The Status Quo of Olympic Education in Japan

Transcription

1 20 The Status Quo of Olympic Education in Japan A Case Study in a University PE Class NAOFUMI MASUMOTO - JAPAN It may be said that Japanese people like the Olympic Games, as they record the second largest number of accesses to the official web site of the IOC (number one is the U.S.A.) 1 Nevertheless, it seems that Japanese fans' main concerns are to cheer for the Japanese athletes shown on television, and particularly for those Japanese athletes who have opportunities to win medals in high profile events. Thus, it may be suggested that these Japanese Olympic concerns are molded by TV coverage. That is, the superficial views and comments to the Olympic hero/heroine on television and many screaming announcers have a strong impact on Japanese views about the Olympics. Preliminary survey It could be concluded that the status quo of Japanese Olympic views is affected by the lack of education about the Olympics, the Olympic Movement, and Olympism, from elementary school to higher education in Japan. In this study, as the preliminary survey, to grasp the situations of Olympic education today in Japan, a simple survey about Olympic topics was conducted with the PE class students of my university. As shown in Table 1, 32.4% of the students were able to draw the Olympic symbol correctly. 35.5% believed, incorrectly, that all the rings in the symbol are crossed. Moreover, 6.2% drew the symbol upside down. Others included the rings touching one another, and so on. The meaning of the five rings, that is, five continents, was known by 35.9% of students, and the five colors, that is, the top five colors of all nation's flags, was known by 1.7%. The motto of the Olympic Games, Citius, Altius, Fortius, was known by 7.2%, and the Coubertin's creed was understood by 14.9% of students. No one knew about the concept of Olympism (see Table 2). From these 225

2 outcomes, it can be argued that education about the Olympics should be improved in Japan. Table 1. Drawing the Olympic symbol ( , N=290) Type Correct All crossed Upside down Others Total No. of students % Table 2. Other questions Questions Colours of the five rings Meaning of the five ring colours Meaning of the five parts Olympic motto Coubertin's creed The concept of the Olympism No. of students % There is another report of the Olympic education in Japanese university. Saga 2 reported the new general course of Olympic studies was taught at the University of Tsukuba in According to his report, although more than 400 students wanted to join the course, because of the limitation of the capacity of the classroom, 160 students were accepted. After the course had finished, they were asked to report their interest in Olympic issues. According to the survey, higher interests included "episodes and dramas of great Olympians of the past"(92.1%), "victory and the outcomes of the Japanese athletes"(90.8%), "Olympian's mentality"(87.5%), "new world and Japanese records"(85.5%), and "Olympian's training and conditioning"(81.6%). Meanwhile, 226

3 Saga showed the areas where there is thought to be a need for further enhancement from the standpoint of the promotion of Olympic education in Japan, that is, "ecology and Olympics"(34.2%), "Olympic and arts" (40.2%), "origin and history of the Olympic Games"(47.4%), "doping issues"(52.6%), "meaning of Olympic education"(57.2%), "Olympics and peace" (59.8%), and "ideals, spirit and objectives of the Olympic movement." Olympic education worldwide Worldwide, Olympic education is being spread. For example, the 'Athens Declaration' for the introduction into European schools of Olympic education was proclaimed in 17 th October The 'Athens Declaration' was signed by all 25 EU Member States and three EFTA states (Norway, Liechtenstein, Iceland). In the last part the declaration stated, "We stress the importance of introducing the teaching of Olympic values into the formal educational curricula, as an effective way of bringing about peace in the world by educating young people on the basis of the ideals of democracy, tolerance, and active citizenship." 3 Although it is not clear whether this declaration is effective or not in Europe, it is important for us to notice the Olympic education opportunity on the occasion of the Olympic Games. In spite of the special and limited issues, the International Olympic Truce Centre published the school comic book, The truce story,' and these comic books are going to be translated into seven languages: Arabic, Chinese, Greek, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. 4 Unfortunately, as you can see, there is no Japanese. This situation can be typically understood as the weakness of Japanese Olympic education program. Historically, these tendencies of Olympic education were formed by the IOA and IOC. Especially, the International Olympic Committee promotes Olympic education, by suggesting that instructors, "use Olympic themes to motivate students in mathematics, sciences, writing and reading, the arts and physical education." 5 "Olympic education can reinforce cultural identity in a world of global diversity, and promote wellness for everyone everywhere." 6 In this educator handbook, the objectives of Olympic education are as follows: for the aspect of knowledge and understanding, "history and traditions, symbols and ceremonies, Olympic sports, famous Olympic athletes, related issues, heroes / heroines of Olympic sport in their own country, and other Olympic countries," and for the aspect of the attitudes and values, "enthusiasm, international friendship, physical activity and sport, self-esteem, cultural identity, excellence in achievement, and moral judgment and fair play." 7 National course guide for PE in Japan Because the Japanese national curriculum for the PE theoretical course in high school was revised in 2003, Olympic education and anti-doping education has just begun. As the background of this reformation of the national course guide for the theoretical course in 2003, there were many social impacts surrounding sport in Japan, including commercialism, anti-doping issues, and Olympic related issues. In the teacher's portion of the new national course guide, it is said that the main area of the 227

4 theory of PE in high school, top priority of the PE theory should rest on the meanings and issues of sport in modern society. 8 As for the Olympic related issues, the guide stresses, "For example, for the mutual understandings of several countries through sport, and for international goodwill, the PE theoretical course should be include the teaching of the Olympic movement. Also, for the performance with fair, and health for the athletes, the doping related issues should be contained." 9 Nevertheless, in the textbooks based on this new national curriculum, there are very few references to the fundamental items related to the Olympics, i.e. Pierre de Coubertin, Olympism, and the Olympic movement. 10 Most regrettably, Olympic education is not conducted in the elementary and junior high schools in Japan. Although there are some integrated learning courses related to the Olympic Games in the elementary and junior high schools, it is desirable for Olympic education to be taught mainly in PE. Historically, Olympic education in Japanese host cities was well developed. For the 1964 Tokyo Games, the 'Olympic National Movement' was conducted in Japan, with collaboration between the national government, the Japanese Olympic Committee, the Ministry of Education and private organizations. Olympic reader textbooks were distributed to every elementary and junior high school. More recently, the 'One school, one country program' was developed in Nagano City for the 1998 Nagano Winter games. Because this Nagano program was welcomed worldwide, it was extended to the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney and the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Games. Starting from the 2006 Turin Winter Games, the IOC has decided to conduct this as an official program. This is the first global Olympic education program from Japan. Despite this history, after the closing of the Games, Olympic education has tapered off in Japan. In conjunction with the 2004 Athens Games, I would like to propose the concept of 'Olympic literacy' in order to develop Olympic education in Japan. This education will teach students to access information about Olympic-related issues on television and in newspapers, to read this information critically, and to acquire the ability to interpret various kinds of communications. With this Olympic literacy, the Olympic movement will be explained better in the Japanese educational system. This type of education would be a more realistic Olympic education. 228

5 Endnotes Naofumi Masumoto, The Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony Broadcast: A commentary on the cultural program, Iichiko, 2001, (in Japanese). Hisashi Saga "JOA Issues Aiming for the Promotion of Olympic Education in Asia" in The Olympic Movement in Asia: Proceedings of the 25th Anniversary Session of the Japan Olympic Academy, 2004, ATHOC Press Releases, International interest in the Olympic education programme, Athens, 17 October IOC Commission for the International Olympic Academy and Olympic education, Keep the Spirit Alive: You and the Olympic Games; A handbook for Educators, 1995, p.3. Ibid., p. 5. Ibid. Ministry of education, Manual for the National course guide of PE in high school, 1999, p.7. (in Japanese) Ibid., p. 64. For example, The text book for the theoretical course of PE in high-school, 2003, Taisyukan Shoten (in Japanese). 229