A Comparative and Educational Sociology of Meritocratic Norms

本研究以“弱化精英教育规范”为关键词，探讨了20世纪90年代日本在高等教育中引入新自由主义教育政策的后果。具体而言，本研究通过与作为新自由主义教育的先驱，但仍坚持重建精英统治规范的英美以及以精英统治为教育基石的新加坡进行比较，对日本教育政策的优劣进行评价。除比较教育政策外，本研究还进行了文献检索、教师访谈、对学生进行问卷调查，并对现有数据进行重新分析。在日本、英国和新加坡进行了问卷调查，有效回复分别为1271份、452份和1288份。以下是主要调查结果和启示的摘要。可见，日本的教育政策已经取得了一定的成就 关于我们 我致力于使年轻人从考试压力中解脱出来。然而，另一个目标是为教育竞争的失败者提供帮助，这很难成功。第二，使学生摆脱考试压力的举措并没有普及到所有人，因为在对教育/职业成就的认识和反应方面，优等生和劣等生之间存在两极分化。第三，关于教育系统内外的选拔和竞争，精英管理的意识，包括社会背景对机会/结果平等和选拔过程的公平/透明度的影响的看法，已经减弱。反考试、反竞争话语的渗透，可能使竞争/选拔过程失去了合法性。此外，有迹象表明，社会背景在竞争/选择过程中发挥着越来越大的作用。这不仅是对近期教育政策不能肤浅评价的警示，也是对多角度研究的要求。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