学部教育改革の条件 : アメリカ・モデルと日本

Abstract

This paper attempts to clarify the essential factors for the contemporary undergraduate education reform in Japan by comparison with the United States' experiences and to discuss the direction of the reform. A comparative approach can be useful if we recall that the Japanese higher education reforms since the end of the Second World War have largely been based on the American model of Universities. The following factors should be taken into consideration by policy makers in designing and implementing the undergraduate education reform being planned in Japan. First, higher education is designated as the final schooling stage of the state school system following elementary and secondary education. Second, undergraduateeducation now caters to nearly half of the relevant age-cohort population. Third, the Japanese undergraduate education, as in the United States, seeks toprovide both so-called 'liberal education' and 'vocational and professional education' to youths who may be physically mature but not so in terms of being sufficiently educated. Fourth, the balance and contents of the two types of education in the undergraduate curriculum should be determined according to the chosen majors and job expectations of students. Fifth, the role of liberal education is a controversial issue because vocational and professional education has been overemphasized over the past half century in both the United States and Japan. Sixth, we should keep in mind that liberal education, as well as vocational and professional education, has been established mainly on the basis of the knowledge and technology produced by the development of modern sciences.