Inequities in Japanese Urban Schools

Abstract

Interviews with Japanese public school educators allow a distinctive view of how the continuing economic decline in Japan has affected educational motivation and decisionmaking among students and parents. The nature of socioeconomic stratification within Japanese educational opportunity is seen as a continuing situation exacerbated by the costs of education in a context of chronic economic uncertainty. The research reported here attempts to understand how public school educators in urban Japan view the changing conditions and prospects of their students’ lives amidst sustained economic stagnation. 1 This research is part of an international project looking at critical issues facing the teaching profession in Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The overall goal of the three-country research is to understand how elementary and secondary public school teachers respond to the needs of marginalized youth attending schools in low-income, urban communities that are facing political, economic, and demographic crises. 2 In Japan the project seeks to understand the role of social and economic stratification in how schooling provides for the social mobility of marginalized groups. 3 As a non-Japanese