The Language Teacher

Because the 18-year old population will shrink by 25% from 1993 to 2008, Japanese tertiary educational institutions face a severe shortage of students. Many have already closed their doors for good. Simultaneously, the Ministry of Education is loosening its iron hold on educational policy. In fact, in addition to granting more autonomy, it is actively fostering reform through liberal policies, grants, and the instigation of open market competition among schools. The combination of these factors will produce two results in the university system: a plethora of new curricula to attract applicants, and the establishment of adult education programs to fill empty seats.

Unfortunately, as is always the case when dealing with the futurology of "turning points," our ability to predict the outcome is unreliable. And yet, by examining another society that has already faced and overcome these conditions, we might be able to find parallels. America is such a society. In many ways it is culturally, socially, and economically quite similar to Japan, with an educational system that--at least on the surface--is identical. Of all the industrially advanced countries, only the U.S. and Japan share the remarkable statistic of having over 40% of their population go on to college. As a result, these two countries alone have colleges and universities numbering in the thousands (Monbusho, 1996).

However, unlike Japan, which is facing applicant shortages and demands for reform today, American colleges faced these problems thirty years ago. Unlike Japan, where, except in companies, adult education is largely unknown, America has experienced thirty years of robust development in this field: In 1994, there were about 590,000 adult educators in the U.S. (1996-97 issue of The Occupational Outlook Handbook, as cited in Grissom, 1997, p. 4); as of this year, the number of U.S. college students over the age of 22 has surpassed the those aged between 18 and 22. Finally, unlike Japan, where all but a handful of educators think of "adult education" as merely the "teaching of adults," America has developed a complete educational philosophy and set of teaching practices for adults: andragogy.

Therefore, in this paper, I will make comparisons between the histories, philosophies, and practices of general and adult education in these two countries to make predictions about the future of Japanese adult education.

History

What factors led to the rise of adult education in the United States? Do the same factors exist in Japan? To answer these two questions, letﾕs start with the history of adult education in America.

Adult education was first recognized in the 1920's. In 1926, in his remarkable and still widely read book, The Meaning of Adult Education, Eduard Lindeman defined the education of adults as different from that of traditional students. His emphasis on self-direction, experience, and life-centeredness established the basis for andragogy, the adult educational philosophy popularized later by Malcolm Knowles. Yet, Lindeman was ahead of his time. Although scattered training programs existed before Lindeman, especially in agriculture and industry, it was not until the 1960s that adult education in America became truly widespread. In the sixties and seventies, the number of adult education programs on U.S. college campuses virtually exploded (Cross, 1981; Knowles, 1990; Stubblefield & Keane, 1994). The increase in adult education came about as a result of technological, cultural, and demographic changes in American society.

Technological Changes

The main technological change was the postwar boom of television, a much underrated source of adult education (Stubblefield & Keane, 1994). The combined factors of constant education through television, in both regular and educational programming, and a rising proportion of the population having experienced secondary and tertiary education in their youth, meant that the general level of education in America increased rapidly in the postwar years. Cross (1981) points out that research has repeatedly shown a strong positive relationship between the prior level of education and returning to school. Thus, as the level of education rose, so did the number of adults returning to campus.

Another technological change was the shift in American industry from primary and secondary to tertiary levels . As mid- and post-war production techniques became more sophisticated, the need for workers with higher levels of education also increased. Literacy is not a requirement for stoking a coal fire, but it is crucial for installing circuitry in a land-to-air missile. Vocational training, done either independently or in conjunction with the university system, grew during the postwar years to include somewhere between 10 and 30 percent of the work force (Stubblefield & Keane, 1994). However, it was not evenly distributed. Large companies and high-tech companies were more likely than other companies to offer their workers free education.

Do similar trends exist in Japan? Yes, and in some ways they may have occurred to an even greater extent. The number of televisions per household surpassed that of the United States in the 1970s, and, in 1994, approximately 37% of all Japanese broadcasting was devoted to education and culture (Statistics Bureau, 1996). As for newspapers, in October 1995, Japanﾕs 121 dailies had a circulation rate of 578 per 1,000 population, more than double that of the United States. Of course, this data does not prove that Japanese receive more education from the media than Americans do, but we can presume that it has had a similar impact.

The change from primary to tertiary industry has also been dramatic. In 1995, approximately 60% of the Japanese work force was employed in tertiary industry, as compared to 70% in the U.S. (Statistics Bureau, 1996).

Cultural and Demographic Changes

The main cultural change in America that led to a rise in the number of adult students was the democratization of university education in the 1970s. In an attempt to equalize the education of minorities, universities offered open admissions, multicultural education, and alternative modes of attendance and evaluation. One of the first non-traditional groups to take advantage of these changes was adults, and the numbers returning to campuses rose quickly. Likewise, as barriers to women and other minorities in the workplace fell, a more diverse section of the American population sought tertiary education. Whereas forty years ago, many Americans believed it unnecessary for their daughters to seek education beyond the high school level, and tacit restrictions excluded African Americans from campus, these values today have virtually disappeared.

Other cultural changes occurred in the sixties, when activist groups called for greater student involvement in administrative and curricular decisions, and when attendance patterns changed. Sparks reports that between 1966 and the mid-1980s, there was a 150% increase in the number of part-time students (as cited in Stubblefield & Keane, 1994). According to Cross (1981), the reason for the increase in part-time students goes deeper than mere economic reasons; even students who could afford a full-time education showed a preference for the part-time arrangement. The study-work-leisure linearity of todayﾕs social system is a historical aberration. The increase in part-time enrollments is the expression of a natural impetus to return to a more "cyclical" system. Whatever the case, U.S. schools began providing a greater range of options in terms of residency and attendance requirements for traditional students, thereby making enrollment for non-traditional students more convenient.

Unlike the United States, Japanﾕs cultural changes have come more slowly, although recent events suggest that Japan might now be entering a period of more rapid change. For example, women and other minority groups are now getting greater access to the workplace (Maruo, 1995). Although the average income for women is still lower than that of men, this is mainly so in the older age groups, due to residual discrimination in the lifetime employment system. The salaries of younger women and men are almost equal (Statistics Bureau, 1996). Furthermore, an equal opportunity employment law with enforceable penalties has gone into effect this year--although it still remains to be seen whether the violators will be prosecuted--so it seems likely that as the current work force ages, incomes will even out. The much-reported "Korea Boom" indicates a decrease in discrimination against other minorities as well.

Unlike America though, there have been few changes in the educational system since the last great reform during the Occupation. Although there has been some increase in the number of adult and part-time students through limited offerings of night classes, extension classes, and distance education, these opportunities are the exception, not the rule. For example, in 1995, of the 447,820 women going to junior colleges, only 7,619, less than 2%, attended night classes (Monbusho, 1996).

Most Japanese colleges and universities have not been willing, or able, to make policy reforms for two reasons: 1) full enrollment has eliminated the need for schools to compete, and 2) since the Meiji reform of 1868, educational policy has been mandated from Tokyo.

The Ministry of Education (Monbusho) has had control of educational policy since 1880, via guidelines that must be followed lest funds be cut (Fujita, 1993; Kelly, 1993). The Ministry's efforts to standardize education have created a "lack of flexibility in the system as a whole--a legacy with which Japanese educational policy makers must still contend." (Rubinger, 1993, p. 233).

In 1991, the Ministry of Education published new guidelines (article 31) that allow schools to accept part-time students (Simmons, Yonally & Shiozawa, 1996), but few schools have taken advantage of the change. Old habits die hard. Even though the number of colleges has grown a hundredfold in the last fifty years, the basic paradigm of college education has remained the same. Students go to college for two to four years between the ages of 18 and 22, and then take part in the ritualized process of job hunting. To be even one year above the normal graduation age is considered a handicap in finding a job. Thus, for Japanese, the idea of being a part-time student or of taking time off from study is associated with the risk of being unemployed later.

Nonetheless, events in the 1990s suggest that changes similar to those in the U.S. have begun taking place in Japan as well. First of all, the number of college-aged Japanese is decreasing, and the decrease is expected to continue for the next fifteen years. Data published by the Ministry of Education (1994a, 1994b) show that for the first time in Japan's history, there are now more seats in higher education than there are students. Second, the Ministry of Education embarked on what they claim is the greatest reform of education since the end of World War II. Colleges and universities have been given far greater autonomy in planning their own curricula, and financial rewards are offered to schools that set up international programs, volunteer work programs, or programs in which empty classrooms are used for community education (Monbusho, 1994c).

Furthermore, until recently, the number of applicants each college department could accept has been highly regulated by the Ministry of Education. Over the next fifteen years, though, enrollment limitations will be deregulated, allowing market forces to determine which schools survive. With their economic security threatened, Japanese tertiary institutions are looking for new ways to attract the diminishing number of potential applicants. For some of these schools, setting up programs for adult and part-time students might be the only way to survive.

A similar situation existed in America in the sixties and seventies. As the number of traditional students decreased--16% in the seventies --U.S. schools began offering programs for adult students. Population cohort studies have shown that it is natural for a national population to bulge and dwindle, but what is less widely known is that the same factors that cause a population to dwindle also cause more adults to return to school (Cross, 1981). As the population bulge passes from university to employment, there is a greater number of people seeking a relatively fixed number of jobs. Jobs become scarcer and promotions come more slowly. This cohort, facing tougher conditions in the workplace (which is why they create the population trough that follows, they have fewer children), is then more likely to go back to school. The credentials they receive give them a competitive edge.

After a 30-year economic boom in which the Japanese per capita income surpassed that of Britain in 1972 and that of America in 1987, conditions became severe in 1994.

Over a period of 50 years, Japan has lifted herself out of the ruins of war, achieved previously unheard of economic development, and rapidly raised her people's standard of living. However, the realization of economic affluence was followed by the bursting of the economic bubble, and now there is a tangible unease about Japan's economic future, fueled by low economic growth and fundamental change in Japan's employment traditions. (The Economic Planning Agency, 1995)

Therefore, not long after Japan's population bulge went to work, the economy began to weaken. The current work force between the ages of twenty and thirty is facing severe conditions: the security of lifetime employment and automatic promotion no longer exist (The Economic Planning Agency, 1995). If the theories of cohort studies are correct, many of these adults will seek further education.

However, the cohort studies were done in the West and might carry a Western bias regarding employment. In the past, Japanese have faced economic troubles by working harder and longer, not by seeking more training, and more time on the job means less time for study. There is no easy way to predict how Japanese workers will face the current crisis. Will they go the traditional route and work harder? Or, due to the higher average level of education and greater sophistication of industrial technology, will they go back to school, the way Americans did in the seventies?

Also, some rather interesting data, supported by local evidence, suggests that the number of elderly Japanese seeking education might increase rapidly over the next 15 years. As mentioned earlier, research has established that the key factor for adults returning to school is prior education. In terms of college education in Japan, enrollments were small until after the war. Then, in the late forties, attendance patterns changed drastically. In the two-year period between 1948 and 1950 alone, enrollments went from 12,000 to 240,000, a twentyfold increase. Taking twenty years old as the basic age of these students and discounting those Japanese who earned degrees later after entering the work force, we can calculate that from now on the number of Japanese with a college education retiring at 65 will increase dramatically. There will be a hundred times as many college-educated Japanese retiring in 2015 as in 1993. (See Appendix.) We can predict that the demand for education by older people will reach a clamor.

In fact, in one instance, this is already the case. A few years ago, the Takatsuki City Office began offering "Silver" English classes for senior citizens. By last year, the number of applicants had grown so large that a "graduation" rule was imposed. After three classes, the participants must "graduate" in order to make room for newcomers (Tanikawa, personal communication, 1997).

Philosophy and Practice

In America, adult education expanded rapidly in the sixties and seventies and new teaching methods were developed. Although some researchers claim that most teachers of adults still resort to pedagogical methods (Knowles 1990), andragogy has become the accepted approach. Andragogy, popularized by Malcolm Knowles, a key figure in the field of adult education, lies in opposition to pedagogy. Pedagogy, an educational philosophy developed by 11th century monks to train boys, is based on the assumption that learners are dependent personalities. The "empty" learners depend on the teacher to decide what is learned, how it is learned, and by when. Unfortunately, pedagogy (translated literally as "child-guiding") does not work as well with adults, who, because of their greater life experience, tend to resist dependency. Andragogical methods rely on "facilitation" rather than "teaching," self-direction rather than other-direction, and life-centered study rather than subject-centered study. (For more information on andragogy, see Knowles, 1990.)

It remains to be seen, however, as Japan enters the realm of adult education, whether andragogy will be taken up, or left by the wayside. The American tradition of educational philosophy is quite different from that of Japan. In this section, we will examine those differences and make predictions as to what approach will prevail.

The philosophy of education in American involves three main traditions: a) liberal education, which was mainstream until the 1920s; b) the progressivist/ humanist philosophies that followed; and c) behaviorism, which has been the dominant philosophy for most of this century. Other philosophies have also been influential, such as the radical and the conceptional analytical philosophies, but more so in other countries than in America (Elias & Merriam, 1995).

Liberal educational philosophy, or "academic rationalism" (Eisner, 1979), is based on the principle that the great thoughts of humankind already exist in the classics, and through their study, great minds can be made. School is a special place, for intellectuals, and through the quest for the good and true, intellectual, moral, spiritual, and aesthetic development can take place (Elias & Merriam, 1995). This was the predominant philosophy in American education until the turn of the century, when the rise of social Darwinism and Pragmatism led to a gradual shift towards progressivism .

The closest parallel to liberal education in Asia is educational Confucianism, which is also based on the study of classics. Just as liberal education was the dominant philosophy in America until the turn of the century, Confucianism was prevalent in Japan until the 1880s. The many Faculties of Literature and Letters in Japanese universities today are carryovers from these two older philosophies.

Although some educational historians, such as Elias and Merriam (1995), characterize progressivism and humanism as separate philosophies, their historical connection and similarity show that they are two branches of the same tree. Both philosophies are learner-centered, both focus on experience and internal states rather than on a static curriculum, both incorporate problem-solving rather than assign-and-assess methodologies, both characterize the teacher as a facilitator rather than instructor, and both aim for human development rather than the mastery of skills and knowledge.

At various times, progressivist/humanist philosophies have been influential in the history of American education, especially through the work of Dewey, Rogers, and Holt, but except for a period near the beginning of the century, they have never been dominant. The principles they expound are too difficult to translate into practice. In fact, humanism seems to be portrayed more as the dissonant voice to behaviorism than as a separate and viable approach (Rogers, 1980).

Of the three main traditions, it seems that progressivism/humanism has had the least impact on Japan. Moral education and the development of loyal subjects of the emperor, similar to the progressivist goal of developing citizens, were important goals in prewar education, and current elementary education in Japan uses a somewhat humanistic approach, but progressivism/humanism seem to be largely absent from secondary and tertiary education. The reasons for their absence might be as follows:

1) This philosophy, since it focuses on individual development, is better suited to individualistic rather than group-oriented cultures. In some ways, the problem-solving skills and independent thinking fostered by this approach are antithetical to conformity-oriented groupism.

2) Since it is difficult to translate the philosophy into clear methodology, it is less suitable for Japanese education, which tends to be risk-aversive, explicit, and oriented more towards materialism and positivism than existentialism.

3) Japan has a vertical rather than horizontal, or egalitarian, social system. Sensei (teachers) were traditionally held in reverence and tend towards authoritarianism. The role of facilitator does not fit this social construct.

4) Merit in Japan is oriented towards passing paper tests and receiving certificates, not overall performance.

5) The two great reforms of Japanese education, when Western educational philosophies had the greatest influence, took place at times when other philosophies were dominant in the West. The first reform occurred between 1868 and 1880, before progressivism took hold and was based on French and Prussian education. The second reform took place in the late forties, when behaviorism was at its peak in America.

Behaviorism gained precedence in American education during the thirties and forties and still holds a dominant, although much modified, position today. Behaviorism works well with an Essentialist or Perrenialist approach to education, in which the focus is on the content to be mastered, not the learner. This makes behavioral methods easier to use in large classes, which, due to the standardization of modern education and the orientation towards efficiency and accountability, has become the norm. Furthermore, it is explicit, external, and reductionist, placing no demand on the teacher to understand what is happening inside the student. Therefore, it translates well to methods that are easy to use and easy to evaluate. This factor, more than any other, is probably why behaviorism has been so pervasive in educational practice, even though the basic theory behind it, operant psychology, has fallen by the wayside (Travers, 1977).

Even adult education, whose central approach is andragogy, a humanistic approach to education, still contains artifacts from behaviorism. In particular, the behaviorist approach to curriculum design, based on needs analysis, behavioral objectives (known currently in the jargon as "outcomes"), and program evaluation, still form the major models of program planning (Caffarella, 1994) and instructional design (Kemp, 1996).

For the Japanese, behaviorist philosophy, more than any other, fits their conception of education. The fundamental purpose of all education in Japan has three parts: development of the seishin (spirit and character), shudan ishiki (social group consciousness and belongingness) and dantai ishiki (organizational group consciousness). The first is achieved through what Singleton (1993) has identified as the predominant feature in Japanese secondary and tertiary education: Ganbaru (to persist). The tedious hours of study required to pass entrance exams require a student to Ganbaru, which in turn builds character and stamina. This orientation towards study has a long tradition in Zen philosophy and pervades Japanese culture. It is an underlying theme in the Japanese orientation towards study, work, sports, marriage, and even play. Behavioralist educational theories, with their orientation towards behavior modification (building seishin), content mastery (requiring ganbaru), and teacher-centeredness (the revered sensei), fit the pre-existing notions of Japanese education.

In the earlier section on History, we predicted that the number of adults seeking further education will rapidly increase in the next twenty years, but we are still left with the question of what form their education will take. The Japanese tradition of content mastery in a teacher-fronted classroom is long and deeply rooted (White, 1988). And yet, data from America shows that this pedagogical approach, in which the learner is dependent on the teacher, does not work well with adults, at least not American adults (Cross, 1981; Knowles, 1990; Knox, 1986; Lawler, 1991). So, when American universities established adult education programs using the same pedagogical methods they used with traditional students, dropout rates were high, over 50% in many cases (Knowles, 1990). Yet, these were Americans, and when we consider the Japanese virtues of Ganbaru and Gaman (persistence and patience), it might be possible that the pedagogical approach will work with Japanese adults.

I do not think so. In my experience, Japanese adults are not much different from American adults, especially Japanese living in urban areas. Like Americans, they also have far more experience than a child and a different self-concept. They also have a need to be self-directing and to organize their studies around life-centered subjects. I doubt that they will stay enrolled in education programs that treat them like children.

The methodological changes were eventually made in America, but will they be made in Japan? Japanﾕs educational culture makes it harder for its college educators to give up their teacher-centered pedagogy and adopt andragogy, even in a Japanized form. However, unless this happens, the promise of continued education for Japanese adults will not come to be.

The final prediction of this paper is that a dilemma will emerge. On one side is poised an invincible sword, the unconditional adherence to authoritarian pedagogy by Japanese educators, and on the other an invulnerable shield, the natural resistance of adults to teacher-centered methods. Which will break first? Changing the learners to fit the educational structure would be possible if the learners were children, but in this case, they are not. The teachers will have to change. To make the change, teachers will have to be trained in andragogy and adult education methodology.

The promise of adult education can only be realized through further education.

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Appendix