Ethics Learned through Higher-Order Learning
Ethics Learned through Higher-Order Learning
The subject known as “Ethics” in Japanese high schools constitutes a highly distinctive curriculum that goes far beyond the connotations typically evoked by its name. It integrates multiple academic disciplines—most notably psychology, philosophy, and religious studies—in a manner that is exceptionally rare even from an international perspective.
Particularly noteworthy is the way religion is treated within this framework. The inclusion of a systematic overview of the world’s major religions as a formal component of general education at the secondary level is a remarkable feature. While many countries tend to center religious education around the dominant faith traditions within their own societies, Japan stands out for its approach, which refrains from privileging any single religion and instead adopts a broadly multi-religious perspective. This pedagogical stance remains highly uncommon on the global stage.
That said, it would be an overstatement to claim that the curriculum guidelines maintain complete neutrality or balance in their treatment of religion. For instance, greater emphasis tends to be placed on religions widely practiced in nuclear-armed nations with significant global influence, whereas indigenous traditions such as animism and shamanism are largely marginalized. Furthermore, the curriculum notably refrains from treating Shinto as an explicit religion, and there is a conspicuous absence of any reference to the Japanese emperor, who was historically venerated as a divine figure. These omissions suggest that certain imbalances persist within the overall curricular design.
Another point of interest lies in the variation observed among textbooks issued by different publishers. Marked discrepancies can be seen in how religions such as Judaism and Shinto are represented, with differences in the depth, framing, and selection of content. These disparities may significantly shape students’ understanding of religion and influence the perspectives they develop during their formative educational years.
