The path to adulthood according to Japanese middle schools

要旨

Descriptions of learning and teaching in Japanese schools suggest the existence of two different worlds. One labeled “holistic” emphasizes personal development and an experiential approach to learning. The other is a text-centered, lecture format geared to transmitting information necessary for university entrance exams. The first is characteristic of grade schools and preschools, the second of high school. The transition between these two worlds is the middle school (grades 7–9). Middle schools combine a lecture format for academic instruction with a broad range of “nonacademic” activities that emphasize the development of the “whole” person. Middle schools are accurately labeled. They mark a key transition point in Japanese education. From preschool through the university level knowledge is increasingly specialized, and in this process middle school is the point when for the first time teachers are subject specialists. In Japan middle schools also reinforce a division between the academic and nonacademic sides of the curriculum. Japanese education focuses on the development of the whole person. The curriculum includes a wide variety of nonacademic activities – music, art, sports, field trips, clubs, ceremonies, homeroom time – designed to enhance the full development of the (“whole”) person. In fact, the very definition of teaching encompasses not only transmission of knowledge but counseling, guidance and discipline – tasks which in the United States are either viewed as parental or beyond the scope of teachers who are not counseling specialists.

主題