Japan and the Pursuit of a New American Identity: work and education in a

This study originated in a concern for the relation between school and work, and later evolved into an enquiry into the nature of a democratic identity in a multicultural society. Feinberg started this project in about 1980, shortly after leaders of government and industry declared that American education was in crisis. Inferior education was thought to be one of the main causes of the growing American trade deficit and (then) declining industry (car industry and consumer electronics). Low scores on standardised tests of American students, particularly in comparison with those of Japanese students, were seen as a sign of the decline of education and as a possible explanation of the lack of productivity of American industry. Both the high scores on tests of the Japanese students and the impressive achievements of Japanese industry were seen as proof of the thesis that good education produces good workers. In those years a growing numbers of ‘transplants’, as the branches of Japanese companies are called, settled down in the United States. The Japanese children who came along with their parents were placed in the neighbouring public schools. This enabled Feinberg (Professor of Philosophy of Education and Director of the Study o