final examination system that pervaded Japan since the modernization of education at the beginning of the Meiji era, has little changed since then, and is a cornerstone of Japanese education from kindergarten through university. It was and is characterized by its competitiveness and selectivity--much as the French and German systems have been. In fact, it has been so severe that it has led to suicides of students who were failing school or just a test.
As the Manchurian Incident of 1931 escalated into the Sino-Japanese War of 1937, militarism imbued every Japanese with a sense of ultranationalism... Or was it vice-versa? When World War II broke out in the Pacific Theater of Operations, Japan's education system was rapidly "reformed" to adjust to the militaristic needs of a nation that--paradoxically--felt its "peaceful" existence threatened by the Allied military forces. School curricula were revised to reflect this enhanced perception of vulnerability and historical victimization of a peace-loving people of farmers and samurai. Military education prepared secondary school children to be slaughtered as cannon fodder or as heaven-bent kamikatzes. The children were learning to die for the Emperor (Ribaillier, 1968). By the end of World War II, classes beyond secondary had been closed.
Pre-World War II education in Japan was imbued with the Meiji ideologies of Fukoku Kyohei (Enrich the country in order to strengthen the army), Shokusan Kogyo (increase production in industry), and Bunmei Kaika (civilization and enlightenment). Whatever westernization was adopted aimed at strengthening Japan. Public education was the fundamental instrument through which these objectives were to be attained. Professor Atsushi Kayashima (1993) found that this national policy "was very successful on the positive side, but resulted in imbalanced development" (p. 6).
2. The Democratization of Education: Phase II
The end of World War II found Jap...