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CHAPTER 2. IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AND METHOD
1 Maintenance, Improvement and Diversification of Educational Content
(1) Curriculum
d. Differentiation of Courses and Diversification of Curriculum Content


In Japan, with the exception of a few elective subjects, all students are provided with a common curriculum up to the end of the compulsory stage, i.e. elementary and lower secondary schools. Curriculum differentiation begins at the upper secondary school level. At this level, students are divided into such courses as general, agricultural, technical, business, fishery, domestic arts, and nursing.

In all courses of the Japanese upper secondary schools, many subjects are required for all students, and there is not sufficient room for student options. But in the new curriculum to be enforced beginning in 1973, the number of required subjects has been considerably decreased, and the degree of flexibility has been increased, especially in the general course. (For boys enrolled in the general course, the number of required subjects has been decreased from the present 17 to.11.) Further the new curriculum includes such new subjects as 'basic science', 'general mathematics' and 'basic English' which aim at the acquisition of basic scholastic abilities; and comparatively advanced subjects in physics, chemistry, biology and geology, to permit students more freedom to choose areas and subjects in accordance with their interests, abilities and aptitudes. In the specialized courses, i.c, vocational, science and mathematics courses, such subjects as 'comprehensive mathematics', 'comprehensive physics' and 'comprehensive chemistry', which aim at improving the scientific and mathematical abilities of students, are also included. In addition to these subjects, such new courses as 'systems engineering' and 'programming' are to be offered in the technical and business courses respectively, so as to meet the progress being made in information sciences, especially in computers.

Course differentiation and diversification of curriculum in other major countries can be classified into three patterns, i.e., the American, the European and the Soviet. In the American pattern, there is no course differentiation up to the end of junior high school education. At the senior high school level, programs are differentiated in some localities, but in others comprehensive high schools in which students are provided with a common curriculum are' in practice. In American secondary schools, the normal pattern is to provide education suited to the aptitudes and interests of students through a wide range of elective subjects rather than through course differentiation. In the European pattern, unlike the American pattern, students are divided after leaving the first level of school into different types of secondary schools, on the basis of examinations or scholastic achievements while in the first level of school.

In recent years, however, there has been a trend toward shifting the lower stage of secondary education from the traditional multi-track to a single-track system, thereby making the curriculum common to all students and in effect, putting off the period of differentiation until a later stage. In France, for example, the policy of making the curriculum common to all students at the lower stage of secondary education has been in practice since the 1970 school year. In the Soviet pattern the compulsory education curriculum is common to all pupils for eight years. After compulsory education the curriculum is differentiated into general and vocational courses. In the new curriculum announced in 1967, elective subjects were introduced for the seventh grade and beyond for the purpose of developing the abilities of individual pupils to the fullest extent possible.

As stated above, curriculum re-organization is the present trend throughout the world. In the European countries where education has traditionally been structured on the multi-track basis and the contents of education have been differentiated in a complicated way, the tendency is toward a unification of the curriculum at the lower stage of secondary education. On the other hand, in the U.S., the U.S.S.R., and Japan where a uniform curriculum had been employed, the introduction of a wide range of elective subjects and the differentiation of curriculum content is the trend. This latter aim at providing a wider choice of subjects by reducing then umber of required subjects, thereby developing the abilities and aptitudes of individual students.


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