Japan developed a very interesting education system in the late 1800’s. Their approach was somewhat unique in that they took different aspects from varies countries to try and create the best centralized educational system. They divided the country into eight collegiate divisions, which was taken from the French. They also borrowed the approach to inspect schools and teachers by setting up a bureau. The primaries schools were mandatory for children 6-14 years old, modeled after the American system. Finally, they borrowed the majority of their system from the Germans. This included German research universities and German educated professors. This was inspired by the desire to “catch up” to other countries.
The concept of borrowing educational systems is an important aspect of globalization. As countries become more connected, it is important to continue to try to model and adapt education systems to other countries. Japan modeled Germany because they had similar goals of gaining power. Currently, all countries should have similar goals of creating the best educational system possible, and this will only happen if we keep borrowing from one another.