Educational Policy of Allied Occupation of Japan

OF JAPAN 1945-1952 AND THE RISE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

1. The Democratization of Education: Phase I

The 1890 Imperial Rescript on Education (Ky(iku-Chokugo) set the ideological basis for the post Sino-Japanese War by stressing moral education based on Confucian and Shint( values. "Ethics" (sh(shiu) was the instrument through which nationalism and traditions were implemented. In the pre-Meiji era (i.e. that of Togugawa) the Chinese model of Confucianism had fashioned "academies". With the Meiji Restoration, the first European-style university (daijakh() was created, viz. Tokyo University--still today the major school of tertiary education in Japan.

Post World War I caused panic and social confusion in Japan as it did in many nations. The Leftist movement and the Kant( earthquake of 1923 added to the uncertainty in the minds of the Japanese people. It was precisely during this period, however, that "Taish( democracy" and liberalism came to light and that a mind-set which enhanced nationalism and education was acquired. The Extraordinary Education Council, established in 1917, emphasized higher education, while secondary and primary education flourished, and the foundation for compulsory education was laid.

Meanwhile, as the nation built up its economic basis and increasingly set its sights on international trade (which meant selling rather than buy

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emocracy" (Kayashima, 1993, p. 63). The whole idea of unions was quite alien to the majority of Japanese workers--and even more so to teachers who--God forbid!--had never thought of themselves as "workers". The Labor Union Law, nevertheless, passed on 21 December 1945, giving unions the rights to organize, bargain, and strike. And the unions blossomed--in their own Japanese ways. One of the problems with teachers was that, as the voices of Government and molders of future soldiers, they had but too willingly adhered to the "morals" of ultranationalism and militarism. Paradoxically (at least to the Western mind), teachers were, by and large, members of the Communist Party or, if afraid to be, at least sympathizers of Marxism. With the Occupation, Communism was allowed to exist and openly recruit teachers. As brain-washed instruments of undemocratic education, teachers were feeling the heat, while beginning to discern a certain incompatibility among Marxism, democracy, and militarism. Hence, they created Nikkyoso, the Japan Teachers Union in early 1946. Strongly influenced in the new democratic direction of education, was an American invention, the P.T.A. (Parent-Teacher Association) which organized in Japan on the United Sta
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Meiji Government, Occupied Japan, War II, Meiji Restoration, Reischauer Jansen, Japan Allies, Autonomy Law, Ministry Education, Moreover Democracy, West Insularity, world war, war ii, japanese people, japanese society, allied powers, world war ii, ministry education, commander allied powers, supreme commander, commander allied, american democracy, allied occupation, supreme commander allied, macarthur supreme commander, japanese society education,
Approximate Word count = 9993
Approximate Pages = 40 (250 words per page)