by Stewart Matthew Hersey
ABSTRACT
This thesis examines
several possible contributions and limitations of John Dewey's Progressive
educational theory towards creating an effective program for improving the
teaching of oral English courses in Japanese high schools.
In particular, the
study attempts a critical examination of Dewey's theory of Instrumentalism
as a standpoint from which it continues to contribute to the retrogressive
state of contemporary Japanese pedagogical orientation. In so doing, the
thesis attempts to elicit, find speculative guidance in, and occasionally
utilize in the clarification process, critical evaluations of Japan's
university entrance examination system.
The aspects of Dewey's
theory which are considered as conducive to the above goal are: his
approach to the relationship between educator and student, teaching
techniques, and his research in the realm of education as it applies to
meeting the needs of society. It is put forth that although Dewey's
ideology in these areas has actually contributed to pedagogical dilemma
which may impede the compulsory teaching of English conversation in
Japanese high schools, such a contribution must be considered en route to
reaching an accurate solution.
It is contended that
the cognitive-linguistic theory of Jerome Bruner is required as a
viewpoint which serves to supplement, ameliorate and to assimilate Dewey's
proposals in order to clearly elaborate a method by which Japanese
adolescents may fluently express their hopes for participating in global
ecology.
RÉSUMÉ
Cette thèse tentera
d'établir quelques apports et certaines limites de la théorie d'éducation
Progressif de John Dewey face au développement d'un module efficace pour
améliorer l'enseignement des cours d'anglais oral dans les écoles
secondaire japonaises.
Cette étude examinera
particulièrement la théorie Instrumentiste de Dewey en tant que point de
vue selon lequel continue à contribuer à l'état arriéré de la ligne suivie
par la pédagogie japonaise actuelle. Ainsi, cette thèse s'intéressera aux
évaluations critiques sur la système japonaise d'examens pour l'admission
a l'université , pour s'en inspirer, guider les hypothèses, et parfois les
clarifier.
Les aspects de la
théorie de Dewey visant le but déjà mentionné seront observés: son
approche des relations entre un professeur et ses étudiant(e)s, les
techniques qui peut êtres utilisés par les professeurs pour
l'enseignement, et son étude du domaine des sciences pédagogiques autant
qu'ils s'applique à fait l'affaire des besoins de la société. Il sera
proposé que si l'idéologie de Dewey dans ces domaines a contribué en effet
a la dilemme pédagogique qui peut être a empêcher l'enseignement
obligatoire des courses d'anglais oral dans les écoles secondaire
japonaises, une telle contribution reste néanmoins a mi-chemin pour
l'atteindre avec justesse.
On proposera ensuite la
théorie psycho-linguistique de Jerome Bruner comme bas de compliment, de
perfectionnement, et d'alignement des propositions de Dewey, a fin
d'élaborer plus directement comment améliorer la compétence des
adolescents japonais en exprimer couramment leurs espoirs à l'égard d'un
conservation de l'écologie mondial.
" Unless culture be a
superficial polish, a veneering of mahogany over common wood, it surely
is this—the growth of the imagination in flexibility, in scope, and
in sympathy, till the life which the individual lives is informed with
the life of nature and of society. When nature and society can live in
the schoolroom, when the forms and tools of learning are subordinated to
the substance of experience, then there shall be an opportunity for this
identification, and culture shall be the democratic
password."
John Dewey
The
School and Society
" Teaching is vastly
facilitated by the medium of language, which ends by being not only the
medium for exchange but the instrument that the learner can then use
himself in bringing order into the environment.
"
Jerome
Bruner
Toward a Theory of Instruction
" What we need to do, and all we need to
do, is bring as much of the world as we can into the school and the
classroom; give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask
for; listen respectfully when they feel like talking; and then get out
of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
How
Children Learn
" The teacher is as a needle, the disciple
is as thread. "
Miyamoto
Musashi
Go Rin No Sho
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I must thank Professor
Stanley Nemiroff for inspiring me to follow a critical mode in my attempts
at document management. After interfacing with him in the classroom for
two years, I decided to live in Tokyo in order to conduct field research
for this study, and I have spent almost three years doing just that.
Certain philosophies for scholastic reform that he shared with me during
my study at McGill, have been instrumental in forming the possible
solutions to the issues that I have fleshed out.
Eileen Joy Zuller was
the first teacher in my life, and I am grateful to her for giving me a
head start at learning. Although we may have differed in opinion regarding
my research topic, I realize that as students, as well as educators, we
are both headed in the same basic philosophical direction. With each day
that I spend helping others, I feel that I am growing much closer to her.
Thank you, Lisa
Lipowski, for helping prepare the original manuscript, and the many other
projects that you edited, proof-read, typed, and overhauled to help me get
where I am today. It was you that originally taught me the importance of
data processing systems, and their usefulness in education.
I must also thank the
Drs. Yamashita for enlightening me as to the advantages of computer
assisted learning. They are still finding new methods (the most recent of
which are video-tapes and laser discs) to help motivate their son Taka,
memories of whom will always be an inspiration for me.
Mrs. Kazumi Iwamoto is
the principal and teacher of the prep-school (juku) where I taught English
conversation. Mrs. Iwamoto's tireless devotion to her students forms a
paradigm for all educators to follow. With virtually no complaint, she
allowed me to test my hypotheses in her school. Her feedback concerning
the efficiency of these contributed greatly to my understanding of
education in Japan. Mrs. Iwamoto was responsible for my recommendation to
the administrators of Richmond International College, who supported my
attempt to develop of a modular English conversation program based on the
conclusions of this thesis. I am grateful to them for their trust in me.
I must thank Shihan
Wayne Donivan for that extra push when I needed it. This has not been the
first time that he has helped me, and I sincerely hope that it will not be
the last. He will always be my model.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
CHAPTER 1:
Introduction
1. Objectives of the
thesis
2. Setting the context:
Japanese high school English language courses in
perspective
a) A Background
of Education in Japan
b) The Impact of
English on Japan's International Role
CHAPTER 2: Part One
— Dewey's possible contribution to a Japanese high school English
conversation program
1.
Introduction
2. a) Eliminating
dualities
b) Finding effective
techniques for communication
c)
Creating a natural environment
d)
Promoting a wide variety of perspectives
e)
Reconstructing the curriculum to sustain its value
f) English conversation as a vehicle of
democratization
g) English speaking Japanese and
international relations
h) English fluency as a common national
interest in Japan
Summary
CHAPTER 2: Part Two
— Dewey's limited impact on school reform in Japan
1. Introduction
2. i. The lack of a
uniform national educational system
ii.
The difficulty in selecting qualified oral instructors
iii. Entrance examinations have no oral
English section
iv. Native English teachers in Japanese
high schools
v. Dewey's utopian approach to pedagogical
methodology
vi. The Pedagogical incongruity of Japan
and North America
vii. Effects of Japanese interpretation of
Progressivism
viii. Japan's value of education is not
`personal growth'
3. Conclusion: The lack
of oral English in Japan's schools
CHAPTER 3:
Conclusion — Using Bruner to create a conversation module for Japanese
high school English teachers to use in class
1. The problem
2. The solution
3. The method
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Preface
My research for this
study commenced in Tokyo, Japan during July, 1990. Originally, I was
interested in writing on Japanese internationalism and the apprehension of
values through the study of karate. While training with a karate master, I
decided to teach English conversation to Japanese children and young
adults, part-time, as a means to support myself and fund my research.
I began with very
little understanding of current Japanese culture, and a vocabulary of the
Japanese language that was limited to at best ten phrases. Over a period
of two years, I experienced a new perspective on how the Japanese learn
English, and in what manner the way they are educated affects their daily
lives as members of our expanding international community.
My students were from
varied backgrounds, but most were from the upper-middle class of Japanese
society. I was most perplexed by these adolescents, who were very shy and
reserved when I first began to teach them. Many of these young people
would not even attempt to speak with me in English unless they covered
their mouth with one or both hands. Their pronunciation was very poor and
their vocabulary of English words was limited. Many began to fall asleep
as soon as class started, and a few of them cried. I became frustrated at
my lack of ability to help them to improve, but this fired me with a
steadfast determination to succeed in bringing them out of their shells.
For the most part, I really wanted to talk with them, and find out what
was behind their fragile exteriors. Although I originally intended to
research the effects of karate training (as an international sport) on the
Japanese youth, I became convinced that improved verbal communications
skills, using the English language, must be a prerequisite to the
successful integration of these individuals on an international basis.
I was told by the
principal at the prep-school where I taught that most of these teenagers
were honor students, and all but a few had been taking English
conversation courses there for several years. They had had many teachers
from various countries (all native English speakers), and each of my
pupils attended class regularly, once-a-week, year-round. Some of them had
already graduated from high school and were attending university. I could
not believe that they could pass an English language examination with the
abilities that they came to my class with.
The ages of these
individuals ranged between thirteen and eighteen, and they were all
attending regular schools, six days per week. There were about 25
adolescents in all. Some of them were attending the same school, but most
were from different schools and were studying at different levels
(middle-school, high-school and college). A few had been on a home-stay
program in the United States for about two or three weeks, and one had
stayed in Colorado, with an American family, for two months.
Nevertheless, only two
brothers, 14 and 16 years old, could really have a conversation with me in
English (strangely, they had never been outside Japan), and it was only
limited to likes, dislikes, their sports and hobbies and what they had
studied in school the week before.
It seemed as if none of
the students had an opinion about anything that I asked them, even if they
had the choice between a `Yes or No' answer to a `Like or Dislike'
question. I could not really evaluate their comprehension because of their
embarrassment and shy behavior. Sometimes the class became unruly and
impossible to control. They would not only refuse to speak English, but
kept up a fast paced conversation in Japanese that I could not possibly
grasp. I resented this, but felt powerless to prevent it. The principal
came to my aid once or twice and scolded the students. Consequently, they
gave me the silent treatment again or just said “no” to everything I asked
them. They would only talk about food.
Between their struggle
to learn and my struggle to teach, a great thing happened. I suddenly
realized what set of circumstances was inhibiting them from each another
and all of them from me. The answer, I discovered, was etiquette.
Japanese act reserved because orthodox social interdictions imposed over
centuries of feudal rule have determined their prescripts for behavior in
daily interaction. At one time, the dominant class of the social hierarchy
wore swords, and could be easily identified. Sharp distinctions between
classes still exist in Japan, but due to an overall conformity to Western
style dress, it is difficult to tell who's who, hence personal expression
has become limited to only close friends, and extroverted behavior is only
tolerated when one is drunk, and therefore exempted from having a command
over one's faculty of judgment.
They could not grow to
trust me because I did not fit in to this scheme. Hence, they had no
vehicle by which they would be able to identify with my relationship to
them. They were suspicious of my intentions and took advantage of their
freedom to test my patience. I was foreign to them in many ways. To my
students, as to most individuals in their society, I would always be a
gaijin (pronounced: guy as in Guy Lombardo and gin- as in 'gin
and tonic'), which literally means 'outsider' in Japanese.
Instead of learning
English, they were developing an animosity towards me. Since I was a
figure of authority, they could not aim their hostilities at me;
therefore, these bad feelings were redirected towards their fellow
students, to whom shyness was already an accepted mode of behavior. In
day-school, I had heard that learning for them was not enjoyable. I had
been told by my Japanese friends that secondary education was centered on
the task of memorization for entrance examinations that would determine
their station and progress in society. In my class there were no tests or
formal structures and no books. The students had no point of focus on
which they could ground their understanding and draw concrete conclusions.
Although their grammar in written exercises was excellent, when it came to
speaking they were at a loss for words. It was up to me, the teacher, to
find a solution. I took both direct and indirect approaches to this
problem.
In my attempt to make
the course more effective, more interesting for them, and especially to
make it enigmatic, I began to tackle value-laden, international issues
(such as ecology) and introduced these to the students via foreign and
domestic publications. We looked at many photographs of war from magazines
and newspapers, in both Japanese and English. We all brought in books,
articles and magazines about War, global pollution, the deterioration of
tropical rain-forests and the effect on the ozone layer of earth's
atmosphere.
Since we were limited
to working within the confines of a small classroom, and I personally
wished to avoid the use of formal texts for English language instruction,
I had to discover a curriculum that would foster imagination, creativity,
and freedom of thought. Conversely, I believed that if they could expand
their vocabulary, they would be able to express themselves more freely,
and would not be worried that other students would know that they were
fallible. This was also a crucial element in the mutual-trust game. The
odds were against my success because, as I had discovered earlier, shyness
and reserved behavior was part of being polite and fitting in to society
for Japanese people. I was dealing with an aspect of the `national
character' of the Japanese.
I thought that if I
reinforced the idea that “to err is human”, the students would loosen up a
little and not take making small mistakes so seriously. I talked about
current events, my own experiences from childhood and adolescence, and
finally, I used humor. I tried to make them laugh any way that I could. I
purposely mimicked them and asked them to teach me jokes and bad-words in
Japanese, even if they could not explain or translate these. They spoke
Japanese slang often in class, and called each other bad names. Soon, I
learned their vocabulary, and of course they wanted to hear these words in
English.
I had to reassure them
that anything was all right in my class, and they could gain control, but
I was already familiar with traditional Japanese values from my Martial
Arts training and I felt that they really knew who was in control. If they
wanted, they could bring taboo objects into the class, like comics
(Japanese children's comics are full of sex and gratuitous violence which
we evaluated together), gum, candy and chips (all kids love treats, but
most of these students had been in schools of one kind or another for ten
hours that day), and playing cards. We began to talk about playing
Pachinko, a popular kind of pinball-slot-machine used for gambling
in Japan, and from this we approached the subject of Yakuza, the
Japanese mobsters. The boys liked these classes very much. Girls could
bring idol magazines, fluffy stuffed creatures and cute things or popular
music cassette tapes to class, and they enjoyed talking about the
victories of teen-age Sumo wrestling superstar, Takahanada (now,
Yokozuna, Takanohana). Things loosened up a little bit, and all of the
students began to talk about what they liked, what people said, and who
they thought was important. Then they began to ask me questions.
Takahanada was still at the top of my list, for at nineteen, he was the
youngest sumo wrestler to win a grand championship, and, he was from
Tokyo.
The principal of the
school became very worried during various intervals, but she could not
refute the fact that the students were speaking English, sometimes loudly,
and they were enjoying themselves. She was tutoring a class in formal
written grammar and vocabulary in the next room, and soon, to her delight,
more and more of the other students wanted to join the conversation class.
Japanese students may only study English conversation (often as a
non-compulsory elective) in their last year of high school, a course for
which no grade is given. Their entrance examinations for university
contain a short 'hearing test', in comparison with a complicated written
exam which is wrought with outdated idioms, and words that are rarely used
in the everyday speech of native Anglophones.
New students joined my
classes, on recommendation from my present members. In a short time I had
aroused these children's interest, gained their trust, and reassured
myself that teaching is a profession with great emotional rewards. I was
convinced that it was not an accidental occurrence, so I commenced
research in this field. I also began to teach English conversation at the
Tokyo campus of Richmond International High School and College, and was
given a free hand in formulating curriculum, for both Tokyo and Osaka's
conversation courses, that would prepare middle and high school students
to study in Canada for two to three years. In considering the modern
facilities and audio-visual equipment that were available for my use at
Richmond, I decided that it would be ridiculous to offer these new
students a completely spontaneous program, since I had learned a few
tricks from teaching my prep-school groups.
I realized that I had
grown interested in three areas from my previous experience. First,
Curriculum: What type of material was important in their study of
English conversation, and why was it essential to their participation in
everyday speech? Second, Communication: How could the learning
process of English as a second language of conversation be ameliorated for
this group of Japanese youngsters, and why was it accelerated by the new
ideas that were introduced by me in such a liberal fashion? Third,
Consequences: What were the qualitative results of my choice of
internationally-based curriculum and democratic methodology? In other
words, are there intrinsic values in the learning experience of
spoken English that can not be divorced from the ability to communicate
with native Anglophones?
Each conversation that
I have with these students reassures me that I was successful in teaching
them to express themselves in English, on a conversational level. But what
were the ethical consequences of motivating them in a democratic and
interactive milieu? Was I propagandizing them with my own values, those of
my background and ethnocentric experience because I encouraged them to
accept multiculturalism? Will these progressive ideas be useful to them in
Japanese society? Is it necessary to determine whether their lesson was a
truly valuable learning experience in an ethical sense, or was the
practical value of their learning to speak English a goal-in-itself?
How could I ascertain
if they were becoming more responsive because of my course's broad global
perspective, or whether they were only upgrading their level of
comprehension and speech using the English language, or both? Should the
teacher be free to unilaterally choose the learning environment for the
students, or should the students and teacher decide the curriculum and
methodology democratically? It was my job to teach them English
conversation, not Ethics, but I intentionally used the latter to teach the
former, as I determined that my students needed to cultivate more
democratic and ecologically conscious habits. How did I reach this
determination? I only wanted to make the class as realistic and useful as
possible, and the consequences were that the students learned to speak
English well. In the final evaluation, the students claimed that my method
worked, while their previous teachers were only nominally successful. The
answer, they said (surprisingly echoing Erich Fromm), was not 'freedom
from' the proscribed rules of behavior, only the freedom to
question these, through their personal discovery of how other cultures
live and learn to interact with the world.
My thesis is intended
to approach questions such as these which I was forced to consider while
planning for and teaching my Japanese students. In time, they began to
ask me questions of their own about sex and drugs, love and war, and
`Rock n Roll' music. In my attempt to discover a foundation in educational
philosophy for improved learning in this society, I, myself, as well as
other Japanese and foreign educators that had previously attempted this
objective, embraced particular ideas and discoveries of John Dewey. Still,
there were limitations to Deweyian Progressivism when it was applied
towards formulating a system of education in Japanese society, and I was
obliged to consult the works of other educational philosophers. Among them
were Alan Bloom, James Britton, Jerome Bruner, Noam Chomsky, Paulo Friere,
John Holt, Craig Howard and R.S. Peters.
While in the process of
examining the educational philosophies of these individuals, I was
prompted to rethink the choices I had made concerning teaching methods and
curriculum. I settled on the notion that the historical trends in Japanese
education (i.e. militaristic leanings and the Occupation's reforms)
continued to impact on current educational realities. The ambiguities
inherent in Dewey's Theory of
Progressivism led to it being misinterpreted by the Japanese educators.
Deweyian Instrumentalism was too easily implemented by educational
reformers because of the Japanese tendency to sacrifice individuality for
social acceptance. Therefore, I believe that a Brunerian approach, which
is based on the use of intelligent teaching aids and problematic learning,
should provide a more viable alternative and one that when considered
in the light of Japan's renewed interest in Internationalism, may
ultimately prove to be more humanistic.
We are truly blessed
for the time is ripe for a new educational revolution. Present day Japan
is undergoing a Renaissance of North American style, thus it was
relatively simple to catch the attention of my students by using objects
and ideas that were familiar to me. Many students want to prepare for
travel to North America, including taking up residence to work or study
for extended time periods. By providing an atmosphere of freedom for new
ideas, and a forum where constructive argumentation was not only
permitted, but encouraged, I gave these youngsters a fresh chance to enjoy
learning, and they want more. In a recreational learning environment,
every achievement is shared by the group, and failure is a challenge to be
met with the help of the other members. Education, in this sense is
directed at the development of the individual in order to add meaning to
the group as a whole, a sentiment that the Japanese are well familiar
with. It seemed to me that the fact that my students were motivated to
learn another society's spoken language testified to their multicultural
sentiments, and desire for true understanding through an interpersonal
exchange of identity. Furthermore, by enticing my students to examine
critically both positive and antisocial aspects of their own society,
their minds had begun to broaden regarding problems that are manifested
unilaterally on an intercultural basis, and they began to develop a
vocabulary to express their concerns to others, both Japanese and
foreigners.
The key to speaking a
language fluently is in not having to think too deeply about one's next
words in a conversation. I discovered that intuition is the most
valuable tool that the mastery of a second spoken language may develop. My
desire to know more about intuitive thought brought me to the realm of
cognitive psychology, and perhaps through a hunch of my own, to Jerome
Bruner's theories on teaching and language acquisition. Over the three
years that I had undertaken research on this thesis, I was unable to
locate any references to Bruner regarding the teaching of English
conversation in Japanese high schools. Nevertheless, investigation into
Dr. Bruner's work on intuition has had a great effect on the inferences
and resolutions that I arrived at in the conclusion of this thesis, and I
am convinced that his ideas must find their way into the minds of the
Japanese pedagogy. I have only utilized Jerome Bruner as a possible
solution to the problems caused due to Dewey's influence on education in
Japan, since, as was formerly alluded to, teaching strategies derived from
Bruner's version of cognitive, developmental psychology may prove to be a
viable alternative to Instrumentalism in a rapidly internationalizing
country.
This thesis is intended
to demonstrate that democratic methods of linguistic education impart a
respect and appreciation for freedom, and a strong feeling of
self-confidence in the participating members of the classroom, the
students. My goal is to determine why a problem-posing approach to
learning English conversation is an effective method, and how its efficacy
depends on presenting the student with a full range of sensory, as well as
intellectual challenges. Information-sensitive teaching strategies raise
moral issues regarding whether, as contemporaneous prototypes of
second-language education, they may run contrary to Japanese traditional
values. If they do, what are the social and cultural implications of
creating data bases for English conversation amelioration in Japanese high
schools. It is my belief that, in Japan, the Ministry of Education,
Science and Culture must establish a strategy whereby entrance
examinations will demonstrate
accountability to second language verbal proficiency. The failure to
develop sufficient information-sensitive technologies in this domain will
be revealed in the potential inaptitude of further generations of Japanese
regarding efficacious communication with the English speaking world, which
may possibly have considerable impact on restricting Japan's ability to
initiate dialogue on international environmental concerns. This thesis
makes the claim that an examination of the degree to which Deweyian
Instrumentalism has influenced Japanese pedagogy should be undertaken, in
a process of critical evaluation through which the Japanese education
system could generate plausible reforms. Furthermore, Japanese pedagogy
should be aware of Brunerian theory on linguistics and learning in order
that contemporary measures may be extrapolated whereby positive changes
may be initiated. In their struggle to overcome the structural
deficiencies that their education system exhibits, the value of a
scientific approach to oral English learning must not be ignored.
In the 1983 Course of
Study for Upper Secondary Schools in Japan, the claim was made that
English courses should,
Further develop
students' basic ability of hearing, speaking, reading and writing in
English, while grasping the outline or main points of the matters, and
develop the positive attitude of understanding English and expressing
themselves in English. (Ministry of Education, 1983, p.82)
It is the aim of this
thesis to determine to what extent these goals are being achieved, and if
they are not, in what manner can reforms be initiated in order that
deficiencies in Japan's education system, which may be obstructing
Japanese high school students from being able to communicate verbally in
the English language, can be overcome.
I have developed a
great respect for my pupils of English conversation, who are pioneers in
their field of study and face overwhelming odds that lie in diametric
opposition to their success. My aspiration is that some of them will
become educators themselves, and continue to pass on the fruits of their
labor to further generations. It is my belief that I have instilled the
hunger for knowledge, a sincere concern for global ecology, and a
curiosity about other “styles of living” in my students, as well as a
strong feeling of self-esteem when facing the unknown. If at the very
least, those young individuals who attended my classes have retained the
ability to converse in English, then my assistance in ameliorating
Japanese high school English conversation programs has been a worthwhile
task, and one which I hope to continue throughout my
life.
Chapter 1:
Introduction
CHAPTER 1:
Introduction
1. Objectives of the
study
a) To critically
examine the significant contributions of John Dewey's Instrumentalism to
Japan's pedagogy, and its possible application in teaching Japanese high
school students English conversation. This objective will be attempted
with regards to the justification of suggesting possible modernizations to
the current Japanese high school educational system by the adoption of a
legitimate English conversation module that may improve the current
program's success in two areas:
1: Teaching students to
speak English fluently and naturally in a fixed time period (two to three
years).
2: Imparting in the
students an awareness of, and interest in global changes in ideological
trends in order to prepare them for participating in planetary
improvement.
b) To critically
examine the possible limitations of Dewey's progressive educational
approach towards providing sufficient revision and amelioration to the
current Japanese high school educational system's English conversation
program. This will be attempted towards the same general aim as outlined
in a) 1 and 2.
These limitations will
be made in specific reference to the following issues:
i. A lack of a uniform
system which high schools may follow to construct and plan English
conversation courses.
ii. A lack of oral
examination systems by which quality educators may be selected to
teach English conversation courses.
iii. A lack of
examinations by which student's progress in English conversation may be
evaluated.
iv. A lack of qualified
North American English conversation teachers.
v. Dewey's naive and
perhaps utopian approach to pedagogical methodology (which has led to its
abuse).
vi. The great
differences between North American educational systems and the current
Japanese high school system.
vii. The difficulty
with Japanese political interpretation of Dewey's early twentieth century
American Progressive Movement.
viii. A lack of
correlation between Dewey's idea of “personal growth” as the end of
education, and the value of education in Japanese society.
ix. A lack, in some
high schools, of any English conversation courses whatsoever.
c) To approach
uncertainties and further questions on this issue and offer a precise
guidance, towards the amendment of Japanese high school English
conversation programs.
Given the contributions
and limitations of Deweyian Instrumentalism in the modern history of the
Japanese Education with regard to the aforementioned aim, I will conclude
that information-sensitive linguistic aids and problem-solving educational
techniques alluded to in the cognitive, developmental psychology of Jerome
Bruner may adequately respond to questions left unresolved or not even
approached by Dewey.
2. Setting the
context: Japanese high school English language courses in perspective
a) A Background of
Education in Japan
A brief outline of the
last three hundred years of Japanese education must first be undertaken,
so that a clear definition of the strengths and weaknesses of this system
may be approached. Three distinct periods emerge in an examination of the
history of the Japanese Educational System. The first runs parallel to the
Tokugawa Era (1603-1868), a time when Japan was at peace and the Samurai
Class (Knights) were at the top of the feudal society. Japanese society
was divided into social classes, with merchants on the bottom of the
social scale, farmers and artisans in the center, and a Military Class at
the top, all presided over by the Emperor. While the Emperor resided
in the capital city of Kyoto, the Shogun (Generalissimo), who was the
supreme military commander and political strong arm of the empire, made
his home in Yedo (present-day Tokyo). The Bakufu (Shogunate made up of the
ruling nobility), who were the clan chieftains of the various regional
powers, provided education for their samurai retainers in the form of
colleges that taught Chinese characters, Confucian philosophy, Abacus
Computation and Budo (martial Arts with the strongest influence in Kendo
fencing). The main campus Shohei-Ko, was established in Yedo, and the
predominant dogma of the time was obedience to higher authorities. Daimyo
(Nobles) furnished smaller schools in their fiefs that were based on this
example and some Confucian scholars branched out to form their own
independent academies, which were called shijuku. Merchants,
traders and peasants who wanted their children to receive an education,
sent them to terakoya which were parish schools that were taught in
the local Buddhist temples. There students were taught the basic skills of
reading and writing by priests and monks.
Those attending were
commoners, most likely farmers' children, and the virtues taught were
Japanese agrarian: common sense, cooperation with and respect for
others, thrift and the avoidance of waste. While Confucian precepts
advocating more stringent observance of filial piety and obedience were
part of the curriculum, the morality actually inculcated was homely, and
down-to-earth. (White, 1987, p.53)
The second period is
demarcated by the beginning of the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), which
marked the transformation to a centralized political system and an opening
of Japan to Western ideas. This promulgated a strong voice of resistance
by the ruling clans of the samurai nobility, who were chagrined by the
Shogun's loss of political monopoly, and the movement of the Emperor and
capital from Kyoto to Yedo. The Imperial government established the Bansho
Torishirabe-dokoro in Yedo during the conversion of 1868-69, which later
became Tokyo University. In 1890, Japan's Parliamentary body was formed,
and the same year, The Imperial Rescript on Education was issued.
This decree effectively designated the Emperor, through a conservative
return to Confucian ideals, as the country's instrument of ethical
inspiration, a sentiment that was to remain as a profound influence on
education in Japan until 1945.
In essence, the
Confucian teachings of the Tokugawa period, briefly abandoned, were thus
emphatically reinstated as a means of anchoring the new education
culturally and making it an instrument of legitimation and support for
the political institutions of the state. Because the Meiji Emperor was
the official source of this new direction in his role as provider of
moral guidance for the country, both intentions were reinforced. He was
Japan's crucial link to the past and center of all legitimacy and
authority. Schools thus enshrined the state's highest values, old and
new. Reverence for both Western learning and Eastern morality were
combined around the ultimate concerns of ordering and strengthening the
young nation. (Rohlen, 1983 p.54)
By the turn of the
century, Japan had imported the ideas for their educational system from
other countries. Centralized, state run institutions were being created
based on France's system of national authority. The establishment of a few
public universities that catered to the elite class was initiated through
an investigation of Germany's system. England provided the groundwork for
the introduction of athletics and moral instruction, although Japan's
primary influence was the United States. From America the Japanese
acquired not only curricula and school furnishings (blackboards, desks,
books), but the design for classrooms and gymnasia as well. Teachers were
samurai in the Imperial government's employ, and were viewed as the
ethical leaders and guides of the youth towards the nation's new morality.
They were pompous and bellicose, many being army officers, and they began
to introduce military drills and training exercises as part of a rigorous
physical education curriculum. Japan was about to enter into wars with
both China and Russia, and the government had to prepare their potential
fighting force at short notice.
The shift of education
to the meritocracy that is existent in contemporary times occurred during
this crucial period, during the formation of Japan's school system. Six
year primary schools were made compulsory for both boys and girls, as was
previously mentioned, to strengthen the nation's character through
discipline and authoritarianism. Secondary education was created as a
means by which students could prepare for entry to university. Three types
of chugakku (middle schools) were established at this time. The
first type was for average students, and those of lower classes, and was a
continuation of upper elementary education. Although many student's of
these schools aimed at university education, few were accepted into
Japan's public universities, which, although the government disapproved,
prompted the creation of several private universities. Many of the
students who graduated attended Trade Schools and were eventually hired as
industrial workers. These schools began to offer their students to local
factories and plants so they could gain valuable working experience.
The 'higher' middle
schools were originated to ready the graduates of regular middle schools
for higher education, and although they were geared toward the samurai
class, many students from the lower classes succeeded in entering them.
This, in effect, began to change the face of Japanese society, and caused
an uproar in the political community by Conservative groups that supported
the return of Japan to a status not unlike that of the Tokugawa Era.
Finally, there were
middle schools created for girls. While the boys' schools taught foreign
language, literature, the sciences and social sciences, the curriculum of
girls' schools was aimed at creating good homemakers. When boys were
undergoing athletic and military training, girls were learning cooking,
sewing, child care and etiquette. Attendance to middle schools by girls
surpassed that of boys attendance in the few years since their creation,
and as a result, more girls were achieving secondary graduation than
Japanese boys (Rohlen, 1983). Even though the school system was
taken up with little enthusiasm, soon children from all segments of
society were graduating from elementary school and continuing on to
secondary education and beyond. The government provided grants to farmers
whose second sons (the first-born would inherit the farm) wished to go on
higher learning, and mass programs were initiated to promote fourteen
years of education for all Japanese. Government envoys were sent abroad to
study foreign languages, new teaching methods, and philosophies.
From the end of the
Meiji period (1912) to World War II, Japanese education experienced a
widely diverse set of influences. John Dewey was particularly in vogue
in the 20's. His influence was strong in part because while his
proposals could clearly be seen as modern and Western, they were in
their underlying philosophy close to indigenous Japanese ideals of the
unity of cognitive, physical, and affective development. The roots for
the idea of educating the whole child,' which returned with the American
Occupation reforms after the war, were deeply Japanese, and because of
their Western cachet could flourish as a modern `import'. Dewey's first
impact, however, was a philosophical one, with some influence on
experimental education. (White, 1987, p.61)
As the influence of
Western thought grew in Japan, from a fashion, to a social and political
trend, a renaissance of Japanese culture was also under way. This created
an important moral issue for the bureaucrats of the time, who were all
samurai nobility. They had to deal with potentially rapid changes in their
society, as more and more commoners were gaining the ability to rise to
positions of power. In order to formulate an educational system that would
not discriminate by social class, and hence assist the intellectual prime
of Japan to rise to the top, thereby building up the national character,
the national entrance examination system was instituted in the 1920's.
Competition to succeed in mastering these examinations and enter into the
state and private universities became severe. Due to the anonymous and
impersonal nature of this system, high school and university entrance
examinations became the main criteria for admittance to a top corporation,
thus avoiding the obligations dictated by blood and birthright. Peter
Frost, when contemplating on the history and future of the Japanese
entrance examination system, concluded that,
In such
circumstances, it is not surprising that the government was unable to
stop the various high schools from administering very difficult written
entrance examinations. Underlying the prewar examination system, in sum,
lay a number of complex factors, the first and most obvious of which was
that there was only a limited number of spaces in a clearly defined
educational hierarchy for the increasing number of Japanese men who
wished to get ahead. The idea of judging these students by written
examinations, Masuda Koichi tells us, was not only a concept dating back
to early Japanese traditions, but also an educational practice in vogue
in those European school systems that the Japanese were using as models
in their own nation building. With so much at stake, short, factual, or
“right or wrong” answers seemed to be the most objective and hence both
the fairest and the most discriminating way to distinguish between
students who probably did not differ all that much in their training and
ability. Most important of all, the rising notions of progress, social
mobility, and the right of the individual to serve the state if able
were still in conflict with a society bound by obligations and a sense
of place. “Probably no Meiji leader thought about matters in quite this
way,” notes Thomas Rohlen, “but the fact remains that outside of
education, particularism retained its extraordinary power, and the Meiji
leadership was anxious to assure that the nation would benefit from the
secure flow of talent to the top. The sacredness of exams in Japan, even
today, seems proportional to the flow of particularistic forces it holds
at bay.” (Beauchamp, 1991, pp.288-89)
As was demonstrated in
Frost's passage, the scholastic examination was the method by which
Japan's educational system conformed to Western ideology, and contributed
to the nation building process. Within ten years, the refusal of
traditional samurai families to abandon Tokugawa ideals prompted the
Japanese government to wax increasingly militaristic and nationalistic
(Duke, 1986). In one generation, Japan's educational meritocracy had
become self-perpetuating, and the public's spirit was caught up in this
new race for national excellence.
Education became the
voice for the reintroduction of Bushido (the samurai ethic) into
everyday life. Foreign Language Studies were virtually eliminated from the
national curriculum, and students had to spend half their study time on
the assembly lines of munitions plants. Spearheaded by the emperor and
national government, the schools were turned into military academies for
producing a new generation of samurai warriors, which led Japan towards
the martyrdom of her most promising intellectual minds of the time on the
battlefields of the Second World War.
In the last year of the
war between Japan and the United States, a campaign was organized by the
Japanese Navy to recruit pilots for their newly formed “Divine Thunderbolt
Corps Special Attack Force”. Propaganda for this drive was aimed at
educational institutions, universities and Higher Middle Schools. The
recruits were volunteers from the most elevated ranks of achievers, and
after two months of intensive training, they became kamikaze pilots. In
this last-ditch effort to save the nation from disgraceful defeat at the
hands of the foreigners, all efforts were concentrated on the recruiting
program. Allowing foreign soldiers to step onto Japan's consecrated soil
would be the ultimate loss of face. In the words of a survivor,
I still believe that
what we did was covered with a certain sacred righteousness. The error
was outside us and was involved with the fundamental question about the
justice or injustice of the war itself and the intensive indoctrination
we were given in which the nation's feelings on the war were sublimated
to a rather fanatic and religious level and individual reasoning was
disregarded. (Adams, 1973, pp.136-37)
The loss of the war and
commencement of American occupation (1945-51)marks the beginning of the
third period in Japan's educational history. The compounded effects of
strafing by American B52's and fifteen years of militarization by the
Imperial government had left Japan's Educational System in shambles.
Japan was placed under
occupation by the Allied Forces led by General Douglas MacArthur,
Commander in Chief of the combined American military. November 3rd, 1946,
Japan's new Constitution was introduced which effectively eliminated all
ties between the Emperor and the government, reducing his position to a
mere symbol of the State and the people's unity. This Constitution, which
was strongly influenced by MacArthur himself, took effect in 1947. The
same year, the Imperial Rescript on Education was scrapped, and in its
place, the American's put forth the Fundamental Law on Education
and the School Education Law. The former of the two of these laws
fundamentally guarantees the right to equal educational opportunity for
all Japanese citizens and prohibits discrimination on any basis. According
to one interpretation of this law,
A central goal of the
education system is to produce self-reliant citizens of a peaceful and
democratic nation who respect human rights and love truth and peace. The
law emphasizes the importance of political knowledge and of religious
tolerance in the development of sound citizens, but it specifically
prohibits any link between political parties or religion and education.
(I.S.E.I., 1989, p.90)
The American advisors
also introduced three major changes in Japan's Educational System in order
to salvage it and establish it as a major democratizing force. First, they
extended the range of compulsory schooling from six to nine years, which
formed an protective umbrella over waning Middle School attendance. This
action injected fresh hope for the financially ailing populace, who feared
that their children would lose their chances for higher education and be
recruited for massive urban reconstruction projects.
Second, they
decentralized education, and transferred organization and supervision of
the pedagogy from the Ministry, to local boards of education, which were
established in each prefecture. The Ministry was reduced to the role of a
curricular coordinator, while municipal governments selected the board
members, who in turn form school budgets, and oversee the appointment of
teachers and superintendents to each school within their jurisdiction. It
is up to the school administrators and in many cases, particular teachers,
to choose which textbooks they prefer to use, based on the Ministry's
authorized list. Joseph C. Trainor, who was a member of the Education
Division of General Headquarters during Japan's Occupation, describes the
importance of the Board of Education Law to decentralization as follows,
The world in which
[Japan] finds herself is not one conducive to calm and orderly progress
in developing the new democratic patterns which she has adopted. There
will repeatedly come over the central government the feeling of need for
strengthening its hold upon all governmental activities, including
education. Some governments may not be able to resist the temptation to
respond to that feeling. In any such development, should the political
forces become strong enough, the Board of Education system might be
abolished. On the other hand, each year will see an increased
understanding by the people of the importance of their Boards of
Education and the value of their having a direct voice in the selection
of members for them. The Board of Education Law placed the schools close
to the people and the more experience the people of Japan have with this
relationship to education, the more difficult it will be to take from
them the direct voice which they now have in educational affairs.
(Trainor, 1983, p.202)
The third major change
introduced by the Occupation was their encouragement of the Japanese
pedagogy in the formation of non-political unions, the largest of which,
dubbed the Japan Teacher's Union, rapidly gained popularity among
pedagogues that opposed the prewar ideology. The union's strong leftist
leadership mustered the efforts of young educators whose collective policy
centered around the democratic control of schools and the persistence of
educational reforms.
The American Occupation
lasted until the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 (Lowe
and Moeshart, 1990. p.102), and within that time period, many educational
reforms took place that are still in effect today. The school system was
revamped, with a three year high school and four year university program
added to the previously established six years of primary and three years
of middle school. Although the Americans put all their best intentions
into democratizing the Japanese educational system, there was no
vigorous grassroots movement in Japan's history to support such an
effort. As a result, the new schools that were created immediately
fell into a predominant social hierarchy, and behind the scenes, the
`freedom' that came with Americanization resulted in a deluge of academic
curriculum, a literal flooding of the system with learning material, and a
new race to the top of the ladder. Educational opportunity for all was
once again the rule of the day, and in effect, the American approach
helped to legislate in liberal ambiguities that were in complete disregard
for Japanese personality and historically grounded social norms. Most
Japanese teachers recognize the value of individual freedom, but are also
aware of the serious problems that American high schools face in today's
world.
They know that to
institute diversity and choice in high schools is to challenge both the
Confucian emphasis on social order and the principles of efficient
preparation inherent in the prewar legacy. These issues are more sharply
drawn in education that in any other Japanese institution because time
has compounded rather than simplified the value choices involved. The
overwhelming facts that face high schools today are that nearly all
young Japanese are enrolled and that the majority of them intend to go
on to college. If history has provided a set of contrasting ideals and
legacies, contemporary Japanese society has come to constitute an
environment for education that establishes entrance examinations as the
key to understanding its dynamic. (Rohlen, 1983, p.76)
The sheer numbers of
young people that were attending secondary schools heralded in a new form
of heated competition: University admission. The equality that was
promoted by American educational ideals would be transformed by the
Japanese into an organism that they could deal with and that would adapt
easily to Japanese society. Herein lies the core of the entrance
examination's source of power. These examinations became fused with the
only touchstones that would enable a criterion that could legally
segregate a new generation, and they grew to replace the traditional
Japanese sentiment the importance of testing one's strength to persevere
over the odds. The test of an individual's endurance, (in feudal times,
the swordsman's duel), has been fused with a patriotic character since the
Occupation, and ultimately, the quality of education has since been
superseded by a devotion to the institutions of social stratification,
presided over by prestige of university admission. Even though there is an
overwhelming trend in high schools towards participation in diverse
extracurricular activities (characteristic of American institutions),
personal achievement of the Japanese secondary student lingers among the
vestiges of an antiquated, oppressively academic Confucian environment,
where the examination is the ultimate contemporary challenge. According to
Benjamin Duke,
Examination
preparation, the backbone of the school system, from this perspective
goes far beyond mathematics or English class with its rote memory of
abstract equations and emphasis on detailed rules of grammar. That is
the superficial aspect of Japanese school that tends to distract us from
the fundamental. Rather, examination preparation epitomizes the daily
tests of perseverance and endurance, fulfilling not only a mathematical
function but a spiritual need of the Japanese. The entrance tests to the
high school and university have, to this observer, replaced the physical
tests of survival of a bygone era as a challenge to one's depth of
endurance. Their importance to this society and its industrial
competitiveness extends well beyond the classroom. (Duke, 1986, p.129)
b) The Impact of
English on Japan's International Role
Thirty years before the
end of the Muromachi Period (1338-1573), the first foreign ships landed in
southwestern Japan. They were the Portuguese, who were followed by Jesuit
Missionaries, the Dutch, British, Russians and later on, British traders.
Christianity became a popular religion in Japan, until it was outlawed,
and Japan's doors were closed to foreigners, as the Shogun, Tokugawa
Ieyasu unified the nation in 1639. In 1800 the Russians began to establish
trade in the Kurile Islands, which were Japan's most northern boundary,
and the Black Ships of Britain and America were soon seen approaching on
the horizon.
In 1845 American Naval
Commodore James Biddle attempted to take two warships into Yedo Bay, but
he was refused entry to the harbor. To the chagrin of the Samurai class,
the insistence of the Americans that they be recognized as favored trading
nation with Japan was bolstered by the technological superiority of the
U.S. military forces over their own. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry of
the U.S. Navy successfully entered Uraga with four men-of-war in 1853 and
by March 31st of the following year, the Americans succeeded in being the
first foreign country to sign a treaty with the Japanese (Sansom, 1950).
American Diplomat Townsend Harris was the first to receive an audience
with the Shogun, and on December 7th, 1857, he negotiated the right for
American ships to put ashore (with the alternative being a war that the
Japanese knew they could not win) and established a unique relationship
between the two countries. July 29th, 1858, the Americans brought the
first steam locomotive, whiskey and pistols to Japan and signed further
diplomatic treaties.
Early in 1861, the
first Japanese diplomatic mission traveled to Washington to ratify the
treaties and catch their first glimpse of the state-of-the-art knowledge
that surpassed that of their own nation, which had been sheltered from the
Industrial Revolution by the Tokugawas. In the next two years, an influx
of American literature arrived in Japan, although only a handful of
scholars had been sent abroad to study the English Language. At the same
time, Scottish journalist, J.R. Black, published the first English
language weekly newspapers, The Japan Herald and The Japan
Gazette. This monopoly was due to the fact that it was he who imported
the first printing presses into the country.
He also produced one
of the first regular newspapers in the Japanese language, the Nisshin
Shinjishi or Reliable Daily News, and he exerted some
influence through articles written by himself or by Japanese political
writers. He attacked the government at the time of the agitation for a
national assembly and was offered an official post in hope of silencing
his adverse comment. His influence on Japanese journalism was
considerable though it is not always fully recognized in Japan. (Sansom,
1977, p.421)
English novels began to
appear as Japanese translations of foreign books were in style. Several
writers including Oda Junichiro, Kawashima Chunosuke, Shiba Shiro and Baba
Tatsui, all of whom studied at universities in England and the U.S.,
became known as the popular translators of the times. A notable group of
educators, writers and economists were sent to Europe and America during
these years to gather information on political practices that would be
used in forming Japan's new government.
Although many of these
gentlemen, like Kato Hiroyuki (first director of Tokyo University) and
Itagaki Taisuke (founder of the Liberal Party), would go on to become
Japan's leading politicians, the most remarkable of these figures was the
academic Fukuzawa Yukichi. Fukuzawa had already lived in America for one
year, as he'd stowed away on the Japanese vessel that escorted the
Shogun's envoys to Washington in order to ratify the treaty of 1958. He
wrote an account of the events that led to this risky decision.
In 1858 he was sent
to Yedo to give lessons in Dutch to the young men of the clan on duty
there. one day, on a visit to Yokohama, he spoke to some foreign
merchants in Dutch and found that they did not understand him. it was
thus that he discovered that English, not Dutch, was the language of the
future, and set about learning it at once. (Sansom, 1977, p.429)
Okuma Shigenobu was the
leader of a samurai clan who's actions had a profound influence on the
political trends during the Meiji Restoration. Although he had never
traveled beyond Beijing and Korea, during the Formosa Expedition, he was
well read in his colleagues' translations of English and American
politics. In fact, Western philosophy, economics, medicine and language
were already being rivaled with an equally intense revival of Confucian
learning. A Conservative movement was in the works which was antagonistic
to the transformation of Japan into a modern industrial nation. The brunt
of the conservative samurai faction's malcontent and anxiety centered on
the claim that the new education had a softening effect, on the character
of the ensuing generation.
When the Ministry of
Education was formed in 1871, it proceeded to encourage Western learning
and decided that a complete system of education must be devised and
enforced. One of the high officials, Tanaka Fujimaro, was sent as a
commissioner to examine the systems of Europe and America. He returned
in 1872, and in that year a most detailed and voluminous Education Act
was issued, which laid the foundations of state-controlled compulsory
education. The plan was ambitious, providing for universities, middle
schools, elementary schools, normal schools, and technical schools on a
large scale, and the statement of policy that accompanied it made it
clear that, in future, education would be organized on Western lines.
(Sansom, 1977, pp.455-56)
In 1871 and 1872
respectively, Imperial Decrees on samurai code began to eliminate the
carrying of swords and the wearing of `topknot' hairstyles. Christian
Colleges were founded in 1873 by Nakamura Keiu and 1875 by Niishima Jo,
both of whom, unbeknownst to the Imperial Government, had been living in
New England. These schools and many other public study groups, were
institutions of utilitarianism and free-thought that were supported by
private individuals who had resided in America and believed that it was
their duty to provide for the diffusion of these ideals to Japanese
society. In 1880, a law restricting public gatherings was issued in an
attempt curb these activities.
Within the year, the
actions of Okuma and his associates prompted the Emperor to issue the
famous Rescript that called for the formation of parliament by 1890. He
founded Waseda University in 1881 (a private university that stood for the
freedom of inquiry) and formed the first Constitutional Progressive Party
in 1882. Since the CPP supported moderate reform it gained little
influence over the Conservative opposition, which was supported by the
government. In 1889, Okuma helped in the drafting of Japan's Constitution.
Mori Arinori was forty
one years old when he became the Minister of Education in 1885. Being ten
years the junior to most of his fellow politicians was no shortcoming for
him. Mori, who was seen as a moderate, took it upon himself to revise the
educational policy with an emphasis on the teaching of English. He also
stressed the dominance of the state in education, in other words, the
primary aim of education should be patriotic. Mori was a close friend of
the Prime Minister, Ito, and they had traveled together through Europe and
the U.S.A. Their concern was that educational institutions were lagging
behind in the development of a Japanese curriculum. Mori believed that
courses in Japanese language and history must not fall by the wayside in
the name of Western progress. Of course, Japan was in the process of
nation-building, hence the first concern was that uniform state control
would become more efficacious with a parallel emphasis on national
identity.
Japan's decision to
embark on this course of educational expansion reflected the conviction
of the Meiji reformers that education was what the nation needed to
provide it with the trained workers and talented leadership needed to
'catch up' with the west. Mori Arinori, an early minister of education,
expressed the goal quite succinctly: “Our country must move from its
third-class position to second class, and from second class to first;
and ultimately to the leading position among all the countries of the
world. The best way to do this is by laying the foundations of
elementary education.” This
belief in the ability of education to foster industrialization and
economic growth has continued to serve as a basic principle of Japanese
education today (Schoppa, 1991, p.25)
The second concern was
a brewing discontent with the colonial powers that, in every other Asian
country, were working against traditional inherent values. Christianity
became the fundamental opponent of the government's radical conservative
wing. All one had to do was pick up a world history text to learn of the
Western conquests in the name of Christ. The confession and the absolution
from sins were completely alien notions to the Japanese, and it was
believed that these and other concepts intrinsic to Christianity, were the
most dangerous enemies of the traditional Japanese character. The
government was finding that as the support by foreign Christian
organizations for private colleges and universities increased, it was
becoming increasingly difficult to control the behavior of extremist
groups, who in the past had restricted their protests to lectures and
articles. On November 11th, 1889, Mori Arinori was at home preparing to
attend a ceremony for the proclamation of Japan's Constitution, which was
developed according to his ideas and suggestions put forth in the Rescript
on Education. Seen by the radicals as influenced by Western, hence
Christian persuasions, Mori was assassinated on his own doorstep as he
left his house.
He was in fact,
though modern minded in respect of the material benefits of Western
civilization, essentially a conservative man, and his educational policy
was fundamentally nationalistic and militaristic, for he planned to give
rifles to elementary school children for their drill and to make the
dormitories of normal schools resemble military barracks. This did not
protect him from the assassins, however, who alleged that he had
profaned the great shrine at Ise; and the cause of his murder was
summarized in the liberal magazine the People's Companion by
saying that he fell a victim to the reactionary thought that he himself
had aroused. (Sansom, 1977, p.480)
Okuma was mortally
wounded by a terrorist's bomb shortly after Mori's murder. The Meiji
Emperor died in 1912, before the outbreak of the First World War, in which
Japan established itself as a global power. By this time she had already
been victorious in her war with China (1894-95), with the Russians
(1904-5) and had annexed Korea in 1910. This was a time of utopian
innocence and naivety for Japanese pedagogy, but students were making
great accomplishments. Japanese social reformers started the first Trade
Unions in 1912, and they began to attract a small group of workers, as
more young men and women were graduating from secondary education than
ever before, and the universities were flourishing (Lowe and Moeshart,
1990, p.36). John Dewey, a strong supporter of Syndicalism, especially
when it improved the rights of teachers, was visited this same year by
Naruse Jinzo, the founder of Japan's Women's University (Kobayashi,
1964,p.28). Dewey had the opportunity to lecture at Tokyo Imperial
University, where he made this observation of Japanese classrooms in 1919,
They have a great
deal of freedom there, and instead of the children imitating and showing
no individuality—which seems to be the proper thing to say—I never saw
so much variety and so little similarity in drawings and other handwork,
to say nothing of its quality being much better than the average of
ours. The children were under no visible discipline, but were good as
well as happy; they paid no attention to visitors...I expected to see
them all rise and bow. (Kobayashi, 1964, p.28)
The Taisho Emperor
survived his predecessor for only fourteen years, until 1926, when
Hirohito was coronated and the Showa Era began. Between 1926 and 1934 The
Japanese Trade Unions flourished, and finally collapsed under the strain
of the great Depression. During this Era, both Anarchist-Communist and
Syndicalist influences were gaining popularity among the new generation of
intellectuals, although the success of trade unions was hampered by the
increasingly authoritative waxing of the Meiji government, and eventually
police action was taken against their leaders. In his study, Society,
Schools and Progress in Japan, Tetsuya Kobayashi, Professor of Comparative
Education at Kyoto University, deals with the pressure that the
pre-World-War-II Japanese government exerted on Liberal and radical
political reform organizations,
The national
federations of the trade unions, which were organized in the early
twenties, systematically led the laborers and the peasants into strikes
and other agitation. A few political parties were associated with the
labor movement were organized in this period by sects of socialists and
communists. Among them, the Communist Party, which was secretly
organized in 1922, was declared illegal and suppressed by the
government. Other socialist parties and the labor movement also suffered
to various degrees from government pressure...As the government
strengthened its oppressive control over the socialist movements, the
student movement became more radical and as a consequence suffered more
from the government...During the labor disputes in the twenties there
were some cases in which the laborers or peasants sent their children to
the “proletarian schools”. Between 1929 and 1933 a few attempts were
made to organize teachers' unions, and as a part of the movement a
short-lived Proletarian Education Institute was set up as a center for
the socialist education movement. This soon met government oppression.
Together with the leaders of the student movement, many individuals and
groups of school teachers, who intended to liberalize school education,
were suppressed on suspicion of being 'red'. (Duke, 1976, pp.37-38)
One thinker stands out
as an important figure of his time, Hatta Shuzo, who's great influence by
the Social Anarchist, Peter Kropotkin, motivated him to form a Libertarian
solution to the class struggles effected by Imperial rule. Although Hatta
graduated from a Christian University, he was excommunicated from the
Church, and began to spread Kropotkin's ideas throughout Japan, via an
agricultural and factory worker organization called the All-Japan
Libertarian Federation of Labor Unions. Like Kropotkin, his inspirational
model, Hatta's revolutionary philosophy was based on his belief that,
Free association was
not just a good idea or one among a number of contending theories of
social organization. Rather it was a natural characteristic of human
beings, a fundamental truth or principle which we all recognize from the
experiences of our life, knowing that without it life would simply
collapse and we ourselves would perish. (Lowe and Moeshart, 1990, p.46)
Hatta died in 1934
during the beginning of an unparalleled pandemic economic depression,
during which truculent political upheavals lead to the Japanese military's
participation in the Lugouqiao Incident (Rohlen), and finally Pearl
Harbour as Japan's youth were plunged into the horrors of bloodshed and
death of World War II. The culmination of slaughter and genocide that
began with the Holocaust, ended with America's atomic bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. On August fifteenth, 1945, the Emperor read the final
Imperial Rescript in which he agreed to the surrender terms of the Potsdam
declaration with the words, “The time has come for us to bear the
unbearable.”
Article 9 of Japan's
Constitution reads,
Aspiring sincerely to
an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people
forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat
or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
In designating Japan as
the world's only nation that ascribes constitutionally to international
peace, the Allied Occupational Forces perhaps provided Japan with new
pedagogical options for societal goals to be aspired to cooperatively.
After the Occupation's decentralization of the Japanese education system
had been tentatively realized, the Ministry of Education, Science and
Culture set about interpreting the significance of new Constitutional
directives. Although Instrumental education was abandoned shortly
thereafter, Japanese pedagogy now has the technology available to
rediscover the merits of communicating democratic viewpoints through
education methodologies. The process of streamlining an out-of-date oral
English program may help Japanese pedagogy to generate renewed focus on
international cooperation through dialogue, rather than the prevailing
convergence on economic superiority through the mathematical and
scientific domination of high school curricula.
As I have established,
American utilitarian ideals exerted a great influence on the political
climate in the 'Land of the Rising Sun' even fifty years prior to John
Dewey's appearance on the scene. It still holds true that
Instrumentalism wields a prime influence on Japanese pedagogical
currents, and to this very day, Dewey continues to be the most well
known academic, bar none, to the Japanese educational administrator
(Kobayashi, 1964, pp.1, 154). If one is to undertake an accurate critical
examination of the Japanese school system, it would be impossible to
ignore the sway of progressive, liberal forces. The following section is
focused on Dewey's philosophical trend in Japanese education, and how this
has effected the Japanese student's current dilemma in the area of English
conversation instruction.
Chapter 2: Part One
Dewey's
possible contribution to a Japanese high school English conversation
program
1. Introduction
In this chapter I shall
attempt to establish a correlation between Dewey's progressive educational
philosophy (Instrumentalism), its influence on Japanese pedagogy, and
possible contribution to teaching