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CHAPTER 2 IMPROVEMENT OF CONTENT OF- EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENTOF ABILITY
2 Curriculums
(2) Teaching Subjects


Elementary education

In the elementary schools in Japan, the following eight subjects are taught: the Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic, science, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking and physical education. Almost the same subjects are included in the curriculum of the other countries selected here, but they are dealt with in a different manner in each country. For example, arts and handicrafts are in many cases intended only for boys and homemaking only for girls in countries other than Japan. In the Federal Republic of Germany, all the subjects are taught in the lower grades as Gesamtunterricht and in the upper grades, social studies are differentiated into 'history' and 'geography'. In the U.S.S.R. science is differentiated in the upper grades into 'biology' and 'physics'.

It should be noted that in addition to the above mentioned eight subjects, 'foreign languages' are included in the curriculum in the Federal Republic of Germany and in the U.S.S.R. In Japan the curriculum provides an assigned school hour weekly in each grade for an organized program of moral education. In England and Wales, and in the Federal Republic of Germany a certain number of school hours are allocated to religious education, and in France to 'civics and morals'. In some Lander of the German Federal Republic, 'civics' is included in the curriculum in addition to 'religious education', while in the U.S.A. and in the U.S.S.R., instruction in civics and/or morals is not conducted in a specific school hour, but through the teaching of all the subjects and in all educational activities at school.

Secondary education

The lower secondary school curriculum in Japan includes eight required subjects and many elective subjects. The required subjects comprise Japanese, social studies, mathematics, science, music, art, health and physical education, and industrial arts- homemaking; the electives are foreign language, agriculture, industry, business, fishery and others. There are also elective mathematics (2 hours or more a week if the third year), music (one hour more), and art (one hour or more).

In the upper secondary school curriculum, the same subjects, except industrial arts-homemaking, are included; however, they are further differentiated into sub-subjects.

In the selected countries, almost the same subjects as in Japan are included in the curriculums of secondary schools. Besides, the Classics(Latin and Greek) are also included in these countries.

Each subject is generally differentiated at the upper grades both in Japan and in the other advanced countries: social studies into 'geography', 'history', 'philosophy' etc.; science into 'physics', 'chemistry', 'biology', 'geology' etc. In Japan, 'classics' are treated as a sub-subject of the Japanese language.

The lower secondary school curriculum in Japan also provides an assigned school hour for moral education. In the upper secondary schools, however, moral education is mainly conducted as a part of 'ethics and civics'. In the secondary schools of the other countries, moral education is conducted through separate subjects as follows: 'religion' in the United Kingdom and the Federal Republic of Germany 'civics and morals' in France; both 'religion' and 'civics' in some Lander of the Federal Republic of Germany. In many countries, there is a tendency, along with the recent rapid scientific and technological progress, toward conducting new researches and practices which would change the basic organization of traditionally taught subjects as discussed above. Such improvements are especially marked in science and mathematics.


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