| Source: Chapter 3:Valuation of Japan from Monograph vol.53, " Relationship with Society -the Social Awareness of High School Students" edited by Educational Research Center, Benesse Corporation, May 1, 1998 (Supervising Editor: Dr. Masashi Fukaya, Professor, Tokyo Seitoku Junior College) |
| 7. DEGREES OF SOCIAL AWARENESS AND SOCIAL PARTICIPATION |
| What is the difference between those who are very interested in society and those who are not? The results are shown in Table 11. For the purpose of analysis, we selected the issue of comfort women in textbooks for junior high schools. The issue has a strong political and social nature and is effective in indicating the political and social awareness of the students. First of all, let us look at their interest in social events. Students who are more concerned about the issue of comfort women are also more interested in other social issues. Those who are very interested in the issue of comfort women are also interested in other social issues than the average by more than 20% to 50% (2.2 times more interested in U.S. bases in Okinawa, 2.5 times more interested in the reclamation of Isahaya Bay, and 2.8 times more interested in the financial "Big Bang"). Those who are not interested at all in these issues have very little interest in other social events. It is clear that the students' interest in social events reflects their political and social awareness. The same applies to Category B; those who have higher political and social awareness are more willing to join social activities. Category C refers to the images they have of Japan. Those who are very interested in this issue have the most positive image of Japan. In conclusion, students with the highest political and social awareness are strongly motivated to take part in social activities, and are not very critical of the current situation in the country. |
