Psycho-Education for Japanese Youth
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Psycho-Education for Japanese Youth Richard L. Hayes1,3 and Kenji Kameguchi2
The development of a comprehensive program of psycho-education for students in a secondary school attached to a Japanese university is presented. The rationale for the program, basic concepts, methods and procedures, and curriculum development to address youth violence and enhance appropriate self-assertion among Japanese youth are discussed. KEY WORDS: psycho-education; counselor training; japan; youth violence; Japanese youth self-assertion.
Youth under age 20 now account for more than half of all violent acts committed in Japan. Although the crime rate for youthful offenders appears to have stabilized at a level approaching 5% (Japanese Ministry of Justice, 1999, 2002), school-related issues such as bullying, non-attendance at school, violence directed at classroom teachers, and recurrent classroom disruptions have Japanese educators rightly concerned about the future for their children (Hayes, 2001). In explanation, officials in the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) point to a set of social conditions that have been shaping contemporary Japan for more than two decades. Declining birthrates, expanding urbanization, substantive decreases in the educational functions traditionally performed in the home and local community, a growing emphasis on respect for individual rights at the expense of social responsibility, and the tendency of youth to be drawn further into their own worlds as a function of global consumerism have all been identified as factors contributing to the exacerbation of youth violence (MEXT, 2001).
1 Dean,
College of Education, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002. School of Education, The University of Tokyo, Japan. should be directed to Richard L. Hayes, Dean, College of Education, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688-0002; e-mail: [email protected].
2 Graduate
3 Correspondence
1 C 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 0165-0653/05/0300-0001/0
2
Hayes and Kameguchi
In efforts to reassert the critical role of public education in shaping the future of Japanese society, the National Council on Educational Reform was inaugurated to create an educational system for the realization of a lifelong learning society. These efforts are documented in a series of White Papers that culminated in a comprehensive Educational Reform Plan for the 21st Century (MEXT, 2001). These reforms are intended to bring about a shift from the cramming and competition that had characterized much of Japanese education to a greater emphasis on creativity and collaboration. In particular, these reforms speak to the development of a comprehensive, or variously integrated (sogo) curriculum intended to develop a person’s full resources (zenjin). In so doing, Japanese educators have taken what they refer to as a “human resources strategy vision” by which they intend to “cultivate the spirit of Japanese people to carve out a new era—from uniformity to independ
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