学校では教えてくれない”見えない力”の授業〜「大人の非認知能力」〜 · Business
# 【すずかん先生（鈴木寛）× 白石慶次】AI時代、大人は何を学ぶべきか？「大人の教育改革」
Former Vice-Minister of Education and University of Tokyo Professor Suzuki Hiroshi (鈴木寛) — known as "Suzukan-sensei" — joins the show to argue that the age of AI has made non-cognitive skills the defining human advantage. Starting from the fact that AI surpassed the top applicant score on the University of Tokyo's most selective medical entrance exam this spring, he traces why Japan must move beyond its post-Meiji industrialization model. The conversation covers his concept of "graduating from modernity" (卒近代), Japan's sweep of all categories in PISA 2025, and the case for measuring national prosperity beyond GDP.
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What this episode answers
How far has AI already surpassed human intellectual ability?
AI surpassed the highest applicant score on the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Science III secondary exam this spring, and already achieves a perfect score on the Common Test — meaning the era in which "cognitive abilities measurable by tests have already been surpassed by AI" has arrived.
How strong is the academic performance of Japan's 15-year-olds today, and what explains it?
Japan's 15-year-olds ranked first in all subjects in PISA 2025; behind that result are teacher dedication and roughly 11 million annual school volunteer person-visits — about 10% of the population — who free teachers to focus on actual instruction.
What is "graduating from modernity" (卒近代), and why is it needed now?
"Graduating from modernity" means gratefully moving on from the industrialization and GDP-maximization path pursued since the Meiji Restoration, toward a society that values human relationships, harmony with nature, and well-being — an idea Suzukan-sensei has been developing since around 1995.
How did Yoshida Shoin's Shoka Sonjuku shape Suzukan-sensei's philosophy of education?
During a posting to Yamaguchi Prefecture from 1993 to 1995, Suzukan-sensei visited Shoka Sonjuku twenty times (over sixty visits lifetime), and from Shoin's achievement of laying the foundations of Japan's modernization with just two rooms, 92 students, and two years, he gained the conviction that "society can change if you draw out the potential of young people."
What is wrong with a GDP-only society, and what alternative metrics have been proposed?
Japan succeeded in economic capital but ranks low internationally in happiness; the OECD's Better Life Index — developed in response to the 2009 Sarkozy Report — measures well-being across four capitals: economic (productive), human, natural, and social-relational, pointing beyond GDP as the sole yardstick.
AI Surpasses the Top Score at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Medicine
This spring, in the secondary examination for the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Science III — Japan's most selective medical program — AI surpassed the highest score achieved by any applicant. It did not reach a perfect score, nor does it match the level of a professor. But Suzukan-sensei says he had anticipated this outcome. On the Common Test (formerly the Center Examination), AI already scores perfectly. His assessment of the situation is unambiguous: "cognitive abilities measurable by tests have already been surpassed by AI." That is precisely why developing non-cognitive abilities has become urgent, and why he has been driving reforms such as expanding comprehensive selection admissions (formerly AO admissions) across national universities nationwide.
Japan's 15-Year-Olds Rank First in Every Subject
In the 2025 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Japan's 15-year-olds ranked first in all three core subjects — mathematics, science, and reading — as well as in the newly added "environmental literacy" category. The previous survey, conducted in 2022, had placed Japan second in reading; this time, it swept every event. Behind these results lie not only the sustained efforts of elementary and middle school teachers, but also school volunteers who contribute approximately 11 million person-visits per year — roughly 10% of the population. Their work spans everything from tending school flowerbeds and supporting safe commuting routes to assisting with classroom instruction and extracurricular activities, creating conditions in which teachers can focus on education itself.
"Graduating from Modernity" — Thirty Years in the Making
The central idea of Suzukan-sensei's book *Sotsukinsei Sengen* (Graduating-from-Modernity Declaration), published in January 2026, has been developing since around 1995. "Modernization" here refers to the industrialization and GDP-maximization path Japan pursued from the Meiji Restoration onward. Japan was a model student of this approach: by 1992–93, its per-capita GDP ranked among the highest of any major country. Yet the education that accompanied it was producing, in his words, "factory workers who could accurately, quickly, and without complaint replicate a manual." The punctuality of the Shinkansen and Japan's renowned product quality are genuine achievements of that era — but now that AI and robotics can replicate those same capabilities, humans must "graduate" from that kind of work. Climate change and the energy crisis exposed by the Fukushima nuclear accident further signal the limits of industrial civilization. The essence of "graduating from modernity" is not to reject the modern era, but to leave it with gratitude.
What Shoka Sonjuku Revealed About the Power of Education
From 1993 to 1995, Suzukan-sensei was posted to Yamaguchi Prefecture, during which time he visited Yoshida Shoin's (吉田松陰) Shoka Sonjuku (松下村塾) twenty times — accumulating over sixty visits across his lifetime. Two rooms totaling eighteen tatami mats, 92 students, and just two years of instruction: with those modest means, Shoin laid the foundations of Japan's modernization and, through events such as Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War, extended influence to independence movements across Asia and Africa. From this, Suzukan-sensei drew a firm conviction: "If one educator draws out the potential of young people, society can change." He has since applied that conviction in his own seminars, cultivating more than 5,000 what he calls "post-modern leaders."
Beyond GDP and the Question of Happiness
In 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy convened Nobel Prize-winning economists to advance the case for going "Beyond GDP" — an initiative that produced what became known as the Sarkozy Report. The OECD responded by developing the Better Life Index, which measures well-being across four types of capital: (1) economic (productive) capital, (2) human capital, (3) natural capital, and (4) social-relational capital. Japan excelled on the economic dimension but continues to rank low in international well-being comparisons. Population decline compounds the picture, with Japan's GDP ranking having slid from second place. "The era of targeting GDP alone is over," says Suzukan-sensei — a diagnosis that aligns squarely with the spirit of graduating from modernity.
Takeaways
- The cognitive race is already lost to AI — this spring, AI surpassed the top applicant score on the University of Tokyo's most competitive medical entrance exam — making the cultivation of non-cognitive abilities the defining educational priority of the age.
- Japan's 15-year-olds topped every category in PISA 2025, a result underpinned by a whole-of-society model in which roughly 11 million school volunteers a year supplement teachers in the classroom.
- Suzukan-sensei's concept of "graduating from modernity," developed over thirty years, calls for leaving behind the industrialization and GDP-centric values of the Meiji era — gratefully, not resentfully — in favor of a society that measures prosperity by human relationships, natural harmony, and well-being.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.