Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Editorial Series: Japanese Education
April 6 was the first day of the new school year in most of Japanese school. About one million of children who are six years old started their education at elementary school. For our children who will support Japan in the future, and will live in global world. Let’s think about education in Japan compare to the other country.
#1 the United States: Is Japanese education better than the United States?
Japan has concrete system of growing teachers’ teaching skill. Education quality in Japan is always at same level everywhere because the ministry of education is in charge of keeping the same quality as New York Times said in an editorial on Nov 21, 2005.
In this article Japanese education introduced as ideal education for the U.S. education. Is that really true? Is Japanese education better than the U.S. system? If so, why do so many students choose to study abroad in the U.S. when they can stay in Japan and get better education?
The article in the New York Times admired Japanese “lesson-study.” Lesson-study is a group study which discusses how to make good and high quality lessons by watching one teacher’s lecture as an example. It is true that the lesson-study has a good reputation among the United States and also other countries. Many representatives from other country visit to Japanese schools for a study tour of lesson-studies. However, in Japan, this method is not really thought of as a useful way to grow teaching skills.
“Lecture-study is just a ritual now,” Taeko Kosaka who teaches math in public junior high school said. Twenty years ago when she became a teacher, lesson-study was a great help to learn how to construct lessons. She could learn how to make a lecture from her colleague’s lesson, and she could get feed back of what she needs to change in order to make good lectures from other teachers. Based of what she learn form lesson study, she could make better lecture. However, the situation changed, and lesson-study lost the value. “We do not have extra time to have lesson-study, and to practice what we learn from the study.”
Physically teachers do not have extra time to make their own lectures better, Ms. Kosaka pointed out. According to the education policy change by Japan’s ministry of education, a teacher’s amount of work was increased. Twenty years ago she only had 10 hour lessons per week. However, the ministry of education divided a class (usually 40 students) into two classes, when studying Math and English, so that teachers pay more attention to students, who are potential dropouts student, are who are slow learners. “It sounds nice, but actually the new policy made Japanese education bad,” Ms. Kosaka said. Though the number of classes doubled the number of teachers was not increased. She had 20hours of lessons per week, and gained more responsibility to care for each student. “I use only textbook for every lessons,” she said. “Before, I made original study sheets and used more materials in the lecture. That was the way I practiced what I learn from lesson-study; however, now I do not have time to make these original materials.” Even though lesson-study is a great method, teachers do not have a field to apply the results of lesson-studies.
“What ever the other countries think that Japanese education is good, education in Japan is not the best for students,” a teacher who teaches science at public high school said. “Yes, education level in Japan is same every where, and it is controlled by the ministry of education. It is good, but the problem is how to make education at same level.” To check the level of education, the ministry of education tests students’ scholastic ability in each five years. He confessed that there is high pressure by the ministry of education when his students did not meet national standard of scholastic ability. The teacher recognized as not having good teaching ability by the ministry of education. And the teacher need to take retraining until he or she achieve own teaching ability. “What teachers care about is not student, but grade of students. What teachers supposed to see is number or statistics, not a character of students. How come we can say it is good education!” he said.
Japanese students are sensitive to the attitude of their teachers. They know that teachers do not care about themselves, but care about their grenade, and they have complaint about that.
Kaori Shibata who is a junior at Seisin University was surprised when she saw class essay who is attending American university. On the essay the teacher wrote several comments. At the university she attends, which is a typical Japanese university teachers do not really care about what students write. Submitting reports means just an announcement that the student is attending the class and following the class subject. In contrast, her friend’s teacher was really cared about not only the content of the paper but also how to write a statement, how to structure the paper, where she needed more development, and what she could do for the next draft. “I think that’s what Japanese education needs,” Ms. Shibata said. Japanese teachers are graders of student work, she thinks. They grade on how much effort she put, how much she practiced, how much she achieved, and how good or bad she is compared to other student. Students work hard and show the results to the teacher, and then the teacher grades it. If it is not enough, the student work again and waits for teachers to give grades again. On the contrary, American teachers aim to help the student. Of course they decide grades, but they also help students to achieve more.
“Teachers do not want to be asked question,” Manabu Inoue who is sophomore of Aoyama Gakuin University said. He had a tough experience at university. Freshman year he asked his teacher about what he should write in the class report. He had a couple of ideas and wondered how to organize these ideas. He expected his teacher to give him some hints. However, the teacher’s response was not what he expected. The teacher said all the answers were in the lectures, and if he listen to the lectures he should be fine, so he needed to find the answer by himself. Eventually he wrote the report by himself, and got an F. “I believed that only that teacher was unhelpful, and I was unlucky. But after two years of studying at university, I realized that almost all the teachers are the same. A student’s mission in the university is to work hard on your own.” Even if teaches give great lessons, without communication between teachers and students, students drop out from school.
The Institute of International Education reported that 40,835 students went to the U.S. to study abroad from 2003 to 2004. They went to the U.S. not only to study English. In fact, 89.7% of the students were attending undergraduate or graduate programs. What they are expecting from the study abroad experience is to receive different and various educations that they can’t get in Japan. They are leaving Japanese standardized education. It means that not all Japanese people are satisfied with domestic education. Even though other countries or scholars give a good evaluation of Japanese educational system, it is the only view from out side. From in side, there are complaints of Japanese education.
By Mariko
#1 the United States: Is Japanese education better than the United States?
Japan has concrete system of growing teachers’ teaching skill. Education quality in Japan is always at same level everywhere because the ministry of education is in charge of keeping the same quality as New York Times said in an editorial on Nov 21, 2005.
In this article Japanese education introduced as ideal education for the U.S. education. Is that really true? Is Japanese education better than the U.S. system? If so, why do so many students choose to study abroad in the U.S. when they can stay in Japan and get better education?
The article in the New York Times admired Japanese “lesson-study.” Lesson-study is a group study which discusses how to make good and high quality lessons by watching one teacher’s lecture as an example. It is true that the lesson-study has a good reputation among the United States and also other countries. Many representatives from other country visit to Japanese schools for a study tour of lesson-studies. However, in Japan, this method is not really thought of as a useful way to grow teaching skills.
“Lecture-study is just a ritual now,” Taeko Kosaka who teaches math in public junior high school said. Twenty years ago when she became a teacher, lesson-study was a great help to learn how to construct lessons. She could learn how to make a lecture from her colleague’s lesson, and she could get feed back of what she needs to change in order to make good lectures from other teachers. Based of what she learn form lesson study, she could make better lecture. However, the situation changed, and lesson-study lost the value. “We do not have extra time to have lesson-study, and to practice what we learn from the study.”
Physically teachers do not have extra time to make their own lectures better, Ms. Kosaka pointed out. According to the education policy change by Japan’s ministry of education, a teacher’s amount of work was increased. Twenty years ago she only had 10 hour lessons per week. However, the ministry of education divided a class (usually 40 students) into two classes, when studying Math and English, so that teachers pay more attention to students, who are potential dropouts student, are who are slow learners. “It sounds nice, but actually the new policy made Japanese education bad,” Ms. Kosaka said. Though the number of classes doubled the number of teachers was not increased. She had 20hours of lessons per week, and gained more responsibility to care for each student. “I use only textbook for every lessons,” she said. “Before, I made original study sheets and used more materials in the lecture. That was the way I practiced what I learn from lesson-study; however, now I do not have time to make these original materials.” Even though lesson-study is a great method, teachers do not have a field to apply the results of lesson-studies.
“What ever the other countries think that Japanese education is good, education in Japan is not the best for students,” a teacher who teaches science at public high school said. “Yes, education level in Japan is same every where, and it is controlled by the ministry of education. It is good, but the problem is how to make education at same level.” To check the level of education, the ministry of education tests students’ scholastic ability in each five years. He confessed that there is high pressure by the ministry of education when his students did not meet national standard of scholastic ability. The teacher recognized as not having good teaching ability by the ministry of education. And the teacher need to take retraining until he or she achieve own teaching ability. “What teachers care about is not student, but grade of students. What teachers supposed to see is number or statistics, not a character of students. How come we can say it is good education!” he said.
Japanese students are sensitive to the attitude of their teachers. They know that teachers do not care about themselves, but care about their grenade, and they have complaint about that.
Kaori Shibata who is a junior at Seisin University was surprised when she saw class essay who is attending American university. On the essay the teacher wrote several comments. At the university she attends, which is a typical Japanese university teachers do not really care about what students write. Submitting reports means just an announcement that the student is attending the class and following the class subject. In contrast, her friend’s teacher was really cared about not only the content of the paper but also how to write a statement, how to structure the paper, where she needed more development, and what she could do for the next draft. “I think that’s what Japanese education needs,” Ms. Shibata said. Japanese teachers are graders of student work, she thinks. They grade on how much effort she put, how much she practiced, how much she achieved, and how good or bad she is compared to other student. Students work hard and show the results to the teacher, and then the teacher grades it. If it is not enough, the student work again and waits for teachers to give grades again. On the contrary, American teachers aim to help the student. Of course they decide grades, but they also help students to achieve more.
“Teachers do not want to be asked question,” Manabu Inoue who is sophomore of Aoyama Gakuin University said. He had a tough experience at university. Freshman year he asked his teacher about what he should write in the class report. He had a couple of ideas and wondered how to organize these ideas. He expected his teacher to give him some hints. However, the teacher’s response was not what he expected. The teacher said all the answers were in the lectures, and if he listen to the lectures he should be fine, so he needed to find the answer by himself. Eventually he wrote the report by himself, and got an F. “I believed that only that teacher was unhelpful, and I was unlucky. But after two years of studying at university, I realized that almost all the teachers are the same. A student’s mission in the university is to work hard on your own.” Even if teaches give great lessons, without communication between teachers and students, students drop out from school.
The Institute of International Education reported that 40,835 students went to the U.S. to study abroad from 2003 to 2004. They went to the U.S. not only to study English. In fact, 89.7% of the students were attending undergraduate or graduate programs. What they are expecting from the study abroad experience is to receive different and various educations that they can’t get in Japan. They are leaving Japanese standardized education. It means that not all Japanese people are satisfied with domestic education. Even though other countries or scholars give a good evaluation of Japanese educational system, it is the only view from out side. From in side, there are complaints of Japanese education.
By Mariko
# posted by Mariko @ 10:45 PM 
