The education ministry has unveiled drafts of revised courses of study for elementary and middle schools. The new courses of study will become effective in fiscal 2011 for elementary schools and in fiscal 2012 for middle schools. For the first time in 30 years, the drafts call for increasing the number of class hours and teaching content — a major departure from the "more relaxed education" approach embodied in the current courses of study. The current approach emphasizes students' ability to learn, think, judge and act in an independent but responsible manner.

By contrast, the drafts place primary emphasis on increasing students' ability to acquire knowledge and skills. Next comes nurturing the ability to think, judge and express oneself as a means of making use of acquired knowledge and skills to solve problems. The basic direction of the drafts differs from that of the current courses of study. The drafts would be viewed by teachers as too quick a change in the basic direction of education. Such a change without a full review of the current courses of study will only deepen confusion in the classroom.

Behind the thinking of the drafts' authors appears to be the argument that the current courses of study are responsible for the lower scores registered by Japanese students in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's 2006 Program for International Student Assessment survey, compared with their scores in the 2003 survey. But it would be myopic to think that increasing the number of class hours and teaching content will solve the problem.