Pour une écriture de la vie. La méthode seikatsu-tsuzurikata au Japon contre une politique éducative oppressive

Abstract

In 1872, an Education Decree signaled the desire to turn Japan into a modern state. Schools were nationalized, and schooling became compulsory. But during the Meiji era, and even afterwards, the daily lives of ordinary children were marked by economic and cultural poverty. In their families, they could be treated harshly, and at school too. These children's plight was revealed by teachers who gave them the opportunity to express their real existence. Against this backdrop of harshness towards children, this contribution aims to present a pedagogy called seikatsu-tsuzurikata (« writing of daily life ») developed in Japan, notably by schoolteacher Sasaoka Tadayoshi (1897-1937). For him, children's wildness was too quickly eliminated, eradicated by the public school system. Yet it was « wild » children like these who needed to be educated. In so doing, he went against the grain of standard practice, and was eventually expelled from public education because of his ideological stance.

Keywords

• writing and reading
• emotions and mental health
• school form
• histoire de l’éducation
• Japan