Education in Japan

Bruce W. Davidson a professor at Hokusei Gakuen University shared in 1998 his opinion on the Japanese educational system:

“Such a hierarchically-controlled, factual exam-oriented education system naturally produces uninquisitive, uncritical, and unreflective students. The Ministry is perhaps now reaping the harvest of its own policies in a generation of high school students who refuse to read anything but comic books.”

 To put this quote in to some context we should do a brief historical revisit to the aftermath of the Second World War.

In 1946, after the WW II, the occupying US government was trying to establish a democracy within Japan. Thus education is to considered a very important part of shaping and changing societies the US government invited the U.S. Education mission to assist the Japanese in shaping a educational structure that according to Mariko Onos paper “Critical perspectives on the current educational system in Japan and alternative education: Creating ethical and democratic society”(Ono: 2011) would help Japan in creating a more democratic nation. Ono writes:

“The mission emphasized that school curriculum should foster individuals’ ability to think as democratic citizens, rather than emphasizing memorization and vertical system.”

One can wonder what happened to that idea. Even though the Japanese students that I have encountered in school definitely have their own, individual ideas on various topics, it would be dishonest to say that the Japanese educational system in general seems to be encouraging the students in developing their own individual ability to discuss and carry out their own perspectives on things. The explanation for this is according to Bruce W.
Davidson in “Critical thinking education faces the challenges of Japan” that the educational system is centralized where certain national tests based on memorization determines whether students will have the opportunity to advance to the next stage in their education. Davidson writes:

“Everyone knows that the only important thing for advancement in society is to pass those tests, so time spent on other things is basically time wasted.”

I’ve had discussions with Japanese students who take naps during class because they have been up at night studying what they recorded on their recorder while sleeping. Not much participation going on there. And even if we toy with the idea that they are exceptions among the Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai University, all of the students that I’ve talked to similar dreams of going to a western university. Possibly one of the greatest gap they will encounter is the differences of how participation, discussions and opinions are valued in class.