Takehiko Kariya

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The percentage of students of the age group entering higher education is growing rapidly in Japan. The decline of the youth population accelarates its growth. Currently, 46% of those age 18 enter college, predicted to reach 60% in the first decade of the 21st century. Will the famous Japanese "exam hell" continue as higher education opportunities expand? Or, will the hell end? What new problems will arise when more non-elite students enroll in college? Do current educational reform proposals pay attention to these issues in higher education? This paper investigates these questions. Both educational researchers and social critics blame entrance examinations for causing numerous educational problems in Japan such as school bullying and absenteeism. "Exam hell" has long been targeted as a dominant issue in Japanese education. To solve those problems, reformers have attempted to reduce the pressure of competitive entrance exams on students. However, as this paper shows, a considerable number of students have already escaped from severe selection. This paper shows that nearly 40% of incoming students enter college through "recommendation admission" instead of entrance examinations. Many colleges also reduce the number of examination subjects to attract more applicants. As a result of these new admission policies, the pressure of exams on students is being reduced. However, these new admission policies also produce problems in higher education, many of which Japanese colleges have not faced until recently. For example, Japanese colleges have recently launched remedial education. Some colleges have also started ability grouping to teach students with different academic preparation. Whether or not the Japanese society becomes a "multi-valued society, " new problems will appear in college education due to the emergence of "mass higher edcuation" where opportunities rapidly expand. Many reformers still focus on "exam hell." But reality is different. If that is the case, aren't the pressure-reducing-reforms misguided? What "unintended" consequences of reforms will result particularly for those new types of students? After reviewing the comparable American situation in mass higher education, we analyzed high school senior student survey data collected from 13 high schools in Tokyo. The analyses indicate: (1) "easy-going" students are increasing; (2) they have lower academic competence; (3) they have less suitable attitude toward college education. These features of students will cause difficulties for college teachers to teach them. Based on these results, the author argues that the realization of the ideal of "higher education for all" does not solve current "educational" problems, but alternately defers those problems from secondary to higher education which is regarded as the weakest sector in Japanese education.

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記事分類: 学術・文化--書評--社会・労働・学術・教育・スポーツ 記事種別: 書評

The transition from high school to work creates serious problems for American youths and employers. Since single theories have difficulty conceptualizing the reasons for these problems, this paper reviews four theories that elucidate aspects: segmented labor market theory, human capital theory, signaling theory, and network theory. In addition, this review contrasts the American transition system with the transition systems in Japan, West Germany, and the United Kingdom to reveal practices and theoretical issues which are neither salient nor well studied in the American literature. We extend signaling theory to examine youths' use of signals, employers' use of dubious signals (e.g. age) while ignoring promising ones (e.g. grades), signals which are efficient in the short-term but not in the long-term. We extend network theory to include both personal contacts and institutional linkages. We note the ways poor signals may affect youths' plans and motivation and make them unresponsive to market demands, and the ways institutional networks may affect schooling and work-entry in the United States. Implications for theory, policy, and future research are also considered.

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The problems of “school as organization” have been studied mainly from the viewpoint of school administration and education administration, in the field of educational research in Japan. But such studies have taken interest in the organization of school staff to rationalize school administration. Therefore they have not treated the more elemental problem-How do schools organize the behaviour and learning activities of their pupils?<BR>This article aims to explore its elemental mechanism of school organization, forcusing on Japanese high schools. In the social context which contain the school organization objectively, the school staffmembers organize the educational activities subjectively. How do they organize the school? It is the problem for me to explore the mechanism.<BR>At the first, I review the study of Ronald Kings “School Organization and Pupil Involvement”. Then I point out the important point of his study. It is that he treated organizing schools as teachers' subjective “action”. And I point out the limit of his study. It is that his analysis was based on the static bureaucratic model.<BR>To get over the weakness, I look into the decision-making process about organizing educational activities. For this purpose, I review the study of March, J. G.& Simon, H. A.s' “Organization”. They pointed out that the decision-making is based on staffs “definition of situation”. And based on the study of Becker, H.S. et al., I point out that “group perspective” orientate “definition of situation”. So I can say that teachers' group perspectives control the decision-making process about organizing educational activities.<BR>After reviewing such studies, I propose the hypothetical model which can explain the mechanism of Japanese high school organization in the schools' hierarchical structure dynamically.