Styles of reasoning in Japan and the United States: Logic of education in two cultures

How we think and present our ideas is often invisible to us particularly when they are institutionalized through education. This study demonstrates the existence of different styles of reasoning which are promoted in Japanese and American elementary schools. Instead of relying on values and norms, this study uses the category of 'time' as a common index to gauge methods of reasoning. Through the category of time, this study pays special attention to the 'order' in which events are organized and presented. By observing four different classrooms for each country at the fifth and sixth grade levels and conducting experiments in those classrooms, the study found that there is a significant difference between American and Japanese students in their organization of events as well as distinct instructional patterns between the two countries: while Japanese teachers teach history in chronological order using many how-questions, American teachers re-frame historical events by causal order using why-questions. My experiments illustrate that Japanese students tend to state whole events in sequential order, while American students tend to state the most immediate cause to an effect, eliminating other events. Moreover, while Japanese students elaborate events with "moral/social" comments, American students explain the relationship between events with "factual" information. Both the experiments and the observations indicate that Japanese students perceive events over a long term focus, putting emphasis on the "initial" event, while American students tend to focus on the immediacy, considering the "consequential" event most significant. These distinct patterns of reasoning explain how they set goals and means to achieve goals differently and how consequently, rational actions are defined differently in each country. In light of the different styles of reasoning taught in schools, the theory and practice of education are re-examined and a more coherent view of education in the two countries is presented.