Comparative Research on Minority Education in Japan and U.S.

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The aim of our research is to explore the factors influencihg school achievement of the Buraku children. We observed children's behavior in the elementary school, junior high school, youth center, and day care center. We had also interviews with many educators and parents. Our research focus was mainly on ;1. school teachers' everydey work and their construction of pedagogy2. child bearing of the Buraku parents and their attitude to the schooling3. relatonships between schools, youth center, day care center, and parentsOur major findings were ;1. Elementary School teachers are confronted by difficulties in maintaining order in the classrooms. Some teachers are beginning to change their pedagogy, stressing differences of each child and individualization on the teaching method, but many others are reluctant to change the present state. The latter assume that individualization would do harm to the interpersonal relations among children in some way. While they have strong sense of accountability to the children, they cannot cooperate with the parents or the youth center. They carry a heavy load on their shoulders, and thereby overloaded.2. Parents living in Buraku are becoming heterogeneous in terms of economic status and attitude to schooling these days. Some experiments of parents education are implemented and voluntary activities of the parents responsive to the diversification are coming out.3. Cooperation between day care centers, schools, youth center, parents can be found. People have many meetings, but they cannot make any resolution and solve the problems. Some kind of head quarter is needed to save the situation.Educational reform is ongoing in our research site. We have made good partnership with educators and parents concerned with our research as well as helped people to start the reform successfully. This is one of the important outcomes of our project.