his concept of the“shamrock school”, offering a core curriculum and devising andorganizing an individual educational programme for eachchild. 14 Subjects not in the core curriculum would be contractedout to independent suppliers and taught in “mini schools”, which