著者

尾木 直樹

出版者

法政大学キャリアデザイン学部

雑誌

法政大学キャリアデザイン学部紀要 (ISSN:13493043)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.153-183, 2005-03

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On 1 June 2004,a shocking incident took place in Sasebo city,Nagasaki prefecture. A sixth-grade girl slashed her classmate's throst with a knife during the school lunch break. In nagasaki city,in the same prefecture,a similar terrible incident had taken place in July 2003. Then,a seventh-grade male student killed a four-year-old boy by pushing him from the roof of a building. Shince this incident,authorities have been putting all their efforts into the concept of "the education of the mind" to teach the importance of life. They call the teaching "KoKoroneKKo,"(alluding to the roots of a child's development as a psychologically heaalthy person). It involves such activities as reading ten minutes at home,and greeting and talking to people. Nevertheless,why does this kind of incident take plase with such frequency? It is natural that concern for these incidents is increasing throughout Japan. When we examine the crisis management of the institutions and schools concerned after these incidents occur,we cannot but have many questions about the importance of "education of mind" teaching and the institutions' attitudes toward children. Based on field research in the development of crisis management by educational authorities and in schools,this paper analyzes and ponders the problem. As a result,several educational challenges have become clear. Such incidents require each individual teacher,each school and each authority to establish rigid crisis management systems independent of personal views. However,this resarch has made it clear that none of the above parties sees the situation from the "children's standpoint" at all. Consequently,in the educational field,they forcefully implement their own policies based on subjective ideas while failing to pay any attention to children's actual conditions,to theories of childhood growth,or theories of emotional development. They fall back on the excuse of following a manual and implementing management and review processes. Consequently,the schools and authorities have become indifferent to the emotions of each individual child,and are interested in a practical approach,putting exclusive emphasis on the teachers' "ability to instruct" and "ability to manage." Despite the "KoKoroneKKo" movement into which they poured all their energies,a basic relationship of trust with full confidence is rarely established between children and teachers. In a sense,we have to admit that this is an inevitable result. What is education? We have to go back to basics. Those who are supposed to educate children have an ambiguous understanding of the meaning of "education of the mind" and "education for life", and they do not understand what these expressions really mean. Consequently,it is in fact adults who require education. In addition,this paper points out and addresses problems concerned with fundamental research questions and urgent challenges with respect to the Internet and children's development.