Major scholars on Japan explore the Japanese style of learning in this important volume, drawing upon ethnographic and experimental studies of learning throughout the life span. The reader gets an inside view of Japanese teaching methods, where the emphasis is on the process of learning rather than the end product. Applications across contexts, from religion to music to mathematics to guidance, are handled very differently than in the West. Contributors analyze various models of learning within and without the Japanese school system. Together these analyses comprise an example of a nation, a landscape of learning. The examples considered here allow us to understand better the rich coherence of systems in the broader social context. A carefully articulated Introduction and Conclusion by the editors provide salient comparisons of East and West and caution that we do not simplify our model of either one.

Teaching and Learning in Japan

Rohlen, Thomas, and Gerald LeTendre, eds

Cambridge University Press

1998

2003.500.4128