The final version of the new courses of study announced late last month by the education ministry places greater stress on patriotism than the draft announced in mid-February. Apparently this change reflects the ministry's last-minute efforts to reflect the opinions of some lawmakers in the document. The ministry changed the draft — the result of about three years of discussions by the Central Council on Education — in a hasty, nontransparent manner. The ministry should examine its own behavior.

The introductory outline of the draft said that the aim of moral education at primary and middle school was to hand down tradition and culture and cultivate morality. To this the document now adds "loving one's country and one's native places that cultivated these (tradition and culture)."

As for the national anthem "Kimigayo," the draft only said that primary school students should receive guidance on it. But the document now says that children in each grade should be given guidance so they can sing the national anthem.