The incentive divide - selecting the society of the future

• Published in: Education Reform and Social Class in Japan pp. 167 - 188
• Main Authors: Kariya, Takehiko, Burtscher, Michael
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Routledge 2013; Taylor & Francis Group
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Educational strategies & policy; Social classes; Society & culture: general; Social Class Disparities; Class Disparities; Mother's Level; Social Reproduction; Talk Of The Town; Scholastic Achievement Tests; Incentive Divide; Weaker Students; Social Class Differentials; Social Class Backgrounds; Lower Social Class Backgrounds; Buraku District; Social Affluence; Social Class; Class Differentials; Education System; Basic Scholastic Ability; Socio-cultural Background; Survey Year; Social Class Group; Long Term Economic Stagnation; Scholastic Ability; Basic Lifestyle; Study Motivation; Scholastic Achievement
• ISBN: 1138851779; 0415556872; 9780415556873; 9781138851771
• DOI: 10.4324/9780203076996-12

The book What Was Debated in the National Commission on Education Reform? published in early 2000 by Kawakami Ryōichi - the only member of the Commission who was actually a teacher - contains the following rather interesting passage. It depicts one scene in an exchange between Kawakami and a group of Ministry of Education bureaucrats belonging to the Ministry's reformist wing, after the Commission had concluded its work: I told them: 'The education reforms, calling for liberalization and individualization, have entered classroom practice in the form that you must not scold, that applying pressure or coercion is wrong, and that you have to wait for own motivation (yaru ki やる気) to arise. This is a major cause of the current disorder within schools. The breakdown of classroom discipline is an "accomplishment" of the education reforms.' In response, the bureaucrats angrily retorted: 'The Ministry of Education does not make such ridiculous statements. Who, please, says such things?' (Kawakami 2000: 23)