Today, I give you the second part of my set of lists on what the American and Japanese school systems can learn from each other. This time, it’s the Americans’ turn to show off as I present the top three things that the Japanese can learn from us. Just a warning, a lot of this is going to read as me pointing out the systems faults rather than suggesting ways to improve it. This is because I hold the American education system in rather low esteem. Therefore, I’m holding the ideals of the American system up rather than the practices.
1. Question Everything! I have been teaching here for over a year and I have never had a student ask a question in class. Not because they didn’t have questions, but because it is not considered appropriate to ask questions in class. This fits into the Japanese philosophy of the group being more important than the individual. A student should not inconvenience the rest of the group or the teacher by asking questions and thus disrupting class.
This clashes with the American system significantly. I was always taught that it is impossible to learn if you do not ask questions. Besides, if one kid has the guts to ask for clarification on a problem, it is almost certain that 7 to 10 other children in that classroom will have the same problem. Also, students that question stand as an eternal challenge to the teacher, and not in a disrespectful way, because the teacher must truly know their subject so they can answer any question a student might as. This improves the quality of the learning and the teaching at the same time.
What I believe the Japanese system should do is to encourage the students to ask more questions in class. This one change does not put the group philosophy at risk because there are a thousand other things that reinforce it such as aiming for a 30 student class when the school has the room and manpower to have 25 or less. The best summary of the Japanese system I’ve ever heard is, “School is where we first learn that we are a fraction.” This generally good philosophy isn’t going away anytime soon.
2. Make Them Work For It: Remember spelling tests? Those horrible wastes of time from elementary school? Now imagine an entire curriculum based around them. That is a Japanese middle school. It is a regular practice to hand out a worksheet to students a week before an exam. The exam will then consist of the same material virtually word for word. Even better, the students are given class time to do the worksheet and (once that time has expired) they are given the ANSWER SHEET! The idea is that the student will do the worksheet and then self correct. Repeat until the child can do it in their sleep. . .
. . . and now for reality. The students don’t bother trying to do the worksheet on their own because they know the teacher will do it for them by giving them the answers. As a result, they only fill in the form when they know it’s going to be graded and spent the extra time they’ve “earned” doodling, texting on their cell phones, or sleeping (more on that later). The end result is a disturbingly large number of students fail tests to which they have literally been handed the answers.
Possible solution? Again, the answer is a mixture of the two systems. I like the idea of the students having the right answers in front of them when they study because you know they aren’t memorizing the wrong information. However, the students also need the chance to apply what they have learned. In most cases, this is done by puzzling out problems. If the students are just copying the answers to the worksheet, they are not engaged and won’t store that information in their long term memories. Besides, if more is done to keep the students engaged (and please note the difference between “keep them engaged” and “school must be fun”) their performance should improve.
3. WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the thing that took me the longest to get used to, students sleeping in class and getting away with it. In America, falling asleep in class is seen as a serious sign of disrespect to the teacher and is not tolerated. Here, I see it every day and while it isn’t encouraged, it is tolerated far too much. Physical presence in the room is not the same thing as learning. If the students are napping, they are getting exactly zilch out of the class. (I would also like to take this moment to congratulate myself on using the word “zilch” in conversation)
This isn’t the fault of the students or the teachers. In fact, it is the same problem that has been plaguing the US system as of late. Students are overworked and under rested. Students arrive at school before 8am. Since almost all students walk or bike to school, they have to be awake much earlier. Many students don’t get out of school until 6 or 7pm. Many then go to Juku (cram school) for another couple of hours and don7t get home before 10pm. Then they start their homework. According to my student’s responses during a “What time did you _______ last night?” English lesson, going to bed after 1am is the norm. That means they are working on 5 hours sleep at the most.
Again, this fits the Japanese workaholic philosophy. In a country where giving 80 hours a week to your company is standard and taking a vacation day is virtually a crime, it makes sense that the school system would prepare the students for that kind of lifestyle. That doesn’t mean it’s healthy. I see the lifelessness in these kids’ eyes and it scares me. I don’t know what the best way to combat this is, but the best I can think of is the cut out the Juku.
It is becoming a mainstream school of thought that all the actual academic learning happens at Juku and the real school is all about social skills, discipline, and club activities. If the system can find a way to eliminate the Juku and put more emphasis on the main schooling, then that would cut several hours a week out of the students’ schedules and give them more time to rest. It. Will. Never. Happen. The Juku industry makes way too much money and the idea that “if my kid doesn’t go to Juku then they will be at a disadvantage!” will never get out of the parents heads. There are similar attitudes in the states and it always comes down to the wrong perspective. The parents worry about what they want (MY child) rather than what is best for the child (HIS/HER education and future). Not to say that these things are mutually exclusive, but it is better to focus on the later than the former.
I could go on for pages about the Juku system, and I might in another post. In summation, the there biggest things the Japanese can learn from the ideal American school system are:
1. Let them ask questions.
2. Don’t just give them the answers.
3. Wake the kids up.
Is I did last time; here is the list of changes that didn’t make the cut because they had absolutely no chance of success: sex ed, effort or improvement based grades in PE, and train the kids to be creative. As you can see, it’s a much shorter list that the one I had last time. The Japanese system has fewer flaws in my mind, but those it does have are huge and serious. I’m also weary of writing this in the first place because of the risk that I will try to impose my cultural values on another country. I’ve been trained and raised better than that, but the chance to do it is still there.
It’s a thin line to walk . . . the path of the wanderer.
(That was an awesome line)
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