ABSTRACT
Rohlen writes that Japanese high schools “are best understood as shaping generations of disciplined workers for a technomeritocratic system that requires highly socialized individuals capable of performing reliably in a rigorous, hierarchical, and finely tuned organizational environment” (1983: 209). This is true in other industrialized societies, though the designers of Japan’s educational system seem particularly concerned with turning out students who acquire the skills necessary for a highly rationalized environment, both natural and social. If students come to believe in the inherent goodness and commonsensical nature of hierarchy, in-group/out-group distinctions, and the value of general orderliness, then daily routines become the training necessary for technocratic employment. A key link between good manners and economic interests is formed.
