LONDON -- Prime Minister Tony Blair was right when he emphasized that education was the top priority for Britain. It is certainly a major issue in Japan, too. Britain and Japan face real problems in education, but the issues for each country, while interesting to compare, are different and almost equally difficult to solve.
When the Labour Party came to power in 1997, the government determined to make major changes in public education, recognizing that without such improvements Britain could not compete effectively with other developed countries and that the electorate demanded a better system. They have been only partly successful.
Primary education was regarded as the first priority. The curriculum was reformed and there was a reversion in primary schools to some of the older teaching methods designed to improve performance in the "three Rs" -- reading, writing and arithmetic. Standards do seem to have improved as a result.