Educational Reform In Occupied Japan
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Educational reform in
occupied Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...
(August 1945 – April 1952) encompasses changes in philosophy and goals of education; nature of the student-teacher relationship; coeducation; the structure of the compulsory education system; textbook content and procurement system; personnel at the Ministry of Education (MEXT); kanji script reform; and establishment of a university in every
prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
. The reforms were directed by the Education Division (Joseph C. Trainor) of the Civil Information and Education Section (CIE; Kermit R. Dyke, followed by Donald M. Nugent) of the
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...
(SCAP, in Japanese: "GHQ"). Also influential were the two reports of the United States Education Mission to Japan (March 1946; September 1950).


Background

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, many
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese students were mobilized for the
war effort War effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and civilian—towards the support of a military force, particular during a state of war. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...
, practicing military drills and working in factories, while schools became factory-like production centers.
Bombings A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanic ...
destroyed some schools, and others were used as refuge centers. After Japan's defeat, the occupation forces ( SCAP) undertook the task of reconstruction. SCAP philosophy regarded a reformed
educational system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
as vital for Japan to become a democratic nation. Traditional Japanese methods were nearly opposite to that of the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
: control of schools was highly centralized and
rote memorization Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition (rhetorical device), repetition. The method rests on the premise that the recollection, recall of repeated material becomes faster the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to ...
of textbooks without much interaction described the standard student-teacher relationship, and the study texts were described as boring. Over the period of occupation, these and many other systems were changed. A less centralized hierarchy of school administrators was introduced and parents were allowed to vote for school boards for the first time. A new
textbook A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
industry was also created.. The division of school years was made to resemble that of the United States' at the time which was 6 years
Primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...
(
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...
s) : 3 years Lower
Secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...
(
junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...
s); 3 years Upper Secondary education (
senior high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
s) : 4 years
Higher Education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
(
Universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
or
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
s). 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. Classes became
co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
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''. Initially, before the Japanese Ministry of Education (
MEXT The , also known as MEXT, is one of the eleven ministries of Japan that compose part of the executive branch of the government of Japan. History The Meiji period, Meiji government created the first Ministry of Education in 1871. In January 2001 ...
) 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 Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
,
State Shinto was Empire of Japan, Imperial Japan's ideological use of the Japanese folk religion and traditions of Shinto. The state exercised control of shrine finances and training regimes for Kannushi, priests to strongly encourage Shinto practices that ...
-religious, or
anti-American Anti-Americanism (also called anti-American sentiment and Americanophobia) is a term that can describe several sentiments and po ...
views were censored during class by students through a process of s''uminuri-kyōkasho'', or "blackening-over textbooks" with ink, under orders of the
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...
(SCAP).


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 main reforms include the 6-3-3-4 school ladder, core curriculum, the program of tests and policies, graduation requirements, collaborative style of learning, and a 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 in 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). 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 D. 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.


Adopting mixed-sex education

Under the rule of occupation by the
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...
after World War II and the reformed School Education Act of Japan, former secondary schools were converted into , established as part of the democratization policy. At that time many public schools with
single-sex education Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education, same-sex education, same-gender education, and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in se ...
were made into
mixed-sex education Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
with exception of some schools in
Miyagi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...
,
Fukushima prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...
, Gumma prefecture, and
Saitama prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...
. Rare cases occurred such as in
Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). ...
, where former high schools were integrated with nearby former secondary schools and transformed into upper secondary schools under a new school system.
Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...
converted upper secondary schools under its administration into the new system; however, instead of integrating with neighboring junior/upper secondary schools, they replaced the whole population of students and teachers in school A with those who had belonged to school B.


Amami Islands

The
Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is sout ...
left Japanese administrative power in 1946 (Showa 21), and the Provisional Government of Northern Ryukyu Islands ( ja) introduced their new school system in 1949, delayed by one year.


Transition from the former to the new school system

Various transitional measures were taken to alleviate the turmoil caused by the major changes in the school system due to academic reform. A transitional system was applied between 1947 (Showa 22) and 1950 (Showa 25), when schools consolidated under the former and the new systems coexisted. There were cases that fifth-graders in the former secondary school of 1947 (Showa 22) were given the choice whether to graduate with a diploma of the former secondary school, or to transfer to the senior year in the
secondary education in Japan Secondary education in Japan is split into , which cover the seventh through ninth grade, and , abbreviated to , which mostly cover grades ten through twelve. Junior high school Lower-secondary schools cover grades seven, eight, and nine. Ages ...
, for one additional year of schooling before graduation.


Transition measures for the former primary and secondary education (1946–1950)

Public schools Up to March 1946, compulsory education in the secondary level was offered up to the senior level at public , a level providing lower secondary education equivalent to Senior elementary school called . Graduates were admitted to those surviving Middle schools ( ja) or under former system. All those who graduated from elementary schools after March 1947 (Showa 22) were admitted to the current , or for their lower secondary education. Starting in 1935, in some public primary schools, continued education for working youth was offered along with military drills at Youth Schools or ( ja). In August 1945, there were three sub-systems to middle schools; for boys , for girls , and for both sexes vocational school . It was in April 1947 (Showa 22) a measure was taken to provide to each faculty of public middle school: although new students admitted in April 1947 were admitted to the current junior high schools at once, those entered middle school level in 1945 and 1946 (sophomore and senior students) were advanced to the attached middle schools as a transition phase to secondary higher education. Private schools The private middle schools were given choice of whether they will change to new school system at once, or to apply transitional system. There were cases that private schools decided to continue the attached middle school after 1950, and they offered continued six-year period of secondary education. University of Tokyo Junior High School During WWII, they suspended recruiting students for , and in 1946 (Showa 21) very few public secondary schools admitted students as ( ja) did, but none in 1947. The freshmen of 1946 became isolated as no new students followed them under former school regulation, and in their senior year in 1948 (Showa 23), the school was reformed into the University of Tokyo Junior High School, recruited new freshmen and sophomores to fill the classrooms. It is reformed later to become the current affiliated to the
University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...
. * 1946 ( Showa 21)
* A 6th grader in shotoka, kokumin gakko would enter a reformed junior high in 1947, then graduate and would enter an upper secondary in 1950; * A 1st grader in Kotoka, kokumin gakko would transfer to a 2nd grade in a reformed junior high in 1947, then graduate and would enter an upper secondary in 1949; * A 1st grader at Youth school: in Futsuka Regular course would transfer to a 2nd grade in a reformed junior high in 1947, then graduate and would enter an upper secondary in 1949;


Higher education : 1948–1950, converting to modern universities

Under the system former to reformation, the last students were admitted in spring of 1948; Kyusei kotogakko was introduced in 1894 and expired in 1950 after the reformation in 1918, in 1903 as a single major normal school specializing in elementary school education was called with for training educators for high schools and college level. along with Kyusei kotogakko had been established as the primary higher education for those who would continue to universities. For Kyusei kotogakko, the senior year graduates, or the 3rd graders who commenced from kotogakko in 1947 were the last generation finishing the full three years' term of high school education. Those freshmen entered in 1948 completed their first year under the former system, and as it expired at the end of the academic year 1948 or March 1949, they did not qualify to transfer for their choice of colleges under a new system, or . They applied for admission examination and entered colleges and universities in the spring of 1949. The idea of 1949 educational system reform was to reform so-called high schools under the old system as colleges and universities. As shinsei daigaku or universities under a new system, those high schools under the old system including single major semmon gakko and shihangakko for future educators were renamed. For students, those who had studied for the full four years' term and qualify as graduates in 1947 were offered two options. They either could enter kyuseikoko and transfer, or enter shinsei koko, the present day high school and continue to prepare for college/ university. As for special transition measure, those 3rd graders in old high schools were also given those two options. Like on the Komaba campus of University of Tokyo, there were rivalry seen among those high school students of Daiichi Kotogakko against the university students. While the last kyusei daigaku, or old system universities admitted students till 1950, there were considerable number of graduates of old system high schools who either failed at the admission examinations or postponed their applications. Universities established administered by the new system held special examinations for those graduates of past academic years as transfer students.


Medical schools

In 1949 (Showa 24), under the academic system reform, the qualification for admission to the medical and dental departments became "a person who has completed two years of college and who meets specific requirements (in defined subjects and credits)". Therefore, a single department (medical/dental) schools and nursing schools transformed and adapted those under as two years' undergraduate course after the academic reformation. The four-year university which had established the “Science Department” made a two-years' preparatory courses, called , or the “Preparatory Course, Science Department”, especially for medical and dental students: requirements of ''two-year university graduates'' were hence cleared. preparatory two-years colleges :Fr:Loi sur l'université The anomalous state of mixed students with academic achievement under the new and old systems lasted by 1955, when the new regulation for department of medical and dental studies went into effect, and surviving preparatory courses as well as those university preparatory courses was merged into Faculty of Science. Nursing school reform followed the course as well.


See also

*
Education in Japan Education in Japan is managed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. Education is Compulsory education, compulsory at the Primary education, elementary and Middle school, lower secondary levels, f ...
* History of education in Japan *
Sadao Araki Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the polit ...
*
Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II from the surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945, at the war's end until the Treaty of San Francisco took effect on April 28, 1952. The occupation, led by the ...
by the
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (), or SCAP, was the title held by General Douglas MacArthur during the United States-led Allied occupation of Japan following World War II. It issued SCAP Directives (alias SCAPIN, SCAP Index Number) ...
(SCAP)


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * Kenneth B. Pyle. ''The Making of Modern Japan'', 1996. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Educational Reform In Occupied Japan Occupied Japan
Reform Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
Reform in Japan Education reform