A Comparative and Educational Sociology of Meritocratic Norms

这项研究旨在考察日本在20世纪90年代将新自由主义教育政策引入高等教育的后果，并以“削弱精英制度的规范”为关键词。具体地说，它旨在通过将日本的教育政策与英美以及新加坡的制度进行比较来评估日本教育政策的优势和劣势。在英美两国，尽管是新自由主义教育的先驱，但精英制度的重建仍在坚持。在新加坡，精英制度是教育的基石。除了比较教育政策，研究还进行了文献检索、教师访谈、学生问卷调查和对现有数据的重新分析。在日本、英国和新加坡进行了问卷调查，有效问卷分别为1271份、452份和1288份，总结了主要的调查结果和启示。显然，日本的教育政策已经达到了a…更多的是让年轻人从考试压力中解脱出来。然而，为教育竞争的输家提供帮助的另一个目标很难说是成功的。其次，使学生摆脱考试压力的举措并没有达到所有人，因为高水平和低水平学生在他们对教育/职业成就的意识和反应上存在两极分化。第三，关于选拔和教育系统内外的竞争，精英管理的意识，包括对社会背景对机会/结果平等和选拔过程的公平性/透明度的影响的看法，已经减弱。由于反对考试和竞争的言论的渗透，竞争/遴选过程可能已经失去其合法性。第四，有迹象表明，社会背景在竞争/选拔过程中发挥着越来越大的作用。这些观点不仅警示着不要对近期的教育政策进行肤浅的评价，也要求从多个角度进行更多的研究。较少

This research aims to examine the consequences of introducing neo-liberal educational policy into post-secondary education in Japan during the 1990s, using 'weakening norms of meritocracy' as keywords. More concretely, it aims to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese educational policy, by comparing its system with those in England and America, where the reconstruction of meritocratic norms is being upheld despite being the pioneers of neo-liberal education, as well as Singapore, where meritocracy is the cornerstone of education.Besides comparing educational policies, the research also conducted literature search, interviews with teachers, questionnaire surveys among students and the re-analyses of existing data. Questionnaire surveys were conducted in Japan, Britain and Singapore, and valid responses numbered 1271, 452, and 1288 respectively.A summary of the main findings and implications is provided below.It is evident that the Japanese education policy has achieved its a … More im in freeing its young people from examination pressures. Nevertheless, the other aim to provide help to losers of educational competition is hardly a success. Secondly, the move to free students from examination pressures did not reach all, as there is a bipolarization between top-track and low-track students in their consciousness and responses over educational/occupational achievements. Thirdly, regarding selection and competition within and without the education system, the awareness of meritocracy, including views toward the impact of social background on equality of opportunities/results and the fairness/transparency of the selection process, has weakened. It is possible that competition/selection process has lost its legitimacy through the permeation of discourses against examinations and competition. And fourthly, it is confirmed that there are indications of social background playing a growing role in competition/selection process. All these points serve not only as warnings not to superficially appraise recent educational policies, but also as requests for more research to be conducted from various angles. Less