Increase public spending on education to improve character-building education, not just to make tuition free

1. Educational issues that cannot be addressed just by making tuition free

The media reports almost daily on talks between the ruling and opposition parties over the issue of making high school tuition free.

Charging tuition at public high schools is exceptional among developed countries. Such tuition is free in many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Canada.

Given this fact, it goes without saying that Japan should soon make public high school tuition free.

However, there is a more serious problem than this issue. That is a declining quality of education in Japan.

Elementary and secondary education in Japan is assessed as being at a higher level than that in many developed countries. This has been true as far as scholarly ability is concerned.

Nevertheless, a recent surge of problems raises a serious question as to whether we can afford to be complacent.

The media frequently reports on the growing practice of taking on unscrupulous work, increasing cases of child abuse, truancy, and hikikomori (social withdrawal), and more and more cover-ups by corporate executives.

Behind these problems lies the general moral decline of the Japanese as a whole.

In addition to these social problems, Japan faces other challenges as well. These include the weakening international competitiveness of Japanese companies, the relative decline of the Japanese economy in the global economy, a decreasing number of young people who venture to other countries, and fewer business community leaders who express candid opinions on government and administrative policies.

These challenges are associated with a decline in active enthusiasm and a poor awareness of leadership, both of which, in turn, are caused by the disregard for character-building education.

As far as the administration of businesses and public organizations is concerned, governance and compliance systems have been strengthened, clearly reinforcing the institutional management of morality.

And yet, such a decline in morality and enthusiasm and a setback in leadership education are taking an increasing toll.

Tightening rules and stressing the rule of law cannot advance character building. Character building constitutes the very basis for everything from morality, enthusiasm, and leadership.

Unless this basis is reinforced, the various challenges mentioned above cannot be fundamentally solved.

A new system of school education that values character building should be discussed at the popular level to come up with fundamental solutions to a range of social and economic issues facing Japan.

2. The virtue the Japanese are proud of and the ideal of toku (徳, virtue)

What are the fundamental elements of character building, a basis for morality, enthusiasm, and leadership?

In the Japanese traditional way of thinking, it was understood that all of these problems were linked to a common fundamental ideal.

That is the concept of toku (徳, virtue).

The word toku was the central concept of the Imperial Rescript on Education, which set out the philosophy of education in Japan before World War II.

Prewar militaristic education turned the Imperial Rescript on Education to its advantage. After the war, the use of the word toku was eschewed among the public.

However, when we think about the issue of a decline in morality, enthusiasm, and leadership, we cannot afford to stay away from appreciating anew the importance of .

This is because toku was the very foundation of the Japanese virtue that was cultivated during the Edo period (1603-1868).

Thoughtfulness, hospitality, and emphasis on courteousness – all of which we the Japanese cherish and take pride in as a moral conduct in the international community – are a product of moral education that has been instilled into us since the Edo period.

To deny the value of toku is to deny the pride of the Japanese.

If you have reservations about the use of the word toku, you can rephrase it as morality. Note, however, that the concept of toku in Japanese traditional thought contains more profound spirituality than the concept of morality in western modern thought.

It involves the introspective process of rigorously scrutinizing the integrity of your own mind.

From the outside, it is impossible to see whether you are introspecting your every word and deed in all sincerity to ascertain whether it stems from toku virtue that is based on your sincerity or whether you are only assuming the façade of morality.

Only you know that.

The Japanese value such rigorous scrutiny of their minds, which is accentuated by the ideal of shisei (至誠, utmost sincerity).

The difference between toku, which is predicated on rigorous introspection, and the type of morality that tends to focus more on observing superficial rules boils down to the profundity and integrity of introspection.

The simple act of following rules does not constitute toku; you must put serious sincerity into everything you do.

Such continued efforts to question your own utmost sincerity constitute the basis of toku.

Education in Edo Japan attached utmost importance to character-building education aimed at instilling toku into people.

Governance and compliance constitute part of the rules for organizations to create an environment where each employee has peace of mind and enjoys working there.

Yet, strict control of rule compliance per se does not suffice. Unless people working in an organization share a sense of consideration that respects the feelings of others and have a cooperative mindset to achieve common goals together, they cannot have peace of mind or enjoy working there in the first place.

When everyone commits to introspection, understands and respects one another, and joins forces to achieve common goals, people feel happy and secure, and have a good time.

This is fundamentally underpinned by character-building education that values toku.

3. Character building for instilling toku requires education that develops individuality

What is important if teachers are to encourage students to master toku and enhance their morality, enthusiasm, and leadership?

What is important is to find individuality in each student, cultivate it in an unbridled manner, and provide opportunities to unlock their potential.

MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani, shogi master Sota Fujii, and maestro Seiji Ozawa and other geniuses who have mastered their respective fields all had their talents nurtured attentively with the support of people around them and successfully achieved their extraordinary potential.

What they have in common is the constant practice of thanking people and thinking what they can do for others.

In short, they all practice toku.

According to Mr. Yoshifumi Taguchi, a leading scholar of Eastern philosophy in Japan, toku is to “do all your best for others.”

People who sincerely practice toku by searching at all times for what they can do for others and putting that into action will be deeply appreciated by people to whom they have given direct support and by those to whom they have given a challenging spirit, encouragement, or important inspiration.

These people on the receiving end may wish to reciprocate someday.

If you are surrounded by many people who have such appreciation for you, your life must be joyful and pleasant.

This is the essence of toku.

Daxue (The Great Learning), one of the leading Chinese classics, begins with the sentence: “What the Great Learning teaches is: to illustrate illustrious virtue. . .

This means that mastering toku is the ultimate goal of learning.

The first sentence is followed by teaching to the effect that mastering toku determines the object of pursuit in life, resulting in a calm mind, a tranquil repose, careful deliberation, and the attainment of the desired end.

This represents the common path in life that is shared by the above-mentioned masters.

To take such a happy and fulfilling path in life, it is important to realize what you are good at.

If you develop your talents in the fields you are good at, people around you may support you. Then you may want to appreciate them.

Such appreciation in turn may drive you to go the extra mile.

If people who have thus mastered toku lead a life in which they appreciate people around them and are appreciated by them, their morality, enthusiasm, and leadership will be enhanced.

Do such people get involved in unscrupulous work, child abuse, or cover-ups? The answer is self-evident.

Ultimately, elementary and secondary education should aim to develop the individuality of each child, unlock their potential to the full, and cherish and nurture their individuality. If such education prevails in the way it should do, people will master toku, inevitably enhancing their morality, enthusiasm, and leadership. This is what character-building education is all about.

4. A system for delivering education that develops individual talents

Each child has different talents. Some children are good at math. Others love English.

There are many other fields in which children’s talents can bloom, including sports, art, anime, cooking, and video production.

Meticulously assessing each child’s individuality, attentively nurturing their talents in the fields in which they excel, and thus enhancing their willingness to learn – this is the way education should be.

Educational institutions during the Edo period – including hanko (schools run by daimyo domains), shijuku (private schools run by scholars) and terakoya (community schools run by temples

) – taught students in groups but allowed them to choose their levels of learning freely according to their abilities.

Such a system is clearly in a better position to develop children’s individuality.

Nowadays, more and more universities are diversifying their entrance examinations to include comprehensive selection examinations (whose criteria focus on the types of students they welcome as well as on their scholarly ability) and special selection examinations (whose criteria focus on outstanding achievements in sports, art, etc. as well as experiences overseas). These arrangements allow more applicants to take advantage of their individuality.

Still, they are proving inadequate. They are stopping short of stemming the decline in morality, enthusiasm, and leadership in society as a whole.

Overcoming this hurdle requires introducing a flexible education system that attaches further importance to individuality in elementary and middle schools.

To that end, it is important to make arrangements that give children the freedom to select what to study in each subject according to their ability.

Also needed are arrangements that offer opportunities for students to receive guidance from instructors who are capable of developing the abilities of each student in areas other than school subjects.

To these ends, it is necessary to at least double the number of elementary and middle school teachers. It is also necessary to make efforts to offer more opportunities for children to develop their various talents at the community level under the guidance of instructors.

Also of importance is to substantially increase the number of assistant teachers to better manage truancy and classroom breakdowns.

All these new arrangements require additional budget allocations.

Given that Japan’s total public expenditure on education accounts for 3.0 percent of GDP, a figure much lower than the OECD average of 4.3 percent as of 2020, public spending on education is quite small among other countries.

It is clear that making high school tuition free alone is inadequate.

Japan should promptly redress the current state where education is disregarded, reform its education system to enhance morality, enthusiasm, and leadership, and thus embark immediately on a journey to become a country that produces highly individualistic young talent.

To these ends, it is important for experts from non-governmental sectors to set up a forum independent from government councils to freely exchange views on what Japan’s education should look like and make voluntary efforts to put forward their own suggestions to the government and the Diet.