Page 23 - Japanese Growth and Education: 演講人：Motohisa Kaneko教授

Japan’s Development and Education - Past, Present and Future -c123

the business firms try to retain the core of managerial workers in the shield of

lifetime employment, they have to allow increasing proportion of white-collar
works to be mobile. One cannot be assured for protected employment after
college education.

All of these changes add up to cause erosion of the ability of the
educational system in motivating and instilling certain sets of skills and
knowledge on children. In short, as economic growth become more dependent

on non-linear development of technology, and as new products are developed
outside the existing firms, the Japanese system of human capital formation based
on the existing organizations lost its effectiveness.

Challenges

The above discussion illustrated that the J-mode of education-economy
link that once worked well to bring about efficiency in economy now faces
formidable challenges. On one hand, due to its past success in creating wealth

its structural basis is no longer secure. On the other hand, it has critical problems
in responding to the needs of the knowledge society. How would Japan respond
to this Challenge?

Creation of learning

The first issue is how to induce a new form of learning among the youth for
the coming century. It was stated above that the learning motivated for entrance

examinations is losing its force. At the same time, the type of stylized subject
knowledge typically summarized in textbooks will not be sufficient in the

diversified and fluid society. The youth will have to have the ability to perceive
unfamiliar environment and make judgements for action. One may call it a
“generic competence.”