SCHOOLING IN MICRONESIA DURING JAPANESE MANDATE RULE Donald R. Shuster Introduction development of schooling in Micronesia during The volcanic islands and idyllic atolls of the far Japanese mandate rule. western Pacific were populated as long ago as 3000 BC by peoples coming out of island Southeast Early Efforts and Policies Asia. Thus, when Magellan planted the Spanish Soon after Japanese naval personnel displaced flag on Guam in 1521, Micronesian cultures were German officials in late 1914, a rudimentary rich, vibrant and thriving despite their isolation. program of secular schooling was introduced in Chamorro resistance to Spanish control in the place of the German and mission systems. This Mariana Islands, though heroic, was fruitless for first effort to educate the young islander was in the three decades from 1668 to 1700 war and carried out by the only people then available­ imported diseases reduced the island population naval officers and officials of the Nanyo Boeki from an estimated 50,000 to a mere 4000.' With Company.J The modest curriculum consisted of complete pacification, school and farm activities Japanese language, singing and arithmetic. were an integral part of Catholic mission work In December 1915, military-commercial efforts within two centuries of Magellan's arrival. were replaced by the work of six elementary During their brief 15-year administrative tenure schools, slrognHo, one in each of the administrative (1899-1914), German missionaries expanded formal stations- Jaluit, Ponape, Truk, Saipan, Yap and schooling in Micronesia by supplementing religious Palau. The curriculum was enlarged to include training with the "Three Rs" and domestic science ethics and a skill or handicraft, such as weaving for girls. By 1913, the German schools there and carving, which would be of use to the island enrolled 321 boys and 152 girls. Palau had five student in his daily life.4 The staff of these schools schools with 213 boys and 152 girls. In the Eastern consisted of teachers who had earned official Carolines and Marshall Islands, German authorities qualifications for teaching primary school in Japan. allowed the Protestant Boston Mission and In July 1918, the military administration was Catholics to continue their church schools. replaced by a civil administration which was, With the beginning of the Great War in Europe, however, subject to the final authority of the Japan seized the Micronesian islands late in 1914 resident naval commander. In a year's time, the without resistance from either Germany or the new civil administration, more sensitive to cultural native inhabitants. Legal authority over the islands differences, drew a sharp line regarding schooling. was conferred upon the Emperor of Japan by the On the one hand there was established an Versailles Peace Conference Accords of 1920. As a elementary school system for natives. On the Class "C" mandate,2 Micronesia could be adminis­ other hand, with increasing numbers of Japanese tered under Japanese law as an integral part of her children coming into the islands, facilities were territory but subject to the requirements of the established exclusively for them. Their program, League of Nations Mandate Agreement. From 1922 for all intents and purposes, was identical to that to the eve of the Second World War, Japan defined by the Japanese Ministry of Education for launched economic and social programs which far homeland schools. Thus, as early as 1919, the dual exceeded efforts of the earlier German and Spanish policies of Japanese government finance and colonial administrations. The purpose of this article control of schools, and segregation of pupils had is to present a brief historical sketch of the been put in place. 20 The Mandate Agreement between Japan and the One could interpret this early statement of League of Nations contained no specific statement purpose as a policy of Japanization of the native concerning educational provision. The closest through the school. When two cultures contact in statement to that effect was contained in Article a political arrangement where one culture is Two of the agreement. subordinate and the other is dominant, this dominance soon comes to pervade all spheres of The Mandatory shall promote to the utmost the the relationship- economic, social and psycholog­ material and moral well-being and the social prog­ ress of the inhabitants of the territory sub;ect to ical. Government-announced goals, such as the the present mandate.' enjoyment of the Emperor's benevolence, Japanese language instruction and Japanese moral training In accord with this responsibility and how it imply a degree of cultural superiority which has related to native schooling, Japan reported to the characterized all cultures at all times.7 It seems to first meeting of the League of Nations Permanent be a universal human tendency to project one's Mandates Commission in 1921 that school values on people of another culture. The goals of curriculum was set with two important consider­ schools are designed to serve the interests of the ations in mind: 1 - the circumstances of a culture group that establishes them. "American particular locality; 2 - the intelligence of the native, schools are intended to Americanize; Japanese with special emphasis being placed on practical schools must Japanize. It is dearly in the best education- agriculture, colonization and matters interests of the society not to allow large pockets affecting the daily life of the native. of its people to remain unacculturated, and the Organization and Re-Definition school is regarded as one of the most powerful means of effecting the socialization of 'aliens."'s In 1922, full civilian authority was instituted in Akin to Americanization, this is the meaning of Micronesia with the establishment of the South "Japanize" and "Japanization" used in this article. Seas Bureau and with this came a reorganization The regulations which established pupil of the school system and new educational segregation, like the school policies which set up regulations that reaffirmed the principles of the English Standard school in Hawaii in the government control and pupil segregation. The 1920s, were based on the concept of language use. elementary schools for the growing number of As the Japanese conceived it: "The South Seas Japanese students consisted of a lower primary Bureau Primary Schools are institutions wherein school program of six years called ii11jo sltognkko, and common education is given to children habitually a higher primary school program of two years using the Japanese language."11 termed kolo sltognkko. Practically all Japanese children And, for the islander: "The South Seas Bureau in Micronesia received eight years of primary Primary Schools are institutions wherein education school instruction-as they would have in the is given to children not habitually using the homeland. In contrast, the public schools, kogcrkko, Japanese language."10 for island children consisted of a basic three-year Officially, the rationale for separate schools was program and a supplementary two-year course based on language use; however, language and which only the more able students attended. On culture are so intimately related that one could the elementary level then, Japanese children were argue that the rationale for segregation was offered eight years of instruction, whereas island cultural as well as linguistic. Regarding the primary children had a total of five-three years basic for school statement, this implicit additional meaning most children and two years supplementary for a may have been the reason for the inclusion of the small and select portion of that group. modifier "common"-an education common to the To accompany this formal definition of existing people of Japanese culture and tradition-that is educational principles and practices of 1922, the missing in the statement defining public schools. Japanese government in its 2nd annual report to the League of Nations dearly spelled out the Moral Education and Japanization objectives it had for native schooling. While the above statements defined the two The object of natives' schools is to enable the distinct kinds of schools, the regulations of the native children to enjoy the benevolence of his early 1930s were more specific than the 1922 Majesty, the Emperor of Japan, to teach the Japa­ statement concerning the aims of each. For the nese language, to give moral training necessary Japanese: "The fundamental object of the Primary to life. 6 School is the inculcation of moral education and 21 the fundamentals of national education upon In this regard regulations for both primary and children as well as the bestowal on them of the public schools required the following: common knowledge and capabilities essential to their livelihood, attention being simultaneously On Kigensetsu (the anniversary of the founding paid to their physical development."tt of Japan), on the Imperial Birthday, Emperor Meiji And, for the native: "The fundamental object of Day and on January 1 the staff and pupils of a school shall assemble at the school and conduct education in a Public School shall be the bestowal ceremonies according to the following order: on children of moral education as well as of such 1. Singing in chorus of the Japanese national knowledge and capabilities as are indispensable to anthem by the staff and pupils. the advancement and improvement of their lives, 2 . Lecture by the Principal of the school con­ attention being simultaneously paid to their cerning that particular holiday. physical development."12 3. Singing in chorus by the staff and pupils of The fundamental purposes agreed on the songs appropriate to the occasion.IS importance of moral education-as it turned out, Thus, Japanese government schools for island Japanese moral education of total respect for the children were introducing cultural changes- new Emperor and total obedience to him and to all behavioral regularities of obedience and respect for superiors. Note, however, that primary schooling Japanese authority and basic fluency in oral for the Japanese child was to inculcate the Japanese.