入試改革から教育改革へ

抄録

　 When the Japanese standardized test for university admission, called the Joint First-Stage Achievement Test, began twenty years ago, it was mainly intended for elite students because only applicants for national and local public universities were required to sit for the test and they were the cream of high school students. Today, this elite system has been replaced by a test that is intended for all college entrants, renamed the National Center Test , which includes the private sector. Ninety percent of all applicants for admission to fouryear institutions take this examination.

　 Nearly ninety percent of the entire cohort of 18-year-olds go through upper secondary education , so there is considerable difference in academic achievement among high school graduates. Recently, the Ministry of Education has been encouraging high schools to offer a variety of curricula and elective subjects for students to choose from. This more relaxed policy has been producing students who are more diverse in their cognitive levels. In 2002, when schools switch to a five-day week, students will accordingly have their curricula reduced by thirty percent under the newly revised Course of Study. Therefore, there is growing concern that their educational standard can hardly escape being affected.

　 Consequently, Japanese universities are faced with a serious problem, because they have some first-year students who lack the capability to understand what they should have learned at the secondary education level, or who have little aspiration to learning, as well as others who have not opted for basic subjects in preparation for their advanced or specialized studies. They have to assist these students with remedial education, whatever they specialize in. Owing to the decline of the college-age population, more universities have become unable to attract enough applicants to reject any, and have turned out to be nonselective.

　 In order to improve the situation, a common test is necessary, one intended both for applicants to elite universities and those to non-selective institutions of higher education. This would furnish universities with the details of variation in academic achievement among their examinees ; moreover, the information received through test results could also be used for introductory and specialized study programs and for making comparisons with the results after the students complete the four years of university study.

　 With the increase of“accountability”high schools should consider imposing examinations on students for awarding qualifications on the successful completion of secondary education. Planning and maintaining a qualification system in cooperation with the high schools would give prefectural boards of education a chance to reflect on their educational policies. The university entrance system needs renovation to promote the reform being carried out in both secondary and higher education.