Since the end of the 19th Century, theories of education have been introduced into Japan from the West, including those of Kant, Rousseau, Pesstalozzi and Mill, all well-known in this country since that period. However, with few exceptions, Japanese scholars of education did not understand the essence of these theories such as freedom of education, the original value of education, etc., because of the overwhelming ideological pressure under the Imperial system known as the Tenno System. At that

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... time, the educational practices in schools were simply forms of indoctrination or practical training rather than education. Education was a means to govern peoples' mind, or the immediate preparation for contemporary social needs. The imported theories of education were confined to the narrow academic world. Theory and practice of education were isolated from each other. After the War, under the new constitution, education gradually became regarded as an integral part of human rights, not an obligation to the state. Educational practices in schools also showed the same trend. The progressive teacher influenced the growth of his pupils not based on information and ideology from the 'Tenno' System, but by controlling the environment in which growth takes place. At the same time, Japanese scholars of education discovered what educational freedom meant and what the original value of education signified. Education should not be considered as a social enterprise which prepares one for some effective work performance. Education developed from the basic function of the reproduction and the rearing of offspring of the animal species from one generation to the next generation. From this point of view, it follows that it is essential that education aims at the evolution and development of the human species, not the subordination to the concept of indoctrination and training which society requires. When education is subordinated to the benefit of a few, the purpose of the science of education should make clear the essential meaning of education different from ideological indoctorination and training. The writer proposes to develop an international agreement on the 'civil minimum' of education to protect the rights of learning and education of all children in the world.