Fukuzawa on Education
An amateur translation was etched to the side of the right-to-left, up-to-down Japanese text. You color in the etchings with a pencil and expose the words.
An individual’s education is not different from the education of the state. Education is the caretaking of the youth. A country’s education is to instill willpower, things of concern to be fixed with the perspectives of all over the world, and guide youth forward on the path of progress….
This country’s condition is such that because of the foreigners, we must control the inside and like the public so configured, we must firm up. In firmness and in truth we impart our teaching such that at the least this teaching is a gate to the outside world and the people’s character will shine and glisten like a butterfly. This, such, tutelage, of the state must not be hindered…
With this education, the principle of what is true and just for humans as a whole will not be infringed. When this is imparted to the children of the country, it is this teaching that will lead the country onto the path of peace. This may not be measured or considered as an improvement initially, but habits will be built up. As people grow older with these habits, people become one society and take on the responsibilities of others as a part of their natural activity, society binds and instantiates a spirited individual to be of great, inevitable influence….
Education, then democracy?
Fukuzawa established Keio University, founded a newspaper, promulgated the education for the independence of the individual and the nation, and promoted interaction with the Colonial Powers if only to learn subjects (science, mathematics, government) for a prosperous state. He also promoted a parliamentary system and civil rights. How do education and democracy go together?
- For Fukuzawa, students naturally develop habits in the spirit of progress. How does education lead to a democratic society? Is this inevitable?
- Without recognizing civil rights for all and every individual, is education as described by Fukuzawa possible?
- Must the educated individual serve the public? What happens if individuals have a different “public” or shared identity they serve?