A working girl completing her high school biology course by television in the NHK Correspondence School.

Educational Broadcasting zn Japan

The scene is a village school in the Japan Alps. Snowbound for months, the school would be a bleak place were it not for the educational television programs from Tokyo. Now the chil· dren troop gaily into the TV room to see the most sophisticated science, social studies, art, and music that Japan can produce. At night their parents and other villagers come to school to hear the news and enjoy cultural and educational programs, with a mixture of entertainment, geared to adult interests.

This is possible in thousands of communities because Japan is blanketed by ETV from one end of the country to the other. The law requires that the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (Nippon Hoso KyokaiJ, or NHK, service the whole country, and for the most part it does, on two networks: one, a high quality "general service" network (like BBC's Second Program] and the other, an "edu· cational service" network, each broadcasting 18 hours a day. In addition, it has two nation·wide, educational radio networks and one FM network. Without doubt, the coverage of school broad· casting in Japan is the broadest in the world.

Radio and television are particularly appro­priate media for Japan. The nation is sma11 and located in one time zone, a11owing simultaneous reception everywhere. There is a uniform stan­dard language without any major dialectical clif­f erences between regions. The electronics in­dustry has become No. 1 in the world, and the price of radio and television equipment, including receivers, as well as video tape recorders and portable TV cameras, is within the reach of many schools. And national broadcasting is we11 organized.

OCTOBER, 1911

Ronald S. Anderson

NHK is a non-profit public service organization paid for by monthly fees assessed on all owners of radio and television sets. The cost to the con­sumer is in the nature of a tax, since it is automatic and assessed on the basis of "reception contracts'' which go into effect on the purchase of a set. The fee is a modest 88 cents a month for radio and ordinary TV. For color TV it is $1.30, Radio alone is free. With over 20,000,000 households owning sets and contributing to the income of NHK, educational radio and television has a ready source of support. In comparison to about 150 separate and independent ETV stations in the U. S. with an approximate budget of $66,000,000 per year, NHK has 674 local stations on the "general service" network and 666 ETV stations. Its budget of over $218,000,000 per year enables it to mount a rich and varied program of educational and cultural offerings.

What about government control and regula· lion? NHK receives no subsidy from the state, hence is not a government organ. It has, however, a close relationship to government since the 12· man Board of Governors, representing the whole population, are appointed by the Prime Minister with the consent of the national Diet. The board appoints the president who is the chief executive, supervising the day-to-day business of the cor­poration on the basis of board policy. The Diet must also approve the annual budget. NHK is not a monopoly, but operates alongside 46 regular commercial broadcasting companies, which, as in the U. S., are private enterprises dependent on advertising for their revenue.

The Broadcast Law of 1950 provides a basis for the operation of NHK, and sets rigorous stan-

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dards for its programming. Since the broadcasts reach nearly every home and school. the law in­sists that they be impartial, observing freedom of speech and contributing to world peace. Further, NHK shall "deem highly the fundamental human rights, and try to drive home the democratic spirit." It shall also "work for the elevation of character ... and endeavor to be helpful to (sic) the cultivation of the national spirit." It must strictly refrain from broadcasting anything that could produce racial or national prejudice. Freedom of conscience is to be respected and religion treated fairly. "Marriage shall be treated seriously and family life esteemed . . . no unsound sexual relations shall be treated at­tractively or approvingly." And important in today's context, violence on the air is to be ef­fectively controlled. Crime shall not be approved, and comm1ss1on of crimes "shall not be delineated more minutely than is "needed."1

Besides these legal requirements, NHK has assumed responsibility for "correcting regional differences of education and in equalizing educa­tional opportunities."2

Program Planning

Programs are prepared with characteristic thoroughness. First, the opinions of various listener groups across the nation are analyzed, in­cluding the 400 "model schools" appointed to study school broadcasts, the teachers' regional study groups, and the public opinion survey con­ducted by NHK. Based on these opinions, the pro­ducer draws up a synopsis, following closely the Ministry of Education's latest (and mandatory) Course of Studies. This is then submitted to the various Prefectural School Broadcast Advisory Committees, made up of teachers' consultants, classroom teachers, and scholars. The synopsis, with their suggestions, is then passed up the line to the Central Advisory Committee which meets twice a year in Tokyo to decide on the final outlines of the program series. This high-level policy committee consists of Ministry of Educa­tion specialists in subject matter areas, represen­tatives of the eight regions of the National Fed­eration of Radio and Educational Television Associations, scholars, and classroom teachers. Besides this committee, special expert committees of subject matter teachers, scholars, and Ministry officials also study the year's plans and make further suggestions. Program schedules are adopted a year ahead of actual broadcasting.

The program is finally produced by the more than 100 NHK school broadcast producers, grouped in teams according to subject specialty.

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Each team handles both radio and TV programs, thus making it possible to integrate the offerings of the two media on the same subject. These pro­ducers are the key individuals in a process which tends to be complex and bureaucratic, and are necessarily involved at many stages, from the initial synopsis to the final broadcast.

NHK headquarters in Tokyo are constantly trying to enlist reactions from and participation by classroom teachers. They are organized into a na· tional Federation of Radio and ETV Associations, made up of 8 bloc and 54 prefectural associations, representing about 50,000 schools. They hold numerous study meetings which are attended by an estimated 300,000 teachers each year, and discuss methods of modernizing the school pro­gram through ETV and radio.

At the beginning of the school year the school intending to use the broadcasts obtains from NHK the year's program schedule as well as text­books to accompany the broadcasts. A teacher committee then draws up and publishes monthly guidance plans for the programs they select. Many schools have an ETV or Audio.Visual specialist on the staff who provides the individual teacher with help in planning the use of the programs. In some schools, the principal himself is an ex­perienced Audio-Visual specialist and takes an ac­tive role in planning the year's program usage.

Nature of the Programs

Most successful of all programs is the "NHK Science Classroom." A study made in 1963 show­ed that more than half the elementary science classes in the nation from the first to the fifth grades were using the science program appropriate to the grade - making a total of 156,600 classes and 6,342,600 children.3 One of the producers, a recent graduate in biology from International Christian University, keeps his programs close to the interests of children by visiting classes from among his vast audience around the country. (See Photo) He can tap the finest science resources of the great institutes in building his programs, which are often experimental demonstrations by the leading specialists using the latest equipment. The wide world of science, expanding so rapidly, is thus brought to the poorest and most remote classroom in the country.

Second only to the science programs was the morals courses for grades 3-6, which reached 92,900 classes of 3,651,000 students." This sub­ject, banned in 1945 by General MacArthur as a vehicle for ultranationalist indoctrination, is now, in greatly modified form, required by the Ministry one hour a week at all twelve grades of

EDUCATIDNAL PERSPECTIVES

public education. Teachers often resist teaching it, since it tends to be in the old pattern of in­doctrination in a code of absolute morals and since it is hard for the average teacher to teach. To overcome these difficulties NHK has pre­pared a morals series for the upper elementary grades. The author observed a very effective broadcast for the fourth grade, entitled "I Saw It!" The moral problem presented was simple. Young Takeshi, a fourth grader, observed a classmate throwing rubbish into a storm drain, causing it to overflow. He did nothing about it at the time, but later wrote up the incident in the school newspaper, naming names. The guilty one was shamed at being thus exposed, end Takeshi, who caused him to lose face, was blamed. His teacher, classmates, and family all felt that Takeshi should have had the courage to confront the wrongdoer directly at the time, end not wait to make a public issue of it.

The child actors who took the parts were con· vincing:The class followed the program with rapt attention. The discussion period afterwards was active, the entire class waving hands and shouting for a chance to react. One student, especially articulate, when asked if this was a real-life situation, assured the author that it was, that he had experienced the same sort of situation himself.

There is a great difference between ETV in Japan and the United States. American programs are generally built around the strong personality of a talented studio teacher, promoted from the classroom. Japanese programs are painstakingly prepared by dozens, perhaps hundreds of teach­ers, scholars, officials, as well as broadcast tech­nicians. Documentary film techniques are used, and professional actors play the role of teachers. Even the students in the "studio classroom" are professional actors. Here, instead of showing a whole class of 50 studenta, the formal comprises an informal talk between the instructor and several pupils, perhaps a boy and a girl, who act as proxies for the viewers-at-large quizzing the instructor and reacting enthusiastically to his information. Seeing their own age mates, the viewers see the situations as real. In one science lesson observed by the author a comedian in­dulged in slapstick to prove a point. The children laughed and learned, painlessly. However, a panel of NHK producers in a conference held in 1965 admitted that in trying to win their classroom au­diences with exciting programs they run the risk of sacrificing truly educational values. The of­ficial policy of NHK regarding dramatization is to use it to achieve educational aims "by exposing

OCTOBER, 1111

children to the complicated human reactions of the characters in the drama and the piece of real life which it porlrays."5 The dramatic format is used chiefly in programs teaching history, art ap­preciation, morals, and English. In an English class studying the dramatization of "The Christmas Carol" it was proved by research that the students' understanding of the content was better than by conventional teaching, and that the lesson was more interesting.6 For the lower grades, puppets are often used to dramatize the lesson.

Students in Japan come to ETV with the same keen anticipation that they have in viewing com­mercial TV, which it closely resembles. They start watching TV earlier than in most countries. According to a survey by the Ministry of Educa­tion in 1961, by the age of 2 one out of ten children was watching TV fairly regularly, while at the age of 3 four out of ten watched on a regular basis. By school age (6) they were in­veterate viewers. During school they watch an average of two hours daily et home.

A "Teachers Hour" provides information for improving teaching method and content, and keeps teachers abreast of events in the educe· tional world.

Correspondence Education A second pillar in NHK's programming struc­

ture is Correspondence Education. Nine years of education are compulsory in Japan, but a majority of youth (80 per cent in 1968) voluntarily go on to senior high school. Others, including able students, would like to go, but are financially unable to do so. They drop out at the end of the compulsory junior high and go to work. Since, particularly in Japan, peoples' salary end status depend on the level of schooling completed, they are disadvantaged economically and socially if they do not graduate at least from high school. In order to extend opportunity to these working youth and to utilize their manpower, the govern­ment has made provision through NHK for cor­respondence education at the senior high and university levels. A working student can now take his 3-year high school course in 4 years by part-time night school or by radio and television. Regular high school requires attendance 51/2 days a week (half-day on Saturday) and the completion of 85 units of course work. Part-time schools cover the same ground in four years, six eve­nings a week (or 3-4 days), while correspondence schools present the full high school program in 30 courses on radio and television. A student can get his diploma in four years if he has the

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persistence to listen nightly to broadcasts (9:00 to 11 :25), do the homework, and attend one of the cooperating schools one or two Sundays per month.

Japan's NHK correspondence program is unique. The procedure is es follows: First, the student enrolls in one of the 74 cooperating high schools designated as official correspondence schools. Tuition end books cost a modest $15 per year. The usual program is the regular college­preparatory or academic major, though one school offers en industrial major and two offer a home economics major. Second, the student buys his texts end proceeds to follow the lessons on the air. Third, the school assigns reports to be written on the course content and the student sends them in to the NHK Correspondence School in Tokyo, receiving them back, corrected, within a month. Fourth, the student goes to his cooperating school once or twice a month, on a Saturday or Sunday, for classwork, examinations, or "guidance" in a face-to-face interview with his teacher. These "schooling" sessions must total 20 days per year, but they include scheduled sports events and ex­cursions for purposes of building morale and a feeling of belonging to an institution. Fifth, the student completes his course and receives his credit on passing three mid-terms and one final examination given by the cooperating school.

The major problem is one of sustaining interest over the long period until the 30 courses are com­pleted. The average young person, tired after the day's work, finds the self-discipline impossible. If he misses a broadcast and falls behind, he is tempted to give up. Surprisingly, however, be­cause of the traditional Japanese drive for learn­ing. one out of ten starters finishes the course and wins the diploma. At the headquarters school in Tokyo, called NHK Gakuen, 17 per cent of the first class (of 1963) graduated four years later in 1967, and 23 per cent of the second class finished in 1968.

The author visited one of the cooperating high schools, the well-endowed Higashiyame High School in Kyoto, a private Buddhist school with excellent staff end plant. The correspondence sht­dent body, 240 men and women, aged 15 to 55, included nurses, factory workers, shopkeepers, housewives, end one paraplegic girl, carried on her father's back. Classes are on 2 Sundays a month, following home listening. The school assigns some of its best teachers to the program, and they gear their teaching to the broadcasts. Courses varied from electricity to music ap­preciation. The main purpose, according to the principal. was to give the students e taste of real

26

academic life. At the opening ceremony, on a spring Sunday, they listened to exhortations to study hard, including a taped speech from the head of the system in Tokyo, then sang dutifully the NHK Broadcasting School Song:

With rosy cheeks and great ambition We can see the blue sky when we write. Oh, let us be ambitious, you and I. Let us be linked, arm in arm, with an elec­

tric current, NHK Gakuen, school of hope.

The apex of the correspondence school system is the NHK Gakuen Senior High School in the suburbs of Tokyo, opened in 1963. It serves 3,000 students and is the center for research in teaching techniques, as well as the institute responsible for correcting the thousands of monthly papers sent in from all parts of the coun­try. Some students from outlying areas come to the headquarters school on visits and are housed in the school dormitory. The rest are employed in Tokyo firms and come in twice a month for "schooling" sessions. Ten companies, like Tokyo Electric, have an arrangement with the school to send their young trainees for academic prepara­tion while they give them their own technical training.

To encourage more youth to sign up, the government legalized the reduction of required hours for graduation from the correspondence course. Those studying by radio alone have their hours reduced by 30 per cent, by ETV 50 per cent, and by both 60 per cent. Currently, some 150,000 students are enrolled throughout the country.

University training is also available through radio and television viewing, though it is on a smeller scale than the high school program. Courses are offered by six cooperating private universities, which have made contracts with NHK. The courses on the air use the same texts and are in most ways comparable to the regular university courses. Here, too, students must sub­mit reports and pass examinations, but in order to graduate end get the bachelors degree they must spend one year in residence at the degree grant­ing institution. The reason for this is that university training, besides being more advanced scholastically than high school, requires research in science and the arts, which can only be done on a university campus.

Viewing time is early morning and late at night, so as not to interfere with the working day. Lecturers on the air are mostly from the participating institutions, but specialists may be drawn from any institution, including the

EDUCATIONAL PIRSPICTIVES

prestigious Tokyo University, which is, significantly, not one of the cooperating in­stitutions.

Adult Education Besides school broadcasts and correspondence

education, the third major pillar of NHK's pro­gramming structure is adult education, or social education as the Japanese prefer to call it. These programs deal with any instructional subject, whether taught in school or not, but the target audience is the out-of-school-population, house­wives, farmers, youth. One of the most success­ful programs is called "The Women's Class." It is beamed to small groups of housewives for general cultural improvement as well as to im­prove home life. Women ere invited to join listen­ing groups of 5-10 women for purposes of discussion and study. About 300,000 women have joined 25,000 local groups, but NHK's goal is 100,000 groups and 1,000,000 participants. Programs cover various aspects of a single prob­lem, such as child-rearing, for a period of two months, and each program is more or less open­ended so as to stimulate discussion. NHK sends out leaflets in advance, with commentaries on the programs end information about other groups. The author set in on one group that had been meeting weekly in a semi-industrial district in Tokyo. Six middle-class women, aged 30-50, gathered in the home of one of the members and watched "The Women's Class" on a color TV set. A fast-paced, hour-long program on "Sleep," part of a longer series on "The Heart and the Body," opened up such problems as insomnia, end even got into the issue of taking such drugs as LSD and mescaline. The program used a wealth of NHK talent, in­cluding two famous doctors, e psychologist, end a specialist on drugs. A cute girl cartoonist il­lustrated the major points and added a light touch. Like school girls, the ladies took careful notes. Afterwards they would write them up and report at the next meeting. In their discussion they told of their own and their family's health experiences, but did not get into anything con­troversial. They obviously enjoyed the program end the fellowship.

The combination of a strong desire to learn, an increase in leisure time and a greater opportunity for women to participate in social end political life, as well as the desire for neighborly in­tercourse, has been the strong motivation for joining these classes.

Trends in Broadcast Utilization The Japanese utilize both radio and ETV in

their school broadcast schedules. Radio has

OCTOBER, 11&1

proved best for teaching Japanese language, English, and music, where learning is primarily through listening; TV is used where learning de­pends on visual means, as in courses in science, social studies (morals, history, and geography), industrial arts, and art.

The video-tape recorder, a handy machine which tapes TV broadcasts for later and more convenient showing, has greatly facilitated more flexible usage of broadcasts. Made in Japan, for less than $500, they are now to be found in many of the better-equipped schools, mostly at the junior high and senior high level. Among senior highs which use ETV, 13 per cent have video tape recorders.7

Table 1

NHK Program Utilization, 1967

Level of TV Radio Schooling Percent Number Percent Number

Kindergarten 87.2 7,500 44.3 3,670 Elementary 86.5 22,040 62.4 15,540 Junior High 29.9 3,380 47.4 5,500 Senior High 19.6 730 53.1 2,090 Total No. Schools 33,650 26,800

As seen in Table 1, kindergartens and elemen­tary schools make the most frequent use of ETV, with about 87 per cent of each using programs. All kindergarten programs are in color. Junior and senior high schools, where the pressure is greatest to cram for up-coming entrance ex­aminations, use conventional textbook teaching more often, and only occasionally ETV and radio. They are considered frills. With the tendency to toughen all courses, as is now evident in the of­ficial courses of studies for the 1970's, there may be a further trend away from using radio and ETV. The official textbook takes on greater and greater authority; and parents and students alike insist on sticking close to it. Innovation on the part of the teacher is thus discouraged.

But it is too late to turn the clock back. Technological change and the availability of high quality educational broadcasts will force changes in methods of instruction. Teacher education in­stitutions, as well as the Ministry of Education, are becoming aware of the advantages of the new media. And receivers are available in nearly every school; in more affluent schools, even in every classroom.

With their genius for organization and technology, the Japanese have built a complete and effective educational communications

continued on page 31

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