Centralized and decentralized research analysis of United States and Japan's educational system - Essay Example

o the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, a number of education scholars and practitioners assert that the federal government is pursuing, or possibly already fulfilling a significantly greater function. In the meantime, although the Japanese education espoused the education paradigm of the United States after the Second World War, k-12 education is far more centralized in Japan than in the U.S. Curriculum responsibility is concentrated on the national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.

iii The United States and Japan are two countries that are ranked in the top four for best educational systems in 2010, even though each country uses a different teaching style to achieve success with faculty and students performances.iv However, both nations are lacking key factors to sustain success with students in today’s changing economy. Based on the present government reformed acts in both the United States and Japan educational systems there is a need for (1) more technical skills in basic education, (2) a need to help support teachers and parents to renew the value of education into students, and (3) remove violence from the education environment in order to achieve success in each country’s educational system.

In 1856, the United States formed its first kindergarten. Compulsory education, by the 1950s, had become institutionalized, yet the current k-12 education remains in its formative years.v Ever since the establishment in 1979 of the US Department of Education, the structure of k-12 education has been identical to that of at present, but has experienced a chain of modifications to address the evolving requirements of education.vi The education structure of the United States is distinct from several other developed nations.

Education is mainly the duty of local and state government, and hence, for instance, there is modest standardization. The independent states have substantial power over the curriculum and over the prerequisites that