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The purpose of this study is to examine how the relation between general education and the world of work was structured, and what supported it in the early Showa Era, when the relationship appeared, through an analysis of the state of vocational guidance in primary school. Section 1 points out that the "Japanese" pattern of transition from school to work dates from the prewar period, and that earlier studies only clarified the intention and the actual situation on the part of companies or employment agencies. However, in order to grasp the entire historical process of the structuring of the system, it is necessary to elucidate the intention and the actual situation on the part of schools, and to inquire again on the issue of transition as a problem of education. The paper then explains the significance of clarifying the problem mentioned above. Section 2 examines the opinion of the Ministry of Education on the introduction of institutions for vocational guidance, and considers the kind of problems that occurred in school. It shows that setting up a special subject of vocational guidance has consistently been shelved although teachers thought the problems emerged because of the lack of such courses. In the background was an essential aporia regarding vocational guidance. The aporia was caused by the fact that the transition from school to work was not always successful even if vocational aptitude tests were complete, because it depended on the situation of the labor market. Section 3 clarifies that two methods for giving vocational guidance in primary schools emerged. The two methods were as follows: (1) directly helping students to find jobs, (2) cultivating a "spirit of enterprise." In addition, the paper points out that this divergence corresponded to an aporia in vocational guidance, based on "ideal" versus "reality." These methods led to the development of the relation between general education and the world of employment in postwar times, with "continuity in system" and "discontinuity in substance." Section 4 discusses "Love," which was used to support vocational guidance in school. "Love" was a magic word used to justify both methods, and to hinder any examination of the methodology of vocational guidance. The paper then argues that "Love" was the trigger for the emergence of the issue regarding transition as a problem of education. Section 5 is a summary and discussion. It points out that the divergence of methods for giving guidance was an inevitable result considering the matter of transition as a problem of education. Moreover, it hypothesizes that the two methods of vocational guidance in school were united by the justification of the practices using the word "Love". The word "'Love" continued to be used in postwar times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes, in the context of their surroundings, the process through which high school students who came from China in and after the 1970s (Chinese newcomers), rebuild their hopes for the future, which were at one point destroyed by their coming to Japan, and make career choices. Chinese newcomers originally have their own life plans, based on school education and their life experiences in China. Coming to Japan is an interruption of their plans for the future. How do they rebuild a future outlook and pursue a desired career in Japan? It seems that, because newcomer students are at a disadvantage in terms of Japanese language, they are not able to maximize their academic ability, and tend to enter low-level high schools. How does this affect their school life and their academic career? And what kind of support do they need? This paper considers this issue, using the case of Chinese newcomers who were assisted by career counseling activities, at a lower track public commercial high school. The following two points are made clear. First, through their school experiences in China, the Chinese newcomers were imbued with the value that studying should come first and that grades are everything. They had an achievement based future outlook, under which future happiness is seen to depend on good grades and a high academic background. While they wished to go on to university, they were confronted by the anti-school culture in the high school, where studying is not highly valued, and came to feel friction, conflict, and denial. Their desire to go to university declined. In other words, school life in the high school did not offer them a way to achieve what they want in the future. Secondly, university student volunteers helped newcomer students to regain the hopes that they had lost after entering the commercial high school, and encouraged them to go on to university. Student volunteers acted as role models, embodying the pro school culture that Chinese newcomers originally had, and encouraged them to continue to be diligent and to make efforts. Specific information on universities given by teachers is also an important source for making the career choice to go on to university. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on interviews conducted at three Osaka Prefecture high schools which are regarded as "schools with educational difficulties." in other words. "low-ranked high schools." The aim of this research is to clarify the aspects of the educational difficulties in each school, the background to those difficulties, and the problems of career support which each school faces in the actual conditions. In conclusion. I will indicate that these schools, in spite of the earnest efforts of teachers and careful support for students, reveal the "critical point" of the contemporary high school system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The school system continues to occupy a central position in the system of social distribution. However, the school is changing from a social screening institution, as it was in the 1970s, to a support institution. Schools now tend to support the decision-making of students based on their own academic achievements and career plans. It is difficult for schools to intervene in students' decision-making in the way they did in the 1970s. However, the relationship between student's school records and their academic and career achievements has not been broken down despite the drastic change in this internal process. In this paper, the authors describe this mechanism in the school by investigating one commercial high school in the Metropolitan area. The authors examine data from the "Student Kartes" of all students in 2002. In these documents, teachers record students' academic achievements and their process of career determing. The authors then analyze how students move between the various channels offered by the school to make academic and career choices, and show some typical patterns. The main conclusions are as follows. First, many students failed to attend group counseling formally provided by the school, and teachers need to give individual support to students. Second, ironically, due to the fact that academic affairs were not highly valued at the commercial high school and that academic competition was not stiff, students with a strong commitment to school tended to have better achievement than those who had a weak commitment. In that sense, the school, as a support institution, also functions as a social screening institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]