Political Economy of Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Political Economy of Japan - Essay Example. In footing of liberalism, the main portion employed by the Meiji Japanese leaders was the idea of equal opportunity, which allegedly guaranteed that every unrivaled could get awarded according to his/her talent. However, the elite group did not go as far as providing total individual freedom in order to achieve the unified population, which was essential for the process of catching up with the West in terms of industrial capacity as well as peoples living standard. Instead of the occidental liberal ideas, they invented and employed some social ideas allegedly from the feudal corporation of Edo-tradition in order for the leaders to keep the power in their hands. This was where many of contemporary understandings of the supposed Japanese tradition were originated (Gluck 1998). The result of this salmagundi of the merchandise and historically retrieved concepts of social organization has been close to obviously seen in the instruction al institutions.In the flow educational system in Japan, which Barthes calls the Empire of Signs, to graduate from one of the go around universities directly provides a tag to obtain a secure, well paid, and lifetime employment. In order to study at one of the best universities in Japan, one has to be trained at one of the best high schools and follow the proficiency of answering standardised questions, which would be likely to be asked in entrance examinations of the universities. To do so one has to be trained at one of the best junior high schools. Surprisingly this process goes tear down to the kindergarten level 2 . In fact, this system is prevalent, evidenced, for example, by 40 percent of medical students at capital of Japan University, which is known as the most prestigious university, being from the top four private high schools (Lorriman and Kenjo 1994 47). galore(postnominal) students do not cargon about the subjects of their study, but do the reputation of the unive rsities, which they graduated from or are studying at. This means that the ranking becomes the most important criteria in selecting universities. Students concern is not with what they study or what sort of knowledge they can get out of universities, but where they study, how it is socially regarded - crave for better ranks, so better signifier. As a result, they often apply for several departments in one university (Horio 1997 75). The Japanese education system is famous for its notorious competition among students on the basis of the market-like competition among individuals as well as educational institutions for better signifiers. This educational setting forces students to become commodities, parents to be consumers, universities to be competitive businesses, teachers to be instructors, and the platform to be a set of bureaucratic requirements. All of them are institutionalised and mechanised to stimulate the outgo of, and demand for, education among consumers. None of them are related to the quality, principle or ethics of education. They are alone concerned with their rankings and social status. Behind the logic of harsh competition among students, there is, as I mentioned above, an imported logic of liberal economics. While students compete each other, their competition will supposedly achieve the most desirable and efficient allocation of resources. More talented students will engage in more backbreaking and specialised jobs while the rest will work as un-skilled labour. This is supposedly the equilibrium, which maximises the economic welfare of the society as a whole. It is this moment when