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Ethics, Education, and Society

Publication Date:199203
Book title: MEDIA, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION IN JAPAN [A COLLECTION OF PAPERS]
Publisher : National Institute of Multimedia Education


1. Relativity of Human Values

Most anthropologists and social psychologists seem to have agreed that "the need for new experience" is one of the basic needs which is shared by all human beings throughout history, and regardless of race or ethnicity. This need may be translated into, in our popular terminology, "curiosity." The origin and structure of "curiosity" is not clear at this stage, but scientists who are engaged in primate research claim that curiosity-based behavior can be found even in the evolutional stage of monkeys. Indeed, we are creatures full of curiosity. In our daily conversations, many of us ask "What's new for today?", and advertisers often inform and appeal to us about their products shouting "It's new!", whether the product is a detergent or an automobile. We look for "news" all the time. Thanks to satellite communication technology, wherever we are, we watch CNN and other news media. Anything "new" satisfies every one of us. Most of women are interested in new fashion and new home appliances. Scholars in their ivory towers are keen to find out new theories and discoveries. Children are fascinated by new video games and toys, while their fathers are looking for new business opportunities.

When such various typers of curiosity are integrated as a system in the minds of individuals, we call it as an act of "learning". We decide to learn a certain subject, such as mathematics, painting, foreign language, music, and numerous areas of inquiries. And all of us are, more or less, "learners" of something. You may be a learner of piano, bookkeeping, history. A small peasant in deep tropical forest is a learner of agriculture and forestry, just like a scientist at Princeton University is a learner of sophisticated physical paradigms. In other words, this is the world where everybody is a learner of something. And because of such "learning needs", human beings gradually invented social institutions called "education". As a matter of fact, as Phillip Alias and others pointed out, not only the concept of "education" but also that of "childhood" belong to very recent discoveries. In this connection, it is natural for some pedagogical experts to define "education" as a social invention of which the primary task is to facilitate assistance for learners. Spontaneous appetite for learning has been the basis for the development of human intellectual history.

In saying so, however, it should be also remembered that, in order to establish continuities among generations, "teaching" became a vital part of human endeavour. Schools as social institution were inaugurated for the masses of people in 19th century, and in most of the countries today, young children are obliged to attend schools for 6 to 9 years so that they can be "taught" fundamental knowledge and skills which are necessary to keep the society alive and active. Children may not like to be taught. They may not understand what teachers say. But wether you like it or not, you are encouraged and compelled to go to school. We should admit that school today, almost all over the world, bring up many "problems", and we know that certain scholars and critics, such as Ivan Illich, Paul Goodman, were looking for alternatives for institutionalized education system. These alternatives, however, still have something to do with teaching. Without "teaching" of some kind, a person cannot be "socialized". This is the truth held since the time of David Hume who postulated his famous concept of "tabula rasa".

Then, the question is what should be taught. There must be hundreds of answers to this simple and profound question. Educational philosophers as well as administrators engaged in educational affairs are very much concerned with this basic problem. At the same time, "education" today is everybody's business. As a matter of fact, every individual has something to say about education. Education is one of very few topics about which everyone of us can express his/her opinion immediately. In that sense, today, almost all citizens are potential educational philosophers and administrators. What's wrong with education? What should be done for the reform of education? What government must do vis-a-vis education? These are the issues about which all of us argue from time to time, and never reach consensus.

Moreover, education is a socio-cultural product, and therefore, philosophy, practice, and policy, related to education differ among societies and nations. For instance, in the countries where political system is dominated by despotism, strong indoctrination to a particular ideology may be strongly emphasized. Where a specific religion is designated as national religion, religious education is compulsory. The contents as well as methods of education vary from one country to another, and each nation's educational policies are essentially relative. Also, they are relative in each historical epoch of a society. Education has been re-examined by successive governments and powers. Even such seemingly neutral curriculum as mathematics and physics are often perceived differently depending on socio-cultural and historical backgrounds of a nation state. Therefore, it may be safe to say that "education" is both policy-bound and culture-bound by nature.

If such view is valid, then "education", by definition, is a part of the value system which each society holds. For example, American education is a reflection of American values and Japanese education is inseparable from Japanese values. In other words, there is practically no universality in education as far as its philosophy and curriculum contents are concerned. It may be true that, regardless of social system, "education" is thought to be important, but still, in terms of social policy, the priority given to education may differ among the societies throughout the world today. In some countries, to let people get higher education is encouraged, while some other countries look at higher education simply for a limited elite. Some governments may regard education as the basis of national development, but some other governments give a rather minor role to education. In this respect, it may be worthwhile to see education from a "particulalistic" viewpoint as well as a "universalitic" one. The discipline called "comparative education" should play its most significant role in this area.

If these statements and views are correct, the relationship between education and ethics is more than obvious. Since education is a part of, and reflections of values, "ethics", in its broadest sense of the term, is working behind education all the time. In the light of the tradition of axiology, values are is defined as the goal and product of "selective behavior" in which people select, ultimately, an alternative among numerous spacial-temporal possibilities. For example, how to spend this evening can be decided, either consciously or unconsciously, by every one of us at his/her will. The selected time-space complex, i.e., to go to a theater, to read a book, to go out for dining, to continue the day's work, to watch television, or to go to bed early, and many other possibilities, is the manifestation of one's choice of value. The fact that you have chosen one alternative among many possibilities means that you disregarded other options, and other "selves". Such serious thinking may lead you to existential contemplation.

Thus considered, then, education is, more or less, a compelling power to narrow down such alternatives to children and masses of learners. A school textbooks give you a only a tiny portion of the store of human knowledge and wisdom. In other words, textbook writers and educators are responsible for the choice of alternatives they have made. Teaching western elite history without paying much attention to the history of masses in south-east Asia, for example, is not only a problem of attitude or philosophy, but also a deeply value-based decision. In organizing curriculum, wether to allocate several hours for the learning of foreign language at the sacrifice of physical exercise, for instance, is another example of value selection and value judgement. And because of the relativity of values and cultures, it would be contradictory to try to discover "universal" values in education. One may argue that such virtues as "love" have universality, but "love" in the Judeo-Christian tradition may have different connotations and expressions if comparison is made with the Islamic tradition. In an extreme case, one may be struck by the fact that the equivalent of the word and concept of "love" itself does not exist in some cultures. In fact, in Japanese culture, until mid-19th century when new Western thoughts and concepts were introduced, there was no equivalent term and idea which corresponded with "love".

At the same time, it should be remembered that even in the same culture, depending on different historical stages, values are not necessarily consistent. In feudal society, both East and West, basic value was essentially status quo. But as the society evolved into the modern industrial stage, social mobility was encouraged and such values as freedom and equality emerged. In other words, values and their social expression, i.e., education, change in our time-space complex.


2. Imperial Philosophy

Japan is no exception. Its value system experienced tremendous change in the past one century. As most of the people know, Japan decided to abolish its feudalism in the middle of 19th century, and started its best efforts to industrialize the nation following the patterns demonstrated by the West, especially western Europe. The shift took place in the most dramatic and drastic form in the sense that the planned social change had to be carried out in a matter of only twenty years. The country which had maintained a stable feudal social structure in combination with traditional monarchy had to change itself into a modern nation-state with centralized government, modern legal system, free competitive economy, and well equipped military forces in order to catch up with industrialized nations of the West.

One of the basic policies shared and emphasized by the new government was to promote education, since a well-educated public was thought to be the basis for socio-economic developments. And their action was extremely quick. Only 5 years after the revolution, the new government inaugurated elementary school compulsory education in 1872, and altogether, some 50,000 elementary schools all over the nation began to accept children. Thanks to the tradition of the respect for education, which will be discussed later, Japanese public reacted favorably to this new legislature. Though there was a shortage of school teachers, there were thousands of competent people, mostly former Samurais who could teach elementary arithmetic, reading and writing. In fact, according to a series of studies, even before the introduction of the modern education system, the literacy rate of Japanese public was incredibly high for mid-19th century. It is estimated that more than 50% of Japanese at that time were literate. Therefore, the institutionalized new education system could be seen as a complementary and reinforcing factor in the zeal of education which had been deeply rooted in Japanese culture.

The differences between feudal education and modern education were obvious. In the first place, the education which used to be given to Samurai class was essentially based on Confucian philosophy and ethics, and emphasis was put on reading and reciting. Among the merchant class, arithmetic using abacus was the key. With the rise of Japan as a modern nation-state, the needs and nature of education had to change. For the citizens of the newly developing country, the utmost purpose was to obtain knowledge of the world, and to enlighten themselves in such a way that they can serve for the improvement and betterment of the nation, which was quite behind the first-rate industrial nations of the day. However, there seemed two trends in the philosophy of learning and education.

On the one hand, those who were aware of the change of the time on the basis of democratic ideals appealed to or even agitated the young generation saying that each individual is free and equal by nature, and, therefore, one had to achieve his/her self by one's efforts. And on the other, there emerged, as the reaction to the egalitarian educational thoughts, nationalistic view on education. Let us examine the former trend first.

Yukichi Fukuzawa, the founder of today's Keio University, probably was the representative of the advocate of such a new wave of thinking. Inspired by the writings of Benjamin Franklin, he published the renowned best selling book of the day, "An Encouragement of Learning" in 1872, which begins with his famous sentence "It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man". This publication was one of the few early democratic and precious writings of the 19th century. He was very much concerned with the equality of man, and said "--human rights are the great moral obligations that give dignity to individual human life, protect one's fortune and possessions, and value his honor and reputation. When heaven gives birth to man, it gives him his faculties of body and mind and powers to realize his rights in practice. He really "encouraged" young men and women through this book, and some two million copies of this book were sold throughout the country. The number of people who read this particular book is estimated at five million at least.

One of the readers of the book was Inazo Nitobe. Born in a Samurai family in the northern part of Japan, Nitobe was inspired by Fukuzawa, and knowing the democratic ideas and society of the United States, decided to attend a new agricultural college in Hokkaido, the "frontier" of the new nation where an American scholar, Dr. William S. Clark, was hired by Japanese government as the president. Clark stayed there only several months, but he left the famous words "boys, be ambitious", and these words continued to linger in the ears of Nitobe and other students. Incidentally, it is interesting to be see that Fukuzawa's portrait is printed on \10,000 notes and Nitobe on \5,000 bill. The two most important liberal educators of the 19th century are still remembered in Japanese currency today.

These figures, who represent early Meiji enlightenment movement, however, came from the private sector. In fact, Fukuzawa's book explicitly criticized aristocracy, and praised the common man's way of life, often from the "merchants' vie" of society. And the tide of democratization went much further. Taisuke Itagaki, Chomin Nakae, and other thinkers were influenced strongly by the French Revolution, and took a more or less radical position in politics. They were not satisfied with government policies, and rigorously criticized not only policy issues but also Imperial monarchy, which was seen as instrumental to the government power of the day.

The government was, naturally, not comfortable with these movements called Jiyu Minken, and suppressed them by various means. At the same time, the government top administrators discovered that there were no clear guidelines for education. And in response and reaction to liberal movements, the second stream of educational philosophy emerged from conservative government power. In order to clarify educational philosophy and practice, with absolute authority of the Emperor, the government issued famous Imperial Rescript on Education ( kyouiku chokugo ) in 1890. The Rescript begins with this sentence ;

"Know ye, subjects: Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue---This is the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education".

The Rescript further gives the following thoughts and practice;
"Ye, Our subjects, be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends, true; bear yourselves with modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; Furthermore advance public good and promote common interests; always respect Constitution and observe the laws; should emergencies arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth".

From an ethical and educational viewpoint, it seems that nothing is wrong in the statements. Rather, one may be struck by the crisp and plain style as well as its contents. However, in spite of the fact that the virtues contained in the Rescript were admirable, this statement issued under the name of the Emperor, essentially and fundamentally gave an idea that education was an instrument through which national development had to be achieved based on the Emperor system. Moreover, in practice, each elementary and secondary school in Japan was forced to have a copy of the Rescript along with a portrait of the Emperor in a "Sacred Shrine". On each ceremonial days, such as new year's day, Emperor's birthday, the day of entrance and graduation, the principals of schools solemnly opened the door of the shrine, and read the Rescript to the students. Thus, Emperor-based nationalism became the dominant theme in modern Japanese education, rejecting liberal philosophy represented by Fukuzawa and other enlightening intellectuals.

Indeed, the Imperial Rescript was defined as the source of Japanese education and learning, and as the result, all school curriculum had to be placed as the extension of the Rescript. Most importantly, because of nationalistic education, its aim was set for the good of the nation, and self-sacrifice for the sake of Japanese Empire was preached by educators. Small children and university students alike, were obliged to recite the whole text, and, surprisingly, this practice continued until 1945 when Japan surrendered to the Allies in World War II. Furthermore, since the Emperor has been regarded as "living God" for almost a century, the voice of school principals who read the Rescript sounded like the voice of God.

In this historical and cultural context, it is natural that "ethics", in its narrowest sense of the term, turned out to be the most important key issue in curriculum organization in Japanese education. A curriculum called "Syushin", literally translated as "self-development" was taught in every school, and school teachers were mobilized to propagate patriotism and glory and honor of being the subjects of the Emperor to their students. The fact that school textbooks until 1945 were supervised, edited, published, and distributed by the Ministry of Education was enough to indoctrinate the minds of the people to nationalism, militarism, and imperialism. In fact, "Syushin" was nothing more than the deductive teaching of the Rescript. School teachers, in this sense, were missionaries of Imperial Japan and Japanese Empire.


3. Changing Expectations

After 1945, Japan had to face a kind of anarchy. The old value system, especially Emperor-centered social and cultural beliefs, was denied, and Emperor himself declared that he was a man, not a God in 1946. Social circumstances were chaotic. However, it did not take much time until major reforms were planned and brought into practice. Along with agrarian reform, dissolution of old Zaibatsu, tax reform, reformation of education became one of the most urgent and important tasks of the post-war government and policy makers.

As for education, the most significant change was a legislative action which resulted in The Fundamental Law of Education which came into effect on March 29, 1947. The Law describes the aim of education as follows:
"Education shall aim at the full development of personality, striving for the rearing of the people, sound in mind and body, who shall love truth and justice, esteem individual value, respect labour and have a deep sense of responsibility, and be imbued with the independent spirit, as builders of the peaceful state and society".

This new legislation was the beginning of a new era in Japanese education as well as ethics. The "aim" of education as seen in the quotation is full of moral virtues to be achieved. And as far as the statements are concerned, there was no objection on the part of the public. The Law has been observed and respected as the basis for both personal and social development. In order to make the propositions and philosophy more concrete and practical, Central Education Council, which was instituted in 1953, submitted its recommendation to the Minister of Education under the title of "Expected Personal Values" ( Kitai sareru ningenzou ) in 1963. This recommendation, though forgotten by most of the people today, was the first landmark in post-war education and ethics. In its 40 page report, the Council resolved 17 items as desirable codes of human morals and behavior. To sum up, these items were:

  1. As an individual: to be free, to develop individuality, to cherish one's self, to have strong will power, to respect the sacred
  2. As a member of family: to make one's home full of love, to look for home as the place of relaxation, to make home as a place of education, to make home open to society
  3. As a social being: to be loyal to one's work, to contribute to social welfare, to be creative, to respect social codes
  4. As a member of the state: to have decent patriotism, to respect and love the Royal family as the symbol of the state, to develop good national character

The resolution and recommendation of the Council were exposed to public criticism especially from left-wing and liberal sections of the society. Major criticism and opposition came against two issues. In the first place, respect for the "sacred" was attacked. In the text, the document stated that "the sources of all religious sentiment are the respect and benevolence to the origin of lives" and that under such recognition "let us be aware of the existence of a 'way' which is truly consistent with heaven and earth". Religious beliefs must be respected, regardless of sects and schools, but a group of intellectuals claimed that this statement might encourage religious education in schools. This particular point, when combined with another code, i.e., "respect to Royal family", made many people worried because the recommendation could have meant revival of Emperor system. And those who compared the contents of recommendation with those of Imperial Rescript, which was totally abolished in 1945, expressed skepticism that the Council was trying to secure old educational values under disguise.

These criticisms, anxiety, and opposition had good basis. In the first place, after the war, as pointed out already, the Imperial Rescript, which ruled Japanese education overwhelmingly, lost its authority and legitimacy. The implication of that fact was that Japan was in discover a "moral vacuum" after 1945. New standards for ethics and education were, therefore, looked for. Extremists insisted that ethics and morality belonged to each individual's judgement, and should not be interfered with by state and other public authorities. But majority of people agreed that articles of new Constitution which declared equal opportunity of education, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and other matters based on democratic ideas, were too abstract and that more concrete guidelines and action plans were needed. The Fundamental Law as well as series of resolutions of Central Education Council, in this connection, were prepared to meet these needs. And on the part of schools, based on these guidelines, "ethics" or "civics" was set forth as an integral part of curriculum organization.

However, this issue is still under discussion because the term "ethics" itself often reminds of old "Syushin". Certain portion of parents and school teachers say that they "smell" the revival of old moral codes, as represented by the Rescript, which was given and forced by government power and authority. Especially those who had the experience of "Syushin" education in their school days are the most concerned group. They claim that they do not like to see again the "nightmare" from which they suffered during or before the war. The "moral vacuum" is, both substantively and nominally, still existing in Japan today. As a matter of fact, this question was raised even at the time of enthronement of Emperor Akihito held in November 1990. Not only radicals but also some religious organizations, particularly some groups of Christians, protested on the basis that the ceremony held in accordance with Shinto ritual and tradition was simply a matter of the religion of the Imperial "family", and it could not be regarded as a public event. The interpretations of Imperial family, in conjunction with religious matters are still some of the fundamental ethical and educational problems in today's Japan.


4. Moral dilemma

Such controversy may sound to a non-Japanese audience somewhat strange, especially in view of the fact that Japan proved itself as a diligent and successful society in past several decades. One may wonder why, for instance, crime rate in Japanese society has been surprisingly low, and why Japanese workers are doing their job so hard and are so loyal to the organizations they belong to, despite the total lack of ethical guidelines or standards in school and in social education. How and why a country can be integrated without ethical education? Or, how a person can be ethical in the absence of formal ethical education?

Another group of people may like to pose on opposite series of questions. They may argue that Japanese commercial firms and capital are totally in lack of corporate ethics and out of the country. They may claim that Japanese government did not show its international ethics in this mobile and difficult age of human history. They may wonder if any ethical education is given in the Japanese school system.

Both groups of questions are quite adequate. And in order to "decode" ethical and educational problems, if not mysteries, of today's Japan, it seems necessary to go back in history so that one may be able to have a clue to the peculiarly Japanese situation and phenomena. To begin with, it is worthwhile to know that Japan, for many centuries, did not have a monotheistic religion. In terms of religion, most Japanese believe in Buddhism of various sects, and the teaching of Buddhism may have something to do vis-a-vis Japanese way of thinking and behavior, but that does not mean that they are devoted believers in Buddhism. Furthermore, Japanese Buddhism is quite different from that of Thailand or Sri Lanka, where teaching of Buddha himself is observed. This is not the place to elaborate the religious character of Japan, but awareness as Buddhists does not exist in the everyday life of Japanese people. Other religions such as Shinto, Christianity, may "coexist" not only in Japanese society but also in the minds of Japanese people. There seems to be no spiritual or philosophical contradiction if one's birth is celebrated is held by the Shinto priest in the neighborhood, has a wedding in the Catholic Church, and the funeral according to Buddhist riten. Japan does not have, except for a very minor portion of the population, a consistent "core" religion. This, however, does not mean that there is no solid basis for ethics. Though it is difficult to say in a word, the fundamental ethical basis for Japanese people seems to be in the Confucian way of thinking in a variety of versions. Needless to say, Confucian philosophy and ethics were established by Kong Zu ( B.C.551-479 ), and his teaching was imported to Japan as early as 7th century first by Chinese, and then by Japanese Buddhist monks such as Kukai and Saicho. In fact, Kukai, the founder of Shingon sect of Buddhism, upon his return to Japan in 806, immediately wrote his famous script titled "Sankyou Shiiki" or "Guide to ree Teachings" in which he introduced there major ways of thinking which should be learned and observed. The three included Buddhism, Confucian philosophy, and Taoism. It sounds quite strange that a devoted Buddhist monk paid his attention to other streams of philosophies, but his attitude is indicative of Japanese "syncretism" where seemingly different ways of thinkings are not only aggregated but also integrated without contradiction. For him, like others, Buddhism was for the life beyond, Confucius philosophy for the guiding principle in secular world, and Taoism as profound cosmology. For Kukai, and other Japanese thinkers, these three were not contradictory, but complementary to each other. As a result, as far as secular matters are concerned, not only intellectuals but also general public tended to refer to, more or less, Confucian teachings.

Especially, after 17th century, when the newly emerged Samurai class came to dominate society as the ruling power, they took Confucian texts as the basis of their knowledge and the guide for their behavior. Each feudal lord inaugurated his own school known as "hankou" for top class young Samurai, and the major curricula taught in these schools was readings of Confucian logic and ethics. Nitobe, whose name has already appeared, thought that the way Samurai class formulated, based on Confucian philosophy was a very important moral factor which shaped Japanese culture, and wrote his famous book "Bushidou" in which he emphasized that there were virtues and values in Japan which were comparable with modern Western ethics. Nitobe said that though "Bushido was not a written code (at best it consists of a few maxims handed down from mouth to mouth ), five important principles of relational morality i.e., "between master and servant ( the governing and the governed ), father and son, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and between friend and friend" were the basic ethical codes. These are simple moral truths. But Nitobe elaborated these moral codes extensively and intensively so that non-Japanese readers could have deeper appreciation of ethics and education in Japan.

Not only Samurai class, but also merchants acquired knowledge and moral codes from Confucius, and such system of learning as Shingaku, founded by Baigan Ishida, diffused among consciencious town-dwellers, in particular merchants of Kyoto. They devoted themselves, utilizing their knowledge of Confucius, to social welfare and charity.

What, then, were the characteristics of Bushidou and Shingaku? In short, the key concept here was "heaven" ('Tien' in Chinese, 'Ten' in Japanese. 'Tien en mien' means 'the gates of haveuly peace' ). "Heaven" in East Asian philosophy does not mean "God". Heaven is a superhuman and supernatural force which is working behind every human and natural phenomena and affairs. Japanese children, even today, are often told how almighty heaven is. For example, people often say that "heaven knows, earth knows, and I know". In other words, even when nobody is watching what you do and what you think, heaven, eaith, and yourself are always looking at you. In this sense, Japan had a tradition of a reflective "self", quite contrary to many observations and studies conducted by Western scholars who concluded that Japan never had clear idea of "self" and individualism.

A careful observer might have found that this particular term "heaven and rarth" has appeared very often in the discussion so far. The idea was implicit in Imperial Rescript, but the idea is unclouded in Fukuzawa's writing and even in today's recommendations of Central education Council. One may be surprised, also, to know that the entrance examination for Imperial Universities of mid-19th century was conducted mostly in Chinese classics, especially the writings of Confucius. Young men competed in their knowledge and interpretations of what Confucius said. One of the most important concepts there, also was that of "heaven and earth". In the culture where there was no tradition of a monotheistic "God", metaphysical concept of "heaven" has been the dominating and leading power which guided human behavior. Indeed, without proper understanding of this concept, not only Japanese but also cultures of East Asian region will remain the "mysterious Orient". Though contemporary Japanese are rather unconscious of "heaven" in everyday life, "heaven cult", so to speak, appears often in our daily conversation, too. A suspected person in criminal court, when he insists he is innocent, may say that he is not guilty and he can swear it under the name of "heaven and earth". Indeed the combintion of, heaven, earth, and man seems to be the basic trilogy in Japanese culture. In Japanese traditional flower arrangements, too, the fundamental formula of arrangement is based on this trilogy. The flower which gives decisive theme in the center of an arrangement is called "heaven", while a complementary and balancing flower is known as "earth". The third, a minor but final touch, without which the whole figure cannot have aesthetic quality, is known as "man". Flower arrangement, in this connection, may be regarded as a microcosmic symbol of Japanese culture. "Heaven", as discussed before, is not a "God", even not an equivalent of "god". And it has been exactly the point about which policy-makers as well as intellectuals of mid-19th century up to present frequently contemplated whenever they had to encounter or compare Japan with other cultures, especially, Western cultures. In fact, in order to be a member of industrialized countries, Japan had to invent comparable concepts and institutions with the West, where Judeo-Christian tradition was shared.

The most important, and interesting invention was, on the part of government officials, the placement of Emperor as a "living God", in Shintoist interpretation and context. According to studies of historians, when a group of political leaders headed by Tomomi Iwakura made an extensive inspection trip to Europe and the United States in 1870, they discovered that Christianity provided the deeply rooted and shared values to most of the peoples of the Western nations, and that even in the world of politics, administrators swore by the Holy Bible . The Japanese mission wondered if there were any "equivalent" to the Christian "God" and the Holy Bible. A historical anecdote tells us that, during their visit to Europe, Hirobumi Ito, who later became the first Prime Minister of modern Japan, visited Herbert Spencer and consulted with him on the issues of nation-building based on parliamentary monarchy, where there was no Christian tradition. Spencer, responding to Ito's question, is said to have suggested that the Emperor might be "used" as an equivalent or substitute for Christianity. This private conversation encouraged Ito, and upon his return to Japan, he and his group reinforced the power of the Emperor, which they could manipulate, and as the result, they made the Emperor a "sacred" being. In fact, in his early days after enthronement, Emperor Meiji was a human being who conversed with common people in common language. He even visited the homes of high government officials. But after 1880s, Imperial family were secluded from the public, and Emperor was given his special status as a "God". It should be reminded here that Japanese word "Tennou" which stand for "Emperor", literally translated, means "the King appointed by Heaven" or "Son of Heaven". In other words, the Emperor system as such is another version of the "heaven cult" which helped Japan's nationalistic development in the past.

Since the idea of "heaven" has been so dominant and penetrating in Japan for centuries, this concept attracted popular support. And therefore, it turned out to be the key in Japanese ethics and ethical education. The question, then, is how to follow the lessons given by "heaven"? In this context, another idea known as "way" ( dou or michi ) plays an extremely important role. "Way", in Confucius philosophy, is the means by which a person can reach a heavenly state of mind and being. And there are many "ways" through which a person can satisfy the expectation of heaven. As a matter of fact, most of Japanese traditional arts are known and recognized as "ways". For example, a widely known tea ceremony in Japanese is "sadou" or "the way of tea", flower arrangement is "kadou", or "the way of flowers" Calligraphy is "shodou", "the way of brush writing". In fact, the title of Nitobe's book "Bushido(u)" means "the ways of Bushi (warriors)". In the areas of martial arts, Japanese fencing is "kendou", the way of swords, wrestling "Judou", "the way of wrestling" and so forth. From serious learning to hobby, from childhood to old age, "ways" are important daily practice and ethical achievement.

The term "dou or michi" is very often used in our conversation today, too. If a journalist makes false report, he may be blamed as having done something against "the way of journalist", if a small merchant commits tax evasion, he is said to have deviated from his "merchants 'way". In other words, we have each individual's "way" as a professional, and as a private person. "The way of man" ( jinrin or hitonomichi ) is the path given by the heaven in accordance which a person must behave and live. You should observe the "ways" prescribed by heaven each moment wherever you are. This is a priori mandate and instruction which came from heaven. And Japanese behave on these assumptions. To a certain degree, this assumption is shared by Chinese and Korean peoples, too.

Ito decided to make Emperor as an equivalent of Christianity, and it may be safe to say that, metaphorically speaking, modern Japanese thinking, the respect for the "ways" have been the expression of their beliefs. The sacred feeling, which may or may not comparable to that of Judeo-Christian tradition, has been in existence in the minds of Japanese for centuries, and because of this analogy, modern Japanese thinkers often found similarities with the West, and more often discovered heterogeneity between Japan and the West. Philosophical and moral dilemma thus produced made Japanese thinkers skeptical about their identity as modern individuals and their country as a modernized nation.


5. Ethics and Education in perspective

As stated at the outset, values are relative, and ethics and education are also relative both in their forms and contents. Textbooks which were published and used fifty years ago are naturally obsolete today. What parents told to their children on ethnicity, sex, and other delicate subjects twenty years ago are out-dated today. Looking at the future, if we imagine parents, teachers, and educators in mid-21st century reading the proceedings of this conference dated 1990, it is quite sure that they would say that what we are discussing today were strange, and even funny. Like all other human endeavors, education is evolving every year, every day, and every minutes.

Keeping that unavoidable relativities in mind, however, we must face with the challenges and problems of today's education and ethics. What are the major tasks awaiting for us? At least five major problem areas should be identified and some suggestions should be given to conclude this paper.

A) Beyond relativism

Though it may sound contradictory with what has mentioned in the above paragraph, it may be worthwhile and necessary for us to ask ourselves if there is any values which have been and will be consistent in human history. In the discussion so far, this paper dealt with particular characteristics of Japanese ethics with emphasis on the concepts of "heaven" "way" and so forth, in order to give better understanding of Japanese situation today. A cultural relativist may say that if such historical and socio-cultural peculiarities exist, then each country or each culture should stay as it is, and further encourage that each culture must respect and understand these differences. However, such cultural relativism is weak and even obsolete in the world where international relations cannot allow any nation and culture isolated from others. Cultural heritages of every nation state must be respected each other, but at the same time, more efforts should be made to find out similarities among different cultures and their ethical codes. For example, even though the United States and Japan have so many differences, both cherish such virtues as hard work, honesty, respect for family life. The roots are different, and phenomenological forms are different, but there must be the point of deep and sincere recognition and appreciation of many similarities. The days when different cultures look each other with exoticism are over. At least, as far as the United States and Japan are concerned, both of us belong to highly industrialized civilization being led by, for better or worse, Hi-Tec. We both are looking for, for instance, common ethics on energy consumption, ethics on preservation of tropical rain forest and other environmental issues. Both of us are wondering if there are any ethics relative to foreign aid programs. Both of us are in the midst of ethical arguments on the problems of transplantation of internal organs between human beings. We share similar ethical problems on the definition of "death". Not only scientists, but also policy-makers along with the sacred occupation, wether they are Christian or Buddhist. Is "brain death" is the "real death" ? Hitherto existed ethical codes and teachings cannot give definite answer to these huge areas where new ethics are looked for.

Suppose, if Aristotle and Confucius are both here with us, and exchange their ideas and interpretation of these issues, they will come, after careful and deep contemplation and dialogue, to an agreement. We should be aware of the fact that there are more similarities than differences among cultures.

B) On religion

Needless to say, religions, inclusive of "primitive" tribal religions and highly systematized "world religions" such as Christianity, Hindu, Buddhism, Islam, and others, have been one of the major sources of ethics. In Buddhist temple and Christian church alike, monks and priests have been teaching not only cosmology but also everyday practice. They tell us what is right and what is wrong in secular world. Devoted believers, everywhere in the world, listened to the preaching, and observed their own behavior. These religious beliefs and practices should be admired and cherished. By saying so, however, it seems that most of the established religions with many centuries' history are losing their believers and followers. The number of regular church goers has been decreasing, and religious preaching do not attract much attention. When asked, of course, many people would say that they are believers, and they respect church, temple, shrine, and other religious institutions. But in reality and practice, people are paying much less attention to their religious life than before. In the awareness of danger of religion, efforts were made on the part of churches and temples. A Christian church started a "new look" with rock music. A Buddhist temple inaugurated kindergarten to attract neighbors. Even Roman Catholic church, in past decade, modified its orthodox theology and practice several times in the light of changing values. Such questions as abortion, for example, has been under hot discussion, and restrictions given to those who are engaged in sacred occupation are relaxed. But these efforts did not make much change in the minds of masses of people. If not discontent or dissatisfaction, certain sense of skepticism and indifference in religious matters changed people in various ways. Among those who were not satisfied with existing religions, we can find devoted believers of "new religion", especially among younger generation. Japan alone, as of 1990, it is reported that there are some 1500 new religions registered, with millions of believers. In many parts of the world, upon your arrival at airports in past decade or so, you might have had experiences of being greeted and approached by young men and women who try to persuade you to listen to their religious beliefs. Often, these new religions are combination of Oriental cosmology and "new science", and we usually do not know what they are. This is not a place to comment on these new religions, but we should be reminded that we are now living in the world where hundreds of thousands of new religions are at work, appealing and attracting millions of people. They may be a "iller" for "moral vacuum" about which this paper discussed earlier, and looking at the situation realistically, it seems that such "vacuum" is not peculiar to Japan, but one of shared problems.

C) Changing family structure

Family has been a place where initial education is offered to children. Newly born child is taught and trained in its home, surrounded by family members. By definition, therefore, family plays extremely important role in shaping up the personality and value attitudes of a person from his/her early childhood. However, the structure and function of family have changed drastically in recent decades. In the first place, instead of traditional extended family, what sociologists call "nuclear family" came as the majority and typical form of family. Children today, for instance, do not know much about their grand-parents. In the past, "grandpa" and "grandma" were important "socializer" for children. They were tender and strict in transmitting values to their grandchildren. But today, in an nuclear family, children are trained by their parents and siblings only. In other words, we are living in the age when "small family" is dominant. The family is getting even smaller by lowering birth rate. Looking back the past, we used to see a typical American family with at least three children driving out for Sunday picnic in station wagon accompanied by a big dog or two. Nowadays, contrasting to this old image of a family, we see many families with only child. The image and reality of parents, especially mothers, also changed. Until very recently, mothers usually stayed at home, working very hard in housekeeping, taking care of their children. Mothers were with children. They took children to school, and when children came back from school, mothers were ready to offer milk and cookies while listening to children who talked about what happened in school. However, this old image of mothers disappeared in past few decades. Thanks to the improvements of women's status with equal opportunity act, coupled with advancement of higher education for women, majority of mothers have their jobs. They do not spend much time with their children, and instead of big "family car", husband and wife has his/her own sportscar. Family driving out in big station wagon is not a typical picture of a family anymore. Extremists claim that family was already "disorganized" and even common sense observation gives us a serious awareness that family has changed for better or worse.

As the number of "two income" families increased, children are getting less attention. Children today, who come back from school to their home will find a memo from their mothers on refrigerator door which tells them what to eat, what they are supposed to do. These children in Japan are called "Kagikko", meaning "children with house keys", because they have to carry house keys since they cannot find anybody at home. In Japan today, the birth rate is reported to be 1.57 or less, and among younger generation, many couples decided to have no children. Also, 65% of married women in Japan have their jobs. Family is becoming smaller and smaller, and with the advance of women's social status and equal opportunity act, coupled with diffusion of higher education of female population, the meaning of family itself is changing. Two decades ago, kitchen was the place where carefully prepared dinner dishes were cooked. Today, people "cook" TV dinner in microwave oven. Moreover, as the result of high divorce rate, a single child with single parent is not rare in contemporary society. This also may be a common ethical problem which both the United States and Japan share today.

D) Media and ethics

Sociological investigations of contemporary society tell us that mass media are taking place of family and school in terms of their socializing force. The ethics which give lessons to the masses of people cannot be neglected if one is seriously concerned ethical issues today. Media often act as the judge of what is wrong and what is right in the societies we live. Television commentator's views of diversified questions of everyday life are much more stronger than those of top administrative executives of a nation. Furthermore, media even can expel political leaders. This question is so important, that extensive footnote is attached to this paper as a sub-text.

E) Identity Crisis

As was mentioned above, family life underwent tremendous change. A family is not as it used to be. Above all, parents and children do not have many things to share in terms of values. You may call it simply "generation gap". Older people say that they cannot understand what younger people are thinking and doing, and vice versa. If a family is not the group with which one can identify, what, then is the reliable social group which can prove and approve one's identity. Old fashioned patriots would not hesitate to say that their nation is the source of one's fundamental values, and that the nation is the only place to which one should devote his/her life even in literal sense of the term. The organization one belongs to, such as commercial firms and government agencies, may give feeling and idea of one's identity. But usually, you cannot find real friends with whom you may want to identify, though there are number of "friendly people".

When a society was organized based on sedentary agrarian communities, one had, and had to, clear idea of neighborhood. But at the age when people move from one place to another in incredible velocity, one's neighbor, if any, is temporary in nature. Our neighbors are nothing more than passengers who happened to sit to your next seats in aeroplane with whom you chat for few hours at best. Very often, you never talk to the passenger next to you. In other words, we are lonely. In a big metropolitan area such as New York, you are surrounded by millions of people. But these people are totally strangers. Instead of traditional ethics which preaches to you to love others, new urban ethics warn us "do not trust other people, watch your pocket". To see such new ethics is sad, but which ethics are more realistic ? Do you really believe that all other people are nice and can be trusted, or do you think you had better to see all other people with suspicion in order to be safe ? Unfortunately, the latter seems to be better and more realistic choice. In the societies where urbanization has been taking place, and where strangers mix all the time, we are forced to confront with "identity crisis". As matter of fact, more than hundred people arrived to JFK as new immigrants yesterday. Though less than that in number, Tokyo had new people intending to work in Japan, too. As individuals, they are in the dark in these new urban environments. They have no idea of identity. But at the same time, we should remind ourselves that we, too, are nothing better. This new urban ethics is another area where both countries can carry out research and find solutions.

More than a century has passed since Fukuzawa first visited the United States, followed by Nitobe and many others. Especially, in past forty years, millions of people from the United States and Japan made their visits mutually. They include businessmen, politicians, scholars, artists, students, and surprising number of tourists. At the same time, hundreds of bi-lateral conferences and meetings were held to deepen understanding and to cooperate each other. In spite of these efforts, however, we must admit that both people are still ignorant about their partners. It is important, of course, to continue dialogues between the two nations across the Pacific.

By recognizing so, however, we must be aware of the fact that another important and urgent task is awaiting for both of us, especially in terms of ethics and education vis-a-vis international relations today. In this mobile and changing world, we often wonder, for instance, if there is any universal values and ethics on human rights. In certain countries today, based on particular religion and/or ideology which are basically different from our shared values, hundreds of thousands of people are arrested or executed for the reasons which are beyond our understanding. Even an extreme cultural relativist would not agree with the philosophy and practice of countries where demonstrators are indiscriminately killed by military forces.

We are wondering, if nature conservation and anti-pollution measures are shared value among all nations. "Ecology" movements are warning us the danger of the earth and , more or less, we accept these warnings not only in terms of science but also in terms of ethics. But in reality, there are many countries which do not pay much attention to environmental issues in their public policy. Does our ethics on environment preservation have universal value ? How can we prove it ?

These are only few examples of ethical questions to be asked at this age of globalization where all nations cannot survive without mutual interdependence. The dialogue between the United States and Japan are important, but at the same time, it seems necessary to work on multi-lateral relations in immediate future. In this process, education also should be encouraged to change, both in its forms and contents, in particular in international education. In this context, it is recommended that, research on comparative ethics and comparative education in global scale should be conducted in such a way that both of us can have concrete action plan for the improvements and reform of education for the generations to come.

MEDIA AND ETHICS

( Sub-text submitted to join conference on ethics, H.Kato )


From sociological and social psychological view, a person's personality, behavior pattern, and even way of thinking, are affected and determined by many "socializing agents". A person, after his/her birth, usually, is socialized by parents. They learn language, toilet training, manipulation of utensils, the way to wear clothes, and other numerous manners and customs. At the age of five or six, most children mix with their peers both in nersery school/kindergarten and in neighborhood "gang group". The peer group is another agent which shapes one's personality. Then, they attend to school where teachings are conducted by professional instructors. They learn, for instance, grammar, arithmetic, history, elementary physics, and other curriculum. Their classmates as well as neighborhood "gangs" still continue to be peers. They may be socialized further in church or temple, if they are encouraged by their parents. At the age of 18 or 20, most of us enter to "real life", or the world of "jobs". There, a person has to be trained in business, public administration, and other areas so that they can contribute to the society. They learn new knowledge and technology, such as legal practice, medical care, which parents, peers, and schools did not teach. It is not necessary here to re-examine basic and classic theory of socialization in reference to "primary group" "secondary group" and so forth. The point is that a person is, universally, socialized by plural agents, and that without such agents a person cannot live as a social being. In addition to these agents, in late 20th century in which we live today, a new and extremely strong agents emerged all the sudden, and unexpectedly. They are called mass media. A group of Japanese scholars in late 1960s called mass media as "the third school", the first being family, the second formal school. By reflection and in our daily observation, this classification seems to be quite appropriate. A child learns from his/her conversations with the parents and siblings over dinner table, and learn school curriculum from teachers in the classroom. But at the same time, children today learn from media, especially television. Today, in most of the countries of the world, it is reported that where television is accessible, children spend some two hours a day with television. Television stations are interested in attracting children as a devoted audience group, and make special hours for children, for instance Saturday morning cartoon series. Not only in terms of hours they spend, but also in respect to the "quality" of attitudes.

It is natural that many scholars and critics have been observing and studying the impacts of television upon the lives of children since late 1950s. Some of the works in this area of research are major sociological contributions in past fewdecades, and according to their findings, the way children think and behave is deeply and often seriously influenced by the television programs they watch. And one of the problems which was brought to the attention of educators and parents was the fact that the ethics they teach children were contradictory to the teachings given by parents and teachers. For instance, in family life as well as in school classroom, children are taught that law enforcing police are always observing social justice, and are defending the lives of citizens. However, in television programs, law enforcing officers, especially top administrators, are depicted as corrupted people who receive bribes from underground figures. In order to bring peace and safety, you should wait until such "lone wolf" type hero as Dirty Harry who drop out regular police organization. In home and school, violence is taught to be as the worst vice, but on television screen hundreds of people are killed by respectable heroes. Parents and teachers tell the children that humble and simple life is the virtue in one's life. But television programs and commercials encourage to dream luxury and lavish life as a model. The alliance of the "first school" or family and the "second school" i. e., formal school, is always ready to fight with the "third school". The result of such conflicting values is often tragic and desperate. Children are caught up in the middle of various lessons. And children tend to believe that the lessons given by the "third school" are better and more reliable than those teachings provided by their parents, teachers, and the church they belong to. It was some 40 years ago when Karen Horney pointed out the conflict which took place between family and school. According to her, one of the sources of neurotic tendency in today's society is the contradiction between two values, one being family education and the other school teaching. For instance, children are taught in school and church that they should love their friends and sacrifice themselves for the good of neighbors. But parents say that the friends are competitors, and neighbors are not always trustworthy. This ethical conflict still exists in most of the nations. And in addition to this contradiction in moral education, we have now the third agent whose lessons are more attractive and persuading.

Not only children, but also adults are suffering, though they are more or less critical to see the situation than children. The devoted audience of such programs as "dynasty" say that the story is a fiction and it does not represent American reality, but at the same time, they have a mixed feeling of envy, anger, sympathy, and hostility. Like other fantastic fictions, people do not believe in it. However, these "soap operas" along with commercials bring to us many lessons of what to buy, what to do, and what to believe. We argue about "media ethics", but we should pay proper attention to the new ethics which media produced and distributed. Is a life with Rolls Royce, beach house, first-class cruise, and huge amount of deposit in Swiss Bank a good life ? Media say yes and no. Is an honest, decent, and religious life of a poor peasant life a respectable one ? Media answer yes and no. But, essentially, in view of the fact that major broadcasters are commercial stations, media in general seem to be encouraging people to spend money, borrow money by your credit card, enjoy yourself today, do not worry about tomorrow. What Martha Wolfenstein and Nathan Leites aptly labeled as "fun morality" is prevailing our consumer society today. These "virtues" seem to be contrasting and contradicting with our common understanding of "ethics", but they should be seen as a new version of "ethics" in broadest sense of the term since they are guiding forces for masses of people all over the world today. As a matter of fact, except for very few intelligent persons, any established ethical codes cannot beat, even compete with, this new ethics.

The question, then, is what to do with the "third school" of which educational power is extraordinarily strong in comparison with the "first" and the "second" schools. Are families and schools obliged to surrender to media power ? One solution is, of course, to continue "surveillance" over media. Parents and teachers are frequently criticize, blame, and protest against media. And these actions are necessary. However, we may take another look at media. If a television program, especially popular soap operas and situation comedies, are carefully examined, we are struck by the fact that there is an explicit dichotomy of "good guy" and "bad guy", and "good guy" always is the winner in game, competition, and war. Of course, there are many versions in this dichotomy. Seemingly "bad guy" at the beginning of a story may turn out to be a "good guy" at the end, and vice versa, an extension of Wolfenstein's" good-bad girl" concept.

Furthermore, it should be noted that in recent media world, certain profound ethical implications are explicit. For example, internationally famed American movie "starwars" is full of metaphysical lessons. Partially influenced by, in suspect, Taoism, a small old man, Joda, gives lessons on justice, self control, and concentration of mind to the young hero so that the war should be fought and won. Millions of audience must have had, more or less, philosophical experience while watching the movie. Another space opera "2001 Space Odysseia", too, gave another metaphysical lesson. The beginning of human life, its evolution, the combination and integration of past and present, mysteries beyond scientific knowledge and computer technology, and many other interesting and educational topics can be found in this great movie. In Japan, too, for example a movie series of "Tora-san", with tremendous popularity, depicted the life of small vending merchant who discourages everyday vices, must be studied as an agent of ethical education. A television serial called "Oshin" also made a great hit, not only in domestic scene but also abroad. As a matter of fact, "Oshin", a story of the life of a woman who came from poor peasant's family, and finally achieved her success with patience, honesty, and sincerity, was accepted by many countries in Asia. Chinese, Indonesian, and even Iranian governments as well as general public supported "Oshin", and as a result, we are now seeing what might be called as "Oshin syndrome" in many parts of Asia. In other words, among the messages which media bring to us, there are quite a few ethical values which should be considered and appreciated. The "third school", is not necessarily a "bad guy". Efforts should be made to utilize media for educational purpose. And as far as Japan is concerned, government communication policy has been definite in encouraging educational broadcasting since mid 1930s, and distance education through media has been attracting masses of people, especially at the time when continuing education and recurrent education are widely recommended and accepted.

However, educational media is not the only solution. There are many other alternatives to look at media as socializing agent, with high ethical values. If values and value system are relative in nature, and if new values are seeked for, media can work together with families and schools. At least, it is a wrong and inappropriate perception and assumption to regard media as the enemy of ethics and education, without serious and unbiased study of the realities of "the third school."


IMPERIAL RESCRIPT ON EDUCATION

(1890)

Know ye, Our subjects:
Our Imperial Ancestors have founded Our Empire on a basis broad and everlasting and have deeply and firmly implanted virtue; Our subjects ever united in loyalty and filial piety have from generation to generation illustrated the beauty thereof. This is the glory of the fundamental character of Our Empire, and herein also lies the source of Our education. Ye, Our subjects be filial to your parents, affectionate to your brothers and sisters; as husbands and wives be harmonious, as friends true; bear yourselves in modesty and moderation; extend your benevolence to all; pursue learning and cultivate arts, and thereby develop intellectual faculties and perfect moral powers; furthermore advance public good and promote common interests; always respect the Constitution and observe the laws; should emergency arise, offer yourselves courageously to the State; and thus guard and maintain the prosperity of Our Imperial Throne coeval with heaven and earth. So shall ye not only be Our good and faithful subjects, but render illustrious the best traditions of your forefathers.

The Way here set forth is indeed the teaching bequeathed by Our Imperial Ancestors, to be observed alike by Their Descendants and the subjects, infallible for all ages and true in all places. It is Our wish to lay it to heart in all reverence, in common with you, Our subjects, that we may all thus attain to the same virtue.

The 30th day of 10th month
of the 23rd year of Meiji.

(Imperial Sign Manual. Imperial Seal.)


THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EDUCATION


Fundamental Law of Education, for which the concurrence of the Imperial Diet has been obtained, and cause the same to be promulgated.

Signed: HIROHITO, Seal of the Emperor

This twenty-ninth day of the third month of the twenty-second year of Showa (March 29, 1947)

Countersigned:

Prime Minister YOSHIDA Shigeru

Minister of Education TAKAHASHI Seiichiro


Law No. 25
THE FUNDAMENTAL LAW OF EDUCATION

Having established the Constitution of Japan, we have shown our resolution to contribute to the peace of the world and welfare of humanity by building a democratic and cultural state. The realization of this ideal shall depend fundamentally on the power of education.

We shall esteem individual dignity and endeavor to bring up the people who love truth and peace, while education which aims at the creation of culture general and rich in individuality shall be spread far and wide.

We hereby enact this Law, in accordance with the spirit of the Constitution of Japan, with a view to clarifying the aim of education for new Japan.

Article 1 Aim of Education

Education shall aim at the full development of personality, striving for the rearing of the people, sound in mind and body, who shall love truth and justice, esteem individual value, respect labour and have a deep sense of responsibility, and be imbued with the independent spirit, as builders of the peaceful state and society.

Article 2. Educational Principle

The aim of education shall be realized on all occasions and in all places. In order to achieve the aim, we shall endeavor to contribute to the creation and development of culture by mutual esteem and co-operation, respecting academic freedom, having a regard for actual life and cultivating a spontaneous spirit.

Article 3. Equal Opportunity in Education

The people shall all be given equal opportunities of receiving education according to their ability, and they shall not be subject to educational discrimination on account of race, creed, sex, social status, economic position of family origin.

The state and local public corporations shall take measures to give financial assistance to those who have, in spite of their ability, difficulty in receiving education for economic reason.

Article 4. Compulsory Education

The people shall be obligated to have boys and girls under their protection receive nine years' general education.

No tuition fee shall be charged for compulsory education in schools established by the state and local public corporations.

Article 5. Co-education

Men and women shall esteem and co-operate with each other. Co-education, therefor shall be recognized in education.

Article 6. School Education

The schools prescribed by law shall be public nature and, besides the state and local public bodies, only the juridical persons prescribed by law shall be entitled to establish such schools.

Teachers of the schools prescribed by law shall be servants of the whole community. They shall be conscious of their mission and endeavor to discharge their duties. For this purpose, the status of teachers shall be respected and their fair and appropriate treatment shall be secured.

Article 7. Social Education

The state and local public bodies shall encourage home education and education carried out in places of work or elsewhere in society.

The state and local public bodies shall endeavor to attain the aim of education by the establishment of such institutions as libraries, museums, civic halls etc., by the utilization of school institutions, and by other appropriate methods.

Article 8. Political Education

The political knowledge necessary for intelligent citizenship shall be valued in education.

The schools prescribed by law, shall refrain from political education or other political activities for or against any specific political party.

Article 9. Religious Education

The attitude or religious tolerance and the position of religion in social life shall be valued in education.

The schools established by the state and local public bodies shall refrain from religious education or other activities for a specific religion.

Article 10. School Administration

Education shall not be subject to improper control, but it shall be directly responsible to the whole people.

School administration shall, on the basis of this realization, aim at the adjustment and establishment of the various conditions required for the pursuit of the aim of education.

Article 11. Additional Rule

In case of necessity appropriate laws shall be enacted to carry the foregoing stipulations into effect.

Supplementary Provision:

The present Law shall come into force as from the day of its promulgation.


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