Making moral education a subject to be learned

My opinion of this week(519):

Education Reform Council has proposed to make moral education a subject to be learned at elementary school and junior high school. The proposal will become a law after discussing at diet. Ruling parties will agree with the plan but opposition parties such as Communist Party and Liberal Socialist Party will disagree with making such law.

I personally agree with the proposal provided that further discussion is to be made on the contents and the process before changing basic education laws concerned. Because it is very obvious that the biggest disadvantage about the present elementary school education is the lack of teaching moral and ethic to live in a society. Some other basic subjects such as math and Japanese language can be taught at any stage although it is a little bit later on. But teaching of moral standards should be done at very early stage such as 1st and 2nd grade at elementary school. The teaching must be continued, of course, until the end of compulsory schooling.

Moral education can be done in any other main subjects such as social studies and Japanese language without making it as special subject in calicuram. Moral education has been done very complementally in that respect until today.

Education Reform Council pointed out the fact and said that is not enough. Their proposal concluded that moral education should become one specific subject to be taught at school in order to improve moral standard of children. I basically agree with that direction.

Once moral education become a subject in the whole calcium, the subject must be evaluated in report card. A certain absolute evaluation such as grade A, B, C, etc. will be made in report card. There exists some serious concerns about it. People who are against such evaluation say that how they can make such absolute evaluation where there is no absolute concept of value in society. There exists a great variety of values in this world according to the idea of those people who are against such moral education.

I don't agree with that way of thinking at all. There definitely exists a standard moral value to be used as definite criteria to evaluate whether it is right or wrong. The biggest troubles and chaos at school today derive from the lack of such basic moral standard. They are not taught at all at school.

I know the background why some of those opposition front are against to make such moral education at school. When they hear the word moral education, they remind the moral education done at world war II. Japan was destroyed by the militarism due to such wrong moral education. No body including myself will never admit such moral education done at last war time.

We should not keep such trauma any more. I believe that it is now the time to set up a kind of good moral standard again in our society. Moral education at compulsory school is very necessary to attain that purpose.

2007/3/31
Tadashi HAYASE