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CHAPTER EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND THE FUTURE EDUCATION IN JAPAN

Two objectives are noticeable in educational reforms which are now taking place in some Western countries. The first is to meet the educatioutal needs of individuals who wish to develop and improve themselves further; and the second is to respond to the demands of the society for education for the sake of its general development. For the first objective, equal opportunity for education should be provided according to the ability and needs of each individual and without any discrimination because of his income or social status. For the second, it is required that competent persons, equipped with knowledge and skills to meet social and economic as well as scientific and cultural demands, should be prepared. It may be said that the educational policy today in the leading countries is to achieve educational development through the coordination of these two objectives.

With the rapid economic growth and social development made in recent years due to scientific and technological innovation, national and social demands for education have further increased, and to this end educational systems are being improved and long-range plans including educational reforms are being made in different countries.

After World War , there were some movements for educatiomtal reforms both in European countries which have a long history of school education and in the United States where every state has the responsibility for its own education. The United States, where quantitative development in education has been made under its democratic education system, is now facing a problem of qualitative improvement in education. And efforts are being made to improve its school system and the contents of education in an attempt to find and develop the abilities and aptitudes of pupils. In European countries, where traditionally some close relationship between the social structure and the educational structure has long prevented them from achieving equal opportunity for education for all people, efforts are now being made for the democratization of their educational systems and an increase of educational opportunities according to individual abilities and aptitudes. Thus in the United States qualitative improvement of education is sought through its quantitative development, while in most European countries quantitative development of education is planned keeping the present qualitative standard. What is actually aimed at in each case, however, is approximately the same.