It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man. Any existing distinction between the wise and the stupid, between the rich and the poor, comes down to a matter of education.
For this, I look to try confirmation, but will be consequential if saying that it is consequential, but the home page of Keio University the following is showed up.
It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man. Any existing distinction between the wise and the stupid, between the rich and the poor, comes down to a matter of education.
These words are from Yukichi Fukuzawa's first essay to the general public in 1872, and signaled the start of a new system of beliefs for the Japan of the time. Key among these tenets was the belief that all members of society are equal, and are entitled to equal opportunities in education so that the best and brightest, no matter what station in life they were born into, can assume positions of power and influence for the betterment of society as a whole.
These beliefs represented the beginning of an end to the privilege and plutocracy of Japan at the time, giving hope to an entire country of citizens yearning for a new society where people would be judged entirely upon their merits rather than their caste or wealth. It was the beginning of modern Japan, as we know it today. Yukichi Fukuzawa, who is most visible as the man portrayed on Japan's 10,000-yen note, is best known as one of modern Japan's first statesmen, a man responsible for introducing Western education, institutions, and social thought to Japan.
He was born in Osaka in 1835, the second son of a minor treasury official representing his home domain of Nakatsu, a northern province of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands. Fukuzawa's father died suddenly when Yukichi was just a boy, and his family was reduced to poverty. He spent most of his youth doing odd jobs until money for his education became available when he was 14, ten years after the usual starting age.
At school, Fukuzawa was a fast learner who excelled in virtually all subjects. The arrival of the United States fleet in the summer of 1853, when Yukichi was just 18 years old, had a profound effect on the direction of his life. He moved to Nagasaki, home to the Dutch trading enclave, and began to find ways to improve his understanding of things Western. It proved to be a futile effort, so he set off or Edo (now Tokyo) penniless, with only a dream of furthering his education.
Japan finally opened three ports to Western traders in 1859. By this time, Fukuzawa was well-versed in Dutch, and was beginning to learn English, the language of the port city of Yokohama. He volunteered his services to the first government envoys dispatched to the United States, and in the spring of 1860, the 25-year-old Fukuzawa joined an entourage departing for San Francisco, where he spent a month before returning to Japan.
Two years later, he departed for Europe, spending 44 days in England, 42 days in France, 20 days in Germany, 35 days in Holland, 20 days in Portugal, and finally 46 days in Russia. A year later, when he was just 30, Fukuzawa returned to Japan with an immense wealth of observations, knowledge, and books.
It would be another four years before Fukuzawa would again travel abroad, this time returning to the United States in 1867, visiting Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. Although sent as an envoy to negotiate on behalf of the Japanese government, his personal aim was to acquire textbooks to take back with him to Japan.
Through his travels, Fukuzawa came to realize that technical progress had made Western countries more prosperous, and he started to believe that revolutionary changes in people's knowledge and thinking were essential for similar results in Japan. After his return from the United States, he set about creating his own school to teach others according to his beliefs and experiences. This was the birth of Keio Gijuku, the forerunner of Keio University.
Hereinafter, it continues.
