DOCUMENT RESUME ED 131 057 95 SP 010 617 AUTHOR Anderson, Ronald S, TITLE Education in Japan: A Century of Modern Development. SPONS AGENCY Office of Education (DHEW), Washington, D.C. REPORT NO DHEW-OE-74-19110 PUB DATE 75 CONTRACT OEC-0-73-2737 NOTE 411p. AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 (Stock No. 017-080-01339-8, $3.70) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 HC-$22.09 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Asian History; Asian Studies; Curriculum Development; Developed Nations; Educational Administration; *Educational Experiments; *Educational History; Educational Legislation; *Educational Philosophy; Elementary Secondary Education; *Foreign Countries; Foreign Culture; Higher Education; *Organizational Development IDENTIFIERS *Japan ABSTRACT The history of education in Japan from feudal to modern times is covered in this book. The Japanese educational system has played a crucial role in that country's development during the past century, and a study in this field provides an understanding of the close relationship between the schools, society, and culture. Four broad areas of interest are discussed: (1)the history of the country and changes in its traditions and values;(2) the development of education, the impact of influence from the western world, and gradual changes in structure and emphasis in the schools;(3) a look at education in contemporary Japan, its organization from kindergarten through university;(4) the problems facing the modern educational system, teacher and pupil unrest, and administrative reaction resulting in reforms and plans for the future. Text tables are included with curriculumoutlines detailed. Charts demonstrate the structure of the educational system and the organization ofthe administrative system. Appendixes deal with laws and codes governing the educational system. (JD) *********************************************************************** Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * maietials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items ofmarginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects thequality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makesavailable * * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) .EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document.Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that_can be made from the original. * *********************************************************************** COVER PHOTOGRAPH First grader displays hisartistry in the required coursein callig- raphy. (International Societyfor Educational Information,Tokyo, Inc.) 3 DHEW PubllestIon No. (OE) 7i-19110 EDUCATION IN A Century of Modem Development by Ronald S. Anderson Professor Emeritus, University of Hawaii U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE David Mathews, Secretary Virginia Y. Trotter, Assistant Secretary for Education Office of Education T. H. Bell, Commissioner Robert Leestma, Associate Commissioner for International Education 4 The work presented or reported herein was performed pur- suant to Contract No. OEC-0-73-2737 from the Officeof Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Wel- fare. However, the opinions expressed herein do not neces- sarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. Office of Education, and no official endorsement by the U.S. Office of Education should be inferred. U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON: 1975 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 - Price $3.70 Stock Number 017-0SO-01339-8 5 FOREWORD By any set of criteria, Japan is clearly one of the foremost nations in the world today. It is a dominant factor throughout Asia, a country of special importance to the United States in a variety of bilateral relationships, and a nation of major significance to the world at large through manifold international linkages. The Japanese educational system has played a crucial role in thecoun- try's remarkable development of the past century. The evolution of that system provides a fascinating case study of the symbiotic relationship between school and society, of the infiuence of the outside world during different periods in history, of the stresses and strains in the continuing interaction between tradition and change in contemporary Japan, and of the deliberate efforts to build into the educational systema capability to deal with the increasingly interdependent world of the present and fore- seeable future. The subject of education in Japan is therefore a fundamentalcompo- nent of any comprehensive study of Japanese culture. But the study of Japanese education has another value of equal importance: it providesa rich fund of experience relevant in one way or another toa variety of educational issues, problems, and practices of common concern to the United States and many other societies. The present study thus holds the potential for helping us understand education, as well as the Japanese, better. It can contribute to new professional insights and problem solving through enriching perspectives aud facilitating access to a broader base of knowledge and experience in policy development and educational practice. Examples would include the Japanese record of school achievement in mathematics and the emerging strong Japanese educational commitment to international understanding and multilateral cooperation, of which world leadershipon behalf of the new U.N. University is the most recent manifestation. The most widely used American study of education in Japan wascom- missioned and published by the U.S. Office of Education (USOE) 15 years ago. Entitled "Japan: Three Epochs of Modern Education,".it was prepared by Ronald S. Anderson who joined the staff of the Office of Education temporarily at that time for the purpose of preparing the pub- lication. That study has increasingly been overtaken by events in the dynamic development of Japanese education in recent years. It was clear 6 that a substantial revision, if not acomprehensive new treatment, would be required. We naturally turned toProf. Anderson as the logical person for the task, and this volume in its presentform is the result. As it stands, this study is the outcomeof a lifetime of observation of and participation in Japan's educational system.The author was a teacher in Japanese government higher schools inthe prewar years, 1929 to 1935. From 1946 to 1949 he was a civileducation officer on a regional military government team in the occupationof Japan, working with teachersand schools at all levels in southern Japan.Since 1952 he has taught compara- tive education with a majoremphasis on Japan, first at theUniversity of -Michigan and since 1960 at theUniversity of Hawaii from which he retired in 1974. The importance of education in Japan,the continuing clash of com- peting value systems and purposes, somefundamental policy issues in Japanese education, and the specialqualifications of Dr. Anderson are among the mattersaptly summarized in the commentsthat follow by Dr. John Whitney Hall,distinguished professor of history andJapanese studies at Yale University. For its part, the Office ofEducation is pleased to make Dr. Anderson's up-to-date, comprehensive studyconveniently available in this low-cost form to the many Americaneducators and others interested in education in Japan. This volume is oneof several USOE activities aimed athelping increase mutual understandingbetween the United StAtes and Japan, and thus contributes directly to theobjectives of CULCON, the special United States-Japan Joint Committee on Cultural andEducational Cooperation. It also represents an Office ofEducation contribution to the ethnic heritage theme of the American BicentennialCelebration. Robert Leestma Associate Commissioner for International Education July 1974 PREFACE In the last hundred years the Japanese people havecaught the attention of the world by their remarkableemergence as a world power and by their creative contributions in the fields of business andscience. Any attempt to explain Japan's exceptionalsuccess in national development must give a high degree of credit to the educational system whichtook on its modern guise just 100 years ago. Whenwe observe the Japanese people today energetic, purposeful, superbly schooled, andopen to world currentswe naturally think of the system of education which isso much a part of their lives from kindergarten to university. And rightlyso. Japan's educational system, like its industrial capacity, is something ofa contemporary world phenomenon. We tend to think of Japan's modern educationalinstitutions as being derived primarily from Western models. And because of thiswe are apt to assume that the strength of these institutions, and consequently Japan's success as a nation, was dependent in large measureon the fact of their Western derivation. Yet while many technical andorganizational features of the contemporary Japanese system of educationwere adopted from the United States, France, or Germany, the demandfor good education was something that came from the Japanese themselves.The Japanese emphasis on schooling and self-improvement, the Japanese belief in learning asa means of personal and sociil development, had revealed itself long before Western educators arrived in Japan. A hundredyears ago the Japanese people were as literate as those of England andas dedicated to popular education as most Europeans. The system of schooling