A Traditional Aspect of Mathematics Education in Japan

6. Concluding Remarks

As I said before, the product of GEI-training is not only the technique but rather the mind which accompanies the training, and to have this mind is the real aim of the training, especially for common peoples other than those who wish to be a professional of this GEI. This mind would be demonstrated, for instance in the case of the tea-ceremony, in making his/her daily behavior elegant or reasonable. If mathematics learning is reformed in a way comparable to GEI-training, the effect of learning would be seen in the learners’ way of thinking or activities in many domains of their future lives and because of this effect mathematics would be able to occupy its paramount place among school subjects for all pupils.

I will close this paper with one more episode. If it has any implications, I hope, they will be left to the readers’ own consideration.

In our country, equalization of education appears to be misunderstood, even among educational authorities, as if it can be realized merely by a levelling-down of content or reduction of difficulties; especially in mathematics, they seem to believe that all pupils can learn the same mathematics by doing this. It may also be a reaction against the education of the past, which was much too academic, as if all pupils would be mathematicians in the future.