Current Issues and Non-issues in Japanese Education

Abstract

Our account of the development of Japanese education so far has given no hint of discord or disagreement within Japan over education, but in Japan as in most countries, education is important enough to be the focus of political and philosophical controversy. In the case of Japan, the issues that gather public attention are in large part a legacy of the pre-war pattern of political indoctrination carried out in the schools and the post-war reforms which were intended to wrest control of education away from the central Ministry of Education. It is significant that these issues have not yet been totally resolved today. It is also significant that many of the issues which are considered most important and controversial in countries such as the USA and UK — the role of education in achieving racial and socioeconomic integration, the relative roles of public and private schools, the quality and funding of public education — are not salient questions in Japan. In this chapter we assess these issues and non-issues and their interrelationship with broader aspects of Japanese culture and life.