Possibility of the Research in the Organization of the Social Education Such as Zoo and Museum

Abstract

The function and the responsibility of the zoo and the social education were discussed in the Annual Meeting of the Society of the Zoo and Wildlife Medicine at Kobe 2008. We must restate that zoos have responsibility to conduct research. Throughout the history of education and academia in Japan, zoos have been separated from academic studies. Because of the military empire before the World War II along with the post-war economic growth, their academic roles were left behind, which led them to be unsuccessful to achieve their status in the field of science. Although liberal and democratic public education was systematically organized after the war in Japan, zoos and museums were cut their ways of pursuing their ideology due to the cold war. As a result, zoos and educational institutions ended up being a part of construction administration or organization where they could not seek any research environment. Academia as well as universities kept ignoring the biases that exist in the study of zoology and the less focus on fundamental science, saw zoos as non-academic institutions and was ignorant in public education. Under the recent political reform policy, which based on seeking profit and entertainment as a part of their roles, zoos have been targeted to undergo rationalization, and seeking science and education have been left behind. Because of the less interest by the political leaderships in the performance of public officers and in education, public education and zoos are separated from their identity and are merely treated as a service industry. Academia including universities, which were to end up failing in a profit-prone management, are suddenly approaching to zoos and public educational affiliates for taking advantage of them as a tool to make profit. We must decide to part from the acts in the past and the sad history, and take responsibility to promote the roles of zoos as a center of academia and education.