Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPANESE GOVERMENT POLICICIES IN EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND CULTURE 1994 > PART I Chapter 1 Section 1 3

As discussed above, the number of children attending juku is increasing. This upward trend is attributed to the problem of excessive competition in entrance examinations, which has clearly become an issue requiring serious action in primary and secondary education in Japan.

In April 1991 the Central Council for Education produced a report titled "Reforms of Various Educational Systems to Adapt Them to a New Age." In this report the council identified "school rankings," or "the perception of school rankings," as a serious problem. According to the report, there is a strong tendency to emphasize the single criterion of " standard score "^* when judging educational institutions, with the result that little attention is paid to the diverse characteristics of Japan's many universities, junior colleges, upper secondary schools, and other educational institutions. Heavy reliance is also placed on standard score as the sole criterion when providing children with career guidance, and in many cases inadequate consideration is given to the diverse personalities, interests, concerns, abilities, and aptitudes of individual children. According to the report, children are also preoccupied with rankings based on their standard score as they proceed along their educational career.

This analysis of the causes of excessive competition in entrance examinations highlights the extreme importance of such efforts as avoidance of evaluations that rank schools vertically, correction of the tendency to base judgments of school quality on a single criterion, and modification of approaches to evaluation and education that judge children in terms of a single criterion.

How should we approach the solution of a problem that has developed through a historical process spanning many years? The complexity of the problem is compounded by its close relevance to public attitudes. Nevertheless, it is an issue of fundamental importance to school education in Japan, and its solution requires efforts both by those involved in school education and by individual citizens from their own standpoints.

What steps should be taken in school education? Mere treatment of the symptoms is not enough. Although it may seem a roundabout approach, a true solution can be achieved only through accumulated efforts based on a return to the essential principle of promoting education in ways that utilize the characteristics of each school and emphasize respect for each individual. In other words, we must create an environment in which schools with diverse characteristics can coexist and provide education based on respect for the individual, and in which each child can learn in a free atmosphere, without being subjected to evaluation that emphasizes a single criterion. We must strive through these accumulated efforts to create a system in which both children and schools are judged not by a single criterion but by multidimensional and diverse criteria. When evaluating children, it is especially important to use methods that help individuals to maximize their strengths and their potential and to achieve self-realization.

The most fundamental task confronting Japanese school education today is the implementation of measures that bring progress in these directions, including alleviation of the harmful effects of excessive competition in entrance examinations. As discussed above, this problem is linked to social trends and public attitudes; it cannot be resolved solely through efforts in the context of primary and secondary education. It is also vital for all concerned, including universities, businesses, and parents, to redouble their efforts for improvements and the reform of attitudes. Efforts are already being made in these directions in universities and industry. For example, universities are introducing reforms that affect all aspects of university education, including curriculum reform and the improvement of educational methods and admission selection methods. In industry, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, in a report titled "The Role of Universities in an Age of Widespread Higher Education" issued in April 1994, has called on companies to stop asking job applicants what university they attended.

All groups with a stake in education are thus working to achieve improvements. Those involved in primary and secondary education must also work toward reform and improvement across the entire educational spectrum in line with the thinking discussed here.