Scholastic ability tests at the initiative of the education ministry were held across the nation Tuesday for sixth-grade elementary-school students and third-grade junior high-school students. The ministry says that the purpose of the tests, held for the first time in 43 years, is to help schools and boards of education to compare their students' results with nationwide results and to identify problems that require solutions.
But there is a danger that the tests will lead to severe competition among schools and transform education into learning for the sake of getting high marks in the nationwide tests, discarding important education goals such as the development of well-rounded personalities and a love of truth and justice.
About 2,333,000 students took part in the tests conducted at some 33,000 schools. The elementary-school students took tests in Japanese and arithmetic and the junior high-school students in Japanese and mathematics. They were also asked about their study environments and lifestyles.