ABSTRACT
Meiji Restoration in 1868 was the establishment of an educational system which was based on a French system of administration, emerging American-British pragmatism, through the influence of Samuel Smiles's Self Help, and the German philosophy of Hegel. At the same time, the inner spirit of the system remained Japanese exemplified in the Imperial Rescript published in 1890 which provided the ethical basis of education until the second major reform movement after 1945. Meanwhile upper secondary school graduates enter for a national examination in five subjects which vary in accordance with the desired field of study. Moreover, teachers had been accustomed to accepting ministry regulations and finally the entrance examinations stressed the acquisition of 'basic' knowledge. Its cermonial reading in schools together with lessons in morals Shushin undoubtedly helped to preserve deeply held Japanese traditions during a period of rapid economic transformation based on Western technology.
