An Essay on a Ronin

There has brought about many problems on the college entrance examination in Japan. One of those is on ronins. Applicants for admission to colleges have increased in proportion as high school students have done. On the one hand, there are the remarkable differences of estimation among colleges or universities, and the other hand, the entrance into the universities estimated highly is closely connected with the success of future life, so, many applicants wish to pass the entrance examination of a few excellent universities such as the Tokyo University etc. The entrance examinations of those colleges have become harder and lots of applicants can not pass them with the three years literary ability of high school. Those applicants must work harder a year or more after graduating high school for passing the examination. Thus, the existence of ronins is due to the hard entrance examination of a few excellent universities. But many high school students can not help affirming to be ronins with their families as the inevitable in order to pass the examination. Some of them work longer in vain intend to put a period as early as they could, and sit for several college entrance examinations of faculties being different specialities each other. Now it is the time that we should call everyone's attention to the problem of ronins and take steps of the desirable solution of this problem. But we are sorry to say that we have been unable to find the opinion or the means to the solution of this problem. This essay is refered to a part of ronins' reality and has a significance as data for the reconsideration of this problem. As the central point, the comparison of college achievement record between ronins and new graduates of high school is mentioned, and the handicap of the former in the achievement is refered. At any rate, the problem of ronins should not be overlooked from the stand points of the exploitation of man power and the relief of w aste of applicant's youth. For that, we should take into consideration of the selection of college entrants, and at the same time, take steps in the direction to the decrease of ronins among entrants by degrees.