The direction that public schools follow in the years ahead in Japan and the United States is the subject of a series of debates with far-reaching implications for their respective societies. Although contentious, they are nothing new.

Once based on the Imperial Rescript on Education, Japan's schools were known for their Confucian virtues, devotion to the emperor and sacrifice for the state. These traditional values largely disappeared in 1947 with the new Fundamental Law on Education, which was designed to inculcate students with the liberal, democratic values of the pacifist Constitution.

Progressives maintain this approach eliminated regimentation and repression, and was responsible for Japan's emergence as a free, safe and prosperous nation. But traditionalists claim the change came at a steep price in the form of bullying, disruptive classrooms and juvenile crime.