Page 8 - Japanese Growth and Education: 演講人：Motohisa Kaneko教授

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technology and machines, the finance sector to accommodate their need, and the

government sector.
It should be emphasized that Japan at this stage still maintained the thrust
towards universalized primary education. Even though primary education

gained substantial expansion in the first period, the completion rate of primary
education did not reach eighty percent until the turn of the century. In order
to push up the completion rate, the national government employed various

measures including shifts in teaching methods, improvement of teacher
education, and subsides to low-income areas. Through these policies, the
completion rate of primary education approached one-hundred percent level by
the 1930s.

It is well known that Psacharopoulos (1973) argued that high rates of return
to investment on primary education signifies the priority of investment should

be directed to primary education. However, there is something to be added to
this argument from Japanese experience. In this period Japan took the policy to
drive down the rate of return. When everybody has primary education, one with
primary education would have little advantage over the others. Employers could

then exploit the ability formed through primary education at no extra costs. This
provided the basis for ensuing economic growth.

It should be noted that Meiji government did not invest to build secondary
and higher education. The University of Tokyo was established in the tenth year
of Meiji period, or 1976. It was expected to be the focal point to introduce the
Western culture and civilization. Subsequently, other types of higher education

institutions were built catering various needs to provide professional workforce.
Various secondary schools were established in the early periods after Meiji

Restoration either as preparatory schools for higher education or as the places
for training middle level professional.