earticle

영어

This presentation aims to discuss girls’education in rural areas in Japan during the 1930s. Previous studies on rural education during the modern period in Japan mostly discussed the cases of schools for boys; there are hardly any discussions on girls’ education in previous studies. This presentation discusses the case of “Kasei-Jogakko” (home economics girls’school) established by Chiba Prefecture Agricultural Association. The purpose of establishing this school was to educate girls in ways different ways from those employed in conventional education for girls, such as in girls’ high schools, and to train them to become capable wives who could cooperate with their husbands for the improvement of rural life. Such education made them criticize their longing for city life and the students of other schools, and they wrote about their determination to continue living in a rural society. Rural education for girls was started as the antithesis to rapid urbanization and the expansion of secondary education, which was unsuitable for rural people. During this period in Japan, girls who lived in rural society were expected to work towards rural development and to restrain their passion and desire for city life, and admiration for people with a higher educational background.