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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > JAPAN'S GROWTH AND EDUCATION 1963 > INTRODUCTION

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INTRODUCTION

Education has always been regarded as a vital factor in achieving the general aims of society. What is more recent is the emergence of a concept of education as an important factor in economic growth.

This concept of education is based on the new theory of economics that scientific creativity, skills and other qualitative factors of the labor force will contribute to the economic growth no less than reproducible physical capital and labor force. These factors, which have been paid attention to in recent years, are called 'human abilities'. An approach to education from its investment aspect is based on an understanding that the general development of the 'human abilities', which is essential to the economic growth in the future, depends upon both quantitative and qualitative developments in education.

This report aims at studying and analyzing education as an investment, or the development of education in connection with the economic growth, on the basis of the idea mentioned above. Therefore, the present report approaches education only from its investment aspect. Foreign appraisals of the "miraculous" post-war recovery of the Japanese economy often associate with the general economic recovery the accumulated educational efforts of Japan beginning in the Meiji Era. Although the term or concept, 'educational investment' may be relatively unfamiliar in educational circles, it should be one of the responsibilities of those concerned with education today to study and analyze the interrelation between educational development and economic growth.

An approach to the investment aspect of education includes so many difficult questions that the studies so far made of necessity have left various problems unsolved. Therefore, this report is only an experimental work. The reason why we dare make public this report is that it is urgently needed to determine on what basis and in what direction the educational policies in the future should be established, in connection with the future society and nation and on the basis of the estimates of the economic effects of education.

The contents of this report are as follows:

In the first place, the extent to which education has so far contributed to the economic growth, i.e., the long-term effects of educational investment on past economic growth, is measured. Such estimation has already been done by economists or educationists in Europe and America. Mainly according to their methods of estimation, the present report figured out tentatively the contributions of education to the increase in national income in our country.

Following this macroscopic estimation of the economic effect of education, the historical developments of education in Japan for the ninety years since the beginning of the modern period of education during the Meiji Era are reviewed from both quantitative and qualitative aspects, for the purpose of bringing to light the role played by education in promoting the social and economic development of Japan.

As for the quantitative development of education, the following points are specifically considered: the enforcement of compulsory education had been achieved almost completely only in the thirty to forty years, often the establishment of the modern educational system in 1872; the rapid growth of secondary and higher education was seen in the two periods, first in the years after World War I and second during the recent decade; thus, in the past ninety years Japan has become one of the countries which have attained the highest educational standard at the most rapid rate of expansion; such educational development is due to the fact that educational opportunity has been equally guaranteed for all since the modern educational system was introduced.

Qualitative developments of education are considered in the following points: The kinds of teaching subject have varied with the development of the society; number of teaching hours has gradually increased; emphasis has been transferred from the teaching of the 3R's to general education, and in recent years special attention has been given to science and mathematics; the contents of teaching subjects also have changed. The present report is intended to show the relationship of these qualitative developments of education to the general social and economic growth.

Next are reviewed the increases in public educational expenditures which have sustained the quantitative and qualitative developments of education, and the rise in the percentage of the national income allocated to education, during the ninety years since the modern educational system was established. The percent of national income spent for education increased from 2 to 5 percent in this period. That such upward tendency is closely related to the increase in national income is shown also by examples cited from some foreign countries. And in this connection, that the rate of increase in the percentage of national income spent for education in Japan has almost ceased in recent years is pointed out as a problem to be studied when education is considered as a key factor in economic growth.

Then, the report reviews the problem of allocating a limited amount of educational investment, i.e., how a given total investment should be divided between the levels of education -elementary, secondary and higher education -or how a given total investment should be shared between municipal, prefecture and central governments. As regards the first problem it is shown that the recent trend in many countries is that the emphasis of educational expenditure is shifting from elementary to secondary or higher education, and that in the light at this world-wide trend, the percentage educational expenditure spent for higher education in Japan is not adequate compared with the large numbers of university students. As regards the second problem, it is pointed out that there is a trend to raise the percentage of educational expenditure shared by the national government in Japan as well as in some major countries, and that today as expenditure on private education accounts for a large portion of total expenditure on education at secondary and higher educational levels, i.e. as high as 42% at the higher educational level, the problem of private educational finance should be reappraise with due regard to the importance of the role played by private education in promoting the development of the society.

In the last chapter of this report, the necessity of long-range overall planning in education is emphasized. When educational planning is considered from the viewpoint of investment, it should be regarded as one of the forms of public investment, that is, investment for the public welfare.

The factors which necessitate planning in education are the demands of individuals and the needs of society for its general development. Educational planning based on the viewpoint of education as an investment should be oriented mainly toward meeting the latter factor, the needs of society, in connection with other forms of public investment. Specifically, the educational investment plan should be based on a long-range perspective of what society will demand of education in the future or what role should be played by education in building a new society and in promoting the welfare of the people in general.

It is pointed out as a recent trend that the various countries in the world appreciate the need for or tackling long-range and integrated plans for the whole educational system covering the period of a decade or two in close relation to social and economic development plans.

Introduced are some outstanding examples of the efforts to work out educational plans made by the U.S.A., the USSR, France, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.). All of these plans aim at bringing about rapid economic growth and the development of a high standard of living for the people. Such long-range and overall educational planning is also a matter of urgent concern in the under-developed countries. Newly developing countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa are making efforts to allocate as large as possible a part of available national resources to education, in order to achieve economic growth and social development as independent countries, which can be compared to the situation in the early years of the modernization in Japan.

Although the idea and scope or contents of educational planning vary widely from country to country according to their nature and the stage of social development, there are some common features:

(1) It is a long-range and integrated planning closely related to the long-range plan of socio-economic development, taking into account the dynamic factors of possible developments of society.

(2) It is based on the new realization that education can make a major contribution to the social and economic development and is, in fact, one of the most profitable investments which can produce a high return.

(3) It takes into consideration how the investment in education should be allocated between educational levels or field in order to yield the highest return.

Any long-range overall educational planning must be conceived from three aspects: First, how large a part of national income or government budgets should be allocated to education? Second, what educational level or field should be given priority in order to allocate the investment in education most effectively? Third, by what agencies should the educational expenditure be shared? As regards the second item, the allocation of the educational investment, which is somewhat related to the controversial issues of education today, the following problems are considered: Realization of upper secondary education for all; expansion of higher education, promotion of scientific and technological education; teacher training; improvement of methods of instruction; betterment of physical condition; and elevation of abilities of the people.

In considering Japanese-education in the future, an understanding of the present status in relation to educational practices throughout the world is essential, as well as the historical review of Japanese education. The comparative study of education may provide a better understanding of one's own national system, and also provide suggestions of value for educational planning. In this sense, Japanese education is often compared with education in other countries in this report. In some cases it was impossible to make a comparative study on a uniform basis because of the differences in the educational systems of the various countries, i.e. the classification of educational levels varies from country to country, and there is little uniformity in the collection of data. In spite of these difficulties, however, we believe that it would be of great help for the future improvement of Japanese education, to consider current international trends, even on a basis of rough comparison.

It is the viewpoint of this report that education will contribute to the economic growth, which will make it possible to raise the general standard of living and to promote the public welfare. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the role to be played by education on a broader basis: Education should not only aim to contribute to the economic growth of society, but also aim at the development of individual citizens who will find their proper place in the rich future society. This should be the objective of planning the role of the educational investment.


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