Criticism of Meritocracy and Educational Evaluation Theory in Post-War Japan

From the Views of Mathematician Hiraku Toyama

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the facts of Hiraku Toyamaʼs criticism of meritocracy. Meritocracy, whose aims are the distribution of educational opportunities and resources according to the skills of individuals, emerged in the context of educational policies from various reports from the 1960s. Critical discourse on meritocracy from a number of educators spread at that time.

This study considered the views of the mathematician Hiraku Toyama and clarified the facts in his criticism of meritocracy in order to shed light on the existence of various phases and pluralities of meritocracy criticism that have been neglected to date based on the circumstances of the previous studies mentioned above. The considerations in this study suggest that in Toyamaʼs meritocracy criticism, i）criticism is focused on the fallacy of numerical principles in education measurement and achievement tests, and ii）statements are made regarding the deprivation of educational opportunities among disabled students and students who perform poorly, who are driven to the bottom of the hierarchy due to the misapplication of education measurement and achievement tests. In addition, iii） the victims of meritocracy and the mentality of the people he considers disabled and students who perform poorly are addressed, and how the deprivation of self-esteem and motivation impacts the paths of said people are indicated. Furthermore, in comparison with the views of the educator Teruhisa Horio, the intention to pursue teacher damage was clarified, and the findings of this study clarified the existence of discourses with facts that go beyond the scope of previous studies on meritocracy criticism in port-war Japan.