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CHAPTER EDUCATIONAL REFORM IN THEl970's

The curricula offered at each school level should be consistent and should aim

at giving pupils basic educational skills needed as Japanese citizens as well as developing their individual, creative personalities. At the beginning, emphasis should be placed on certain standardized, fundamental, well-chosen essentials and the school system after that should allow individuals to choose those courses best suited to their particular abilities and interests. From this viewpoint the following points need further examination:

(1) Promotion of consistency in the curricula offered from the elementary school to the upper secondary school, careful selection of curricula contents, and further examination of the classification of subjects taught, especially so as to improve basic elementary school education.

(2) Diversification of the curricula of upper secondary schools to enable students to choose courses suited to their particular abilities and interests. In this context, while courses are diversified, it should also be made easier for individual students to transfer from one course to another according to their abilities and changes of interests. The system should also be structured so that students may advance to schools of a higher grade from various courses.