[lit-ideas] Re: News via the web
- From: John McCreery <mccreery@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2004 11:10:24 +0900
On 2004/04/05, at 23:19, Steven G. Cameron wrote:
> **Unhappily, the answer is obvious -- and not limited to Japan...
An intriguing response. The older I grow the more I realize that when I
think something is obvious, I am usually forgetting something.
That said: For the sake of anyone who might be wondering if there is
some substance behind the Asahi Shimbun piece and my comments on it, I
cross-post the following from the NBR Japan Forum List. EHK is Earl
Kinmouth.
=======
> The result has been a shift to
> yutori kyoiku, "relaxed education," meaning primarily a shift from six
> to five days a week. The idea driving this shift is that children given
> more time to play will naturally become more creative.
>
> The problem is that well-off parents have responded by paying for more
> hours of juku, cram schooling designed to ensure that their children
> will pass the entrance exams to get into elite universities that are
> still seen as the primary track for achieving a successful career. Kids
> from poorer families that can't afford juku are, thanks to the shorter
> school week, less prepared than before to compete with their wealthier
> peers. Thus, the pattern discovered in Korea also applies to Japan.
This pattern in Japan has been documented by KARIYA Takehiko, a member
of
the School of Education faculty at the University of Tokyo as well as
others. KARIYA has written a number of academic and popular books on
the
subject. Several of his items are must reading for my students.
Those given to conspiracy theories might wonder if the Ministry of
Education dumbed down public education to save the juku industry from
serious decline brought on by demographic change. If you check the
glossy
fliers tucked into newspapers, you will find them trading on parental
fears
that public education is going down the tubes.
The dumbing down of public schools has also been a gift to private
middle
and high schools. It is a remarkable growth area that has been given
considerable attention in the up market weekly magazines (Yomiuri
Weekly,
Shukan Asahi, etc.).
In the winter term, I offer my third year students an intensive course
on
"gakuryoku teika" (falling standards, aka dumbing down) in which they
research various aspects of this trend especially the stratification of
education documented by Kariya.
EHK
======================
John L. McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd.
55-13-202 Miyagaya, Nishi-ku
Yokohama, Japan 220-0006
Tel 81-45-314-9324
Email mccreery@xxxxxxx
"Making Symbols is Our Business"
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