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CHAPTER 2 SPREAD OF EDUCATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
1. International Comparison by Type of Development


It should be useful for obtaining suggestions for the future development of education in Japan to examine the characteristics of the major types of development by classifying representative countries, including Japan according to general types of educational and economic development.

When the development of modern national educational systems is traced, it is observed that they have not always evolved in the sequence of elementary, secondary and higher educational levels. There are various types of development; some countries witnessed the development of higher education first and then elementary education, followed by secondary education; while others saw the simultaneous and parallel development of the three stages. In some cases social and cultural tradition influenced the development of new educational systems in the early stages of national modernization, while in other cases the experiences and trends of more advanced countries were emulated in order to overcome the lag in less advanced nations.The relative speed of quantitative development of education varies among the countries. In considering the type of development, the speed of popularization should be taken into account as one of the important factors.

The quantitative development of education is most closely related to the economic growth of each country. For this reason, countries may be classified as those that experienced rapid economic growth and those that experienced relatively slow economic growth. Japan, the United States and the U.S.S.R. are cited as representative of the former type; while the United Kingdom and France are selected as representative of the latter type, even though they have a long history' of modernization and a high level of economic standard. This latter type is referred to as the 'European type'. There is still a third type, to which most of the newly developing countries endeavouring to make great strides in economy belong. India is cited here as an example of this type.

The rate of development of each level of education is shown for the selected countries in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Trends in Enrollment, by Level of Education in Selected Countries

European type. In the countries of this type, such as the United Kingdom and France, a modern educational system had already been introduced during the beginning of the 19th century and developed gradually during the succeeding century and a half.

In many of the European countries elementary education attained almost its final form in the latter half of the l9t1t century, after a period of 70 to80 years of gradual development. Secondary education developed more gradually as an institution of preparatory stage for higher education which traditionally had long been reserved for the higher stratum of society. With the expansion of democratic control, however, secondary education came to have the nature of an educational institution for the people at large and its enrollment increased considerably. Still, at present, the ratio of the number of pupils receiving secondary education to that of the total population of the corresponding age group is far lower in the European countries than in the United States. Higher education, too, like secondary education, was opened to the general public only in the present century. The relatively high rate of expansion of university education is currently accelerating in response to increased demands for scientific and technological personnel.

United States type. The two chief characteristics of, educational development in the United States are that the modern school system was available to the general public from the beginning, and that the development of the system and its quantitative expansion were achieved rapidly at each level of education.

Elementary education was popularized almost completely in the past 30 to 40 years. Secondary education, following the pace of elementary education, developed rapidly and surpassed the European systems in only 30 to 40 years. It reached the stage of near completion before World War 2, with the percentage of pupils advancing to the 1atter half of secondary education exceeding 80 per cent. During the two decades at the turn of the century, higher education was lagging behind the progress of secondary education. Since then, however, it began to develop rapidly, following the expansion of secondary education. After World War 2, in response to the economic prosperity and the increase of income in the United States, higher education has continued to develop remarkably with the result that more than 50 per cent of the secondary school graduates are now advancing to universities.

U.S.S.R. type. The primary characteristic of educational development in the U.S.S.R. is that it reflected directly the demand of her economy. In response to the rapid increase of production, education. especially secondary and higher education, has achieved remarkable development in a short period.

Elementary education had been popularized to some extent before the Revolution, and it is said that within the few decades sinde the Revolution it became almost universal, except in some isolated areas. After the Revolution, secondary education developed rapidly in order to meet the demand for craftsmen and skilled laborers, and higher education progressed rapidly in response to the requirement for great number of technologists and scientists. This was done in connection with the national policy of the U.S.S.R., which endeavoured to exceed the production level of capitalist countries by implementing one five-year plan after another. The remarkable speed of its development and clear direction toward the training of technologists are distinctive of educational development in the U.S.S.R.

Developing countries type. This category includes Latin America countries which attained independence early, and Asian and African countries which achieved independence of the Western powers after World War 2. Further, the latter group includes both India; which has a very old civilization, and those African countries which are only now starting to develop. Thus, developing countries cannot be defined as a single homogeneous type. However, one common characteristic of these countries is that the relatively limited spread of education accompanies a low level of production. An urgent need for economic development in these countries after World War 2 has been driving the people to exert great effort to the development of education in recent years. In India, which has a comparatively high level of educational standard in the group of developing countries, it is noted that education, which was stagnant for a long time, has been deve1oping rapidly at each level of elementary, secondary and higher education in keeping with the implementation of her economic development plans since achieving independence in 1947.

The development of education in Japan may be said to resemble that of the United States in that elementary education was almost completely universal within the short period of 30 to 40 years after its introduction into Japan, followed by a very rapid development of secondary education. Higher education also has developed rapidly in recent years following the expansion of secondary education. Except that the spread of education for women has been comparatively slow, it can be said that education in Japan, as in the United States and the U.S.S.R. is characterized by rapid rate of development and widespread popularization.


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