1. WORLD HISTORY SECTION II
Note: This exam uses the chronological designations B.C.E. (before the common era)
and C.E. (common era). These labels correspond to B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (anno
Domini), which are used in some world history textbooks.
Part A (Suggested writing time—40 minutes) Percent of Section II score—33 1/3
Directions:
The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-9. (The documents
have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.) Write your answer on the lined
pages of the Section II free-response booklet.
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and understand historical
documents.
Write an essay that:
• Has a relevant thesis and supports that thesis with evidence from the documents.
• Uses all of the documents.
• Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many appropriate ways as possible.
Does not simply summarize the documents individually.
• Takes into account the sources of the documents and analyzes the authors’ points of
view.
• Identifies and explains the need for at least one additional type of document.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned in the documents.
1. Using the documents, analyze Japanese attitude toward education between the 19th
and 20th century.
2. Document #1
Source: Bentley, Jerry H., and Herbert F. Ziegler. Traditions and encounters: A global
Perspective on the Past. 3rd ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Print.
“Economic initiatives matched efforts at political reconstruction. Convinced
that powerful economy was the foundation of national strength, the Meiji government
created a modern transportation, communications, and educational infrastructure,
The establishment of telegraph, railroad, and steamship, lines tied local and and
regional markets into a national economic network. the government also removed
barriers to commerce and trade by abolishing guild restrictions and internal tariffs.
Aiming to improve literacy rates--40 percent of males and 15 for females in the
nineteenth century--the government introduced a system of universal primary and
secondary education. Universities provided advanced instruction for the best
students, especially in scientific and technical fields, This infrastructure supported
rapid industrialization and economic enterprises were privately owned, the
government controlled military industries and established pilot programs to stimulate
industrial development. During the 1880’s the government sold most of its
enterprises to private investors who had close ties to government officials. the results
was a concentration of enormous economic power in the hands of a small group of
people, collectively known as zaibatsu, or financial cliques. By the early twentieth
3. Document #2
"Japan." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition.
Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2010.
<http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-23295>
“Japan's modern education system has been a key element in the country's
emergence as a highly industrialized country. The social and economic benefits of
education long have been recognized in Japan, and education has been seen as the
all-important means to achieve personal advancement. Thus, attending the “right”
schools tends to become the critical factor in determining an individual's ultimate social
status and earning power. From the elementary to the university level, students are
screened and selected for advancement, and students from a young age work
extremely hard to qualify for the best possible schools. Merit-based admission has led
to strict ranking among the schools and severely intensified competition, which has
Document #3
Adams, Francis O. "Francis Ottiwell Adams: The Schools of Japan." The World's Story: A
History of the World in Story, Song and Art Volume 1 (1914): 443-446. NetTrekker. Web. 9
Dec. 2010. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/ottwell-japanschools.html>.
“In general the disciplinary rules of the schools were strictly observed. Each scholar
must wear the hakama, or trousers formerly distinguishing the samurai. If late, he could not
enter the school for that day. When once in, he was not allowed to leave till school was out.
The rewards at the end of the year were pieces of silk, inkstones, brush-pens, paper, silver
coin; and the highest, at the Chinese college in Yedo, was a robe on which the crest of the
shogun was embroidered, with the privilege of always wearing the garment in public. The
most common punishments were confinement to the room or house, whipping on the front of
the leg or on the back, walking up and down for several hours with one of the small writing-
tables on the head, having the moxa burned on the forefinger, etc. Of the teachers, some taught
only the sound of the characters, others the meaning of the separate characters, others were
expounders or exegetes. Writing, arithmetic, and each athletic exercise were taught by special
instructors. Few of the teachers made teaching their permanent work, and of the scholars,
probably not more than a third completed the full course of studies. It was absolutely
necessary, however, that a samurai should have been at least through the Small School.
Without this rudimentary education he could not become a householder.”
4. Document #4
"History of education in Japan." Wikipedia. N.p., 24 Oct. 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_Japan>.
“After 1868 new leadership set Japan on a rapid course of modernization. The
Meiji leaders established a public education system to help Japan catch up with the
West and form a modern nation. Missions like the Iwakura mission were sent abroad
to study the education systems of leading Western countries. They returned with the
ideas of decentralization, local school boards, and teacher autonomy. Such ideas
and ambitious initial plans, however, proved very difficult to carry out. After some trial
and error, a new national education system emerged. As an indication of its success,
elementary school enrollments climbed from about 40 or 50 percent of the school-
Document #5
Ember, Melvin, and Carol R. Ember. Counters and their Cultures. 2nd ed. Print.
Half of high school graduates receive advanced education, there are 165 public and
460 private universities and 4 year colleges and almost 600 2 year colleges. A college
degree is a prerequisite for most middle-class occupations, and many companies
formally restrict their recruiting to graduates of specific universities.
Document #6
Nakane, Chie. Japanese Society. Print.
Education plays an important role in contributing to the very high systemization of
various institutions in modern Japan. Employment with a foreign firm in Japan is
regarded somehow as out of the system. In spite of the very high salary, very few well-
qualified men are ready to take a job in these firms. A common educational background
comes next to institution or place of work in degree of function and is more effective
5. Document #7
Peak, Lois. Learning To Go To School In Japan. Los Angeles, CA: Print.
5 Goals for getting into Preschool Education:
1. To cultivate the foundation of a sound body and mind through training the basic
attitudes and habits necessary for healthy, safe, and happy life.
2. To develop affection for and confidence in other people and to cultivate the attitudes
of independence, cooperation, and the seed of moral character.
3. To develop interest in and appreciation of nature and the phenomena around one,
fine and wholesome sentiments toward them, and the understanding of them.
4. To develop interest in and appreciation of the words used in everyday life and to
cultivate and attitude of pleasures in speaking and listening and a sense of the
meaning of words.
Document #8
Wikipedia. "Education in Japan." Wikipedia. Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Education_in_Japan>.
5. In Japan, education is compulsory at the elementary and lower secondary levels. Virtually all
students progress to the upper secondary level, which is voluntary.The latter law defined the
school system that is still in effect today: six years of elementary school, three years of junior
high school, three years of high school, two or four years of university. After the Meiji
Restoration of 1868, the methods and structures of Western learning were adopted as a means
to make Japan a strong, modern nation. Students and even high-ranking government officials
were sent abroad to study.
7. Document #10
Table 1: The general education framework and implications construction education. Emerald.
Web. 9 Dec. 2010. <http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?
articleid=845786&show=html>.
