著者

井上 美香子

出版者

教育史学会

雑誌

日本の教育史学 (ISSN:03868982)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, pp.84-96, 2007-10-01 (Released:2017-06-01)

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The purpose of the study is to reexamine the process that led to the revision of "articles concerning General Education" in 1950 (Thereafter, "the revision of 1950") and the estimation of the Committee on General Education. The Committee had the responsibility of leading the introduction of General Education during postwar university reform. It has been acknowledged that the Committee on General Education, as well as acting Committee Adviser Thomas H. MacGrail, strove for the introduction of General Education. For this reason, the revision of 1950 is considered to be the embodiment of the principle of General Education, as well as the result of the Committee's efforts. Until now, the details of the process that led to the revision of 1950 have been considered only through material from the "Proceedings of the Fifth General Session". This paper will consider the revision of 1950 through the study of material that has not previously been considered, namely the "Proceedings of the Committee on General Education, " held in the archives of the Japanese University Accreditation Association and GHQ/SCAP RECORDS. MacGrail expected the Committee to devise the revision of 1950 to thoroughly reform courses in three equal fields: cultural sciences, social sciences, and natural sciences. However, the Committee did not accept the "Recommendation" from MacGrail. The Committee's primary concern with the revision of 1950 was how to ensure a certain level of university discretion in the application of the "articles concerning General Education." At this point, MacGrail changed his recommendation into an order at the conference held with CIE concerning the overall revision of university standards. As a result, the "final draft" of the Committee was rejected and MacGrail himself carried out the revision of "articles concerning General Education." Considering the circumstances, the Committee on General Education was actually the chief obstacle in the implementation of MacGrail's recommendation. This meant that the Committee thought that discretion was an important element of university education. In this way, the problem was that CIE, MacGrail and the Committee on General Education held different views about university education. This was the main issue involved in the 1950 revision of "articles concerning General Education."