Abstract
In this article I attempt to design a new curriculum framework for a school in Japan with students attending just five weekdays every week, as in English or American schools. Nowdays in Japan most Japanese peolple work five days and have two days off each week. However, just as some Japanese have to work six days a week, so about half of the Japanese parents don't want to adopt the new system of the five-weekday school. Asuke Town in Aichi Prefecture have carried out a pilot study of five-day school activity for more than five years., and the parents have changed their negative attitude to that system to a positive one in these years. Therefore, we can accept the five-day school system. But if we accept this system, we have to reform the school curriculum. The new structure of the curriculum should consist of three subject groups as follows: (1) CORE subjects: Japanese Language, Arithmetic or Mathematics, Foreign Language (English) (2) BASIC subjects: Social Studies, Science, Music, Fine Arts, Technology, Home Economics, Physical Edmcation (3) INTERDISCIPLINARY subjects: one new subject whose content should deal with our ultimate social problems and be combined from environmental studies, energy or natural resources problems, population problems, etc. This third subject is needed in the contemporary world, particularly for younger generations. This curriculum design is based on the pilot study of Asuke Junior High School and is shown as a tentative one.
