Moral Attitude and Behavior of Japanese Young People in Comparison

with the Same Generation of Other Countries

- The Important Role of “Idee” of Child Rearing

Tsunenobu Ban(Naruto University of Education, Japan)

The World Youth Survey conducted every five years since 1972 by Management and Coordination Agency of Japan has shown that Japanese young people find lower satisfaction in life and smaller interest in society than young people of other countries. Another comparative survey of five countries on altruistic attitude of youth by Yoshimasa Nakasato et al. proved that the lack of social consciousness and moral attitude among Japanese youth had reached to an extraordinary level in international comparison.

The author has also conducted Japan-Australia and Japan-U.S. comparative studies on the moral attitude and behavior of children. Through these studies, the lack of moral consciousness among Japanese children became clear, and the realities and problems of home and school as the nurturing circumstances of morality came to the surface.

In the survey on the moral and social behavior of children at school and home using a questionnaire prepared jointly with American researches, the American children were found to behavior morally better than the Japanese. The American teachers were showing the guidelines to moral behavior on a daily basis. To the question “I work cooperatively.” 61.1 percent of American children say “yes, often”, while only 14.2 percent of the Japanese do so. When asked “I behave politely to peers” 59.7 percent of American and 16.1 percent of Japanese say “yes”. Of the American 76.2 percent and 44.5 percent of the Japanese give an affirmative answer to “I follow instructions of teachers in class”. As seen above, American children show overwhelmingly positive attitude to all kinds of moral codes. In Japan, children are educated in a class environment emphasizing harmony in living with others. And moral education is a compulsory subject, which is supported by group training of discipline by way of daily and seasonal events such as morning school gatherings, sports meeting and school excursions. On the contrary, American children are brought up in an individualism oriented society and educated in a school system which seems, to a Japanese eye, to be taken a laissez-faire policy. Then, why are Japanese children not so well disciplined as Americans?

Taking other factors and data into considerations, the author proposes a suppositon that there exists a principle in child rearing and personality development shared by the nation, which Humboldt referred as “Idee”. The author would go into details at the presentation of the conference.

References

Ban, T.(1995). The Characteristic Features of Moral Socialization: A Comparison of Japanese and Australian Children. International Review of Education, Vol.41, Nos.1-2, 73-96.

Ban, T., & Cummings, W.(1999). Moral Orientations of Schoolchildren in the United States and Japan. Comparative Education Review. Vol.43, No.1, 64-85.