Dewey's Education Ideology In Japan

John Dewey (1850 - 1952) was a world - wide known educator. His educational ideology shows that he was against the traditional education methods and ideas. Some countries have learnt and drawn on the experience of Dewey's educational ideology when they met contradiction similar to that in the United States in the process of educational reform. And so has Japan. Since Dewey made his first visit to Japan, his work began to be introduced into Japan and spread rapidly. So his influence got greater and greater. After that in the 20th century came the unprecedented boom and the vigorous growth of Dewey's ideology in Japan. The Japanese' great interest in Dewey's educational ideology shows that as the main stream of educational ideology Deweu' s educational ideology met the needs of social development in Japan and it shows the direction of modem educational reform in Japan. Theoretically, Dewey's ideology serves as a corner - stone for the setting - up of modem educational system in Japan.This paper consists of three parts. In the introduction, the paper expounds three issues. The author starts with the process of the Japanese learning advanced education from Europe and America, the Japanese rapid rise in economy and the setting - up of the modem educational system in Japan. This leads to the author's various thoughts which means we can not do research on historical phenomena without making study of Dewey. This reveals the significance of the subject selected here. Secondly, based on the present study of Dewey' s ideology done in China and Japan, Chinese scholars in educational field, through objective analysis of present study, think that though we have undergone different stages of studying Dewey's educational ideology we have achieved prominent outcome while the study of Dewey's educational ideology done by Japanese scholars in academic circles has always been in its active stage. But unfortunately, both Chinese and Japanese scholars have highlighted the study of Dewey's educational ideology but neglected the study of its influence. This is the breakthrough that this paper is trying to achieve. In the end of the paper it is made explicit that following the subject and the structure of a paper the most important is the method of study. This paper adopts the methods of historical documents, comprehensive analysis and investigation.The second part (Chapter 1 - Chapter 5) is the main part and the core of the paper. In Chapter One we have expounded three issues. First, we have made explicit the the two countries of the United States and Japan belong to different cultural circle. So, there exists difference in education and this difference lays a basis for the exchange of different education, especially the exchange of different ideology in education. There is much difference between American educa-tion and Japanese education not only in degree but also in the educational ideology. And it is this difference that makes American education have influence on Japanese education. Secondly, the influence of Dewey's educational ideology has produced much influence on the world education, especially on Japanese education and this influence is in many aspects. In this paper, special emphasis is laid on Dewey's educational ideology's influence on Japanese ideology in education . Finally, when we explicit the background of Dewey' s educational ideology' s coming into Japan, we can not only mention the status of "traditional education but also the influence of American education on Japanese education. Chapter Two illustrates the spreading of Dewey's e-ducational ideology in Japan. In this chapter, we expound two issues. The early spreading occurred in the early 20 century, which shows Dewey's educational ideology being introduced into Japan, its early spreading and Dewey' s activity of speech in Japan. The extensive spreading occurred after the 20s in the 20th century and in this part we mainly analyze the two major stages of Dewey' s educational ideology's spreading in Japan, that is, the stages of "boom" and "vigorous growth" of Dewey's ideology. In Chapter Three, we come to the application of Dewey's educational ideology in Japan. In this chapter, we expound three issues. The first issue is about Dewey and the New Schools in Japan, the movement of "New Education" in Japan, the movement of "New Schools" in Japan, and the Dewey' s educational ideology' s influence on the New Schools" in Japan. The next issue is about Dewey and the "Eight Major Proposals for Education" in Japan, the formation of the "Eight Major Proposals for Education", the content of the "Eight Major Proposals for Education" and Dewey' s influence on the new educational ideology in Japan. Chapter Four is about the development of Dewey' s educational ideology in Japan, that is, The criticism of Dewey' s educational ideology by Sinohara Sukeiti, the interpretation of Dewey' s educational ideology by Nagno Yoshito and the pursuit of Dewey' s educational ideology by Kuniyosi. Capter Five is about the influence of Dewey's educational ideology in Japan, that is, Dewey's educational ideology acting as a guidance for Japanese education in three aspects. In theory, it acts as a "social guidance" in Japan; in the practice of education, it is a guiding ideology for the development of new schools in Japan; and in educational belief, it has become the action guidance for educational reform and development in Japan. The contribution of Dewey to Japanese education is shown in three aspects: promoting the reform in educational philosophy; propelling the change of educational realization in Japan; and the quickening the establishment of educational system in Japan.The Third Part (conclusion) reveals two issues, one of which is that scholars of Dewey in Japan are introspecting the existing problems in the study and understanding of Dewey's educational ideology and the other is the inspiration given by the study of Dewey in Japan, that is, the exchange and fusion, which are the two important stages in the process of educational development . The development of world education history has shown to us that the educational exchangebetween different countries is the basis and condition for educational development. Exchange is the proposition of fusion, and fusion is the result of the exchange. Without exchange and fusion, there would be no spreading, development and influence of Dewey' s educational ideology in Japan...