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CHAPTER . IMPROVEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL CONTENT AND METHOD

The recent improvements in the physical features of Japanese children are remarkable. Figure 28 compares heights and weights of children in 1949 with those in 1969 by age in order to make clear the age at which the largest increases in heights and weights have occurred.

Figure 28. Comparison of Heights and Weights in 1948 with Heights and Weights in 1969

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Note: Actual numbers are given in Basic Table 36. Basic Table 36

Average height has increased during the twenty year period by 5.6 centimeters for first grade boys and 5.7 for first grade girls. Differences during the twenty year period increase with age, reaching a peak of 13.0 centimeters for boys and 11.0centimeters for girls at ages 12 -15, decreasing thereafter to 4.4 centimeters for boys and 1.7 centimeters for girls at the age of 18. These facts reveal that the present first graders are as tall as pupils in the second or higher grades twenty ago and those pupils in the first year of today's upper secondary schools are already as tall as adults of twenty years ago.