뉴스레터

Q

Once a year, around late March, Japan's ministry of education (MEXT) announces the results of its screening of school textbooks. This year, the screening results of upper-year high school textbooks will be released. In regards to the growing adoption rates of textbooks with conservative and rightist flavor in recent years, what's wrong with Japan's textbook screening system?

A

In the early years of modern Japan, school textbooks were published and adopted freely, until the revised system required that they should be screened for approval or designated by the state. Since the end of the second World War, Japan has maintained the system that requires all textbooks for primary and secondary education to be screened for approval by the state. Under the current system, MEXT examines textbooks made by private publishers to determine if they are adequate to use in classrooms. On the occasion of MEXT's announcement of high school textbook screening results published in late March each year, let us briefly consider what's wrong with Japan's textbook screening and adoption system.

'The Course of Study' Dictates the Content

In Japan, private publishers make school textbooks based on the Course of Study and the textbook screening standards, and submit them for approval. The Course of Study of Japan, South Korea's equivalent of curriculum, was published in the official gazette in 1958, and has been the legally binding standards of textbook writing since. In principle, the Course of Study must be observed in every classroom. Accordingly, the learning objectives stated in the Course of Study determine not only the textbooks but the overall content of education and the direction of teaching in classrooms. Written by MEXT's central education committee, the Course of Study consists of the general rules, the learning objectives and content by subject, teaching guidelines, etc. The 2008-9 revised edition of the Course of Study and its handbook place emphasis on such values as 'respect for Japan's tradition and culture, love of homeland (i.e. patriotism) and public spirit.' When submitting their textbooks for approval, the publishers are required to also submit in writing the details of how the content of their textbooks conforms to the learning objectives stated in the Course of Study. This requirement allows MEXT to confirm if and specifically where in the textbooks its stated learning objectives regarding patriotism have been reflected. Therefore, any publisher who wants their textbooks to be approved by the state is almost forced to follow the government's guidelines from the beginning of production. In other words, the Framework Act on Education, the Course of Study and its handbook and the like enable MEXT to ensure that the textbooks describe a self-centered national history with emphasis on patriotism.

Content Modified by the Decision of Textbook Examiners

Once textbooks are submitted for approval, the 'textbook examiners' of MEXT, experts recommended by the publishers, examine and comment on the textbooks, and the screening committee makes the final decisions and announces the results. This system of textbook examiners was introduced in December 1956 by the MEXT decree that was designed to tighten the screening process. The textbook examiners have the real authority to pass or fail textbooks. They are regular employees of MEXT, but it is unclear how they are assigned to their position. Even though they have no teaching experience or teacher's license, they are still deeply involved in textbook screening. After screening results are announced, the original textbooks submitted by the publishers are compared to the revised ones that have been approved after reflecting the examiners' comments, and then the details of comparison between the two versions are made public. But the screening process itself is not open to the public. Only the summary of the proceedings is made public after the fact. Therefore, the details of the screening process are unknown. In this system, the screening process can be controlled by the textbook examiners as MEXT employees who insist on having their own way. Under the current screening system, it is impossible to learn the details of discussions they had before coming to the final conclusion, and how they did it is unclear. But MEXT insists on keeping the screening meeting minutes secret on the grounds that making them public is undesirable because it would destroy the spirit of free discussion.

Another problem is that the final decisions are not made until the examiners' comments are given and the textbooks are modified accordingly. In the past, the examiners' comments were given to textbooks expected to be approved, and modifying the textbooks according to the examiners' suggestions was a condition of approval. In the present, when the examiners' comments are given, it's unclear if the textbook will pass or fail. In this system, any publisher who wants to see their textbooks approved will have to modify them as dictated by the textbook examiners. In other words, any publisher who submitted their textbooks for approval is under the pressure to modify the textbooks according to the examiners' suggestions because otherwise their textbooks will not be approved. Since MEXT has made it almost mandatory, rather than optional, to obey what their examiners say, the publishers, fearing that failure to disobey will only result in failure to obtain state approval. are forced to modify the textbooks as they are told.

More Influence by Outsiders

Ienaga Saburo
(家永三郞, 1913-2002)

Under the textbook screening system, each school is supposed to choose one of many approved textbooks. According to MEXT's 'interpretation,' the authority to make the decision lies in the education committees in the case of public schools, or in the principals in the case of national and private schools. The problem, it is pointed out, is that the teachers who will actually use the textbooks to teach students don't have a say even though they are in the best position to make such a decision. They say that approval by the local government council is required, but it is the small education committee appointed by the local governor that adopts textbooks. If the local governor plants his puppets in the education committee, it can create situations where textbook adoption is controlled by the minority opinions of the local governor and his people rather than the opinions of the teachers. Sometimes even outsiders are assigned to the education committee. In this case, it is difficult for them to survey many textbooks and choose the right one for the region in a short period of time. As a remedy, they promise that the report based on the surveys of teachers will be respected, except that they predetermine what will be included in the report. This prevents them from finding out what kind of textbooks the teachers want to use in classrooms. As a result, textbooks can be adopted by vote of the education committee members making dogmatic and political decisions.

When the LDP gained power in the lower house elections last year, the centerpiece of their campaigns had been 'educational regeneration' as well as 'economic regeneration.' Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who in 2006 as president of the LDP set up the 'educational regeneration council' to amend the 'Framework Act on Education' to emphasize patriotism for the first time in 60 years. has launched the second Abe cabinet. The Abe administration has set up the 'educational regeneration action headquarters' to reconsider the so-called 'Neighboring Country Clause' promised to the international community, define the common contents to be included in textbooks as one of MEXT's screening guidelines, and overhaul the education committee system, all in an effort to place emphasis on 'education regeneration' related to textbook screening. Accordingly, we need to pay attention to Japan's screening system in the future.

Ienaga Saburo(家永三郞, 1913-2002) | Japanese historian who:
- mentioned in Responsibility for War(1985) that the Japanese military had taken 'comfort women' by force; and
- authored a Japanese history textbook that described Japan's atrocities committed in the past, sued the state over what he claimed to be an unconstitutional decision made on his book during the screening process (1965), but lost (1997), although some of his claims were accepted.