SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 5

SOCIETY & EDUCATION IN JAPAN - Essay Example Additionally, the Japanese education institutions were widely diffused. For instance, the samurai class of warriors was strictly an institution meant for public education whereby classic Chinese literatures were taught. On the other hand, the private academies, referred to as Shijuku, were equivalent to high schools which were open to serve all the social classes. Practical skills, writing and reading were taught in Terakoya; the most popular learning institutions (Dore, 160). Due to the feudal system, formation of national consciousness was held back. Thus, amidst the crisis due to external pressure towards the end of Edo period, awareness of national unity and consciousness was likely to be formed through the modern system education (Rubinger, 11). During the process of adopting modernization in the country, which was in the mid nineteenth century, there was formation of a consensus whose aim was to get rid of the traditional systems of education that supported the split of social classes and create equal education opportunities to every individual across the nation. Furthermore, towards the end of Edo period, this new education system gave room for recruitment of individuals on the basis of their level of knowledge and their abilities. Moreover, the elite individual of the society were singled out in terms of their academic performances. By so doing, the initial condition for employment was decided as per a person’s academic credentials and soci al status. In the year 1868, there was a political revolution that marked the collapse of Tokugawa shogunate and the rise of a new government system where the Emperor was the head. This revolution (Meiji Restoration) can be deemed as the beginning of modernization in Japan. Initially, under Tokugawa, the country faced a lot of pressure from the western countries which demanded it to open up to external linkages.