LOS ANGELES — When Japan's Central Council for Education recently announced its plan to move the nation's schools away from yutori kyoiku, the "more relaxed education" policy adopted in the 1990s, its decision was largely based on the belief that effective schools are responsible for a robust economy. By buying into that assumption, Japan joined the U.S. in ignoring lessons both should have learned long ago.
Up until 1990, Japan enjoyed a boom that was the envy of industrialized countries around the globe. Observers concluded that schools played a major role.
They pointed to the progress that Japan made in the decades after World War II when schools operated under a uniform national curriculum relying heavily on memorization and cramming. They cited the impressive results of students on tests such as the Program for International Student Assessment and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study as prima facie evidence for their view.