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129-488: Shōjo Club was one of the earliest shōjo magazines, and by 1937 was the best-selling magazine in Japan aimed at this market segment. Its conservative editorial stance, aligned with that of its publisher Kodansha, was reflected in the magazine's focus on educational content, especially moral education . The magazine and its primary competitor Shōjo no tomo were the sole shōjo magazines to continue publication throughout

258-402: A conservative editorial stance aligned with the editorial stance of its publisher Kodansha , though it rarely published overt social or political criticism. The magazine placed particular emphasis on educational content, especially moral education , as represented by its slogan of "textbook in the left hand, Shōjo Club in the right hand". The Women's Higher School Act  [ ja ]

387-491: A moral panic . Cries about loss of morals in the succeeding generation, overwhelmingly unsubstantiated, and calls for remediation have been constant in America since before its founding. (It should be expected that—in a free country that supports children's rights—this trend will continue apace.) Eastern philosophy views the nature of man as initially quiet and calm, but when affected by the external world, it develops desires. When

516-470: A Scientific Panel composed of Robert Oppenheimer , Enrico Fermi , Ernest Lawrence , and Arthur Compton . In a 1 June report, the Committee concluded that the bomb should be used as soon as possible against a war plant surrounded by workers' homes and that no warning or demonstration should be given. The committee's mandate did not include the use of the bomb—its use upon completion was presumed. Following

645-404: A breakthrough discovery of the "key character ingredient" to success and performance, it soon came under wide criticism and has been exposed, like other character interventions, as suspect as a character construct, and where attempts have been made to implement it in school programs, shows no more than a weak effect, if any. Moreover, the original data was misinterpreted by Duckworth. Additionally,

774-645: A central figure in Taoist philosophy. He wrote that people develop different moral attitudes from different natural upbringings, each feeling that his own views are obvious and natural, yet all are blinded by this socialization to their true nature. To Zhuangzi, pre-social desires are relatively few and easy to satisfy, but socialization creates a plethora of desires for "social goods" such as status, reputation, and pride. These conventional values, because of their comparative nature create attitudes of resentment and anger inciting competition and then violence. The way to social order

903-545: A circulation of 67,000 in 1923 that grew to 492,000 by 1937, making Shōjo Club the best-selling magazine in Japan aimed at teenage girls. The National Mobilization Law was passed in 1938 amid the Second Sino-Japanese War , which obligated the Japanese press to support the war effort and subjected publishers to increased scrutiny and censorship, though both Shōjo Club (and Kodansha broadly) closely collaborated with

1032-534: A conservative stance that emphasized moral education, while others took a liberal stance that encouraged ideals of sisterhood and the development of artistic skills; a notable example of the latter is Shōjo no Tomo , which would become the main competitor to Shōjo Club . Seiji Noma, the founder of the publishing house Kodansha , launched Shōjo Club as a companion to the publisher's magazine Shōnen Club in January 1923. Like other Kodansha publications, Shōjo Club

1161-750: A failed coup d'état , Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address across the Empire on 15 August announcing the surrender of Japan to the Allies. On 28 August, the occupation of Japan led by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers began. The surrender ceremony was held on 2 September, aboard the United States Navy battleship USS  Missouri , at which officials from the Japanese government signed

1290-496: A growing strict interpretation of the separation of church and state doctrine. This trend increased after World War II and was further intensified by what appeared to be changes in the nation's moral consensus in the late 1960s. Educators and others became wary of using the schools for moral education. More and more this was seen to be the province of the family and the church. Still, due to a perceived view of academic and moral decline, educators continued to receive mandates to address

1419-534: A happy person must have virtuous traits of character. Socrates identifies happiness with pleasure and explains the various virtues as instrumental means to pleasure. He teaches, however, that pleasure is to be understood in an overarching sense wherein fleeing battle is a momentary pleasure that detracts from the greater pleasure of acting bravely. Plato wrote that to be virtuous, we must both understand what contributes to our overall good and have our spirited and appetitive desires educated properly and guided by

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1548-428: A major influence on approaches to developing character. Karl Marx applies Aristotle's conclusions in his understanding of work as a place where workers should be able to express their rational powers. But workers subject to capitalist values are characterized primarily by material self-interest. This makes them distrustful of others, viewing them primarily as competitors. Given these attitudes, workers become prone to

1677-654: A moral choice. The impetus and energy behind the return of a more didactic character education to American schools did not come from within the educational community. It continues to be fueled by desire from conservative and religious segments of the population for traditionally orderly schools where conformity to "standards" of behavior and good habits are stressed. State and national politicians, as well as local school districts, lobbied by character education organizations, have responded by supporting this sentiment. During his presidency, Bill Clinton hosted five conferences on character education. President George W. Bush expanded on

1806-1002: A new science, emerged in the 1990s to focus on explaining human behavior against the backdrop of Darwinian processes. This science considers how the biological forces of genetics and neurotransmissions in the brain influence unconscious strategies and conscious and proposes that these features of biology have developed through evolution processes. In this view, the cognitive programs of the human brain are adaptations. They exist because this behavior in our ancestors enabled them to survive and reproduce these same traits in their descendants, thereby equipping us with solutions to problems that our ancestors faced during our species' evolutionary history. Ethical topics addressed include altruistic behaviors, deceptive or harmful behaviors, an innate sense of fairness or unfairness, feelings of kindness or love, self-sacrifice, feelings related to competitiveness and moral punishment or retribution, and moral "cheating" or hypocrisy. Surrender of Japan The surrender of

1935-482: A number of vices, including selfishness, cowardice, and intemperance. To correct these conditions, he proposes that workers perform tasks that are interesting and mentally challenging—and that each worker help decide how, and to what ends, their work should be directed. Marx believes that this, coupled with democratic conditions in the workplace, reduces competitive feelings among workers so they want to exhibit traditional virtues like generosity and trustfulness, and avoid

2064-537: A protest by scientists involved in the project, in the form of the Franck Report , the Committee re-examined the use of the bomb, posing the question to the Scientific Panel of whether a "demonstration" of the bomb should be used before actual battlefield deployment. In a 21 June meeting, the Scientific Panel affirmed that there was no alternative. Truman played very little role in these discussions. At Potsdam, he

2193-442: A purpose of education. However, the various proponents of character education are far from agreement as to what "good" is, or what qualities are desirable. Compounding this problem is that there is no scientific definition of character. Because such a concept blends personality and behavioral components, scientists have long since abandoned use of the term "character" and, instead, use the term psychological motivators to measure

2322-430: A purposeful deception predicated upon a desire to play both ends against the middle. While this judgment does not accord with the much-lauded character of Admiral Suzuki, the fact remains that from the moment he became Premier until the day he resigned no one could ever be quite sure of what Suzuki would do or say next. Japanese leaders had always envisioned a negotiated settlement to the war. Their prewar planning expected

2451-493: A rapid expansion and consolidation, an eventual conflict with the United States, and finally a settlement in which they would be able to retain at least some new territory they had conquered. By 1945, Japan's leaders were in agreement that the war was going badly, but they disagreed over the best means to negotiate its end. There were two camps: the so-called "peace" camp favored a diplomatic initiative to persuade Joseph Stalin ,

2580-399: A reported "will" to act (long before EEG activity predicted such a response). This was accomplished with the help of volunteer epilepsy patients, who needed electrodes implanted deep in their brain for evaluation and treatment anyway. Similarly to these tests, a 2013 study found that the choice to sum or subtract can be predicted before the subject reports it. Evolutionary psychology ,

2709-520: A situation of a-priori assumption that humans are morally deficient by nature and that preemptive measures are needed to develop children into acceptable members of society: home, church and school. Character education in school in the United States began with the circulation of the New England Primer . Besides rudimentary instruction in reading, it was filled with Biblical quotes, prayers, catechisms and religiously charged moral exhortations. Typical

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2838-724: A sufficient level of diplomatic engagement with the Japanese to give them the impression they might be willing to mediate, the Soviets were covertly preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands ) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the US and the UK at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences . On 6 August 1945, at 8:15 am local time,

2967-452: A value or virtue of the month; lively morning public-address announcements; occasional motivational assemblies; and possibly a high-profile event such as a fund-raiser for a good cause. 2) Praise-and-reward approach seeks to make virtue into habit using "positive reinforcement". Elements include "catching students being good" and praising them or giving them chits that can be exchanged for privileges or prizes. In this approach, all too often,

3096-519: A whole along national, tribal, ethnic, religious and even class lines. Race character is predominantly used as a justification for the denigration and subsequent persecution of minority groups, most infamously, justifying European persecution of Native Americans, the concept of slavery, and the Nazis' persecution of Jews. Though race character continues to be used as a justification for persecution of minorities worldwide, it has been scientifically discredited and

3225-532: A wider behavioral pattern of being. As common schools spread throughout the colonies, the moral education of children was taken for granted. Formal education had a distinctly moral and religion emphasis. In the Christian tradition, it is believed that humans are flawed at birth ( original sin ), requiring salvation through religious means: teaching, guidance and supernatural rituals. This belief in America, originally heavily populated by Protestant immigrants, creates

3354-516: Is also no common or standard means for assessing, implementing or evaluating programs. "Character" is one of those overarching concepts that is the subject of disciplines from philosophy to theology , from psychology to sociology —with many competing and conflicting theories. Thomas Lickona defines character education as "the deliberate effort to develop virtues that are good for the individual and good for society ." More recently, psychologist Robert McGrath has proposed that character education

3483-486: Is attributable to seemingly trivial features of the situations in which people find themselves. In a typical experiment, seminary students agreed to give a talk on the importance of helping those in need. On the way to the building where their talks were to be given, they encountered a confederate slumped over and groaning. Ironically, those who were told they were already late were much less likely to help than those who were told they had time to spare. Perhaps most damning to

3612-575: Is documenting how much the unconscious mind is involved in decision making. According to cognitive neuroscientists, we are conscious of only about 5 percent of our cognitive activity, so most of our decisions, actions, emotions, and behavior depends on the 95 percent of brain activity that goes beyond our conscious awareness. These studies show that actions come from preconscious brain activity patterns and not from people consciously thinking about what they are going to do. A 2011 study conducted by Itzhak Fried found that individual neurons fire 2 seconds before

3741-488: Is for people to eliminate these socialized ambitions through open-minded receptivity to all kinds of voices—particularly those who have run afoul of human authority or seem least authoritative. Each has insights. Indeed, in Taoist moral philosophy, perfection may well look like its opposite to us. One theme of Zhuangzi's that links Taoism to the Zen branch of Buddhism is the concept of flow , of losing oneself in activity, particularly

3870-404: Is less focused on social skill acquisition and more on constructing a moral identity within a life narrative. Character as it relates to character education most often refers to how 'good' a person is. In other words, a person who exhibits personal qualities like those a society considers desirable might be considered to have good character—and developing such personal qualities is often seen as

3999-521: Is no common practice in schools in relation to the formation of pupils' character or values education. This is partly due to the many competing programs and the lack of standards in character education, but also because of how and by whom the programs are executed. Programs are generally of four varieties: cheerleading, praise and reward, define and drill, and forced formality . They may be used alone or in combination. 1) Cheerleading involves multicolored posters, banners, and bulletin boards featuring

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4128-546: Is not overtly a component of modern character education in western societies. Particularly in modern liberal republics, social and economic change is rapid and can result in cognitive stress to older generations when each succeeding generation expands on and exhibits their own modes of expressing the freedoms such societies enjoy. America is a prime example. With few traditions, each generation exhibits attitudes and behaviors that conservative segments of preceding generations uneasily assimilate. Individual incidents can also produce

4257-416: Is often summarized as 'moderation in all things'. For example, courage is worthy, for too little of it makes one defenseless. But too much courage can result in foolhardiness in the face of danger. To be clear, Aristotle emphasizes that the moderate state is not an arithmetic mean, but one relative to the situation: sometimes the mean course is to be angry at, say, injustice or mistreatment, at other times anger

4386-402: Is said to have sung his sayings and accompanied himself on a 'qin' (a kind of zither). According to Confucius, musical training is the most effective method for molding the moral character of man and keeping society in order. He said: "Let a man be stimulated by poetry, established by the rules of propriety, perfected by music." The theme of Taoism is one of harmony with nature. Zhuangzi was

4515-400: Is this short verse from the 1777 edition: Good children must, Fear God all day, Love Christ alway, Parents obey, In secret pray, No false thing say, Mind little play, By no sin stray, Make no delay, In doing good. As the young republic took shape, schooling was promoted for both secular and moral reasons. By the time of the nineteenth century, however, religion became a problem in

4644-442: Is to provide a list of principles, pillars, values or virtues , which are memorized or around which themed activities are planned. It is commonly claimed that the values included in any particular list are universally recognized. However, there is no agreement among the competing programs on core values (e.g., honesty, stewardship, kindness, generosity, courage, freedom, justice, equality, and respect) or even how many to list. There

4773-507: Is wholly inappropriate. Additionally, because people are different, the mean for one person may be bravery, but for another it is recklessness. For Aristotle, the key to finding this balance is to enjoy and recognize the value of developing one's rational powers, and then using this recognition to determine which actions are appropriate in which circumstances. The views of nineteenth-century philosophers were heavily indebted to these early Greeks. Two of them, Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill, had

4902-702: The Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, ending the war . By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China , the United States called for the unconditional surrender of Japan in

5031-522: The Japanese Instrument of Surrender , ending the hostilities. Allied civilians and military personnel alike celebrated V-J Day , the end of the war; however, isolated soldiers and personnel from Japan's forces throughout Asia and the Pacific refused to surrender for months and years afterwards, some into the 1970s. The role of the atomic bombings in Japan's unconditional surrender, and the ethics of

5160-591: The Marianas campaign , and the Philippines campaign . In July 1944, following the loss of Saipan , General Hideki Tōjō was replaced as prime minister by General Kuniaki Koiso , who declared that the Philippines would be the site of the decisive battle. After the Japanese loss of the Philippines, Koiso in turn was replaced by Admiral Kantarō Suzuki . The Allies captured the nearby islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in

5289-624: The Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War , also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the publicly neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. While maintaining

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5418-609: The Soviet Union , the United Kingdom , and the United States , represented by Stalin, Winston Churchill (later Clement Attlee ), and Truman respectively. Although the Potsdam Conference was mainly concerned with European affairs, the war against Japan was also discussed in detail. Truman learned of the successful Trinity test early in the conference and shared this information with the British delegation. The successful test caused

5547-627: The Soviet Union declared war on Japan , and soon after midnight on 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union invaded the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo . Hours later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb , on the Japanese city of Nagasaki . Emperor Hirohito ordered the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War to accept the terms the Allies had set down in the Potsdam Declaration. After several more days of behind-the-scenes negotiations and

5676-623: The mining of Japanese coastal waters had largely destroyed the Japanese merchant fleet. With few natural resources, Japan was dependent on raw materials, particularly oil, imported from Manchuria and other parts of the East Asian mainland, and from the conquered territory in the Dutch East Indies . The destruction of the Japanese merchant fleet, combined with the strategic bombing of Japanese industry , had wrecked Japan's war economy. Production of coal, iron, steel, rubber, and other vital supplies

5805-556: The Allies, the Soviets responded with delaying tactics to encourage the Japanese without promising anything. Satō finally met with Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov on 11 July, but without result. On 12 July, Tōgō directed Satō to tell the Soviets that: His Majesty the Emperor, mindful of the fact that the present war daily brings greater evil and sacrifice upon the peoples of all the belligerent powers, desires from his heart that it may be quickly terminated. But so long as England and

5934-420: The Allies. His own comments at the conference of senior statesmen gave no hint that he favored any early cessation of the war ... Suzuki's selections for the most critical cabinet posts were, with one exception, not advocates of peace either. After the war, Suzuki and others from his government and their apologists claimed they were secretly working towards peace, and could not publicly advocate it. They cite

6063-491: The American delegation to reconsider the necessity and wisdom of Soviet participation, for which the U.S. had lobbied hard at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences . The United States prioritized shortening the war and reducing American casualties—Soviet intervention seemed likely to do both, but at the cost of possibly allowing the Soviets to capture territory beyond that which had been promised to them at Tehran and Yalta, and causing

6192-1044: The Army , Minister of the Navy , Chief of the Army General Staff, and Chief of the Navy General Staff. At the formation of the Suzuki government in April 1945, the council's membership consisted of: All of these positions were nominally appointed by the Emperor and their holders were answerable directly to him. Nevertheless, Japanese civil law from 1936 required that the Army and Navy ministers had to be active duty flag officers from those respective services while Japanese military law from long before that time prohibited serving officers from accepting political offices without first obtaining permission from their respective service headquarters which, if and when granted, could be rescinded at any time. Thus,

6321-650: The Conduct of the War," which stated that the Japanese people would fight to extinction rather than surrender. This policy was adopted by the Big Six on 6 June. (Tōgō opposed it, while the other five supported it.) Documents submitted by Suzuki at the same meeting suggested that, in the diplomatic overtures to the USSR, Japan adopt the following approach: It should be clearly made known to Russia that she owes her victory over Germany to Japan, since we remained neutral, and that it would be to

6450-635: The Emperor, were not acceptable to the Japanese leadership. On 5 April, the Soviet Union gave the required 12 months' notice that it would not renew the five-year Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact (which had been signed in 1941 following the Nomonhan Incident ). Unknown to the Japanese, at the Tehran Conference in November–December 1943, it had been agreed that the Soviet Union would enter

6579-504: The Japanese Army and Navy effectively held a legal right to nominate (or refuse to nominate) their respective ministers, in addition to the effective right to order their respective ministers to resign their posts. Strict constitutional convention dictated (as it technically still does today) that a prospective Prime Minister could not assume the premiership, nor could an incumbent Prime Minister remain in office, if he could not fill all of

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6708-422: The Japanese concept of haragei —"the art of hidden and invisible technique"—to justify the dissonance between their public actions and alleged behind-the-scenes work. However, many historians reject this. Robert J. C. Butow wrote: Because of its very ambiguity, the plea of haragei invites the suspicion that in questions of politics and diplomacy a conscious reliance upon this 'art of bluff' may have constituted

6837-455: The Japanese home islands. General Marshall supported the entry of the Red Army , believing that doing so would cause Japan to capitulate. McCloy had told Stimson that there were no more Japanese cities to be bombed and wanted to explore other options of bringing about a surrender. He suggested a political solution and asked about warning the Japanese of the atomic bomb. James Byrnes, who would become

6966-645: The South to repel the inevitable US attack, thus leaving its Northern islands vulnerable to Soviet invasion. Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov , in Moscow, and Yakov Malik , Soviet ambassador in Tokyo, went to great lengths to assure the Japanese that "the period of the Pact's validity has not ended". At a series of high-level meetings in May, the Big Six first seriously discussed ending

7095-654: The Soviet Pacific coastline— Vladivostok in particular—could be blockaded by air and sea from Sakhalin island and the Kurile Islands . Acquiring these territories, thus guaranteeing free access to the Soya Strait , was their primary objective. Secondary objectives were leases for the Chinese Eastern Railway , Southern Manchuria Railway , Dairen , and Port Arthur . To this end, Stalin and Molotov strung out

7224-469: The Soviet Union could be persuaded to act as an agent for Japan in negotiations with the United States and Britain. After several years of preliminary research, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had authorized the initiation of a massive, top-secret project to build atomic bombs in 1942. The Manhattan Project , under the authority of Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr. employed hundreds of thousands of American workers at dozens of secret facilities across

7353-463: The Soviets into the war against Japan. Tōgō had been outspoken about ending the war quickly. As a result of these meetings, he was authorized to approach the Soviet Union, seeking to maintain its neutrality, or (despite the very remote probability) to form an alliance. In keeping with the custom of a new government declaring its purposes, following the May meetings the Army staff produced a document, "The Fundamental Policy to Be Followed Henceforth in

7482-530: The United States detonated an atomic bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima . Sixteen hours later, American President Harry S. Truman called again for Japan's surrender, warning them to "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth." Late on 8 August 1945, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, but in violation of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact ,

7611-702: The United States has sustained heavy losses" in Operation Ketsugō . In June, the Emperor lost confidence in the chances of achieving a military victory. The Battle of Okinawa was lost, and he learned of the weakness of the Japanese army in China, of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, of the navy, and of the army defending the Home Islands. The Emperor received a report by Prince Higashikuni from which he concluded that "it

7740-589: The United States insist upon unconditional surrender, the Japanese Empire has no alternative but to fight on with all its strength for the honor and existence of the Motherland. The Emperor proposed sending Prince Konoe as a special envoy, although he would be unable to reach Moscow before the Potsdam Conference . Satō advised Tōgō that in reality, "unconditional surrender or terms closely equivalent thereto"

7869-528: The United States, and on 16 July 1945, the first prototype weapon was detonated during the Trinity nuclear test . As the project neared its conclusion, American planners began to consider the use of the bomb. In keeping with the Allies' overall strategy of securing final victory in Europe first, it had initially been assumed that the first atomic weapons would be allocated for use against Germany. However, by this time it

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7998-502: The absorption in skilled execution of a highly cultivated way. His most famous example concerns a butcher who carves beef with the focus and absorption of a virtuoso dancer in an elegantly choreographed performance. The height of human satisfaction comes in achieving and exercising such skills with the focus and commitment that gets us "outside ourselves" and into such an intimate connection with our inborn nature. The early Greek philosophers felt that happiness requires virtue and hence that

8127-511: The advantage of the Soviets to help Japan maintain her international position, since they have the United States as an enemy in the future. On 9 June, the Emperor's confidant Marquis Kōichi Kido wrote a "Draft Plan for Controlling the Crisis Situation," warning that by the end of the year Japan's ability to wage modern war would be extinguished and the government would be unable to contain civil unrest. "... We cannot be sure we will not share

8256-431: The amphibious transports before troops and cargo were disembarked on the beach. If this did not drive the Allies away, they planned to send another 3,500 kamikazes along with 5,000 Shin'yō suicide motorboats and the remaining destroyers and submarines—"the last of the Navy's operating fleet"—to the beach. If the Allies had fought through this and successfully landed on Kyūshū, 3,000 planes would have been left to defend

8385-467: The behavioral predispositions of individuals. With no clinically defined meaning, there is virtually no way to measure if an individual has a deficit of character, or if a school program can improve it. The various terms in the lists of values that character education programs propose—even those few found in common among some programs—suffer from vague definitions. This makes the need and effectiveness of character education problematic to measure. There

8514-742: The biological mechanisms that underlie human choices and behavior. Like social psychology, it seeks to determine, not how we should , but how we do behave—though neurologically. For instance, what happens in the brain when we favor one response over another, or when it is difficult to make any decision? Studies of clinical populations, including patients with VMPC ( ventromedial prefrontal cortex ) damage, reveal an association between impairments in emotional processing and impairments in moral judgement and behavior. These and other studies conclude that not only are emotions engaged during moral cognition, but that emotions, particularly those mediated by VMPC, are in fact critical for morality. Other neurological research

8643-546: The cabinet posts. Thus, the Army and Navy could prevent the formation of undesirable governments, or by resignation bring about the collapse of an existing government. Emperor Hirohito and Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal Kōichi Kido also were present at some meetings, following the Emperor's wishes. As Iris Chang reports, "... the Japanese deliberately destroyed, hid or falsified most of their secret wartime documents before General MacArthur arrived." For

8772-934: The classroom curriculum. There are many theories about means, but no comparative data and no consensus in the industry as to what, if any, approach may be effective. It has been said that, "character education is as old as education itself". Indeed, the attempt to understand and develop character extends into prehistory. Since very early times, people have tried to access or "read" the pre-disposition (character) of self and others. Being able to predict and even manipulate human behavior, motivations, and reactions would bestow obvious advantages. Pre-scientific character assessment techniques have included, among others: anthropometry, astrology, palmistry, and metoposcopy. These approaches have been scientifically discredited although they continue to be widely practiced. The concept of inherited "race character" has long been used to characterize desirable versus undesirable qualities in members of groups as

8901-425: The construct of grit ability ignores the positive socio-economic pre-requisites necessary to deploy it. Today, the sciences of social psychology , neuropsychology and evolutionary psychology have taken new approaches to the understanding of human social behavior. Personality and social psychology is a scientific method used by health professionals for researching personal and social motivators in and between

9030-433: The content of the magazine, especially after the success of Osamu Tezuka 's manga series Princess Knight , which was serialized in the magazine from 1953 to 1956. Many popular manga artists, such as Shōtarō Ishinomori , Hideko Mizuno , Fujio Akatsuka , and Tetsuya Chiba would contribute to Shōjo Club ; Toshiko Ueda also serialized the manga series Fuichin-san beginning in 1957, the title character of which became

9159-478: The decisive naval Battle of Tsushima . In February 1945, Prince Fumimaro Konoe gave Emperor Hirohito a memorandum analyzing the situation, and told him that if the war continued, the imperial family might be in greater danger from an internal revolution than from defeat. According to the diary of Grand Chamberlain Hisanori Fujita , the Emperor, looking for a decisive battle ( tennōzan ), replied that it

9288-449: The desires are not properly controlled and the conscious mind is distracted by the material world, we lose our true selves and the principle of reason in Nature is destroyed. From this arise rebellion, disobedience, cunning and deceit, and general immorality. This is the way of chaos. Confucianism stands with Taoism as two of the great religious/philosophical systems of China. A hallmark of

9417-491: The editorial content of Shōjo Club to be "enjoyable, fun, and bright". Changes included the alteration of the spelling of the magazine's title from 少女倶楽部 to 少女クラブ to incorporate katakana , the reorientation of the target demographic of the magazine from middle school-aged girls to elementary school-aged girls, and a decline in Class S stories in favor of stories about families. Manga came to occupy an increasing proportion of

9546-555: The enemy to make them lose the will to fight. As a final attempt to stop the Allied advances, the Japanese Imperial High Command planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū codenamed Operation Ketsugō . This was to be a radical departure from the defense in depth plans used in the invasions of Peleliu , Iwo Jima , and Okinawa . Instead, everything was staked on the beachhead; more than 3,000 kamikazes would be sent to attack

9675-537: The entirety of the Pacific War . The magazine eventually succumbed to changing market conditions in 1962, and was replaced in 1963 with the weekly magazine Shōjo Friend . Shōjo Club was a general women's magazine targeting an audience of shōjo , a term for teenaged girls. It published educational articles, short stories, poetry, illustrations, and manga , though unlike other shōjo magazines, it published very few contributions from readers. Shōjo Club had

9804-614: The entirety of the war. Following the Surrender of Japan in 1945, Kodansha's publications pivoted from their pro-war stance to content on life in the post-war period, such as articles on how individuals could cope with ongoing food shortages. The Civil Information and Education department of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers was tasked with westernizing Japanese media, while the Civil Censorship Department enforced strict censorship of media. In response, Kodansha shifted

9933-514: The fate of Germany and be reduced to adverse circumstances under which we will not attain even our supreme object of safeguarding the Imperial Household and preserving the national polity." Kido proposed that the Emperor take action, by offering to end the war on "very generous terms." Kido proposed that Japan withdraw from the formerly European colonies it had occupied provided they were granted independence and also proposed that Japan recognize

10062-625: The first half of 1945. Okinawa was to be a staging area for Operation Downfall , the Allied invasion of the Japanese Home Islands . Following Germany's defeat , the Soviet Union began quietly redeploying its battle-hardened forces from the European theatre to the Far East, in addition to about forty divisions that had been stationed there since 1941 , as a counterbalance to the million-strong Kwantung Army . The Allied submarine campaign and

10191-533: The formerly German islands in the Pacific and even Manchukuo . With the Emperor's authorization, Kido approached several members of the Supreme Council , the "Big Six." Tōgō was very supportive. Suzuki and Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai , the Navy minister , were both cautiously supportive; each wondered what the other thought. General Korechika Anami , the Army minister , was ambivalent, insisting that diplomacy must wait until "after

10320-530: The government as well, are convinced that our war strength still can deliver considerable blows to the enemy, we are unable to feel absolutely secure peace of mind ... Please bear particularly in mind, however, that we are not seeking the Russians' mediation for anything like an unconditional surrender. In reply, Satō clarified: It goes without saying that in my earlier message calling for unconditional surrender or closely equivalent terms, I made an exception of

10449-432: The government to support the war effort. Women's magazines faced particular criticism for their "sentimentality", leading to a decline in Class S literature and the reorientation of editorial content to emphasize patriotism. The war also brought about a paper shortage that peaked in 1945, forcing many magazines to fold, though Shōjo Club and Shōjo no Tomo were the sole shōjo magazines to continue publication throughout

10578-627: The independence of the Philippines , which Japan had already mostly lost control of and to which it was well known that the U.S. had long been planning to grant independence. Finally, Kido proposed that Japan disarm provided this not occur under Allied supervision and that Japan for a time be "content with minimum defense." Kido's proposal did not contemplate Allied occupation of Japan, prosecution of war criminals or substantial change in Japan's system of government, nor did Kido suggest that Japan might be willing to consider relinquishing territories acquired prior to 1937 including Formosa , Karafuto , Korea ,

10707-669: The individual and society, as well as applying them to the problems people have in the context of society. Personality and social psychologists study how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. By exploring forces within the person (such as traits, attitudes, and goals) as well as forces within the situation (such as social norms and incentives), they seek to provide insight into issues as wide-ranging as prejudice, romantic attraction, persuasion, friendship, helping, aggression, conformity, and group interaction. Neuropsychology addresses how brain regions associated with emotional processing are involved in moral cognition by studying

10836-502: The intended recipients. Fearing heavy casualties, the Allies wished for Soviet entry in the Pacific War at the earliest possible date. Roosevelt had secured Stalin's promise at Cairo , which was re-affirmed at Yalta . That outcome was greatly feared in Japan. Security concerns dominated Soviet decisions concerning the Far East. Chief among these was gaining unrestricted access to the Pacific Ocean . The year-round ice-free areas of

10965-467: The lack of consensus on what virtues are to be taught, but also because of the complex nature of practicing such virtues. For example, people often make different decisions yet hold the same basic moral values. Kohlberg believed a better approach to affecting moral behavior should focus on stages of moral development. These stages are critical, as they consider the way a person organizes their understanding of virtues, rules, and norms, and integrates these into

11094-502: The leader of the Soviet Union, to mediate a settlement between the Allies and Japan; and the hardliners who favored fighting one last "decisive" battle that would inflict so many casualties on the Allies that they would be willing to offer more lenient terms. Both approaches were based on Japan's experience in the Russo–Japanese War , forty years earlier, which consisted of a series of costly but largely indecisive battles, followed by

11223-441: The magazine's mascot. The dominant position that shōjo magazines occupied in teenage entertainment began to diminish in the post-war period, as the medium faced competition in the form of new categories of mass entertainment such as cinema, kashi-hon (rental) manga, and junia shōsetsu ( ジュニア小説 , "junior novels", the precursor to contemporary light novels ) . With the folding of Shōjo no Tomo in 1955, Shōjo Club became

11352-480: The means to discover what your values are. This approach, although widely practiced, came under strong criticism for, among other things, promoting moral relativism among students. Cognitive-developmental theory of moral education and development sprang from the work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget and was further developed by Lawrence Kohlberg . Kohlberg rejected the focus on values and virtues, not only due to

11481-454: The moral concerns of students, which they did using primarily two approaches: values clarification and cognitive developmental moral education. Values clarification. Values change over time in response to changing life experiences. Recognizing these changes and understanding how they affect one's actions and behaviors is the goal of the values clarification process. Values clarification does not tell you what you should have, it simply provides

11610-508: The more traditional vices such as cowardice, stinginess, and self-indulgence. John Stuart Mill , like Marx, also highly regarded development of the rational mind. He argued that seriously unequal societies, by preventing individuals from developing their deliberative powers, affect individuals' character in unhealthy ways and impede their ability to live virtuous lives. In particular, Mill argued that societies that have systematically subordinated women have harmed men and women, and advised that

11739-479: The most part, Suzuki's military-dominated cabinet favored continuing the war. For the Japanese, surrender was unthinkable—Japan had never been successfully invaded or lost a war in its history. Only Mitsumasa Yonai, the Navy minister, was known to desire an early end to the war. According to historian Richard B. Frank : Although Suzuki might indeed have seen peace as a distant goal, he had no design to achieve it within any immediate time span or on terms acceptable to

11868-540: The negotiations with the Japanese, giving them false hope of a Soviet-mediated peace. At the same time, in their dealings with the United States and Britain, the Soviets insisted on strict adherence to the Cairo Declaration, re-affirmed at the Yalta Conference, that the Allies would not accept separate or conditional peace with Japan. The Japanese would have to surrender unconditionally to all the Allies. To prolong

11997-448: The new Secretary of State on 3 July, wanted to use it as quickly as possible without warning and without letting the Soviets know beforehand. On 30 June, Tōgō told Naotake Satō , Japan's ambassador in Moscow, to try to establish "firm and lasting relations of friendship." Satō was to discuss the status of Manchuria and "any matter the Russians would like to bring up." Well aware of the overall situation and cognizant of their promises to

12126-647: The past have fallen under this term include social and emotional learning, moral reasoning and cognitive development, life skills education, health education, violence prevention, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and conflict resolution and mediation. Many of these are now considered failed programs, i.e. " religious education ", "moral development", "values clarification". Today, there are dozens of character education programs in, and vying for adoption by, schools and businesses. Some are commercial, some non-profit and many are uniquely devised by states, districts and schools, themselves. A common approach of these programs

12255-428: The period between childhood and marriage. Contemporaneously, mass media in Japan was growing rapidly and expanding into new markets, leading to a proliferation of magazines dedicated to an audience of shōjo that were published as sister magazines to existing shōnen (boys') magazines. While shōjo magazines of this era were fundamentally aligned with the "Good Wife, Wise Mother" ideal, some magazines took

12384-461: The philosophy of Confucius is his emphasis on tradition and study. He disparages those who have faith in natural understanding or intuition and argues for long and careful study. Study, for Confucius , means finding a good teacher, who is familiar with the ways of the past and the practices of the ancients, imitating his words and deeds. The result is a heavy scheme of obligations and intricate duties throughout all of one's many social roles. Confucius

12513-930: The place of women in families and in societies be reconsidered. Because women and men today may not be well-positioned to fully develop the capacities Aristotle and others considered central to virtuous character, it continues to be a central issue not only in ethics, but also in feminist philosophy, political philosophy , philosophy of education , and philosophy of literature . Because moral character requires communities where citizens can fully realize their human powers and ties of friendship, there are hard questions of how educational, economic, political, and social institutions should be structured to make that development possible. Situationism Impressed by scientific experiments in social psychology , "situationist" philosophers argue that character traits are not stable or consistent and cannot be used to explain why people act as they do. Experimental data shows that much of human behavior

12642-436: The planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended after only six days because the college students who were assigned to act as guards became sadistic and those who were the "prisoners" became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. These and other experiments are taken to show that if humans do have noble tendencies, they are narrow, "local" traits that are not unified with other traits into

12771-417: The programs of the previous administration and made character education a major focus of his educational reform agenda. Grit is defined as perseverance and commitment to long-term goals. It is a character attribute associated with University of Pennsylvania professor Angela Duckworth who wrote about her research in a best-selling book and promoted it on a widely watched Ted Talks video. Initially, lauded as

12900-416: The question of preserving [the imperial family]. On 21 July, speaking in the name of the cabinet, Tōgō repeated: With regard to unconditional surrender we are unable to consent to it under any circumstances whatever. ... It is in order to avoid such a state of affairs that we are seeking a peace, ... through the good offices of Russia. ... it would also be disadvantageous and impossible, from

13029-421: The rational part of the soul. The path he prescribes is that a potentially virtuous person should learn when young to love and take pleasure in virtuous actions, but he must wait until late in life to develop the understanding of why what he loves is good. An obvious problem is that this reasoning is circular. Aristotle is perhaps, even today, the most influential of all the early Western philosophers. His view

13158-732: The real significance of the students' actions is lost, as the reward or award becomes the primary focus. 3) Define-and-drill calls on students to memorize a list of values and the definition of each. Students' simple memorization of definitions seems to be equated with their development of the far more complex capacity for making moral decisions. 4) Forced-formality focuses on strict, uniform compliance with specific rules of conduct, (i.e., walking in lines, arms at one's sides), or formal forms of address ("yes sir," "no ma'am"), or other procedures deemed to promote order or respect of adults. "These four approaches aim for quick behavioral results, rather than helping students better understand and commit to

13287-485: The remaining islands, although Kyūshū would be "defended to the last" regardless. The strategy of making a last stand at Kyūshū was based on the assumption of continued Soviet neutrality. Japanese policy-making centered on the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War (created in 1944 by earlier Prime Minister Kuniaki Koiso ), the so-called "Big Six"—the Prime Minister , Minister of Foreign Affairs , Minister of

13416-679: The schools. In the United States, the overwhelming dominant religion was Protestantism. While not as prominent as during the Puritan era, the King James Bible was, nevertheless, a staple of U.S. public schools. Yet, as waves of immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Italy came to the country from the mid-nineteenth century forward, they reacted to the Protestant tone and orthodoxy of the schools. Concerned that their children would be weaned from their faith, Catholics developed their own school system. Later in

13545-489: The sole remaining pre-war shōjo magazine amid an increasing number of new post-war magazines, such as Ribon and Himawari ; Kodansha would itself launch a second shōjo magazine, Nakayoshi , in 1954. The rise of television in the 1960s led to major upheaval in Japanese magazine publishing, and in 1962 Kodansha discontinued Shōjo Club , publishing the final issue of the magazine in December of that year. Shōjo Club

13674-517: The standpoint of foreign and domestic considerations, to make an immediate declaration of specific terms. American cryptographers had broken most of Japan's codes, including the Purple code used by the Japanese Foreign Office to encode high-level diplomatic correspondence. As a result, messages between Tokyo and Japan's embassies were provided to Allied policy-makers nearly as quickly as to

13803-454: The story (including Truman's own embellishments). On 18 June 1945, Truman met with the Chief of Army Staff General George Marshall , Air Force General Henry Arnold , Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy and Admiral Ernest King , Navy Secretary James Forrestal , Secretary for War Henry Stimson and Assistant Secretary for War John McCloy to discuss Operation Olympic , part of a plan to invade

13932-508: The top of the list were Kyoto , Hiroshima , Yokohama , Kokura , and Niigata . Ultimately, Kyoto was removed from the list at the insistence of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson , who had visited the city on his honeymoon and knew of its cultural and historical significance. Although the previous Vice President , Henry A. Wallace , had been involved in the Manhattan Project since the beginning, his successor, Harry S. Truman ,

14061-441: The traditional view of character are the results of the experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1960s and Philip G. Zimbardo in 1971. In the first of these experiments, the great majority of subjects, when politely though firmly requested by an experimenter, were willing to administer what they thought were increasingly severe electric shocks to a screaming "victim." In the second, the infamous Stanford prison experiment ,

14190-400: The twentieth century, other religious groups, such as Jews, Muslims, and even various Protestant denominations, formed their own schools. Each group desired, and continues to desire, that its moral education be rooted in its respective faith or code. Horace Mann , the nineteenth-century champion of the common schools, strongly advocated for moral education. He and his followers were worried by

14319-596: The two attacks, is debated . The state of war formally ended when the Treaty of San Francisco came into force on 28 April 1952. Four more years passed before Japan and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , which formally brought an end to their state of war. By 1945, the Japanese had suffered a string of defeats for nearly two years in the South West Pacific , India ,

14448-601: The values that are core to our society, or helping them develop the skills for putting those values into action in life's complex situations." Generally, the most common practitioners of character education in the United States are school counselors , although there is a growing tendency to include other professionals in schools and the wider community. Depending on the program, the means of implementation may be by teachers and/or any other adults (faculty, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, maintenance staff, etc.); by storytelling, which can be through books and media; or by embedding into

14577-539: The war against Japan once Germany was defeated. At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the United States had made substantial concessions to the Soviets to secure a promise that they would declare war on Japan within three months of the surrender of Germany. Although the five-year Neutrality Pact did not expire until 5 April 1946, the announcement caused the Japanese great concern, because Japan had amassed its forces in

14706-577: The war, but none of them on terms that would have been acceptable to the Allies. Because anyone openly supporting Japanese surrender risked assassination by zealous army officers, the meetings were closed to anyone except the Big Six, the Emperor, and the Privy Seal. No second or third-echelon officers could attend. At these meetings, despite the dispatches from Japanese ambassador Satō in Moscow, only Foreign Minister Tōgō realized that Roosevelt and Churchill might have already made concessions to Stalin to bring

14835-572: The war, the Soviets opposed any attempt to weaken this requirement. This would give the Soviets time to complete the transfer of their troops from the Western Front to the Far East, and conquer Manchuria , Inner Mongolia , northern Korea , South Sakhalin , the Kuriles , and possibly Hokkaidō (starting with a landing at Rumoi ). The leaders of the major Allied powers met at the Potsdam Conference from 16 July to 2 August 1945. The participants were

14964-513: The war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts made to implement them." It was agreed to solicit Soviet aid in ending the war. Other neutral nations, such as Switzerland , Sweden , and the Vatican City , were known to be willing to play a role in making peace, but they were so small they were believed unable to do more than deliver the Allies' terms of surrender and Japan's acceptance or rejection. The Japanese hoped that

15093-511: The widespread drunkenness, crime, and poverty during the Jacksonian period they lived in. No less troubling were the waves of immigrants flooding into cities, unprepared for urban life and particularly unprepared to participate in democratic civic life. The most successful textbooks during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the famed McGuffey Readers , fostering virtues such as thrift honesty, piety, punctuality and industry. McGuffey

15222-619: Was a theological and conservative teacher and attempted to give schools a curriculum that would instill Presbyterian Calvinist beliefs and manners in their students. During the late-nineteenth-century and twentieth-century period, intellectual leaders and writers were deeply influenced by the ideas of the English naturalist Charles Darwin , the German political philosopher Karl Marx, the Austrian neurologist and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud , and by

15351-524: Was all that Japan could expect. Moreover, in response to Molotov's requests for specific proposals, Satō suggested that Tōgō's messages were not "clear about the views of the Government and the Military with regard to the termination of the war," thus questioning whether Tōgō's initiative was supported by the key elements of Japan's power structure. On 17 July, Tōgō responded: Although the directing powers, and

15480-559: Was also limited by the lack of fuel. Faced with the prospect of an invasion of the Home Islands, starting with Kyūshū , and the prospect of a Soviet invasion of Manchuria—Japan's last source of natural resources—the War Journal of the Imperial Headquarters concluded in 1944: We can no longer direct the war with any hope of success. The only course left is for Japan's one hundred million people to sacrifice their lives by charging

15609-535: Was dedicated to the moral education of its readership and aimed, in Noma's words, to instill in its female readers "the inner modesty and fortitude of samurai women". The magazine's articles were mainly educational in nature, and aligned with girls' school curriculums. The magazine additionally published literature, such as Class S short stories by Nobuko Yoshiya , illustrations by artists such as Kashō Takabatake , and manga by artists such as Suihō Tagawa . The magazine had

15738-482: Was enthralled by the successful report of the Trinity test, and those around him noticed a positive change in his attitude, believing the bomb gave him leverage with both Japan and the Soviet Union. Other than backing Stimson's play to remove Kyoto from the target list (as the military continued to push for it as a target), he was otherwise not involved in any decision-making regarding the bomb, contrary to later retellings of

15867-437: Was increasingly obvious that Germany would be defeated before any bombs would be ready for use. Groves formed a committee that met in April and May 1945 to draw up a list of targets. One of the primary criteria was that the target cities must not have been damaged by conventional bombing. This would allow for an accurate assessment of the damage done by the atomic bomb. The targeting committee's list included 18 Japanese cities. At

15996-425: Was issued in 1899, which standardized female education and established optional formal education options for girls beyond compulsory elementary education. Girls education was aligned with the " Good Wife, Wise Mother " social doctrine, mandating schools to teach girls moral training, sewing, and housekeeping. These reforms had the effect of establishing " shōjo " as a new social category of women, designating girls in

16125-564: Was not briefed on the project by Stimson until 23 April 1945, eleven days after he became president on Roosevelt's death on 12 April 1945. On 2 May 1945, Truman approved the formation of the Interim Committee , an advisory group that would report on the atomic bomb. It consisted of Stimson, James F. Byrnes , George L. Harrison , Vannevar Bush , James Bryant Conant , Karl Taylor Compton , William L. Clayton , and Ralph Austin Bard , advised by

16254-523: Was not just the coast defense; the divisions reserved to engage in the decisive battle also did not have sufficient numbers of weapons." According to the Emperor: I was told that the iron from bomb fragments dropped by the enemy was being used to make shovels. This confirmed my opinion that we were no longer in a position to continue the war. On 22 June, the Emperor summoned the Big Six to a meeting. Unusually, he spoke first: "I desire that concrete plans to end

16383-508: Was only a fraction of that before the war. As a result of the losses it had suffered, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had ceased to be an effective fighting force. Following a series of raids on the Japanese shipyard at Kure , the only major warships in somewhat fighting order were six aircraft carriers, four cruisers, and one battleship, of which many were heavily damaged and none could be fueled adequately. Although 19 destroyers and 38 submarines were still operational, their use

16512-437: Was premature to seek peace "unless we make one more military gain". Also in February, Japan's treaty division wrote about Allied policies towards Japan regarding "unconditional surrender, occupation, disarmament, elimination of militarism, democratic reforms, punishment of war criminals, and the status of the emperor." Allied-imposed disarmament, Allied punishment of Japanese war criminals, and especially occupation and removal of

16641-453: Was replaced with the weekly magazine Shōjo Friend , which published its first issue in January 1963. Moral education Character education is an umbrella term loosely used to describe the teaching of children and adults in a manner that will help them develop variously as moral, civic, good, mannered, behaved, non-bullying, healthy, critical, successful, traditional, compliant or socially acceptable beings. Concepts that now and in

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