In the history of Japanese education, the “gender characteristics theory” that men and women naturally have different characteristics rejected not only the “gender equality theory'' which came from Western Europe in the early Meiji era, but also the traditional “male chauvinism” of Eastern Asia. According to the theory of gender characteristics, men and women were seen as having 'equal value,' though not 'equal rights.' This theory became the main educational philosophy of women's education when the gender-segregated school system was established in the 1900s, and likewise permeated society as a scientific theory in the 1920s.

 After World War II, when gender equality became accepted, a coeducational system was introduced for equal educational opportunities. However, the gender characteristics theory remained the basis for making home economics a compulsory subject for women, as the division of labor by gender expanded during the high economic growth period of the sixties and environs. Coeducation was a system intended for men and women to "respect" each other and "cooperate" (Article 5 of the Basic Act on Education), and gender differences in curricula in coeducational schools were seen as 'reasonable' differences to ensure 'essential equality' between men and women. Schools were also not considered places of gender inequality.

 Elsewhere, women's universities and women's junior colleges were established after the war with the expectation that they would play a new role in training women to support the democratic society. However, they also inherited the pre-war vocational school curriculum centered on literature and home economics. When these colleges increased during the period of high economic growth, this pre-war curriculum spread further, based on the theory of gender characteristics. As a result, women's universities and women's junior colleges were criticized as being contrary to gender equality. It was only after the 1985 ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the spread of gender equality that the theory of gender characteristics finally came to an end.

 Today, the raison d'être of women's education is being questioned again. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women not only rejects the theory of gender characteristics and fixed gender roles, but also defines "discrimination against women" as "discrimination, exclusion or restriction based on sex." As the concept of gender spreads, the view that separating men and women is itself "discrimination" is also spreading. If women's education is to continue to exist, its raison d'être will depend on its ability to contribute to the elimination of gender disparities.

 Since the 1970s, criticism of sex education practices has arisen in various countries. In Japan, it happened in the 2000s. Theoretically, the sex education debates the question of public-private dualism and how to guarantee that the wishes of parents in the minority are reflected in the system. In reality, the controversy is about how to systematize the intent of minorities—specifically, conservative religious officials—who disagree with the secular and scientific sex education content introduced in developed countries. This paper provides an overview of how England and the United States, which have experienced intense sex education controversies, have responded to this issue; at the same time, the paper examines the characteristics of the Japan controversy that emerged in the 2000s.

 In 1990s England, after fierce controversy, sex education, essentially in secular form, became compulsory in secondary schools. The intent of a minority of parents who opposed secular sex education was taken into account by separating the mandatory and compulsory areas of sex education and granting parents the right to withdraw their children from classes outside the compulsory areas. What should be compulsory is, of course, a subject of controversy. In the United States, a subsidy scheme called Title V was established to fund abstinence education in addition to the federal sex education subsidies that had been funding secular and scientific sex education practices, creating a system in which secular sex education and religious-based sex education coexisted. The amount of subsidies for each is naturally a subject of controversy. In parallel with federal subsidies, parental rights have been introduced at the state level to withdraw their children from class, as in the United Kingdom.

 Elsewhere, in Japan, sex education controversies focusing on the issue of public-private dualism did not emerge until the 2000s. Teachers and sex education officials were confused because criticism focusing on parental intent was new. As a result, sex education practices atrophied. In response to a request from Yamatani Eriko, a representative of the critics, in the 2005 Diet session, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) conducted the first nationwide survey on school sex education. Contrary to the critics' intent, sex education was found to be inadequately implemented rather than radical, but the survey also revealed that 44.5% of elementary schools and 33.1% of junior high schools did not explain the content of classes to parents in any form. In the subsequent revision of the Courses of Study, a phrase signifying that ‘the understanding of parents is necessary when implementing sex education’ was added to the Courses of Study Commentary. Although this wording does not envisage substantial rights such as the right of parents to withdraw their children as in the UK and the US, we must note the qualitative change in which parents, previously the objects of sex education practice, became subjective actors in the Japan sex education system.

 This study aims to analyze the relationship between the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus and Nazism in Germany from a gender perspective. The Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus is an organization which has consistently taken the lead in early childhood education in Germany since its establishment at the end of the 19th century.

 First, the paper notes the decision made at the German Reich School Conference in 1920 to exclude kindergartens from the schooling system. At this conference, Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus Principal Lili Droescher argued that kindergartens differed from schools, and should thus be separated from schools and connected to families, considered necessary only when the family failed to function. This argument eliminated the argument that kindergarten should be compulsory education. After this conference, kindergartens were placed in the welfare sector in Germany. At the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus, arguments for making kindergarten compulsory were no longer entertained.

 Second, early childhood education, being disconnected from schooling, managed to avoid forced assimilation under the Nazis. School-related organizations were thoroughly dismantled and remade to serve Nazism. Contrastingly, early childhood education organizations adapted seamlessly to the changes in the system, and also developed programs in support of the regime. The Nazi glorification of motherhood was compatible with the ideology of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus, which promoted both early childhood education and maternal education in mutual relation.

 The above discussion is closely related to the issue of gender and education: the women's movement of the 19th century, closely involved with women's education, paved the way for women's advancement in society.

 While there were many different movements, part of the German women's movement favored occupations suitable for women. One such profession was early childhood educator. In this profession, women's status was elevated through the assertion of family values and motherhood. However, the activities of the Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus, which sought to promote early childhood education by insisting on the importance of motherhood, conformed to and supported the logic of fascism.

 Although the gender gap in university enrolment rates has narrowed significantly since the 2000s, the gap remains significant with regard to university rank and majors. In response to these issues, previous studies have analyzed university rank and majors independently to clarify their relationship with gender. However, these studies are problematic in two ways. First, their analyses did not include cases of ronin (students applying to university for multiple consecutive years). Given the institutional context in Japan, it is necessary in order to clarify gender differences in university enrolment to incorporate into the analysis the question of who chooses to be a ronin and what type of university they enter as a result. Second, university rank and majors must be analyzed not in isolation, but in connection. The two are intertwined, with more science and engineering departments in public universities, which are more difficult to enter, and more nursing and health departments in private universities, which are relatively easier to enter. The logic assumed by previous studies may diverge from the logic of the students' choice of university. This paper, therefore, explores the relationship between the logic of choosing a university and gender using multiple correspondence analysis, rather than methods such as regression analysis which have often been used in previous studies. Whereas the latter sets up a single dependent variable and attempts to measure independent effects on it, the former is an approach that geometrically describes "a web of relationships" between variables.

 The results of the analysis are as follows. First, in addition to boys being more likely to become ronin than girls, it was found that the factors promoting ronin status differed by gender. For boys, attending a boys' school and living in one of the three largest metropolitan areas promoted ronin status, but the same variables did not apply for girls: in their case, living in one of the three largest metropolitan areas or attending girls' school did not increase the probability of choosing to be a ronin. In addition, it was also clear that girls who were ronin chose the same universities as boys, compared to girls who were not ronin. Second, the logic behind the choice of university was extracted as two axes: public versus private and vocational versus otherwise. This logic is also systematically related to the dynamics of difficulty of admission and region of origin. Gender plays a role in these forces, causing men and women to make different university choices.

 The results of the above analyses show that gender operates within the institutional context in which these forces operate, causing men and women to make different university choices. The analysis in this paper shows the importance of the institutional context surrounding choices and the effectiveness of MCA as a way of making this visible.

 This paper aims to explain the long-term transformation of Japanese women's life courses, using the results of quantitative sociological analyses. Large-scale work history data has been obtained by representative surveys such as the Social Stratification and Mobility Surveys. This paper first introduces methods of constructing age-based life course data and presenting the visualized results of analyses. In order to confirm changes in women's life courses, it is important to compare the visualized patterns among birth cohorts. Three turning points are crucial in the history of Japanese women's education, occupation and family formation: the wartime regime in the early 1940s, the oil crisis period of the mid-1970s, and the lost decade of the mid-1990s.

 This paper begins by clarifying the effects of social changes in the mid-1970s, showing that the well-known M-shaped pattern of Japanese women's labor force participation was formed during that period. This pattern is quite evident in the life courses of female high school graduates born between 1931 and 1945. They tended to work as regular employees until their mid-20s, then to quit after marriage or childbirth and reenter the labor market as non-regular employees at the age of about 40. This M-shaped pattern was the standard Japanese women's life course until the mid-1990s.

 Then, during the lost decade from the early 1990s to the early 2000s, the work-life patterns of women in their 20s and early 30s, those of the 1971-75 birth cohort, changed. Using the JGSS-2009 LCS and the JGSS-2013 LCS Wave 2, this paper shows that the system of fulltime employment is declining and that irregular employment is increasing. The overall patterns of Japanese women's life courses tend to differentiate into many separate paths. It is argued that while differentiated and individualized life course paths expand the number of possible options for life trajectories, some routes can be destabilized in unexpected ways by events of the time such as major natural disasters. This is a characteristic of contemporary life course patterns.

 Last, the paper focuses on the impacts of the wartime regime on women's life courses, analyzing the 1983 Women's Occupational Mobility and Career Survey. The results reveal that the life course patterns of the 1921-25 birth cohort were affected by the wartime labor demands from their late teens to early 20s. In particular, while clerical jobs and manual work expanded among young middle school graduates during the early 1940s, most of them were no longer working by the age of 25, after the war. This life course pattern for women through their mid-20s is very similar to the pattern of female high school graduates born from 1931 to 1945, although similar life patterns were not found in the 1926-30 birth cohort. These results imply that from World War II through the immediate postwar era, a prototype life pattern for women in their early 20s emerged among female middle school graduates in Japan. This paper argues that this prototype has had an enduring effect on the life patterns of women in the subsequent birth cohorts.

 This paper reconsiders gender from the perspective of “habit,” one of the central concepts of pragmatism. It has been argued that the “hidden curriculum” as related to gender reproduces sexist practices, which in turn are reproduced by children in the classroom.

 In response to these arguments, researchers taking various feminist approaches suggest changes in classroom interactions. For example, educational research based on liberal feminism has argued that girls' class participation should be on an equal level with boys', while educational research based on radical feminism has focused on micro-level classroom practices.

 The introduction of the concept of habit discussed by pragmatism adds a further perspective to the conversation on the reproduction of gender in the classroom. Arguments about habit help us to understand changes in both structures and selves in dynamic relationships. Researching classroom structures and settings in which sexist practices are reproduced, and analyzing the participation of the children therein, a pragmatist approach can help us pay attention to habits constructed according to the existing gender order, as well as to the transformations of the structure produced by the transactions between habits and environment.

 This paper first reviews the concept of the “hidden curriculum” and discusses the ways in which liberal feminism and radical feminism address the question of transformations in gender. Next it provides an overview of how pragmatism understands habit. Relying on the work of pragmatist feminist Shannon Sullivan, who discusses the relationship between gender and “habits,” the paper then reconsiders gender from the perspective of habits and introduces the perspective into the discussion of hidden curricula. Finally, it explores the question of overcoming sexism in light of the theory of habit. The paper suggests that neither the liberation from sexism nor the deconstruction of sexism addresses adequately the processes of transformation that necessarily accompany the reproduction of sexism. This can be better understood by analyzing the dynamic relationship between habits and structures. The pragmatist approach to habit suggests that it is the continuous exchange between the complex of habits and the structures that makes us who we are and opens up the possibility of transformation.

 When people begin to question and develop critical gender perspectives on the status of their family relations, workplaces, communities, and other aspects in their daily lives, they are often confronted with the issue of isolation. Overcoming isolation is a serious issue. This study examines the relationship between involvement in a problematic situation and development of an understanding of experience through various local community youth activities in the 1970s and 1980s. Compared to school education, the learning activities of young women living in regional communities have not received much attention, and few previous studies have taken the viewpoint of young women as subjects of learning. However, there were unique structures and learning challenges in the activities of these young women that took place in the context of their relationships with men and other adults in the local community. This study, therefore, is based on records written by the youth at the time, examining the situation faced by learning and activities and the trial and error involved from a more micro perspective.

 Although young women's community activities have been carried out through various initiatives, in the first place, it was difficult for young women to go outside their homes to engage in these activities. As the women became more aware and critical of their daily lives from a gender perspective, friction and conflict arose in their personal and professional relationships. Three things can be pointed out as to how these unsavory conditions were overcome. First, they dared to engage in a wide variety of activities, in order to sustain relationships and avoid decisive ruptures and splits within society, so as to continue living amicably in the same village in the future. Thus, they avoided radical change and preferred incremental changes. Second, a small safe space was established to allow for frank dialogue among young women, which was the starting point. Although not completely open to public, this safe space was a part of the local youth activities. Third, there was the presence of women from the preceding generation, a network of women who supported and encouraged one another. Supported thereby, women's activism was a deliberate and conscious effort to work on their own lives; as seen in labor issues in the workplace, it also led to the evocation of change.

 The learning practice involved with gender issues was thus extremely constrained and difficult to understand. It did not lead directly to a fundamental change in the situation or to a definitive solution to the problem. However, from a long-term perspective, it encompasses the possibility of gradual change.

 In search of factors in the gender segregation of majors in Japanese higher education in terms of gender differences in “science consciousness,” which means a self-awareness of being suited to science courses, we examined the factors that make it challenging for fifth- and sixth-grade girls to have a science consciousness. The results showed that factors such as (1) the acceptance of gender stereotypes derived from anxiety about studying math, (2) frequency of contact with fathers, and (3) performance-based values were related to the girls' difficulty with science consciousness. The key implication of the findings is that the basic competence of elementary school teachers in teaching elementary-level mathematics is important in achieving gender equality in educational opportunities.

 The purpose of this paper is to clarify what kind of fear male performers face when performing in the improv format “The Bechdel test” and how to mitigate that fear. As improv emphasizes spontaneity and “yes and,” various biases of the performer are incorporated into the story on stage. This paper focuses on gender bias therein.

 The Bechdel Test was developed in 2016 by Lisa Rowland, a US improv performer, inspired by the test of the same name used to measure gender bias in movies. The format has four characteristics: (1) Women play the main character, who has a monologue opening and closing the performance; (2) the performers create fragmentary, non-linear short scenes called “snapshots” with the aim of depicting the diversity of the main characters; (3) the performers explore the “alternative potentials” of the stories that have unconsciously been excluded from improv performances so far; (4) a “discussion” time is made part of the performance to reflect on the improv just performed from a gender perspective and to engage in dialogue.

 In 2021, I formed a group with Reiko Naoi, who learned The Bechdel Test from Rowland and started its advanced practice in Japan, to continue learning and performing it. This paper focuses on the fear of a male performer (A) and its transformation process. His behavior in practice and his narratives in post-performance interviews were used as analytical data.

 The results show that he had a fear of expressing his own gender bias. His feared “women” (his fellow female performers and female audience members). This fear, which stemmed from an unwillingness to be perceived by these women as gender-biased, was alleviated as he continued to study The Bechdel Test. He came to regard this format as “theater that shows the multifaceted nature of the main characters” rather than “a measure of personal gender bias.”

 His fear may be related to the duality of improv, in which the performer must improvise three roles at the same time: actor, scriptwriter, and director. Therefore, the audience may believe that the story unfolding on stage and the characters who enact it are controlled by the performers themselves.

 He found out a new way of mitigating his fear by choosing his own character to display the main character's multifacetedness in snapshots, and by speaking in discussion from the character's point of view. However, the audience sees not only the world of the story woven by the characters, but also the way the performers work to create the story. Therefore, the performers cannot continue to hide under the cover of the characters. In discussion, he expressed his own fear during the scene as “weakness.” The expression of his “weakness” worked as a “safety device” to destroy the structure of “perpetrator/victim.”

 Since the 2000s, the oppression of homosexual youth in schools has been studied. Prior studies have shown that they face various difficulties and oppression in schools due to the heteronormative and homophobic environment. Therefore, researchers have called for schools to change. However, these discussions have overlooked how homosexual youth have come to recognize themselves as “homosexuals” through identity fluctuations. This paper introduces a poststructuralist paradigm of gender studies to reconsider the fixed image of homosexual youth in previous studies, aiming to capture the process by which homosexual youth form their sexual identity. The analysis was based on data from interviews with these youth.

 The process of sexual identity formation of homosexual youth, as revealed through the analysis, is as follows. They may have a same-sex sexual orientation but consider themselves to like the opposite sex, or they may not be aware of their same-sex sexual orientation as a matter of their own sexuality. However, when they fall in love with someone of the same sex, their self-perception based on heteronormative ideas is shaken. Through exposure to the discourse of sexuality (the distinction between romantic feelings and friendship, and the emphasis on the gender of the person for whom they have romantic feelings) through their interactions with other students, homosexual youth interpret their feelings for the other person as “romantic feelings” and understand their own sexuality toward the same sex (Ch. 3). Homosexual youth who recognize their own sexuality understand the reception of “being homosexual” through the media environment and the representation of homosexuality in homosocial relationships at school. These views of homosexuality influence their identification with the category and the meaning they ascribe to the identity. While homophobic and stereotypical images of homosexuality lead to a denial of identity, homosexual youth can accept their identity if not surrounded by negative views of homosexuality (Ch. 4). Thus, homosexual youth form their own sexual identity through interactions with other students related to their sexuality, and through the meaning derived therefrom.

 The significance of the findings of this paper is as follows. First, the paper demonstrates the ambivalence of the school experience for homosexual youth. Previous studies have emphasized the oppressive aspects of the school experience. However, based on the findings here, while school is a place where homosexual youth experience oppression based on heteronormativity and homophobia, it is also a place where they form their sexual identities through interactions with other students and their peer group. Second, the stereotypical image of homosexual youth has been reconsidered. The sexual orientation of homosexual youth is formed as individual sexual identity through the practice of understanding this identity as romantic feelings toward the same sex through the organization of discourse on sexuality. Even if homosexual youth are already aware of their same-sex sexuality, the meaning of “being homosexual” will change according to their interactions with the peer group surrounding them and the homosexual representations they encounter.

 This study aims to explore the possibilities and problems of the model educational text for inochi no anzen-kyoiku (life safety education). The text provides education on the prevention of domestic and sexual violence. It was published by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Technology in April 2021 as part of an ongoing governmental effort to reduce violence and expand support for domestic and sexual violence survivors. The text is expected to raise public awareness about violence, as it is the first Japanese educational policy program focused on violence prevention. However, it has faced severe criticism by researchers and practitioners involved in comprehensive sexuality education for its failure to provide the basic sexual knowledge necessary for sexual self-determination and consent. This paper seeks to make a contribution to existing literature by carefully examining how domestic and sexual violence and its impact are depicted and conceptualized in the model text's material. From a quantitative and qualitative analysis based on intersectional feminist theory that defines violence as a product of a “matrix of domination” in which multiple axes of power such as gender, sexuality, race, class, ability, etc., are intertwined with each other, the following points were elucidated.

 On the one hand, the Ministry of Education, Sports, Science and Technology's material conveys a clear message which aims to break down victim-blaming myths regarding sexual assaults. This is an accomplishment of long-time grassroots feminist movements that support domestic and sexual violence survivors. Further, it is remarkable progress considering the critical lack of sexuality education in Japanese school settings. On the other hand, this material conceals the reality of violence by and against LGBTQ people by repeatedly using gender binary illustrations based on heterosexist and cisgenderist assumptions. Additionally, domestic and sexual violence are presented not as the expression of structural power relations in the interlocking systems of society but as a simple personal issue that can be solved through individual efforts aimed at creating healthy relationships. We can argue that the model material's ambivalent character is closely linked with danjo-kyodo-sankaku (creating a gender-equal society), a unique Japanese umbrella policy discourse whose official English translation is “gender equality,” but whose actual meaning is quite different. This concept, which has been used to maintain “partnerships between men and women,” or heterosexual family relationships, rather than eliminating discrimination against women, necessarily limits the possibilities for transformative education to end domestic and sexual violence. To make inochi no anzen-kyoiku more radical, it is necessary for the Japanese government to overcome the above-mentioned issues by constructing an effective educational system that promotes comprehensive sexuality and gender equality education.

 As a teacher of Japanese language at a local public junior high school, the author conducted the educational practice of writing about daily life almost every year from 1988 to 2018. Each time, several children wrote about domestic violence (DV). This study clarifies children's perceptions of DV and their process of empowerment through both the children's writings and interviews conducted with the writers as adults.

 The first half of the study examines the expressions written by the children about DV and clarifies the challenges they perceived. The second half analyzes interview data of children's reflections on their educational practices at that time to elucidate how these practices were experienced. Empowerment was captured in the three processes of “facing oneself,” “writing,” and “presenting/listening and giving back.” Interviews were conducted with three individuals who could currently be contacted and whose safety could be confirmed.

 The texts described how fathers became violent when not given priority or when feeling that mothers' unpaid work was inadequate. In the “money-related violence” category, about half of the children wrote about not having enough money for living expenses. In the case of separation, nearly 80% of the children recognized that they were experiencing financial difficulties. The texts suggested that the effects of DV are sometimes serious and that its impact on children's “personality” cannot be underestimated. The three participants were empowered by what they wrote and presented to the class. The practice of “presenting/listening and giving back” led to empowerment for both the individual presenters and the children around them.

 When a child writes about DV and the teacher carefully accepts their expression, an effective step is taken toward empowering the child. “Writing” has the potential to objectify the experience and change the child's perception of self, others, and society. Alternatively, when written texts are shared with the learning group, the empowerment made possible is different from that of recovery through psychological counseling. The practice of collaboration between the Japanese language and the general studies groups had the potential to empower the surrounding children. However, if the teacher or teaching staff do not accept the child's expression, that too is akin to violence. Thus, cooperation among grade levels and schools based on human rights education is important. Furthermore, it is crucial for teachers and staff to have a gender equality perspective in order understand the situation of children who are subjected to DV and to make schools a safe place for every child who learns there.

 This paper uses PISA 2018 data to analyze differences in anti-bullying attitudes in Japanese boys' schools, girls' schools, and co-educational schools in comparison with South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Australia, focusing on the differences in anti-bullying attitudes that may be formed within single-sex and co-educational schools in each country. The central question of this paper is whether there are differences in anti-bullying attitudes among different types of schools (e.g., co-ed, boys', and girls' schools). In relation to this question, we examine (1) whether there are differences in anti-bullying attitude by country, (2) how differences in anti-bullying attitude by country and school type appear, and (3) how socioeconomic status and academic achievement, as measured by international comparative surveys, affect these differences.

 To address the above issues, we conducted three analyses using PISA 2018 data: (1) comparison of means as descriptive statistics, (2) multiple regression analysis with the four countries as pooled data, and (3) multiple regression analysis with an interaction term for each of the four countries, in order to examine the determinants of anti-bullying attitudes. The results showed that although the tendency for boys to accept bullying was common across the four countries, Japan had significantly lower anti-bullying attitudes than the other three countries. The analysis using interaction terms indicated a negative effect in Japan in that the higher the socioeconomic status or mathematical literacy of boys in boys' schools, the less likely they are to object to bullying.

 While higher education enrollment rates and gender ratios in Japan are higher for men than for women, OECD member countries are experiencing a “reverse gender gap” phenomenon in which women's enrollment rates exceed those of men; this is particularly notable in the United States.

 In the U.S., women's higher education has expanded rapidly since the 1950s and 1960s, with a “reverse gender gap” phenomenon already observed in the 1980s. However, since the gender ratio has not changed significantly since 2005, it has been argued that the ratio has been intentionally manipulated (gender balancing) as a new form of discrimination against women.

 Unlike racial affirmative action (AA), which has been the subject of several U.S. Supreme Court decisions, this debate has few precedents and little research. Here, the existence of some kind of “barrier” can be seen.

 The purpose of this study is to review the background of the expansion of women's higher education in the U.S. from the 19th century onward, and then to examine the “barrier” to this debate by reviewing recent discussions on gender balancing.

 Women's higher education in the 19th century expanded mainly after the Civil War, largely in the hands of women's colleges. From the 1900s on, coeducational colleges and universities increased, but admission for women was sometimes severely restricted. After World War II, the rate of women enrolling in higher education expanded further, supported by the contributions of the civil rights and feminist movements of the 1960s, the expansion of institutions of higher education, and legislation such as Title IX, which was passed in 1972. In 1979, the percentage of women exceeded that of men, but the expansion peaked in the early 2000s.

 In the early 2000s, the existence of affirmative action for men by some private universities was reported by court decisions and the media, with “accusations” made by admissions officers. In the mid-2000s, there were arguments for the unconstitutionality of this practice. There was even a U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (CCR) investigation in the late 2000s, but the results were not made public.

 In recent years, it has been argued that this practice should not be equated with AA in the first place: some have proposed redefining the practice as a new form of discrimination against women, using the term “gender balancing”.

 This paper points out two reasons (barriers) why the gender balancing debate has not progressed as far as the race AA debate: the existence of “male privilege” or “discrimination against women” has not been clearly demonstrated, due to a lack of research and studies, and the claim of “gender blind” admissions without “discrimination against women” may divide liberals because it falls in line with the arguments of the anti-race AA faction.

 Finally, the paper discusses the possibility that the recent reports of “disengagement from education” among male students due to the spread of COVID-19 may trigger the debate again, and points out that discussion within the framework of gender is called for even if this particular issue does not arise.

 The purpose of this paper is to examine the propaganda studies written by the German thinker Theodor W. Adorno during his exile in the United States. Thereby it clarifies the influence of his attempts at enlightening the masses, as suggested in his propaganda studies, on the educational theories he published after his return to Germany.

 As is well known, in Dialectic of Enlightenment (co-authored with Max Horkheimer), Adorno expresses skepticism toward reason, making a pessimistic assessment. In his educational theory from the 1950s on, however, he attempts to play an enlightening role toward society, unlike the popular image of Adorno as a harsh critic of modern ideals. In his educational theory, he acts as a guide toward “autonomy,” often based on Kant. Previous studies question Adorno's contradictory attitude, critically discussing the Enlightenment on the one hand and insisting on the necessity of enlightenment for the people on the other. Recent studies, however, have begun to address Adorno's image as an intellectual trying to play an enlightening role in society. From this perspective, Adorno's claims in his educational theory can be seen as one aspect of Adorno as an intellectual.

 What was it that prompted Adorno, who was not an education expert, to become interested in education in the first place? Previous studies have often pointed to the so-called the “Group Experiment” conducted by the Institute for social research between 1950 and 1951 as a stimulus for Adorno to begin his activities as an intellectual. The survey, published in 1955 under the title Group Experiment, revealed the lack of reflection on Nazism and anti-Semitism in postwar Germany and brought to light the problem of “working through the past.” In the face of these problems, it is highly likely that Adorno keenly realized the need for enlightening outreach to the German people. However, his interest in education can be traced back even earlier, to his exile in the United States in the 1940s.

 Therefore, this paper analyzes the propaganda studies approach taken during his years of exile in the U.S., from 1938 to 1949. Specifically, the relationship between educational theory and propaganda research is clarified by examining “The Psychological Technique of Martin Luther Thomas's Radio Address” and several related studies on propaganda research. In doing so, the paper focuses on the concepts of “counterpropaganda” and “democratic leadership,” and thus clarifies the point that Adorno was trying to make people “immune” to propaganda through enlightening the public, in order to counter fascist and anti-Semitic propaganda. Furthermore, the paper shows that this awareness of the problem was passed on to Adorno's educational theory published from the 1950s on, to be fostered as a principle of political and democratic education.

 The aim of this paper is to describe the history of the relationship between pedagogy/teaching theory and new psychology during the Meiji era. New psychology, like psychophysics and experimental psychology, is known as scientific psychology. At the end of the 19th century, Motora Yujiro studied scientific psychology, including psychophysics and experimental psychology, with G. Stanley at the Johns Hopkins University graduate school, becoming the first to bring this discipline to Japan. New psychology brought experimentation to pedagogy as a research method. However, experiments also created the problem of applying their results to the practice of education as educational method. This issue of experimentation became a matter of debate between the pedagogues and the new-psychologists. This paper examines the ideas underlying the experimental theory, focusing on Motora's theories of psychophysics, which are at the heart of his new psychology.

 The paper clarifies the following three points.

Ⅰ. The range of psychophysics

Ⅱ. Metaphysical theory of multi-unification and theory of energetics

Ⅲ. The hypothetical method(“provisional hypothesis”) as scientific thinking

 First, it shows that psychophysics, which lies at the heart of Motora's new psychology, was a discipline located in the genealogy of empirical criticism, unlike psychology as a natural science, the stance of Hermann von Helmholtz and others. Empirical criticism was a trend in which positivists such as Ernst Mach critically examined the scope which can be empirically revealed by empirical research methods. As an example, psychophysics proved the existence of unconsciousness. Motora sought to take a holistic view of the mind by clarifying its physical and non-physical dimensions through psychophysics.

 Second, the paper focuses on Motora's proposal of a new metaphysical framework called the multi-unification theory, based on the theory of energetics, as a theoretical framework different from the causal theory, which is a fundamental principle of physics. The multi-unification theory aims to focus on energy as the unification of multiple forces, whereas physics describes physical phenomena in terms of cause and effect based on the concept of force. Motora hoped that this would make it possible to scientifically analyze mental phenomena such as the mind, which cannot be grasped through causal theory. Therefore, Motora hypothesized his own conception of emotion as a spontaneous energy within, rather than as a feeling of mind and knowledge or will in relation to the body.

 Third, the paper clarifies the hypothetical method ("provisional hypothesis ") proposed by Motora, which indicated figure out that the propositions scientifically proven by causal theory were not absolute truths, but rather hypotheses describing partial of phenomena. The development of psychophysics made it possible to physically explain mental phenomena that had previously been discussed in philosophy. However, psychophysics only reveals hypotheses of truth, not the truth of immaterial things such as mind and spirit. Elsewhere, the hypothetical method was also expected to serve as a scientific critique of the abstract norms of ethics and morality.

 While Singapore students have performed highly on the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) and PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), it is said that the current educational system is too stressful for students there. Since the late 1990s, educational reforms have attempted to reduce the emphasis on academic scores in Singapore.

 However, previous studies have overlooked two dimensions of the educational reforms. First, although the government of Singapore considers the “parents' mindset” towards academic competition as the cause of stress, there has been little evidence to suggest what this “parents' mindset” implies and how it comes about. Second, little empirical research has addressed the question of whether new types of competition are arising in non-academic fields. To examine the process of how parents see the educational reforms and what kind of new competition is arising in Singapore, I conducted semi-structured interviews with 37 middle-class Singaporean parents (citizens and permanent residents).

 The main findings are as follows. First, with regard to the Singaporean government's attempts to reduce the stress of over-emphasis on academic results, almost all participants agree with the concept of the educational reforms. Nevertheless, the parents believe that the government still values academic scores as well. At the same time, most participants are afraid that their child will end up being the only one unprepared for exams. Consequently, the majority of the parents still strive to invest the same amount or more in after-school cram schools or other tutoring. Second, in non-academic fields, parents interpret that some measurable skills, such as grades in music class and distinct achievements in sports, could be to their children's advantage in the selection processes of higher education and future employment. Therefore, parents send their children to various non-academic enrichment classes as well. Contrary to the government's attempt, children are likely to be under greater stress due to their hectic schedule of both academic and non-academic classes and the mounting pressure on them to earn visible achievements.

 In conclusion, this paper found an unsolved problem of new stress due to educational reforms in a seemingly successful country. As well, the significance of this paper lies in the use of empirical evidence to reveal that the parents' mindset stems from a social system which demands lifelong investment in education to create more and more valuable human resources. Finally, this study also contributes to demonstrating the importance of the relationship between the educational system and the social welfare system in order to solve social issues such as the low birthrate and the rate of women in the labor force. Further research may include comparison with educational reforms in other countries.

 The purpose of this paper is to read Horio Teruhisa's Thought and Structure of Modern Education (Iwanami Shoten, 1971) as a history of contemporary education theory. This book of educational thought elucidates the relationship between the modern educational thought and the modern public education system from the perspective of children's rights as the right to education. Because its content was so novel, it attracted a lot of attention from both advocates and critics of postwar pedagogy. But has it really been read correctly?

 The content of this paper is as follows.

 Section 1 discusses how this book was read at the time. Specifically, it examines the assessments of Kaneko Masashi and Toshitani Nobuyoshi in legal studies, as well as those of Suzuki Shozo, Morita Hisato, and Kodama Shigeo in pedagogy, Thus clarifying that the point of the book lies in the nature of the modern educational thought and the social function of the modern public education system.

 Section 2 discusses research preceding the book. Specifically, in the modern education, Horio presents educational thought centered on politics and religion, that is, “the triple structure of modern education,” in opposition to the educational philosophy centered on science of Ota Takashi. In the modern public education, Horio presents educational thought based on a qualitative understanding, that is, “public education as an organization of private matters” in opposition to the educational history based on a quantitative understanding as represented by Umene Satoru. His point is education as human rights (children's rights) with regard to the state.

 Section 3 discusses the debates provoked by the book, specifically the Mochida Eiichi-Horio Teruhisa debate. The issue was the composition of the right to education based on the nature of education.

 The paper's overall point is that Horio contributed to the construction of postwar pedagogy by repositioning contemporary education based on the educational theory of children's rights as human rights, through questioning the relationship between the modern educational thought and the public educational system amid the conflict with the recovery of state authority.