Published papers

This paper tries to clarify the concepts of "liberal education" and "general education, " and the relation between them in the history of American higher education so that we can retrieve some suggestions for reconsidering recent controversial issues related to liberal and general education in Japanese colleges and universities. In order to accomplish the purpose of this study, the exploration of the history and current reforms at the College of the University of Chicago has been chosen as a case study. In 1999, the College began to reform its undergraduate curriculum which was last revised in 1984, and there has been a great deal of disagreement over the reform because Chicago's traditional Common Core courses are to be reduced and free electives are to be increased in the new proposed curriculum. In addition, the College had a unique experience related to experimental reforms to its curriculum and organization during Robert Maynard Hutchin's tenure as president and chancellor (1929-1951), though the University of Chicago has been a major research university in the United States from its establishment to present. Those who want to preserve the traditions of liberal education at "Hutchins College" of the University of Chicago have criticized the undergraduate College curricular reforms of 1999. The reforms, however, imply that a new conception of liberal education in a multi-cultural society should be reconstructed as one which includes a common core general education, a specialized and concentrated area of discipline and students' independent study outside the classroom and even their own country. I believe that the University of Chicago reform provides us with a new framework for reference points in reconstructing conceptions of liberal and general education in Japanese higher education. The discussion of this paper will proceed as follows. First, I will point out that Japanese higher education has confused the concepts of liberal education and general education in the United States which were the typical models of the new system of Japanese higher education after World War IF. It has especially been misunderstood that liberal education and specialized undergraduate education are inevitably opposed to each other. This does not coincide with 1: he original concept of liberal education in the United State's. Secondly, I will present the history of the idea of liberal education, in particular the two traditions of "orators" and "philosophers, " according to Bruce A. Kimball. The history of liberal education is a series of debates between the "artes liberates ideal" of orators and "liberal-free idea" of philosophers, and now the construction of an integrated ideal between them is required. Third, I will examine the curricular revision of 1999 and the history of experimental reforms at the College of the University of Chicago. The liberal education at the College consists of a common core general education., specialized concentration and free electives, and the efforts that are made to extend educational activities outside the classroom and campus. It is an endeavor to integrate the "artes liberates ideal" and the "liberal-free id

記事分類: 教育・スポーツ--大学

The concept of “KYOYO Education” (which means liberal and general education in Japanese) is controversial. Colleges and Universities in Japan have experienced large-scale reforms since the 1990s up to now, and the renovation of liberal or general education in undergraduate colleges has been one of the most important issues. After World War II, the idea and system of general education were introduced to Japanese Colleges and Universities, but they did not accommodate themselves to the Japanese higher education system. The system of general education in Japanese undergraduate colleges was formally and legally abolished in 1991 and the “KYOYO Education” instead of general education made a dashing appearance on the higher education scene in its place. KYOYO is a unique Japanese concept - though one which has been influenced by Western educational ideas, for example, paideia (in Greek), humanitas or artes liberales (in Latin), Bildung (in German), or in English culture, liberal arts, liberal education and general education. Recently “KYOYO Education” is sometimes used as an interchangeable term for general education, though it is simultaneously believed that the concept means liberal education. This paper examines the concept of “KYOYO Education” in relation to the historical development of the two concepts of general education and liberal education in the United States.

記事分類: 教育・スポーツ--大学