Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Education – History – Japan'

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2007.
Title from dissertation home page (viewed May 28, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4636. Adviser: Heidi Ross.

In March, 1990, I was hired to teach English in Japan at a small, private academy in Chitose, Hokkaido. The school was called the Academy of Clark's Spirit. My first day at work I was asked by my boss, Sato Masako: "So Mr. Walker, of course you know who Dr. Clark is?" I told Mr. Sato that I was sorry, but that I did not. "You said in your resume that you are a history student? We named this school after him. He's one of the most important people in Hokkaido's history," he said, looking disappointed. Mr. Sato explained that he wanted me to teach with the spirit of Clark in mind and bring to his classrooms what Clark brought to Hokkaido over a hundred years before. I nodded and asked to see my apartment. I began this study of William Smith Clark after my first stay in Hokkaido. It is the product of my interest in modern Japanese history, particularly Japan's relationship with the United States. The first leg of this project was started in Amherst, Massachusetts, where I met with Dr. John Maki. He directed me through the Clark collection at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. I had several interviews with Maki during the week I was in Massachusetts and was given liberal access to the Clark collection under his influence. The second leg of my study was continued in Sapporo, Hokkaido. I met with Dr. Toshiyuki Akizuki at Hokkaido University and was shown through the Clark collection there. I lived in Hokkaido for about two years and have kept notes on the tribute paid to Clark and visible signs of his impact on the northern island. The focus of this study is to look at Clark's contribution to the development of Hokkaido by detailing his work in education, Christianity, and agriculture. By focusing on Clark's particular contribution to Hokkaido a larger historical trend, that is, the importation of foreign ideas in the history of Meiji Japan, is better understood. ~he results of this study conclude that Clark was an important figure in the history of Hokkaido's settlement, and to the development of nineteenth century Japan.,. ,Clark was also an important figure in the history of the relations between Japan and the United states., It is in lasting institutions like Hokkaido University and the Sapporo Independent Christian Church where Clark's impact is best illustrated. These institutions, particularly the university, were the nerve centers for Hokkaido's development, and Clark planted these seeds of enlightenment, under the direction of the Meiji government, in the fertile northern soil. I have gained a better understanding of Clark's stay in Hokkaido because of this project, but doubt that I could even now satisfy Mr. Sato's insistence that I teach with Clark's spirit. I do understand, however, why it was important to Mr. Sato that I try. Clark's phrase "Boys Be Ambitious" still embodies the spirit of many educators in Hokkaido and his success with Japanese students is one of the better examples of international exchange in any country. Clark is cherished by the people of Hokkaido as the spiritual pioneer of their island even though his stay

This thesis examines the contribution and influence that American Protestant missionary girls’ schools had on Japanese women’s education during the Meiji period. Between 1868 and 1912, over thirty missionary girls’ schools were established. These schools had the primary aim of introducing Christianity to Japanese female students. However, at the same time, they provided young women with opportunities for schooling outside of their families and played a pioneering role in promoting “Western enlightenment” inside and outside the classrooms. Set against the backdrop of Japan’s modernization efforts, this thesis uses as a case study St. Agnes’ School (Heian Jogakkō), one of the oldest missionary girls’ schools in the Kansai region, to consider how it cultivated new middle-class women through its education. Under the slogan of ryōsai kenbo (good wife, wise mother), the Japanese government introduced primary school education for girls as a part of its initiative to build a modern nation. The government considered the home women’s proper sphere and showed little interest in developing women’s secondary and higher education in the first two decades. Therefore it was private schools including missionary girls’ schools like St. Agnes’ that stepped in and filled the void for secondary education. Furthermore, the school introduced advanced courses such as bungaku bu (Arts Division) and kasei bu (Home Economics Division) in 1895. The aim of bungaku bu was to cultivate women who could engage in work for the public benefit. St. Agnes’ School was established by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America in 1875 in Osaka and later moved to Kyoto in 1895. The thesis explores the academics and practical skills St. Agnes’ taught in its classrooms, chapel, and dormitory. These included English language, Bible classes, science, physical training, and domestic science, including skills such as needlework and the concept of hygiene, which were considered important for American middle-class women. In addition, the school presented regulations on girl students’ decorum, provided a mentoring relationship between missionaries and students, and encouraged girl students to participate in charity and volunteer work such as raising funds for the poor, orphans, and disaster victims. By using historical documents, including the letters of American Episcopal missionaries and students’ letters and essays in from the archives of St. Agnes’ School, the thesis argues that missionary girls’ schools like St. Agnes’ School cultivated new ryōsai kenbo and ultimately new middle-class womanhood. It presents a case study of its two star graduates: Ukita Fuku, a scholarship recipient who later became a teacher at her alma mater; and Izumi Sonoko, who successfully developed American cookie-baking skills into a family business and became one of the most successful businesswomen and philanthropists of her time. Through their missionary school education, they acted as new middle-class women who engaged in “socially sanctioned activities” such as teaching and charity services in the social sphere. The education helped to construct new norms for middle-class women who worked in both domestic and social spheres in modern Japan.
published_or_final_version
Modern Languages and Cultures
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis discusses the current Japanese language (nihongo) education for immigrant students at public schools in Japan and provides recommendations through the study of language policy and the comparison of bilingual education in the United States. The current situation of a decreasing birth rate and increasing aging population in Japan has led to the acceptance of more foreign workers. Due to this change, language education in Japan has increasing development. The focus of chapter 1 is on the theories of language policy. This paper particularly focuses on the ideas of Wright (2004), Neustupný (2006), Spolsky (2004), and Cooper (1989), and discusses similarities and differences between them. By applying these theories to language policy in Japan, chapter 1 shows how language policy changed throughout Japanese history. Chapter 2 discusses the current environment surrounding immigrant students. It includes a description not only of the expanding population of foreign students, but also the history of Japanese language education and the laws related to it. This chapter also presents the present movement of language policy in Japan and how the movement affects Japanese language education for language minority students. Chapter 3 compares bilingual education in the United States to bilingual education in Japan, and makes three suggestions to improve Japanese language education at public schools in Japan, particularly addressing the classification of language levels for immigrant students, teaching styles, and the limitation of qualified bilingual teachers.

Durant l'ère Meiji, afin d'occuper une position forte dans le concert des nations, le gouvernement japonais engage le pays dans un mouvement de modernisation. Dans le cadre de ce mouvement, les mathématiques occidentales, et en particulier la géométrie euclidienne, sont introduites dans l'enseignement. Cette décision est prise alors que, en raison du succès des mathématiques traditionnelles (wasan), aucune traduction sur le sujet n'est disponible. Mes travaux s'intéressent aux premiers manuels de géométrie élémentaire, qui ont été élaborés, diffusés et utilisés dans ce transfert scientifique. Une grille d'analyse centrée sur les questions du langage et des outils logiques est déployée pour mettre en évidence les différentes phases dans l'importation et l'adaptation des connaissances occidentales
During the Meijing era, the political context in East Asia led the Japanese authorities to embark on a nationwide modernization program. This resulted in the introduction of Western mathematics, and especially Euclidean geometry into Japanese education. However, as traditional mathematics (was an) were very successful at that time, there were no Japanese translations of texts dealing with this new geometry available at this time. My work focuses on the first Japanese textbooks that were developed, distributed and used during this period of scientific transfer. My analysis concentrates on language and logical reasoning in order to highlight the various phases in the importation and adaptation of Western knowledge to the Japanese context

Pièces musicales abondamment composées au début du 20ème siècle au Japon, les chants pour enfants ont fait l'objet de réflexions croisées entre pédagogues, hommes de lettres et musiciens dans une période d'effervescence culturelle et de développement des médias de divertissement.Introduite très tôt dans le système scolaire, la pratique du chant présentait des intérêts aussi variés que ceux de renforcer l'esprit collectif, de faciliter la mémorisation des connaissances, de disposer d'un répertoire interprété lors des cérémonies publiques et des manifestations patriotiques, mais aussi d'attribuer une identité commune aux exécutants. La question de l'identité musicale japonaise a notamment préoccupé les intellectuels de l'ère Taishô qui, face à l'occidentalisation grandissante bouleversant la vie sociale des Japonais, voulurent exhumer les chansons autochtones afin de les exploiter dans l'élaboration d'un nouveau répertoire.Chacune des trois parties de cette thèse s'attache donc à décrire et analyser les comptines (warabe uta), les chants scolaires (shôka) puis les chants pour enfants (dôyô) qui constituent le répertoire de la chanson enfantine au Japon, afin de retracer les évolutions inhérentes à ces types de pièces vocales, décrire les interactions des différents courants musicaux, révéler les ruptures et les oppositions que l'on peut observer dans les discours des milieux artistiques et littéraires, et permettre ainsi une meilleure compréhension de la société de l'époque
Children’s songs were a source of reflection between pedagogues, intellectuals, and musicians during a dynamic period of cultural revival and the development of media for entertainment.Introduced very early in the school system, singing practice was a source of various interests as much as an enforcement of a collective spirit or knowledge memorization. On the other hand, patriotic demonstrations during public ceremonies allowed the enforcement of national identity through singing. The Japanese musical identity raised several questions for intellectuals of the Taisho era. During that time, they were facing an acceleration of the phenomenal Westernization of Japanese society and wanted to use Japanese nursery rhymes in order to create a new repertoire.Each part of this thesis will describe and analyze nursery rhymes (warabe uta), school songs (shôka) and children songs (dôyô) that form the genre of ‘children songs’ in Japan. Through each item, I will retrace the evolution of those types of vocal pieces and describe the interactions between the repertoire of different musical eras. This will help to reveal the opposition that can be witnessed in the speech of the artistic and literary community at the time and allows a better understanding of the wider society of that period

In 1900, Umeko Tsuda founded the Joshi Eigaku Juku (Women's Institute of Language Studies, which later became Tsuda College), the first private institution of tertiary learning for women in Japan. Tsuda was one of the first females in Japan's history to study in the United States, spending eleven years of her childhood (1871–1882) on a Japanese government-sponsored study program in the United States, and returning in 1889 for three years of study at Bryn Mawr College, another pioneering institution of higher learning for women. Tsuda's establishment of the Joshi Eigaku Juku marked her as a true educational innovator; her success in founding it secured her place in history as a pioneer in the higher education of women in Japan. This dissertation sets out to understand the catalysts found in the social, economic, political, and educational milieus that shaped Tsuda both in Japan and in the United States, and to understand what place Tsuda's experience at Bryn Mawr under M. Carey Thomas held in her development as an educational innovator. Through a comprehensive examination of the social structures, political and economic trends, and educational polices in place during the latter third of the nineteenth century in both nations, this dissertation examines what forces compelled Tsuda to take the revolutionary step of founding her school and establishing higher education as an option for women in Japan, when such an institution was thoroughly unwelcome by the Japanese populace at large.

Through observations, life history research, and qualitative data analysis, this study seeks to answer the question: Who and what influences elementary school teachers to ultimately use or not use art in their current classroom practice? This study examines the personal histories of nine elementary school general education teachers in the United States and Japan. Through reflections upon life history, pre and post teacher education this study investigates what influences the use of the arts in teaching practice and what influences the recognition of the arts as a vehicle for learning in a cross cultural context. In order to have a deeper understanding of this study investigated what ultimately contributed to the shaping of trajectory and developing these beliefs which influence self-efficacy in the arts before entering into a teacher education program. It is with this self- efficacy already in place that teacher education programs make a mark on pre-service teachers' beliefs about arts integration, which ultimately leads to a new teacher's decision whether or not to practice using an arts integrative approach to teaching. This is a Cross-Cultural Comparative Ethnography. Using phenomenological based interviews and observations. The data was analyzed through a recursive analytic process which included both a deductive and an inductive approach. The study found four central concepts which reoccurred across the data sets. They are influences, self- efficacy, teacher education, and agency. The findings make explicit the similarities and differences across two cultures of how teacher's education, teacher's practice, and student learning are all influenced by the recognition of the arts within academic content areas.

This study examines educational reform in Japan since 2006, when the first Abe administration added objectives to increase “love for the country” and “respect for tradition and culture” into Japan’s central edict on education. The Japanese education system has since been internationally criticized by academics and journalists as furthering a neonationalist revisionist history movement, but the initiative to remove ‘masochistic views’ of history from education is only one aspect of the reforms. This thesis argues that Prime Minister Abe’s educational reforms attempt to meet related demands coming from both the global and domestic environments. In fact, a close examination of Japanese educational reforms since the 2006 Basic Act reveals a strategic response to the new technologies and changing security environment of the Information Age, as well as an effort to make students think of themselves as members of a national community. This research contributes to understanding how Japanese educational policies are being affected by the changing global environment, and the ways in which efforts to meet different global and domestic demands can be negotiated with each other.
Graduate

Wong, Yee Lam Elim.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references.
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstracts also in Chinese.