COMPETITOR OR ALLY? R EF EREN C E BOOKS IN INT ERNATIONAL EDU CATION V OLUME 45 GARLAND R E F E R E N C E LIBRARY OF S O C I A L S CI ENCE VOLUME 140 COMPETITOR OR ALLY? JAPAN'S ROLE IN AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL DEBATES EDITED BY GERALD K I~ ~~ o~~~~n~~~up New York London LETENDRE First published by Falmer Press This edition published 20 II by Routledge: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 11 Third Avenue New York, NY 10017 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group Park Square, Milton Park Abingdon, Oxon OX 144RN Copyright © 1999 by Gerald K LeTendre All rights reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available at the Library of Congress Competitor or ally? : Japan's role in American educational debates / edited by Gerald K LeTendre Contents Tables and Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Merry White vii ix xi Chapter I: International Achievement Studies and Myths of Japan Gerald K LeTendre Chapter 2: A Look at the Other Side of Japanese Education : Student Responsibility and Learning Ineko Tsuchida and Catherine C Lewis 25 Chapter 3: Coping with Diversity: The Achilles' Heel of Japanese Education? David McConnell 47 Chapter 4: Individuality, Learning, and Achievement: Japanese Perspectives Hidetada Shimizu 65 Chapter 5: Work Roles and Norms for Teachers in Japan and the United States Hua Yang 83 Chapter 6: "The Dark Side of .": Suicide, Violence and Drug Use in Japanese Schools Kangmin Zeng and Gerald LeTendre v 103 vi Conren~ Chapter 7: International Comparisons and Educational Research Policy Gerald LeTendre and David Baker 123 Conclusion : Resilient Myths: Are Our Minds Made Up About Japanese Education? Catherine C Lewis 141 Glossary References List of Contributors Index 149 151 165 169 Tables and Figures Management statements in Japanese and American classes 31 Teacher encourages students to express support, disagree or elaborate on other students' remarks 37 Fig 2-3 Teacher external reward statements 39 Fig 2-4 Teachers' lesson-framing statements 40 Fig 2-1 Fig 2-2 Table 5-1 Weekly Time Allocations of Japanese and U.S Middle School Teachers 88 Table 5-2 Time Distribution for Specific Academic Tasks by Japanese and U.S Middle School Teachers 89 Table 5-3 Time Distribution for Specific Student Guidance/Activity Tasks by Japanese and U.S Middle School Teachers 90 Table 5-4 Staffing Patterns in the U.S and Japanese Middle Schools 97 Table 6-1 Suicide Rates Over Time for Japanese Youth (per 100,000) by Age Ranges 109 Table 6-2 Suicide Rates by Gender in Selective Nations Death by Suicide per 100,000 Population for Youth Aged 15-24 109 Table 6-3 Bullying in Japan 114 vii Acknowledgments The process of developing a book from a set of conference papers can be a long and convoluted one We would like to thank Thomas Rohlen , Harold Stevenson and Nancy Sato for their input in developing this manuscript, and Cindy Fetters and Judy Harper who worked to type parts of the manuscript Marie Ellen Larcada, formerly of Garland Press, provided direction for an early draft of the manuscript And we would especially like to thank Ed Beauchamp for his support and guidance The idea for this book originated in the American Educational Research Association symposium "Comparison or Competition: The Use and Misuse of Japanese Educational Data in the American Context," in which the principle authors of this book took part as presenters and discussants The overall conclusion of the symposium was that to a large degree discussion of Japanese education in the American research context is still belabored by stereotypical notions of the Japanese and Japanese society; is heavily biased in favor of quantitative studies, even those with widely acknowledged methodological flaws such as the SIMS; and is more and more a policy or political issue in which statistics , divorced from the social context, are used as "evidence" in ways that prevent an accurate picture of Japan from emerging ix Introduction Merry White Why so many Americans seem to have something to say about Japanese children? From the National Inquirer-gossipmonger of the supermarket checkout lines-which ran a story about Japanese education moms, to leading political satirist Gary Trudeau, everyone wants to talk about Japanese students But, at the same time that some writers are exalting Japanese educational values, others in the same popular media write lurid stories about bullying, juvenile suicide, robotized minds and stifled imaginations American and Japanese writers over the past 25 years have offered models, mirrors and cautionary tales of Japanese childhood and schooling The Japanese classroom has been a focus, even an obsession of commentators associating education with national security This obsession has equally affected cartoonists, supermarket tabloids and, more recently it appears, some leading educational research journals in which, for example, the results of the Third International Math-Science Study are debated using reference to U.S and Japanese cultural parameters The contradictory and inflammatory views that typify coverage of Japanese students or schools reflect American divisions and confusion over educational priorities and goals These views also demonstrate how research data can be (and often has been) used and misused in the discourses on both Japanese and American education to promote a range of reform agendas American attention to Japan has reflected our international and domestic concerns about global competition and the frustrations of a generation of young workers who will not better than their parents But these concerns were sometimes buried under an overarching feverish attention to the success of xi xii Introduction children in a country that is just about as far away from the United States (culturally and geographically) as you can get Of course, these cycles of attention and concern have not always been characterized by distortion, projection or denial of appropriate priorities There are certain giveaways which can cue the reader to the presence of biased reporting: the use of absolutes such as "all Japanese children," unsubstantiated claims or correlations such as "examination pressure has caused a rise in juvenile suicides," references to a mythical ideal or archetypal norm in one society that is contrasted with down-toearth realities in the other In each of the three waves of engagement I will discuss below, there have also been clear, well-researched pieces on Japanese realities which critically assess the constructions which American researchers and policy makers tend to place on Japanese schools and students With proper acknowledgment of the complexity and contradictions that any serious treatment will generate, let us call these three types or stages of reaction to Japanese education the "wow!", "uh-oh" and as Joseph Tobin notes, "yes, but " reactions "Wow" refers to the gape-mouthed amazement with which stories of exceIIence in test results, classroom management, and family-school cooperation were received in the United States in the 1970s when Japan's economic "miracle" first came to center stage in the international media "Uh-oh" describes the reaction of those concerned with American competitiveness in the face of apparent Japanese superiority Finally, "yes, but " allows for the positive aspects, putting them in context as weII as noting downsides-an admiring but qualified response These three periods roughly correspond to the three decades in which Japanese education has developed a high profile in America, in the seventies, eighties and nineties Japanese education has stimulated envy, fear and pity in Americans for some time: wartime propaganda tended to focus on fear (Japanese adolescents training to be kamikaze pilots) and postwar reports often focused on pity (children packed 50 to a classroom in half-bombed buildings) Since the take-off of the Japanese economy in the 1970s, envy appeared in the "wow!" stories of Japanese school success These tended to focus positively on classroom order, high test scores and on the moral value and political priority given to education in Japanese society Openly curious, the writers of these stories asked if this centrality could be attributed to the traditional Confucian equation of 156 References Lee, V., Croninger, R., Linn, E and Chen, X (1996) "The Culture of Sexual Harassment in Secondary Schools." 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Comparative Education Review, 40 (3), 264-279 Zeng, K and LeTendre, G (1998) "Adolescent suicide and academic pressure in East Asia." Comparative Education Review, 42, 4:513-528 Zimmerman, M (1985) Dealing with the Japanese Boston, MA: George Allen and Unwin List of Contributors David Baker David Baker is Professor of Education Policy Studies at the Penn State University, and received his Ph.D from Johns Hopkins University He is the author of many works on comparative and international education and is a leading authority on the analysis of international test score data He is Principal Investigator on 1.8 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation and Fund for the Improvement of Education Grant to re-analyze the TIMSS data Recent publications include Baker, D (1994) "In comparative isolation: Why comparative research has so little influence on American sociology of education." Research in Sociology ofEducation and Socialization 10, 53-70 Baker, D (1997) "Good news, bad news, and international comparisons: Comment on Bracey" Educational Researcher, 26 (3), 16-18 Baker, D (1998) "Surviving TIMSS Or, everything you blissfully forgot about international comparisons " Phi Delta Kappan, December, 295-300 Gerald K LeTendre Gerald LeTendre, Assistant Professor of Education Policy Studies at the Penn State University, received his bachelors' degree from Harvard University, and his M.A and Ph.D from Stanford University In addition to his own ethnographic studies of U.S and Japanese schools, Dr LeTendre worked for three years in California classrooms conducting teacher and student observations using structured observation instruments He has also worked on both the TIMSS Case Study Project (as a primary field researcher) and the lEA Civic 165 166 List of Contributors Education Case Study Project Recent publications include LeTendre , G., Rohlen, T., and Zeng, K (1998) "Merit or family background? Problems in research policy initiatives in Japan." Educational Evolution and Policy Analysis 20(4): 285-297 Catherine C Lewis Catherine C Lewis, a developmental psychologist, is a senior researcher and formative research director at the Developmental Studies Center in Oakland, California She has conducted both ethnographic and intervention research in a variety of institutional settings, including schools, hospitals, and child care centers; her studies focus on the ways institutions promote (or fail to promote) children 's social and intellectual development She speaks and reads Japanese ; her book Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Early Elementary Education (Cambridge University Press, 1995) was named an outstanding academic book of 1995 by the American Library Association's Choice Currently she directs a study of the shift from transmission-focused to student-centered science education in Japanese elementary schools ("Innovations in Science Education: Learning from Case Studies" NSF grant REC-9355857) and directs formative research on the Child Development Project, a multi-district U.S school reform project designed to help schools promote children's fulllest intellectual, social and ethical development David McConnell David McConnell, Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the College of Wooster, is the leading expert on internationalization in Japanese education He received his B.A from Earlham College and his M.A and Ph.D from Stanford University He has published numerous works on English teaching efforts in Japan His book on Japan's internationalization efforts, Importing Diversity, is due to be published this summer by the University of California Press Hidetada Shimizu Hidetada Shimizu, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Northern Illinois University, is a cultural psychologist trained in comparative human development at the Harvard Graduate School of List of Contributors 167 Education His research interests are in the acculturation of individuals, sociocultural influences on individual development, learning processes, and schooling experience He is also interested in cultural conceptions of and strategies for dealing with students' ability differences His professional mission is to examine critically the reductionistuniversalistic assumptions inherent in Western academic psychology, and recast them from the perspective of Japanese and Western individuals' real-life experience Currently he teaches a course in qualitative research methods (i.e., ethnography) His recent publications include : Shimizu, H (1998) Individual differences and the Japanese education system In The educational system in Japan: Case study findings Office of Educational Research and Improvement U.S Department of Education Ineko Tsuchida After being educated through university in Japan, Ineko Tsuchida earned a doctorate in education from the University of California, Berkeley Since 1990, she has conducted research in Japanese and U.S elementary schools She is the author or co-author of articles on Japanese elementary education, and has translated, edited and produced videotapes of Japanese lessons and elementary classroom life for use by American educators Recent works include Tsuchida, I and Lewis, C (1996) "Responsibility and learning : Some preliminary hypotheses about Japanese elementary classrooms," in Rohlen, T and LeTendre, G Teaching and learning in Japan New York: Cambridge University Merry Isaacs White Merry I White is professor of anthropology and sociology at Boston University, and associate in research at Harvard University's Edwin O Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies A graduate of Harvard College (in anthropology), she received a master 's degree in comparative literature and a doctorate in sociology from Harvard University She has served as administrator of the East Asian Studies program at Harvard, as director of international education at Harvard 's Graduate School of Education, and has consulted with a wide range of educational and corporate institutions, as well as to the United States Congress Her research and publications have focused on Japanese education, family and social issues in Japan, adolescence and popular 168 List of Contributors culture, internationalization and population change Her current work is on changing families in Japan, and on food and social change in Asia Her recent publications include: White, M 1., & Barnet, S (1995) Comparing cultures Bedford Books White, M (1993) The material child: Coming ofage in Japan and America Free Press Una Yang Hua Yang received her B.S from Beijing Normal University and her Ph.D from Stanford University She has conducted extensive research on teachers' lives and work roles in U.S and Japanese schools She is currently Principal Evaluator for the Dallas Public Schools ' Division of Research Kangmin Zeng Kangmin Zeng received his B.A from Tianjin Finance and Economics University and his Ph.D from Stanford University He served in the Chinese foreign service before entering academics He has written several works on entrance examination, including his book The Dragon Gate His recent publications include "Prayer, Luck and Spiritual Strength: The Desecularization of Entrance Exam Systems in East Asia." Comparative Education Review, August, 1996 Index ALT See Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program ability, xvii, 18-19,78 academic achievement, xix, 4, 18-19,65-81, 83, 142 competition, 12,48,80, 123, 143 access to education, 11 adolescence, 11,20,68,72-73, 106 adolescent health, 15, 20, 22, 106 arts, 12 Behavioralism, 44 Better Homes and Gardens, bullying, xxi, 14,71-72,79, 113-117, 142 burakumin, xix, 22, 48-49 child mental development of, 26, 43-45 , 77 social development of, 10,28,34, 36,38,74,76,145 rearing, 18, 142 class size, 94-95 time, 29, 87-88,92 classroom instruction, 11, 18-19,20,41, 78, 89, 92-93 management, 11,44 routines, 27-28, 30-31, 41-44 comparative education, 119, 120-131, 133-135 Confucian influence, xii, xv, 12 Constructivism, 44 cooperation, 26, 34-36, 67 cram school See juku creativity, xv, 10-12, 120 curriculum, 30-36, 92-94 Democracy and Education, 125 dowa education, xix drug abuse, 117-119 Education Week, 12 educational criticism, 19-21 goals , 20 myth , 7,141 -148 policy, 20, 53, 60-64, 134-136 reform, xi, 12,53-56 , 100, 128-129, 144,147 stereotypes, xiv, 13 values, xxi, 11, 43-45, 54, 75-77, 84, 125-127,133, 137, 143, 145 Educational Researcher, 6-7 effort, xix, 18-19 economic competition, xi, xii, xxi, 3, 130-31 elementary schools, 11, 17,26-27, 115 EFL (English as a Foreign Language), 169 170 49-52 ,93 enrollment rates, entrance exams , 9, 11, 12 ethnocentrism, 13,62-63 ethnography, 7, 15,63,80-81, 136 exam hell, 12,23, 120 extracurricular activities , 90, 93-94 family relations , 19 FIMS (First International Math Study), Fourth -grade achievement, 6, 20 gangs, 116 gender differences, 34, 57, 70-71, 115 German schools , 124-126 GOALS 2000, groupwork, 27-28, 36, 42 hansei ,42, 143, 146 high school, higher-order thinking, 34, 36, 40 human capital, xi, 3-5 human relations, 43-45, 70, 76-79 identity development, 15,67-73 individualism, xiv, 35, 66, 69, 84 intelligence, xiii, 18-19, 136 international test scores, 3, 5-8, 9, 119120,135 accuracy of, 5-6, 21 political uses of, 6-8 internationalization, 49, 52, 55 Japan, Inc., 15 The Japanese Educational Challenge, xiii Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program, 53-64 Japanese society images of, xii, x v, 141-148 changes in, 67, 106 role of school in, 120-121, 142 Japanese Teacher's Union, 111 JET See Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program JTU See Japanese Teacher's Union juku , xix, 9, 11,26,50,98-99 Index juvenile delinquency, xiv, 16,71 Koreans, 48-49 learning rote, xiv theories of, 66-67, 73-79, 80, 84 The Learning Gap, 5, 16 lesson plans, 29-30 The Manufactured Crisis, 12, 49, 103 maternalism, 14 Marshall Plan, 128 math achievement, 20 education, 10, 145 media images of Japan, 13, 16, 110-111, 116,132 reports on school problems, 13,27, 79,112-113,116, 147 meritocracy, 10, 17 Mexican schools , 131 middle schools , 8,19,84-101 Ministry of Education, 11, 52-53 minorities, xx, 15,22,48-49,55 Mombusho See Ministry of Education modernization, xvi, 66 moral education, 76-77, 89, 94 mother-child relationship, 18 motivation, 38, 43, 66-67 A Nation at Risk, xiv national curriculum See national standards National Enquirer, xi national standards, 6, 12, 31-33, 95-96, 126,144 nihonjinron, xvi, 49 peer pressure, 70, 115 Phi Delta Kappa, political competition, 131-134 preschool, 74, 76, 126, 146 problem solving, 10 psychological theories, 19, 65-67 171 Index PTA (Parent-Teacher Association), 59, 138 recess, 29 reflection See hansei responsibility, xviii, 29, 33, 38, 43 returnees , 13, 48 school advancement, 8, 11,48 failure, 25, 133 hierarchy, xix, 10 organization, 8-9, 14 refusal, 146 rules, xix, 11,67 social class differences and, 11, 1617 violence, 18, 108-110, 112-113 school-to-work transition , 9, 17 science education , 27-28, 32-33, 130, 133, 144 self, 70, 73 self-esteem, 67-72 Shogun's Ghost, 13, 110 Sputnik, xv, 129-130, 133 standardization, student responsibility, 27 substance abuse See drug abuse suicide, 15, 105-108, 120, 141, 146 teachers, 11, 13,36-41,84-101 lives, 14,78-79,92 working conditions, 87-91, 97 workload, 89,91-92 teacher training schools, II textbooks, 32, 98 TIMSS See Third International MathScience Study Tinkering Toward Utopia, 147 Third International Math-Science Study, xi, analysis of, 4, 135 case study project, 21, 138 critiques, 137 video study, 138 tracking, 9, 78 unemployment, 21 universities, xv, 124, 126 and feeder school, U.S Educational Mission to Japan, 138 U.S educational policy, 133-136 weapons, 115 whole-class instruction, 42 World War II, 127-128, 132 .. .COMPETITOR OR ALLY? R EF EREN C E BOOKS IN INT ERNATIONAL EDU CATION V OLUME 45 GARLAND R E F E R E N C E LIBRARY OF S O C I A L S CI ENCE VOLUME 140 COMPETITOR OR ALLY? JAPAN''S ROLE IN AMERICAN. .. emanating from reform committees and councils are noted by their vague good intentions, "giving top priority to instilling respect for children''s individuality" and "increasing opportunities for... either nonverbally (e.g., by waiting for students to look at them or by pointing at a student) or verbally (e.g., by stating what students were expected to or by counting while waiting for students