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Chapter 1: Introduction
This system stayed in place until after World War II, when the
emperors rule came to an end. The war devastated Japan, making it
unstable financially and structurally. In an effort to rebuild and advance their
society, the new government and education system decided to stress the
importance of group effort and the idea of society over the individual. This
resulted in Japan growing and becoming industrialized very quickly. It also
had an enormous effect on Japan culturally (Rios-Ellis, Bellamy and Shoji,
2000). In fact, these sentiments and educational policies have barely
changed since the 20th century, and are still a major part of the Japanese
school curriculum (Sakurai, 2011).
Moral Education: Responsibility and Community
These influences can be seen everywhere in Japanese society and
education, all the way from preschool up until secondary education. Moral
education is mandatory starting in early elementary school (Schmid, 2012)
and has been part of the foundation of education since the Meiji Era (Sakurai,
2011). Japans current Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and his administration say
the purpose of moral education is to help instill Japanese traditions among
children, and help prepare them for a globalized world (Bolton, 2015). Abe
claims that current practices in moral education are meant to help prevent
social issues in Japan, such as bullying and juvenile delinquency (Bolton,
2015). However, many of the things being taught in moral education may
actually contribute to these issues, as will be discussed later in this review.
Moral education is also meant to teach students good virtue,
patriotism, love of school, respect for society, and established order (Schmid,
2012). As of right now, moral education is incorporated throughout all
subjects and activities, and schools hold one-hour lessons once a week to
teach moral lessons. This amounts to about 35 hours of moral education,
which is only a small portion of time compared to other non-curriculum
subjects, such as art (Bolton, 2015). However, some researchers believe that
the importance of moral education outweighs the other subjects (Sakurai,
2011).
Nancy Sato (1990), who participated in a year-long study observing a
Japanese classroom, noticed that moral educations emphasis on respect and
self-discipline makes students more responsible, independent, and well-
behaved. Firstly, the idea of hierarchy is instilled in the students, and the
teacher acts as a moral exemplar who directs the students and provides
guidance. Within the classroom, the students are usually given different
roles, such as a class president or class representative. Other students rotate
doing minor roles, such as taking attendance. Gerald K. LeTendre (1999),
who has done several research studies on Japanese education, explains that
these roles, and the classrooms rules and regulations help to maintain order
in the classroom. Marcia Baris-Sanders (1997) noticed similar trends during
her teaching tenure in Japan. She believes that Japans emphasis on
conformity and hierarchy creates a positive peer pressure that forces
students to be well-behaved.
Moral education also teaches Japanese students to take on many of
their own responsibilities. During her study, Sato (1990) observed times
when students assumed mandatory responsibilities, like cleaning the
classroom. She also witnessed how students plan their own activities for
events, such as Sports Day or the Cultural Festival, with barely any teacher
supervision. LeTendre (1999) also witnessed students assuming responsibility
on their own. He observed students participating in afterschool club activities
without a teacher present. Instead, the seniors in the club ran the activities
and directed their underclassmen. Both Sato (1990) and LeTendre (1999)
agree that Japanese teachers can assume the role of invisible authority
because the students are so self-sufficient. From her time in Japan, Baris-
Sanders (1997) believes that allowing students the freedom to make their
own decisions empowers them to be creative, responsible, and social all at
the same time.
The moral curriculum also teaches the concept of group harmony and
how individual needs are not important. Conformity is highly valued (Schmid,
2012). Sato (1990) believes that this allows the students and teachers to
form a sense of community. In fact, the Japanese education system
accentuates community. LeTendre (1999) explains that teachers and
students work together on all kinds of activities together, such as beautifying
the school grounds. When doing such activities, the teachers participate as
well to help build a sense of oneness. For example, during his research
studies, LeTendre (1999) saw teachers and sometimes even principals or
other administrators helping to clean the school. Even though these people
are higher in the hierarchy, they still did the most menial tasks while
cleaning, emphasizing how everyone was working together toward the same
goal. Sato (1990) says that the sense of community is so strong that some
students will continue to stay in contact with their teachers many years after
they have graduated. The feeling of togetherness is taken even further
through home visits, and teacher-parent collaboration on events and
community activities.
Despite this, one study claimed that Japanese students are happier
than students in other countries. David Crystal and Chuansheng Chen (1994)
assumed that the intense pressure of the Japanese school system would
make Japanese students prone to stress and depression. To confirm this, they
conducted a study that compared the stress levels of Japanese, Chinese, and
American students. To their surprise, they found that Japanese students
reported much less stress, depression, and other psychological issues than
students in the United States and China. Crystal and Chen (1994) discuss
that the Japanese students could have been trying to keep face because of
Japanese cultural beliefs, although they do not believe this was the case
based on interviews with the students. However, Blackwood and Friedman
(2015) discuss how a survey conducted by Hitotsubashi Bungei, Kyoiku
Shinkokai, and Nihon Seishonen Kenkyukai (2011) found that Japanese
students reported having much lower self-esteem levels than students in
China, Korea, and America. More research needs to be done in this area to
clear up this discrepancy.
In The Classroom
When Brown and Kikuichi (2009) interviewed students who took these
English language classes, many of them expressed disappointment. They
said that they never really learned how to communicate or express
themselves in English. Instead, they did mostly translation activities, which
they usually forgot after some time. If there wasnt so much pressure to pass
the college entrance exams, teachers could have done more creative and
effective exercises to help teach students how to speak and understand the
language. During her study in Japan, Sato (1990) found that Japanese
teachers often complain the testing system inhibits them from teaching their
students what they truly need to learn. However, Brown and Kikuichi (2009)
explain that teachers are pressured to have their students pass the entrance
exams because it reflects well on them and their school.
Chapter 3: Conclusion
Based on the literature and research that was read, it seems that the
Japanese education system does not go out of its way to ensure that it is
meeting the diverse needs of its students. As stated, there is a philosophy in
the United States that every child learns differently and that their individual
learning styles needs to be taken into account. This includes giving
individualized instruction and implementing educational practices that cater
to different students strengths (Nolen, 2003). However, Japans cultural
emphasis on conformity does the opposite. Teachers avoid acknowledging
the differences between students (Schmid, 2012), and avoid giving individual
support to students (Sato, 1990). If a child needs extra help, they will mostly
likely not receive it from their teacher. This is problematic because students
may not be learning effectively or understanding the material, and could fall
behind. If a student does fall behind, they may still not receive support
because the system does not like to retain students or label them as at risk
(Sato, 1990).
Overall, it can be concluded that the Japanese school system does not go out
of its way to cater to the diverse needs of students. Despite this, I believe
the results are mixed. There will most likely be some students that are doing
fine in school. However, based on what I have read, the majority of students
will fall somewhere in the middle. I also hypothesize that there will be a small
portion of students who regularly struggle in school and will feel that they
are not being supported academically or psychologically.
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