＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
As school closures continue for an extended period due to the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19), Osaka Governor Yoshimura proposed “adjusting to a September enrollment date in line with global standards,” and Tokyo Governor Koike also called for a “paradigm shift to a September enrollment and new semester system.” Seventeen governors, including Miyagi Governor Murai, have expressed similar views. High school students are also apparently collecting signatures online.
Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hagiuda responded, “We will work together with local governments, so if we can truly come together as a nation and truly consider this as the only option to ensure children’s education, I think this could be a major option.”
At the House of Representatives Budget Committee on April 29, Prime Minister Abe stated, “I fully understand that there are some who call for caution as this will have a major impact on society as a whole, but given the magnitude of the changes, I would like to broadly consider various options.”
This time, I would like to consider this issue.
1. A “paradigm shift”: September enrollment and a transition to a new semester system
Tokyo Governor Koike seems to be fluent in English, and has helped popularize terms like “lockdown,” “overshoot,” and “stay home.”
And now, she’s used the term “paradigm shift.” This refers to a “dramatic shift in values” and refers to a “discontinuous and dramatic change in the way of thinking that has dominated a certain era or group.”
September enrollment is the standard in Europe and the United States (approximately 80%), and currently, 54% of countries worldwide use September enrollment.
Incidentally, the University of Tokyo announced in July 2011 that it would consider “September enrollment” (also known as “fall enrollment”), and compiled a final report stating that “a complete transition to ‘fall enrollment’ is necessary to cultivate global human resources.” However, the “fall enrollment system” was ultimately shelved, and the university has adopted a “quarter-term system” since 2015.
The University of Tokyo abandoned the idea of ”fall enrollment” for the following reasons:
1. National exams, such as the National Medical Examination and the Bar Examination, are scheduled based on the assumption that students will graduate in the spring, and this timing will not change.
2. The job-hunting period is scheduled based on the assumption that students will enroll in the spring, putting students who enroll in the fall at a disadvantage.
3. There was opposition from faculty on campus, and few other universities were expected to follow suit.
2. Pros and Cons of “September Enrollment and a New Semester System”
While I’m not fundamentally opposed to a transition to a September enrollment and a new semester system, I believe the timing of implementation should be avoided during the current uncertain period. Care must be taken to avoid confusion in educational institutions, businesses, and government offices by closely coordinating with all parties and ensuring sufficient time for advance preparation.
Otherwise, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Hagiuda could end up repeating the mistakes of last year’s postponed English Common Test after much debate.
I also urge Prime Minister Abe not to be too quick to accept the opinions of governors. Otherwise, we could end up in a situation like the “Abenomask” incident, where the government jumped on a whim of a bureaucrat’s private secretary, resulting in a massive production of defective masks and shipping delays due to re-inspection, leading to blunders and confusion that undermined credibility and negatively impacted the administration’s administration.
Rather, I believe the government should prioritize practical immediate measures, such as eliminating summer and winter holidays and Saturday breaks this year to allow students to catch up on lost learning. Furthermore, once school closures are lifted, I hope schools will come up with various ideas to help students catch up on their learning.
And, as I previously wrote in detail in my “Spartan Education” article, learning is something that students should be able to do reasonably well on their own, as long as they have a textbook. I believe that now is the time to make efforts and ingenuity to encourage students to study independently and independently (active learning), rather than relying on teachers to teach them.
(1) Advantages
The general advantages are as follows:
① It aligns with global standards adopted by many countries around the world, making it convenient for international students.
② Entrance exams will be held outside of the winter, when influenza is most prevalent, reducing the burden on test takers.
The following are some of the advantages specific to this year:
③ It may be possible to close the learning gap between schools during the self-restraint period.
④ It may be possible to regain the study time lost during school closures and make up for lost learning time.
⑤ It may be possible to make up for lost student life and school events such as school trips.
⑥ It is impossible to hold university entrance exams under the current schedule.
⑦ Job hunting, various exams, and sports competitions may be postponed.
(2) Disadvantages
① It is doubtful whether the system will gain the support of all parties, including students, parents, and school administrators.
② Tuition, rent, and financial support will increase.
③ Mental support will be necessary for students in the exam year.
④ University entrance exams and the Tokyo Olympics will overlap in the summer of 2021.
⑤ If the spread of COVID-19 continues, even if September enrollment is initially implemented, it may be postponed again.
⑥ A September enrollment system requires careful preparation and transitional measures, and implementing it now would cause great confusion in schools.
⑦ The school year would be out of sync with the fiscal years of the national and local governments and many companies.
⑧ Negotiations and understanding with all parties involved, such as coordinating employee joining dates, would be necessary.
⑨ Coordination with national exams such as the National Medical Examination and the Bar Examination, as well as civil service exams, would be necessary.
⑩ The transition would require a huge amount of administrative work, including system changes, placing an excessive burden on all parties.
⑪ It would no longer fit with the seasonal feel of familiar graduation songs and other songs.
3. Why Western countries adopted the September school year and new semester system
The main reason for this seems to be related to the annual agricultural schedule. Many crops in the West are harvested between July and August, and farmers are so busy during this time that they even need their children to help out. Therefore, to ensure that all children could attend school, the school year was moved to September, after the busy farming season had ended.
4. History of Japan’s April Enrollment and New Semester System
In fact, Japan, following the Western model, rapidly adopted Western culture during the Meiji Restoration, and during the Meiji period, the school year began in September.
However, since Japan was originally an agricultural country primarily focused on rice farming, the annual agricultural and tax schedule—rice cultivation (sowing and raising seedlings) began in spring, rice planting in early summer, harvesting in autumn, selling the harvested rice for cash, and paying taxes before the start of rice cultivation in spring—was appropriate. Therefore, in 1886 (Meiji 19), various new fiscal years, including the government’s “fiscal year,” began in April. To coincide with this fiscal year, elementary and junior high schools, army enlistment, and higher normal schools successively adopted April enrollment.
Imperial universities and former high schools maintained their September enrollment schedule, but in 1919 (Taisho 8), former high schools switched to April enrollment, and in 1921 (Taisho 10), Imperial universities also switched to April enrollment.
Speaking of which, I was reading Kawabata Yasunari’s biography the other day and came across a passage along the lines of this.
He graduated from Ibaraki Junior High School (now Osaka Prefectural Ibaraki High School) in March 1917 (Taisho 6) and immediately moved to Tokyo, where he stayed with a relative and attended a preparatory school, studying hard for the entrance exam to the former First Higher School. In September of the same year, he enrolled in the First Division of the Humanities Department, Class B (English Literature Department).
At the time, it felt a little strange, but knowing the circumstances above, it makes sense as a transitional period.
<Added May 20, 2020>
5. Former Prime Minister Nakasone’s “Fall Enrollment Simulation”
The “Temporary Education Council” was an advisory body established by former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone to address education reform. At the time, the heated entrance exam war had become a social issue, and schools were experiencing chaos due to school violence and bullying.
The “Temporary Education Council” held various discussions on education reform, and one of the issues raised was “fall enrollment.” In 1986, the “Fall Enrollment Study Group” compiled a roughly 200-page booklet titled “Research and Survey on Fall Enrollment.” This booklet not only clearly outlines the impact of September enrollment on students and school educational plans, but also provides cost estimates and simulations of the transition method.
This is a must-have resource for anyone seriously considering September enrollment in the future.
Furthermore, the complete transition from September to April enrollment during the Meiji era took a full 35 years, from 1886 to 1921. There must be a reason why the transition has not been realized 34 years after the Provisional Council on Educational Policy released its “Research Survey on Autumn Enrollment” report in 1986, so I think we need to keep this in mind.
It will be impossible to achieve this without consensus from across society, and I believe that careful explanation and sufficient preparation time are necessary.