明治中期の識字状況 : 熊本県を中心に

The literacy situation in Kumamoto Prefecture in 1888 was characterized, first, by a low literacy rate and, second, by a large disparity between districts and genders. Especially in the southern part of the prefecture, the literacy rate was remarkably low for both men and women, regardless of their generation. Since the rate of self-signing increased in the younger age groups, it was expected that the disparity between regions would be smaller. However, for teenage females, the gap between districts with slow growth in the self-signing rate and those with significant growth increased. In Kumamoto Prefecture, the school attendance rate was low, especially in the latter half of the 1877s, perhaps because of the Matsukata deflationary trend, and as of 1888, school education was not moving in the direction of eliminating regional disparities in literacy rates and gender differences. Rather, it is noteworthy that the expansion of school education had the effect of widening the regional disparity in the rate of self-signing.
At an elementary school in Numakuma-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1888, classes were conducted using a method that focused on spoken language.　In the latter half of the 1877s, elementary school examinations in Aki-gun, Hiroshima Prefecture, consisted of questions that could be answered by memorizing sentences learned in daily classes. In addition, the number of questions was small in both the monthly examinations and the examinations held at the time of promotion. There is no doubt that at least the self-signing of each answer sheet contributed to the improvement of the self-signing rate of the children.