著者

潮木 守一

出版者

日本教育社会学会

雑誌

教育社会学研究 (ISSN:03873145)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.83, pp.5-22, 2008-12-15

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Yano and Hamanaka have analyzed recent trends in the ratio of advancement to higher education in Japan, and concluded that the increased financial burden on households has been a blocking factor in recent years. They argue that a public policy for reducing the financial burden is needed, and that if such a policy is implemented, it will lead to increased advancement to higher education. As methodology they adopt a time-series multi regression of Japan as a single unit, using several economic variables such as starting salary of high school graduates, household income, unemployment rate and tuition fees. In this paper, the author uses a similar time-series multi regression, but broken down into 47 prefectures, and with the addition of variables describing the educational system such as student capacity in metropolitan areas and in local prefectures. From this analysis, the author finds that economic factors do not have a significant effect on the advancement ratio, and that educational system variables have a greater influence in determining the advancement ratio. In contrast to Yano and Hamanaka, the author argues that the negative attitude toward advancement to higher education in recent years lies not outside of the educational system, but rather inside of the system of higher education. Curricular innovation to provide more relevant content is the key to attracting more students to higher education. In an age where more than 50% of youngsters advance to higher education, enriching teaching content is a more important task than providing financial support. Researchers on higher education should pay greater attention to the educational system itself rather than factors outside of the system.