Summary (Findings and the Directions for the Further Research)

　

By examining the collected data , the following findings were attained through the survey. First of all, in the daily living domain of the participant students, the amount of time spent watching TV, for instance, is much greater for Japanese students. Generally speaking, we can see the same tendency in both countries that the higher one's academic aspiration is, the less time is spent watching TV.
In comparison with the United States, the longer hours Japanese students spend watching TV and the impacts upon them lead us to believe that the influence of TV has come to the point where we can no longer underestimate the overall roles TV exercises in the information age.
In the domain of societal awareness, while small differences were traced in the issues of bombing Pearl Harbor, there was a huge gap between the interpretation of the roles of atomic bombs in terminating the war in both countries. These heavily reflect the amount of interests in learning about their country's history and the way history is taught in the curriculum in each country.
The similar observation can be detected in the issues pertaining to patriotism and other social problems. In Japan, where the attachment toward their national flag, national anthem, and even their own history is considerably lower compared with the US, the oft-pointed out problem was sustained again in this survey that our younger generation retains very little social awareness.
Characterized by the striking difference in identifying who they know in their counterpart country, we can easily see the overwhelming American cultural impact upon the minds of Japanese youths in observing how we perceive each other. This also shows the enormous amount of directly imported American commercial culture presently influencing the younger Japanese generation.
With this societal background in mind, a main focus of this survey was to see how these students would assess their school education. Differences in the satisfaction level toward their school education and the comprehension level of the classroom instructions clearly reveal what is lacking in these Japanese systems. By indicating the gaps, we can demonstrate the differences in school education: in the United States, educational principles revolve around student-centered approaches with more attentions focused upon the interests and comprehension of students, while in Japan, the basic manner is unkind and the primary goal is geared toward passing the entrance examinations by rote memorization .

We would like to make the survey results available to you on this homepage so they could be used in classrooms of both countries. However small this step might be, we certainly hope our findings would contribute in promoting understandings between Japan and the US and that they would serve as a wake up call in the educational issues we face.

　

Finally, some of the research tasks we should consider would be to clarify and redefine the respondent's physical and societal attributes such as academic accomplishment level and social stratification. It is imperative to include students from so-called elite schools in Japan to grasp a more comprehensive picture.
Based upon what we have already found out, in our next stage, Phase II, we will rearrange the question items in a more structured framework targeting educational issues, particularly those of academic aspirations. We will again use the Internet to make direct access feasible and to create 'a discussion table' for researchers as well as respondents of this survey in 'real time setting' to examine the directions school education needs to shift in order for meaningful reform to take place.
We are hoping that all the participants can make use of our research findings according to your own educational interests. We would appreciate your cooperation in our next questionnaire to be conducted in the near future.