THE JAPANESE CHILD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10638, 14 April 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE JAPANESE CHILD.

NO PRIZES AND NO MARKS AT

SCHOOL.

Tho tine qualities which the Japanese ha\*e displayed in the late war snowed what care had been taken of the men when in infancy, said Sir Lauder Brunton at the Parkes Museum, London, in prefacing a lecture on "Child Life in Japan" hy Miss Miyakawa. . The lecturer, dressed in her national costume, said that the two -'most important lessons taught to Japanese children were loyalty to the Emperor and love for their parents.

"If Ave do not love our country," she stated, "we cannot love another. The very reason Avhy you British love foreigners is because you have a AveJl-order-ed Government, and you love your country so well* that it radiates on the foreigners.

' "Japanese children," she continued, "have no nursery life; they are always looked after by their parents and grandparents. I certainly think that the parents should a hvays be close to their children, as their contact is most essential in moulding their character." No child goes to school in Japan before six years of age, and Avhen there, besides the ordinary school curriculum, two hours are set aside each week to teach the child ethical knowledge, and one hour a week -is given to studying etiquette— how to AvaTk; pour out tea, bow, and hold the hands and fingers. "\Ve do not give any prizes," the lecturer'went on, "nor do we hold examinations; no marks are giA'en ; the child is taught to learn for the sake of knowledge, and not to obtain a certain number of marks."