Examining Actual Situation of the Child-Study in Daiho Elementary School: The Influences of American Educational Measurement on Japanese School Practice in Taisho New Education

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the influence of American Child-study on Japanese School Practice in Taisho New Education. Previous studies have shown Japanese Child- study began in Meiji era under the influence of American Child-study movement in the 19th century. Although a few psychologists and pedagogists, leaders of Japanese child-study movement, suggested co-laboration with teachers, the cooperative Child-study did not realize at least in Meiji and Taisho era. Previous studies concluded that ultimately Japanese Child-study had developed in a rupture with practitioners and practical situations. In other words, Child-study have never been developed by school teachers.

While these studies examined psychologists and pedagogists’ theories of Child- study, they overlooked practitioners’ work. Little is known about how school principals and teachers involved in Child-study. Moreover, school principals and teachers as well as researchers payed close attention to global trend of education and psychology, and actively collected information. It is necessary to reexamine influences of American Child-study on Japan based on investigation of school practices.

This paper focused on Daiho elementary school and investigated how the principal and teachers collected information from America and conducted Child-study. First of all, we discussed development of American Child-study in the early 20th century and then examined its influences on Daiho elementary school practices.

Findings are as follows. In the early 20th century, Stanley Hall’s Child-study was criticized by various psychologists and pedagogists. Edward Thorndike was one of the most prominent critics of Child-study at that time. He criticized roughness of conventional Child-study and introduced measuring method into Child-study as the “scientific approach.” Outcomes of his scientific research inspired researchers and some teachers to conduct field studies by means of measuring methods without blind acceptance of conventional Child-study theories. Principal, named Kezo Hirata, and teachers of Daiho elementary school found “the society for child education” in 1918 and collected American educational and psychological information. They mainly collected information of Thorndike and his colleagues’ American education measurement. Hirata recognized educational measurements as the “scientific approach” in the same sense as Thorndike and started field studies by means of measuring methods with teachers in Daiho elementary school. Throughout the field studies, teachers realized ignorance of the child and actively tried Child-study. In short, the educational measurement of children in this school inspired teachers to conduct “scientific” studies of the children.

As has been discussed, practitioners of Japanese school started Child-study under the influence of American Child-study by means of measuring methods. They tried field studies of the school children with “scientific” mind.