2007 Volume 74 Issue 4 Pages 518-529
Social education has traditionally expected the "power of society" to promote education in society. Social education lies deep within local society or community, and it has taken part in the process of creating autonomous practices by citizens to realize the "common good" and self-governance in communities. The purpose of this paper is to reexamine community values in social education through a reinterpretation of the concept of social education, while giving attention to the control of the penetration of national values into communities. Social capital and social education have many characteristics in common. The concept of both social education and social capital has been used to emphasize the social context of education. And furthermore, social education attaches great importance to the value of social networks, the criteria of generalized reciprocity and trust, and the bonds of community, which are the main components of social capital. Jiro Yamana pays attention to "association" as a facilitator of social education in a book entitled Social Education (1892), while distinguishing national education from social education. He discusses the "principle of social education", and states that "society eduecates itself" is the basic tenet of education. It was sozialpadagogik of Germany, which was introduced to Japan in the 1900's, that gave pedagogical grounds to social education in Japan. It is necessary to pay attention to sozialpadagogik, because it links education to welfare, while emphasizing the "social aspect of education". Social education in Japan also historically contains welfare work, and we ought to return to this kind of value system. Unosuke Kawamoto paid attention to the community from the perspective of social education in the 1920s, which was influenced by progressive education in the United States. After World War II, the issues surrounding the relationship between social education and community were discussed with the establishment of "Kominkan" (Community Centers). The focus of the debate was on the relationship between the freedom of an individual and the solidarity of the community. Presently, the relationship between communities and social education is becoming an important issue in municipalities undergoing reform of administration and finance. Various goods exist in communities, and they are reconciled and coexistent, but they also collide. Moreover, national values penetrate into communities. The "Kominkan" play an important role in balancing various goods and realizing "common goods" in communities. "Common goods" are defined, corrected and decided through deliberation. They are realized through deliberation in "Kominkan". Therefore, it is necessary to prepare the various places for deliberation in "Kominkan" formally and informally. The staff of "Kominkan" take part in this process of deliberation as facilitators, and the educational activities of residents create new community values. On the other hand, "Kominkan" have begun to play a part in welfare work. Social education can also realize new "common goods" of communities by including educational welfare work as well as German sozialpadagogik. The values of social education are created by taking part in the realization of "common goods" in communities.
