The Future of “Japanese Schools” as a Community: Points of Discussion on the Liberalization and Personalization of Education and the “Small Schools” Debate

Abstract

As arguments for the liberalization of education grow more heated, how are we to approach Japanese schools as a community? This paper clarifies the basic concept of the “small schools” theory typified by the METI “Future Classrooms” (functionalist and individualist reorganizations), and organizes the relevant points of debate. In particular, the paper examines the issues of individuation and personalization represented by individual optimization of learning, promotionism (an attendance-based credit acquisition) and retentionism (an achievement-based credit acquisition), merit promotion and social promotion, and grade and class systems. Based thereon, the paper presents a perspective on the reconstruction of the communality and publicness of Japanese schools.