International comparisons and educational research policy

The chapters in this book deal specifically with the ways in which Japanese education has been misused in the context of American educational policy generation and in the debates over the reform of American public education. The various authors discuss the forms and ramifications of this misuse in the general media, educational policy organs and in the general educational press. In this chapter we question whether or not the case of Japan is unique or can be seen as part of a broader pattern of American reaction to foreign school systems. We will argue that, in many ways, the treatment of Japanese education conforms to a broader pattern of interest in and borrowing from foreign educational systems that can be traced back nearly 100 years.