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CHAPTER . AIMS AND CONTENTS OF EDUCATION AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Total Number of Class Hours

The total number of class hours devoted to a given subject affects the quantity and quality of pupils' learning. Thus, the number of class hours per week is significant.

Up to around 1900, the numbers of class hours recommended for elementary school subjects were so high that it is doubtful that they were actually followed. Beginning in 1900, however, the total number of class hours recommended or prescribed increased from grade to grade. This gave consideration both to the pupils' physical and mental development, and to the adequacy of the work load. The distribution of class hours in accordance with grade has remained standard practice, but there has been a trend toward increasing, however slightly, the number of class hours since 1900.

After the war, the total number of class hours was decreased temporarily, but after the revision of the compulsory education course of study in1956 they were increased again. In the course of study revision, the number of class hours for each subject was set forth as a prescribed minimum rather than as a recommendation. This was intended to increase the national standard of total hours of instruction and thereby improve the national level of basic education.

The number of class hours also has increased from tlae Meiji Era to the present, both in the middle schools of the old system and in the upper secondary schools of the new system established after World War . There was a slight decrease in 1947, but this was reversed in 1951, and the present requirement is greater than that of any previous time.

Class .Hours by Subject

In elementary education, the followings appear to be the outstanding trends. First, the largest number of class hours has consistently been allotted to the Japanese language, but the percentage of the total number of class hours allotted to the Japanese language has gradually been declining. Secondary, the number of class hours allotted to arithmetic decreased during the period from 1941 to the years immediately after the war, but recently has slightly increased. Third, in contrast to the decrease in the number of class hours allotted to the Japanese language and mathematics, the number of hours allotted to physical education, music, drawing and crafts has increased and, in addition, history and geography have been added as separate subjects with specific class hours allotted since 1907.

Prior to around 1890, the public school curriculum was generally restricted to the basic subjects -the three R's of reading, writing and arithmetic. Later, as socio-economic standards increased, a higher level of general education was required. As a result, compulsory education was extended to six years and new subjects -history, geography, science, physical education, music and art -were added to the curriculum from 1907 on. Extension of the school day and re-allocation of time to the individual subjects resulted.

Recent advances in science and technology have created increasing demands for training in the fields of science and mathematics, with the resultant high allotment of time to these subjects in the 1958 course of study revision.

In the curricula for secondary schools, there has been no great change except that since 1931 the class hours for Japanese language, Chinese literature and foreign languages have slightly decreased, the hours for physical education have increased and the additional subjects of manual arts, military training and fine arts have been provided.

Beginning about 1931, the curriculum of the old-system middle schools was divided into So courses at its 4th years. One course, designated as the first class course, emphasized the vocational subjects. The other, the second class course, placed emphasis on foreign languages. This resulted from the expansion of secondary education and recognition of basic differences in the educational needs of students from widely disparate socio-economic origin.

The preponderance of elective subjects over required subjects in the upper secondary school curriculum after World War makes it difficult to assess the emphasis placed on individual subjects. However, the curriculum revisions of 1956 and 1960 restored emphasis to the basic required subjects, while that of 1960 permits students to select one of two basic curricula in accordance with their own interests, abilities and aptitudes; one, the category A curriculum, is essentially a general terminal curriculum comprising practically all secondary school subjects; the other, the category B curriculum, placing emphasis on five subjects, Japanese language, social studies, mathematics, science and foreign languages, is primarily intended as a college-preparatory curriculum. Students selecting the Category A curriculum receive some training in vocational subjects. The weight of the five basic subjects of the Category B curriculum is greater than that given to these subjects in the old middle school, and conforms with the recent importance attached to these basic subjects.

The distribution of individual subjects and the relative time devoted to each vary greatly from country to country. Direct statistical comparisons are almost impossible. Information is available, however, for some meaningful comparisons.

At the elementary school level, while subject or course titles are not directly comparable, the general nature of instructional contents is comparable in such classifications of subjects as national language, social studies, mathematics, science, music, drawing and crafts, physical education, religion ethics, etc. The textbooks, teaching materials and teaching methods differ from country to country, but it is evident that all nations are providing basic education with common characteristics.

In France, moral education is taught as a separate subject- In Japan also, increasing attention is now being paid to moral education, and, in addition to providing moral education through every subject or special educational activit3r, separate class hours are required for moral education.

In England, West Germany, Sweden, Ceylon and other countries, a considerable number of class hours are allocated to religious instruction which is, in denominational context, considered to be moral education.

In the U.S.A., moral education is not conducted as a subject, but in a considerable number of states instruction in moral education is obligatory and some other states have legal provisions authorizing such instruction.

In the U.S.S.R., moral education is conducted through the individual subjects of study and further the Ministry of Education has set up rules to be observed by pupils, the contents of which largely consist of moral and ethical conduct.

College-preparatory curricula of the various countries are essentially similar. However, three distinct trends are observable among various nations. One is represented by those countries and institutions that still attach considerable importance to theories of formal discipline and general transfer of learning, and hence to the importance of the classical Creek and Latin languages and devote considerable time to instruction therein. Typical of this continued classical trend are England, West Germany and France.

The second trend attaches importance to the learning of foreign languages in this age of rapid international transportation and communication. In college-preparatory curricula of schools, representative of this trend, large numbers of class hours are allocated to modern foreign languages. This trend is particularly exemplified in the U.S.A. and in other advanced nations, including Japan. This practice also continues, through necessity in such countries as the Philippines, Ceylon, and Brazil, as the result of having been under the foreign sovereignty in the past, a foreign language is spoken in the daily life of the nation, or the unification of their national language has not yet been achieved, and the foreign language is used in teaching. In such countries a large number of class hours is allocated to the learning of a foreign language.

The third trend is that of one allocating a large number of class hours or time normally spent in school to the practice in factory or farm labor, an example of which is provided by the U.S.S.R. In the U.S.S.R. the effort to connect teaching with practical work is being made, and in the secondary school of full-time course, 25 per cent of the total number of class hours is allocated to the technical practice in factory or farm. If such labor is accompanied by on-the-job training correlated with classroom instruction, as in the cooperative vocational training programs long conducted in many countries, the time spent in work may properly be considered as SCIIOOI or educational time.

Further, under the effect of the closer relations among international communities and of the progress in science and technology, the trend attaching greater importance to the learning of modern foreign languages and of the subjects relating to natural science and technology is found in every country.

In Japan of pre-war days, the teaching of the liberal arts, or humanities, and the basic professional subjects was conducted in the old-system higher schools and in the preparatory courses of universities which were of pre-university level; and the subsequent education at university or college was solely professional education. .After the war, the period of undergraduates university education was extended by one year, and, since the former higher schools and the preparatory course of universities had been abolished, a considerable number of class hours are now allocated in university education to general education in the humanities and to the basic professional subjects.

For international comparison, data are available only for comparison between Japan, the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. as to the numerical and percent-age distribution of total instructional hours, by general divisions of the curriculum in institutes of technology. Such data are presented in Table20 for the Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering courses.

Interpretation of these data must be based on the fact that tlae curriculum of these schools covers grades 12-16 in the U.S.S.R., but only grades13-16 in Japan and the U.S.A. Probably due to this difference, but possibly also due to differences in the total enrollments and size of class involved, the total number of class hours in the Russian institutions vastly exceed those in the Japanese and American institutions. Of greater possible significance are the differences shown in the percentage distribution of instructional time devoted to the several classifications of subjects.

It is to be expected that in such highly specialized institutions the majority of the instructional time would be devoted to the sciences and professional courses. This assumption is borne out by the data cited for all three countries. However, the Russian institutions exceed those of the U.S.A. and Japan in this regard. The Japanese institutions devote the lowest percentage of class hours to these fields, probably due to continuing emphasis on general education (the humanities and foreign languages) in the lower division even of specialized. technological institutions.

Table 20. Numerical and Percentage Distribution of School Hours, by Grouping of Subjects.a. Course of Mechanical Engineeringb. Course of Chemical Engineering

Basically, differences in the distribution of class hours of university instruction result from differences in national purposes and objectives of higher education. The university in the U.S.S.R. is expected to serve the economic objectives of the state. Its objective is to train selected leaders scientific, technical and professional fields. The American university is open to tlae general public and stresses equally education for general culture and professional training. The Japanese university resembles the American institution. Japan's increasing industrial economy with consequent intensification of contest for intemational markets will require continued extension of higher education to provide more personnel trained in science, technology and foreign languages. European universities normally stress academic and cultural education and the training of scientists and professional leaders. Technological training generally is provided in separate specialized institutions of secondary and higher education.

In the foregoing, consideration has been given to tlae development of the educational curriculum, the distribution of teaching time according to subject, and the comparative emphasis placed on individual subjects. It has been shown that the curriculum has been expanded by the addition of new subjects, and the number of class hours extended, to meet changing socio-economic needs.

The earlier curriculum of the common schools was restricted to the fundamentals -reading, writing, and arithmetic. With the expansion and extension of the public school system, the curriculum also was expanded liberalized bar the addition of new subjects such as liberal education, physical exercise, and music. Current socio-economic development has brought about new curriculum changes, with renewed stress on basic subjects and new and increased emphasis on the importance of mathematics, science, technology and foreign languages to meet the requirements of world-wide scientific and technological progress.