Moral Education in Japan

MORAL EDUCATION IN JAPAN

 In today’s world, there are a number of issues that are of great moral concern. Societies around the world are facing issues such as over gun control, abortion, immigration, religion, juvenile crime, racism and harassment.

 Moreover, the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has had negative as well as impacts  on society,  with anti-social ICT behaviors such as gaining unauthorized access to people’s information and stealing electronic property becoming causes of concern.

 In view of this, moral/ethics education has become increasingly important. In the US, “lack of discipline” is often cited as the problem in public schools.  

Due to the current circumstances, starting in the 2018 academic year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made moral education a full-fledged academic subject in elementary and junior high school. Government officials have also cited school bullying as a major reason for the curriculum change, as it led to the suicide of a high school student.

The revised curriculum will focus on a “think-and-discuss” type of education, where students can share their opinions about bullying.

 The curriculum change has sparked a backlash due to the fact that historically, moral training has been associated with nationalist wartime policies.

 It could be argued that moral education is already an integral part of the Japanese education system, which is designed to achieve goals through educational activities.

 First, students themselves clean their classrooms everyday. Second, they look after various animals or plants in order to learn to respect life. Third, in junior and high schools, students are involved in after-school club activities that help them acquire interpersonal skills and learn to maintain adherence to group rules and norms.

 In other words, the relation between an individual and society are emphasized in schools. This promotes the notion that people live most successfully when they help others, and students learn that not causing trouble and having consideration for others are important values in Japanese society.

 In Western countries, Christianity has played a dominant role in moral education even though the US, France, and other countries prohibit religious instruction in public schools. In Japan, however, moral education is not connected with religious teachings.

 Compared to Christian countries, people in Japan tend to be much more flexible and non-dogmatic about religion. For example, the social roles of Buddhist temples and shrines and their ties to the community have been fading in recent years.

 Children naturally learn social values at home because learning fundamental values is closely related to family life. Since there are such close ties between family and school in Japan, moral education in school is widely used to enforce the social values acquired at home.

 Therefore, moral education in schools is required now more than ever before. When it comes to moral education, however, there is probably more than one right answer about how to improve a child’s moral conditioning. We need to seek better ways to educate children to increase the moral virtues found in Japanese society.