Name order and the top elite: Long-term effects of a hidden cur-riculum

In Japanese primary and secondary schools, an alphabetical name list is used in various situations. Generally, students are called on by the teacher during class and in the cer-emony if their family name is early on the list. Therefore, students whose surname ini-tials are earlier in the Japanese alphabet acquire more experience. Surname advantages are considered to have a long-term positive effect on life in adulthood. This study ex-amines the surname effect. The data set is constructed by gathering lists of representative figures from various fields. Based on the list, we calculate the proportion of surname groups according to Japanese alphabetical column lists. The major findings are as follows: (1) people whose surnames are in the A-column (the first column among 10 Japanese name col-umns) are 20% more likely to appear among the ruling elite but are less likely to ap-pear in entertainment and sports lists. (2) This tendency is rarely observed in the Uni-versity of Tokyo entrance examination pass rate. Consequently, the A-column sur-names are advantageous in helping students succeed as part of the elite after graduating from universities but not when gaining entry into universities. The surname helps form non-cognitive skills that help students become part of the ruling elite instead of specif-ic cognitive skills that help students enter elite universities. Keywords: Surname, Education, Name order, Hidden curriculum, Cognitive skill, Non-cognitive skill, Elite, Vice Minister, Academic, Prestigious university, Enter-tainment, Sports.