Ken-ichi SUEMATSU
Vice Chairman, Keidanren
In his State of the Union Address this February, President Clinton identified educational reform as his administration's number one priority and the central focus of its "plan of action" to prepare America for the 21st century. In Japan, Prime Minister Hashimoto meanwhile showed a strong commitment to reform by announcing major reforms in six areas, of which one is education.
Setting aside the detail of the reforms that will be targeted in the United States, their fundamental aim is to set educational standards and criteria in order to provide the best education in the world. The aim of Japan's reforms is to move away from uniform education toward education that emphasizes individuality and creativity.
Though both Japan and the United States are talking about educational reform, their aims are opposite. This difference does not mean that one is right and the other wrong, but rather that the issues facing each country differ widely in historical and social terms.
Japan and the United States share a common sense of crisis about the future. They fear that characteristics that once supported their growth may become weaknesses in a future environment transformed by the expansion of borderless economic activity and the revolution in telecommunications.
Recently the Japanese government adopted a deregulation promotion plan. In the area of education, Japan has already taken its first steps in a reform process that is intended to a create a system designed to emphasize choice and flexibility.
While Japan is moving toward the decentralization of a system that is now bound together, the United States is aiming to bind together the scattered elements of its education system in order to generate new energy as a nation. Yet in both countries, the underlying motivation for these plans is a firm conviction that human resource development will be the key to success in the next generation. Of course, it is vital that reforms strengthen each country by talking advantage of that country's own characteristics, rather than seeking to Americanize Japan or Japanize America.
History teaches us that unless a country works relentlessly to achieve development, it is likely to face decline, and that only countries with the wisdom to undertake necessary reforms without hesitation will succeed in a new era. Over the past few decades, Japan and United States have been the leaders in the world economy. Unexpectedly, both have hit the nail on the head by making education one of their foundation stones for the 21st century.