学校問題の社会学  [in Japanese] Toward a Sociology of School Problems  [in Japanese]

As any social institution cannot be perfect in all points, it must necessarily face problematic difficulties of some kind. School education, as it has expanded universally, is especially likely to attract such wide interest that its difficulties and deficiencies are notified and criticized. Above all, "visible" troublesome phenomena like children's suicide caused by bullying or prevailing entrance examination "hell" are widely identified as "problems" to be solved and interpreted effectively. Moreover there remain "hidden" problems. The sociology of problems should explore how a problem is recognized or not as a problem, and how a recognized problem becomes a social problem. School problems should be classified systematically in terms of grouping of their kinds, such as elementary, secondary and higher education, and of constituting elements, such as school personnel, equipment and money, and individual school or school system. School problems are parts of educational problems, which in turn are parts of social problems. Educational wastage, educational lag, educational conflict and educational inequality are four main domains of educational pathologies, which are typical of educational problems.