The Implications and problems of Sympathy with war survivors in peace education in Postwar Japanese Schools

センソウ　タイケンシャ　ヘ　ノ　キョウカン　ガ　モツ　キョウイク　ジッセン　ジョウ　ノ　イミ　ト　カダイ

コハグラ, カオリ

Kohagura, Kaori

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ キョウイクガクケイ

Department of Education, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

Peace education in Japanese schools has a certain singular characteristics such that teachers often tend to let (make) students sympathize with war survivors. The implicit belief driving this tendency is that those who do not have any experience of war should and can sympathize with war survivors; this type of sympathy must be the aim of peace education. However, this type of sympathy is problematic in ways that might endanger the very enterprise of peace education. For example, such peace education has come to foster feelings of resentment toward war, and hope for peace, in many students. Previous researchers who have criticized such peace education practices say that people who do not have any experience of war can not understand the feelings of war survivors. In reviewing modern peace education however, it is important to explore additional problems resulting from the emphasis on sympathy with war survivors. This paper thus aims to identify some of these contemporary problems of peace education taught in Japanese schools. To do this, I first picked up some representative practices from various eras in postwar Japan, which exemplify the ways in which peace education emphasizes sympathy with war survivors. I also considered problems in previous research criticizing peace education.