Primary School in Japan: Self, Individuality and Learning in Elementary Education (Japan Anthropology Workshop Series)

262 Pages·2007·1.72 MB·English

by  Peter Cave

Primary School in Japan
The balance between individual independence and social interdependence is a
perennial debate in Japan. A series of educational reforms since 1990, includ-
ing the implementation of a new curriculum in 2002, has been a source of
fierce controversy. This book, based on an extended, detailed study of two
primary schools in the Kansai district of Japan, discusses these debates,
shows how reforms have been implemented at the school level, and explores
how the balance between individuality and social interdependence is man-
aged in practice. It discusses these complex issues in relation to personal
identity within the class and within the school, in relation to gender issues,
and in relation to the teaching of specific subjects, including language, litera-
ture and mathematics. The book concludes that, although recent reforms
have tended to stress individuality and independence, teachers in primary
schools continue to balance the encouragement of individuality and self-
direction with the development of interdependence and empathy.
Peter Cave is a lecturer in Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester,
and was formerly lecturer in the Department of Japanese Studies at the Uni-
versity of Hong Kong. His main research interest is Japanese education in
comparative context.
Japan Anthropology Workshop Series
Series editor:
Joy Hendry, Oxford Brookes University
Editorial Board:
Pamela Asquith, University of Alberta
Eyal Ben Ari, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hirochika Nakamaki, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka
Kirsten Refsing, University of Copenhagen
Wendy Smith, Monash University
Founder Member of the Editorial Board:
Jan van Bremen, University of Leiden
A Japanese View of Nature Psychotherapy and Religion in Japan
The world of living things by The Japanese introspection practice
Kinji Imanishi of Naikan
Translated by Pamela J Asquith, Chikako Ozawa-de Silva
Heita Kawakatsu, Shusuke Yagi and
Hiroyuki Takasaki Dismantling the East-West Dichotomy
Edited and introduced by Essays in honour of Jan van Bremen
Pamela J Asquith Edited by Joy Hendry and
Heung Wah Wong
Japan’s Changing Generations
Are young people creating a new Pilgrimages and Spiritual Quests
society? in Japan
Edited by Gordon Mathews and Edited by Maria Rodriguez del Alisal,
Bruce White Peter Ackermann and
Dolores Martinez
The Care of the Elderly in Japan
Yongmei Wu The Culture of Copying in Japan
Critical and historical perspectives
Community Volunteers in Japan Edited by Rupert Cox
Everyday stories of social change
Lynne Y. Nakano Primary School in Japan
Self, individuality and learning in
Nature, Ritual and Society in Japan’s elementary education
Ryukyu Islands Peter Cave
Arne Røkkum
Primary School in Japan
Self, individuality and learning
in elementary education
Peter Cave
First published 2007
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
© 2007 Peter Cave
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Cave, Peter, 1965–
Primary school in Japan : self, individuality and learning in elementary
education / Peter Cave.
p. cm.—(Japan anthropology workshop series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Education, Elementary—Japan. 2. Japanese—Education
(Elementary) 3. Individuality in children—Japan. 4. Child development—
Japan. I. Title.
LA1314.C38 2007
372′.952—dc22
2007020622
ISBN 0-203-93581-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN13: 978–0–415–44679–2 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–93581–1 (ebk)
ISBN10: 0–415–44679–1 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–93581–0 (ebk)
For my parents
the best teachers

Contents
List of figures viii
List of tables ix
Acknowledgements x
Note on conventions xiii
Preface xiv
Introduction: self, society and education in Japan 1
1 Education and individuality in Japan 13
2 Groups and individuals at primary school 52
3 Stories of the self 88
4 Mathematical relationships 111
5 Learning gender 152
6 Ceremonial creations 175
7 The next stage – 2002 and all that 194
Conclusion 213
Glossary 223
Bibliography 224
Index 239
fi
List of gures
1.1 Morikawa primary school in the late 1990s 7
1.2 Children playing in the playground at Morikawa 8
2.1 Class slogan poster in 6–3 at Nakamachi 61
2.2 Human pyramids at the Nakamachi sports day, 1996 64
2.3 Cleaning the school entrance at Morikawa, 1996 66
2.4 Class meeting in a fifth year class at Morikawa, 1994 67
3.1 Painting a picture to illustrate a story from the kokugo
textbook in 6–3 at Nakamachi, 1996 98
3.2 Kokugo lesson in 6–3 at Nakamachi, 1995 99
4.1 Illustrating things that change together in 6–3 at Nakamachi 117
4.2 Children explaining to the class in 6–3’s maths lesson at
Nakamachi, 24 November 1995 127
4.3 Maths lesson in 6–3 at Nakamachi, 1995 128
4.4 Group seven’s graph 131
4.5 Group four’s graph 132
4.6 Group three’s graph 133
4.7 Maths lesson in 6–1 at Nakamachi, 1995 140
5.1 Home economics lesson in 6–3 at Nakamachi 163
5.2 Children playing dodgeball at Morikawa 164
5.3 Children at Morikawa playing at keeping the volleyball
in the air 166
6.1 Cards recording memories and days until graduation 179
6.2 Sixth years at Morikawa cleaning the school walls
before graduation 185
List of tables
4.1 Group seven’s table 121
4.2 Group two’s table 123
4.3 Group three’s table 125
4.4 Group eight’s table 125
4.5 Table for paper sheet problem 138