TY - JOUR AB - Compares the values and practices in primary to secondary state schools in the USA and Japan in the light of Dr W. Edwards Deming′s philosophy. Deming teaches that the first step towards improving quality is reducing the variation in products. If our students are considered the products of our educational system, student performance must be uniform for quality education to be achieved. However, this concept is currently missing from the tradition of American education because emphasis of competitiveness, a contributing factor to widening the variation, is a prominent and deeply ingrained characteristic of American culture. On the other hand, the Japanese school system traditionally encourages co‐operation at all levels, from the national and prefectural levels down to school districts and individual schools, from administrators to teachers and students, to reduce the variation in students′ performance. These Japanese educational practices and current issues in American education, such as choice of school programme and national standards in education, are evaluated from the perspective of Deming philosophy. VL - 8 IS - 5 SN - 0951-354X DO - 10.1108/09513549410065738 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/09513549410065738 AU - Yoshida Kosaku PY - 1994 Y1 - 1994/01/01 TI - The Deming Approach to Education: A Comparative Study of the USA and Japan T2 - International Journal of Educational Management PB - MCB UP Ltd SP - 29 EP - 40 Y2 - 2024/03/29 ER -