ABSTRACT
While Japanese education has been a darling of American and British educational commentators during the high-scoring years that accompanied Japan’s remarkable economic success (Stigler and Stevenson 1991; Stevenson and Stigler 1992; Lewis 1995), the lingering economic malaise and discontent of Japan’s last two decades have exposed some of the less attractive aspects of schooling in Japan and created some interesting challenges for the future. Blending traditional schooling with imported reforms, Japanese education has been designed to support a national aspiration for prosperity and recognition. In close cooperation with business interests, Japanese schools have shown amazing success in preparing their male students for productive lives as industrial and scientific craftsmen and as conscientious and hard-working bureaucrats and managers. Japan’s female students have fared less well, as traditional roles for adult women have been slow to change even as young women have shown educational success. International recognition of Japan’s mastery in science and math has led to efforts in the U.S. and Europe to adopt reforms in pursuit of comparable results. However, the success of Japanese schooling has largely bypassed both students from low-income Japanese families (Gordon 2005b) as well as those defined as “minority” or “foreign” by Japan’s narrow terms of citizenship and full participation in Japanese culture (Okano and Tsuchiya 1999).
