Observations on Japanese education, and "No Media Day"
The other day I came home from work to spend some time with the kids, and I suggested popping a DVD in and watching it. "I can't," my daughter told me. "Today is 'No Media Day.'" This is an interesting idea that Japanese public schools have started to combat the glut of TV and video games in our modern society, and we had a fine time playing a few rounds of Uno instead. I've noticed some other interesting mechanisms that Japanese educators use to help bring students and their parents together. Recently my 12-year-old son made dinner for us, which was part of his Home Economics homework (he made a meat-and-potatoes dish called niku-jaga, an odd name because it sounds like Mick Jagger), designed to help the kids understand how hard it is for Mom to cook for everyone all the time. Then there was the time my daughter was assigned homework to help her mother around the house, which for some reason included making sure the shoes in the genkan (the foyer where people leave their shoes before entering the house) were all lined up neatly, not scattered like they usually are at our house. Compared with my own experiences in the U.S., I've noticed a lot more involvement by parents in the education of their children here, from frequent Parent Days in which mothers and fathers can sit in on classes to a system that places pressure on parents to spend at least one year in the leadership of their school's local PTA.
posted by Peter in Japan at 6:18 PM
3 Comments:
That picture is of a "kyoiku mama" or mother who are concerned with their children's education to an unhealthy degree. Which is a whole post unto itself, I guess.
6:29 PM
We had opportunities to participate in Matt's classroom activities - basically being a teacher's aide - in grade school, but there was no pressure to do this. As he progressed through school, there were fewer such opportunities.
We would call over-involved parents 'helicopter parents' because they always hover around the kid(s). As family sizes have shrunk, this trend has become so prominent that colleges mention it during orientation meetings with parents. They try to reduce it, but also facilitate it by allowing students to give their parents IDs allowing us to review their schedule and check on grades on-line.
In December our company had an event for all employees and families in the area at the Phoenix Zoo (no drinks, just snacks), and the local employees (no family members) had a department party at a local restaurant (booze & food - yum!).
There is a little more money budgeted for these events than has been true for the past decade, but such budgets are still vastly smaller than they were in the 80's, when some companies had nationally recognized entertainers perform at annual parties.
When companies are desperate to hire & retain good people such funding increases - when their people are just considered replaceable parts, the money drys up. The last decade in corporate America has been a bit grim for all us parts.
Cheers.
3:48 PM
To clarify, we had 800 people at the zoo, and a dozen at the restaurant.
3:51 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home