In 1958, the Education Ministry of Japan issued a revised cource of study for the elementary and the junior high schools. Strictly speaking, this “course of study” does not deserve to be called a course of study. It is nothing but a list of subject matters, designed to prescribe for all teachers what to seach and how to teach. Our course of study has thus experienced a fundamental change in its character. The fact is a greatest challenge to our democratic education.
It is for us to lay bare the educational viewpoint on which this new “course of study” is based.
1. The new “course of study” denies teachers leadership in their professional function and hinders the people from participating in school education, There is a subtle difference between the government domination in the postwar years and that at present. The former demand complete subordination to government officials while the latter, loyalty to the educational policies dictated by them.
2. The new “course of study ” denies Japan and her people the active fulfilment of their responsi bility for the maintenance of world peace. They are no longer required to establish peace in a positive way. Only to strive to cooperate with other countries is enough for them.
3. The new “course of study” assumes that public interest should always be considered with priority to the human rights of the individual; and besides, what is public interest is left to the discretion of bureaucracy and big enterprises. It is natural that such a ridiculous assumption should prevent patriotic
sentiments from growing in the heart of the people, in spite of all the patriotic propaganda the government urges vigorously.
4. The new “course of study” asserts that the needs and interests of children can be satisfied so long as they help raise the teaching efficiency of teachers; and, moreover, they must be solved only by teachers' teaching technique in their class rooms. For instance, it restricts the free activities of children by alloting the least possible time to extra-curricular activities. It rejects such curricula as puts emphasis on experiences, lives, and communities. 5. The rejection, however, is entirely absurd. The new “course of study” evacuates the merits of experience curriculum and augment its demerits. A real, dynamic and scientific teaching will vanish and in its wake learning will remain as confused as ever. An indoctrinated teaching treated in a uniform manner is about to begin.
6. This indoctrinated and standardized course of study may probably be advantageous to the children who are wealthy and live in large cities. Because it regards all children alike as well-born and urban.
7. In short, the new “course of study” is an education neither of the people, nor by the people, nor for the people. Its basic thoughts are as follows: the best teaching is indoctrination; efficient school system is one exclusive for gifted and well-born children; and it is not for the elevation of humanity, but for the exploitation of man-power resources.
As you know, since the launching of Russian sputniks, the United States have begun to advocate“the fundamental education”and “the foundation program.” “The life adjustment education” and “the education of gifted children” are also thought there to be an urgent task. The trends of the American education are quite similar to those of ours. We should like to analyze this international coincidence at next oppoatunity.

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This report is the summary of our investigations made into the handling of curricula by each senior high school in Saitama Prefecture, beginning in 1956 and continuing for three successive years. The object of our research is to make clear the ways how these schools accepted the new curriculum revised by the Ministry of Education; together with the obstacles faced by them and the effects produced on them; and so to provide some helpful suggestions for a desirable future revision of the high school curriculum.
As regards the full-time general courses of study these schools adopted all the five courses the Ministry instructed to them in the first year, but lowered the number of the courses in the second year, and cut it down even more in the third year, simplifying their contents as well.
There are noticeable variations in the nature and contents of the adopted courses between mixed and unmixed schools. Difference among environning local communities are also reflected in their courses.
The course system according to which each school adopted the courses of its own choice, gave rise to scholastic disparity among them. Some schools (chiefly boys' high schools) where the greater majority of students desire to go on to schools of higher grade, tend more and more to concentrate their efforts in coaching the students for the entrance of colleges and universities; while other schools (chiefly coeducational ones) are forced to manage a number of different courses, apparently hurting their educational efficiency.
As regards the full-time vocational courses of study the Ministry of Education mapped out a variety of courses, which excepting that of engineering, are all hardly practicable. Though the units of each general subject were made to range from three to five, and it serves for the purpose of widening the sphere of general arts, the unfavorable result is that a heavy burden have fallen on the students. Because the whole units, including those of general and vocational subjects, have exceeded far above the regulated eighty-five units.
In the part-time courses, both general and vocational, it is virtually impossible to follow the course system, owing to a great number of students with its insufficient teaching staff.
The time seems to come again when the high school curriculum is in need of re-examination. High school education will not be made better merely by manipulating its curriculum, while leaving the term of its study and the number limit of its teacher as they are now. Difficulties will not be overcome unless some drastic measures are taken, with regard to the system itself and its financial conditions.

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In large cities about thirty percent of the boys and girls who finished their compulsory education are in employment. Here we tried to observe what kind of consideration was being given to this fact by the secondary schools in large cities.
It is generally admitted that the teachers of those schools are making earnest efforts to give partinent and proper guidance to their pupils. The effort, however, is apt to end merely in a display of their feeling of affection towards their children. They have proved lacking in an objective understanding of the future vocational career of their children. The only vocational guidence so fai given to these pupils is based upon the data furnished by lower secondary schools in Tokyo area. There is no other reference source available for this purpose than “The Research in Vocation Guidance on the Lower and Upper Secondry Schools in Tokyo, ” 1958.

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A) Aim
In this paper I want to clarify the relationship between the trend of primary school curricula and their social background in Federal Republic of Germany.
B) Method
The paper is a summerized part of my dissertation submitted for the Degree of Master of Education to the Faculty of Education, Tokyo University of Education. With the intension to do my research in a positive way, I made some hypotheses in the dissertation, and tried to prove them through as many data as I conld obtain. Due to the limitation of the given space, however, I couldn't use here all the data at my disposal to discuss the problem fully and precisely.
C) Summary
Since 1945 when the Allied Forces released the German people from the bondage of NAZISM and applied democratic policies upon them, educational reform has advanced greatly in F. R. D., especialy in its major cities. But owing to the success of its economical policy, Conservative Power has taken a dominant possition and the tendency to hamper the development of democratic education has begun to appear.

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The local educational administration in Japan, which, if any, functioned democratically under the “Board of Education Law” of 1948, was greatly influenced by the reconstruction of the law in 1956. How the practice of the local educational administration has been changed by the new system originated by the new law of 1956 (i.e. the “Local Educational Administration Law”, in abbreviation) is a very interesting theme to make research. We members of the Academy decided to make field survey in Awaji Island of Hyogo Prefecture in 1957, one year after the enforcement of the new law. Awaji Island includes 1 city, 8 towns and 1 village, and makes one round community unit. We made survey about organization, operation and function of the local boards of education, and the influence of the new law upon school education and social education and so on.
As the result of that survey, we could not find, to speak generally, remarkable change after the enforcement of the new law. The constitution of the boards of education showed no noticeable difference between the effects of the old election system and of the new appointment system. As to the operation of the boards of education we could realize considerable change in the character of a superintendent. As to the function of the boards of education, procedure of appointment of teaching personnel has changed, and evaluation system of teachers' service merit was almost near its time of enforcement. Supervision has been depending upon that of prefectural level. School finance has not yet changed remarkably. As to the influence of the new law upon school education, school management regulations were being established, and curriculum was about to be controlled by the upper authorities. As to social education, some town headmen there have become earnest about its promotion.
As to why local administration has not yet changed so remarkably, it is partly because it has passed not long after the enforcement of the new law, we think. But it is mainly because the inhabitants of this island are very conservative and do not like any change. Administration is generally brought in execution by person rather than by law even nowadays. Local community is each in a small scale, and as the men are under human relations of face to face, they are inclined to dislike wrangling. As the community is feudalistic and closed, it is difficult readily to be democratized. To be conservative in this district, where democracy is not being fully understood and realized, means to cling to the condition of pre-democracy. We can see that under the democratic system of educational administration, democratic ideal was not fully realized in this district. The supreme power from the upper institution can easily catch that blind side. This clearly causes in the enforcement of the policy of evaluation system of teachers and so on in 1958, and the role of boards of education was to make remarkable change after that year.
We made field survey again in 1958 on prefectural and other local administrative level in the Kinki province. So you will be able to grasp any interesting actual condition of change, if you compare the results of the survey of 1957 with that of 1958, which is to be published before long.

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