Educational reform in occupied Japan

During World War II, many Japanese students were enlisted to actively help in the war effort, effectively turning schools into factories. Bombings destroyed many schools. After the Japan's defeat of the war, this left a lot for the occupation forces (SCAP) to help rebuild.

The occupation team addressed the educational system. The Japanese methods were nearly opposite to that of the United States: control of schools was highly centralized, rote memorization of book knowledge without much interaction described the standard student-teacher relationship and the study texts were described as boring. The ratio of school years was made to resemble that of the United States' which was 6 years Primary education (elementary schools) : 3 years Lower Secondary education (junior high schools) : 3 years Upper Secondary education (senior high schools) : 4 years Higher Education (Universities or colleges). Over the period of occupation, these and many other trends were changed. A less centralized hierarchy of school administrators was introduced; totally unprecedented, parents were allowed to vote for school boards. A new textbook industry was created.

Much of the reform was focused on conditioning students to more readily accept democratic, liberal and egalitarian ideals, directly competing with the prevailing hierarchical structures deeply ingrained in every level of Japanese society, from family life to government institutions.[1] Classes became co-educational single track system composed of 9 compulsory years, moving away from the former 6-year, single-sex, multi-track system. The use of kanji script was overhauled and greatly simplified, eliminating all but 1,850 more commonly used characters, referred to as the tōyō kanjihyō.[2]

Initially, before the Japanese Ministry of Education (MEXT) and Allied command's Civil Information and Education Section (CI&E) produced new textbooks to replace them, narratives in existing Japanese textbooks found to extol feudalistic, nationalistic, militaristic, authoritarian, State Shinto-religious, or anti-American views were censored during class by students through a process of Suminuri-Kyōkasho, or "blackening-over textbooks" with ink, under orders of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP).[3]

Reform Philosophy

The Civil Information and Education Division (CIE) under SCAP followed seven principles for implementing education reforms in occupied Japan. The CIE’s objective was to eliminate practices that contradicted the tenets of democracy and employ democratic models. Some of the CIE’s concerns were the 6-3-3-4 school ladder,[4] core curriculum, program of tests and policies, graduation requirements, collaborative style of learning, and new course in social studies.

The primary strategy was to establish standards of education common among democratic societies. CIE was aware patterns built from these theories were relative to circumstances. Principles were general, but their expression was comparative. Eventually, these standards became benchmarks for the CIE to ascertain genuine progress in education reforms. The position was militarism and ultra-nationalism (promoting Japanese cultural unity) must not be a segment of school curriculum. The Division removed the military from academic institutions. Decision-making was left to the civilian population. The Americans decentralized administration and authority. At the same time, equality was practiced n education, and discrimination was eliminated. The basis of education must be facts and the experimental method applied whenever necessary. Last but not least teaching must be regarded as a profession that requires special training programs. These principles were published in three documents during the early part of the occupation: The Civil Affairs Handbook (1944), Education in Japan (1946), and Report of the United States Mission to Japan (1946).[5]

Efforts to develop a comprehensive program of a democratic educational platform had to be deferred until after The USA Education Mission to Japan headed by George L. Stoddard concluded its visit in March 1946. This delegation included 26 education experts sent by the government upon the request of occupation leaders. A Japanese team worked hand in hand with the American group[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Columbia University. "The American Occupation of Japan, 1945-1952 - Asia for Educators". afe.easia.columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 12 December 2015. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Frost, Peter. "The Allied Occupation of Japan". aboutjapan.japansociety.org. Japan Society. Archived from the original on 4 October 2016. Retrieved 4 October 2016.
  3. ↑ Buono, Stephen. "Commission and Omission of History in Occupied Japan (1945-1949)". www.binghamton.edu. Binghamton University - History Department: Resources: Journal of History. Archived from the original on 30 January 2016. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "CONFUSION IN EDUCATION: 9-3-4, 6-3-3-4, 1-6-3-4, British, American or which curriculum? - Vanguard News". Vanguard News. 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  5. ↑ Lagotte, Brian W. (2004). Because We Said So: Educational Reform in Occupied Japan. University of Kansas, Anthropology.
  6. ↑ "（3）Report of the United States Education Mission to Japan：文部科学省". www.mext.go.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-05-18.

Bibliography

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