SITE ED: Crucial to the American goal of reorientation of the Japanese people from warlike to peaceful and democratic thought was a thorough revision of the system of formal education. This included equal educational opportunities, revision of textbooks, reform of curricula, and if possible decentralization of administration of schools along the American pattern of local controls. The initial steps of the Civil Education and Information Section, October 1945 to February 1946, were based on wartime discussion in Washington, D.C., preparation of handbooks for civil affairs officers, and initial policy statements and guidelines: elimination of military drill and martial arts from the schools; bans against ultranationalist and militaristic content in textbooks; and a call for new textbooks, more emphasis in the social sciences, and expansion of higher education. American officials were especially eager to eliminate what to them was a perverted ethic of loyalty and filial piety and an overemphasis on authority. They wished to redefine the entire educational system, extending from organization and administration to ideology and pedagogy. Japanese educators, too, were debating educational reform as essential to reconstruction.

From the Introduction: An equality of opportunity will create a new structure of education, open to all youth, alike to both sexes. Every student and every teacher, we feel, will be encouraged by this prospect to look within himself and about him, and not only above, in order to discover what to do or what to think or what to be.

From the Section, Aims and Content of Education: Education should prepare the individual to become a responsible and cooperating member of society. It must be understood, too, that the term “individual” applies equally to boys and girls and to men and women. In building for a new Japan, individuals will need the knowledge which will develop tem as workers, citizens, and human beings. . .

Democratic citizens should be willing to pool their efforts, and this requires not only knowledge of the constitution and of high ideals but also a willingness to participate in practical politics. Women must see that to be “good” wives, they must be good; and to be “wise” mothers, they must be wise. Goodness does no spring from narrowness, and wisdom is not a hothouse plant. It grows from wide social experience and from political practice.

Men and women must be willing to work at democracy, and to work together, if they are to get and keep their freedom. . .

A system of education should be so organized as to encourage the fullest development of which each individual—boy or girl, man or woman—is capable as an intelligent, responsible, and cooperating member of society. Accordingly, provision should be made for the student’s health and physical fitness. Freedom of inquiry, rather than exclusive memorization of factual knowledge for examination purposes, should be emphasized.

From the Section, Administration of Education at the Primary and Secondary Levels: We believe that the length of the primary school should be fixed at six years. This would carry most boys and girls through the period of childhood and to the threshold of adolescence. The six year primary school should be entirely free and attendance compulsory. No tuition fees should be charged. The program of instruction should prepare children to become healthy, active, thinking citizens eager to develop their innate abilities. We recommend that the primary school be conducted on a coeducational basis. . .

We recommend that there be established for the next three years beyond the primary school, a “lower secondary school” for all boys and girls, providing fundamentally the same type of curriculum for all with such adjustments as are necessary to meet individual needs….They should become coeducational, as rapidly as conditions warrant, the principle involved being as applicable at this level as in the primary schools.

Beyond the “lower secondary schools,” we recommend the establishment of a three-year “upper secondary school,” free from tuition fees and open to all who desire to attend. Here again, coeducation would make possible many financial savings and would help to establish equality between the sexes.

From the Section, Higher Education: The university is the crown of every modern educational system. In a free society it discharges with equal concern three great functions. First, it guards as a treasure beyond price the tradition of intellectual liberty, stimulates freedom of thought, perfects methods of inquiry, promotes the advancement of knowledge, cultivates science and scholarship, nurtures love of truth, and serves as a source of perpetual enlightenment to society. Second, it prepares young men and women of talent, through acquaintance with the best thought and finest aspirations of all ages and peoples, for positions of leadership in the improvement of family and community life, in the more efficient and humane conduct of industry and government, and in the fostering of understanding and good will among the nations. Third, it trains selected young men and women for technical proficiency in both old and new professions, being ever sensitive to the changing and emerging needs of society. . .

The young men and women of Japan should have freedom of access, on the basis of merit, to all levels of higher studies. As the channels are opened, standards of admission and of recognition can be raised…In some cases, financial help should be given in order that entry into appropriate institutions may be positively assured for talented men and women unable to study on their own resources.

This obligation to assist the brightest students is greatly increased hy the recently declared position on the rights of women. This bold and admirable move has settled the issue of equal rights, in principle; it now is necessary to confirm the principle by action. In order that equality may be generally true in fact, steps are necessary to insure to girls in the earlier years an education as sound and thorough as that of boys. Then a good foundation for training in preparatory schools will place them on really equal terms with men for admission to the best universities.

As recommended by the Education Mission and Japanese educators, this law reorganized the various mix of schools in prewar and wartime Japan into a single system modeled upon American education in the 1940s. It was known as the 6/3/3/4 system: 6 years of primary schooling, 3 of secondary education, 3 of senior high school, and 4 at the university level. Nine of these years were a civil right under the Constitution. This law also required provided for universities, higher professional schools, and special schools (in the wording of that time) to educate the blind, deaf, and handicapped.

Article 17. The primary school shall aim at giving children elementary general education according to the development of their minds and bodies.

Article 18. In primary school education efforts shall be made to attain the principles mentioned in each of the following items in order to effect the aim stated in the foregoing Article:

(1) To cultivate a right understanding and the spirit of cooperation and independence in connection with relationships between human beings on the basis of the children’s experience in social life both in and outside the schools.

(2) To develop a proper understanding of the actual conditions and traditions both of the children’s native communities and of the country and, further, to cultivate the spirit of international cooperation.

In addition, the Law called for students to cultivate skills in the Japanese language, mathematics as applied in daily life, scientific observation of natural phenomena, and basic understanding of “music, fine arts, literature, which make life bright and rich.”

Preamble. Having established the Constitution of Japan, we have shown our resolution to contribute to the peace of the world and welfare of humanity by building a democratic and cultural state. The realization of this idea shall depend fundamentally on the power of education.

We shall esteem individual dignity and endeavor to bring up the people who love truth and peace, while education aimed at the creation of culture, general and rich in individuality, shall be spread far and wide. . .

Article 1. Aim of Education. Education shall aim at the full development of personality, striving for the rearing of the people, sound in mind and body, who shall love truth and justice, esteem individual value, respect labor an have a deep sense of responsibility, and be imbued with the independent spirit, as builders of a peaceful state and society.

Article 3. Equal Opportunity in Education. All people shall be given equal opportunities of receiving education according to their ability, and they shall not be subject to educational discrimination on account of race, creed, sex, social status, economic position, or family origin. . .

Article 4. Compulsory Education. The people shall be obligated to have boys and girls under their protection receive nine years’ general education.

No tuition fee shall be charged for general education in schools established by the state and local bodies.

Article 5. Coeducation. Men and women shall esteem and cooperate with each other. Coeducation, therefore, shall be recognized in education.

Report of the United States Education Mission to Japan, March 30, 1946. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1946.