The Goal of Education in Japan
I remember back in the 1980s, when Japan's educational system was held up as a success story for other nations to follow. While there certainly are some good elements the country's approach to education -- like the idea of using competition to get students to become goal-oriented and apply themselves in ways I could never have dreamed of when I was that age -- not every aspect of schools here would be appreciated in other countries. The primary goal of education in Japan seems to be to help create happy members of society through inclusion in groups, and there are several mechanisms for promoting this appreciation of your own place as a member of the larger group, for example the complex system of sports and other character-building clubs that students are compelled to join in Junior High School. Whereas American Junior High and High School kids will each have random schedules, Japanese classes are fixed, with all 40 students of class 3-A staying in the same classroom for every hour of every day, as different teachers come and go depending on what the next subject is. One side effect of this is that all classes in Elementary and Junior High learn the exact same material, no matter what their individual level might be. My daughter was taking some lessons with a private tutor in the U.S. over the summer, and I was discussing the possibility that she might be borderline dyslexic with her teacher, since I am myself. The tutor asked me, "Well, if that's the case, they must have some kind of special class for her in Japan, right?" The answer is no -- unless a child is so different they're not able to go to their normal school, everyone will be treated exactly the same no matter what, the better for the harmony of the group.
posted by Peter in Japan at 8:39 PM
12 Comments:
That's normal in Romania too. I thought every country was like that o_O
10:23 PM
Really? I know nothing about Romania except that (I think) the language is aglutinating, like Japanese, Turkish and Basque? Which means there are no helping verbs, and verbs can have information like past tense, causal, or passive voice build into them.
11:52 PM
That's a problem in my opinion. I have ADD and learning disability and I'm Japanese. I remember going to Japanese school and I remember I was a lot slower then the other kids...Now I reside in the states because of my disability. Shame Japan does not have one cause it would make a big difference IMO. Having ADD and learning disability sux and it sux even more if your Japanese. It took me forever to learn Kanji....
1:11 AM
How about the private sector? Are there cram schools that cover learning disabilities?
Totally unrelated, but I have a question about that big scramble crossing in Shibuya. What are the names of the streets that intersect there? It's really hard to tell from the maps I can find on-line, and the name Shibuya-Ekimae Intersection may or may not be the names of the streets.
5:01 AM
You might be surprised to hear this, but the vast majority of streets in Tokyo don't have names. As far as I can tell, the streets at the Shibuya crossing aren't named as well.
Just go out the Hachiko exit from Shibuya station, the crossing is impossible to miss ;)
5:57 AM
I am aware that many streets in Tokyo do not have names. I am surprised to hear that the streets forming such a major intersection do not have names.
Now that I think about it, Shibuya-Ekimae simply means "In front of the train station in Shibuya" doesn't it.
6:06 AM
Yes, I remember having to learn to think spatially rather than "turn left on Macouba Place," it was quite a challenge back at the time. Only the largest of streets are named. Some other roads have names but no one knows them so it's quite pointless...
Ryo, yes, this sort of falls under the "tyrany of the majority" in Japan, people with special needs going without because of the larger group. I've written about how I always buy skim milk in the U.S. because no one sells it here. They all prefer 4.4% rich milkfat milk, ugh. My daughter was diagnosed with ADD too, and the amount of shock over the idea that we'd even consider medicating something like that is something I still remember.
10:07 AM
hmmm but is it possible to get 家庭教師(tutor) in Japan for ADD or learning disability? or maybe even 塾(cram school)....but in some cases that does not even help. I remember I needed extended time for tests and even readers for test when I was young. Special education pretty much saved my life. But, in my opinion, drugs or riddlin is not the answer to solve problems for ADD. Some people might think it's not a big deal but people with ADD and LD work a lot and I mean a lot harder then normal people, in some cases. I'm in college now and my writing, reading and memory problem takes a huge toll in studying. So I have to study harder then other kids. I hope your daughter figures out a problem soon.
7:49 AM
An ALT friend of mine was telling me how students who had lived in English speaking countries (so spoke English well) still took English with the rest of the class. And they were not utilized in the class (as demonstrations on how it is done), but instead were expected to act like they didn't know the language already.
8:03 AM
Hi Peter;
I've never commented on your blog before but I just wanted to say:
I'm an ALT teaching in a couple elementary and middle schools in rural Nagano Prefecture. In the biggest middle school where I teach (about 200 students), we actually have two special ed classes. We have one class for developmentally delayed students, and another class for EBD/learning disabled students. The students in the latter class take some subjects with the rest of their homeroom, but are "pulled out" for other subjects (mostly English and Math), depending on their individual needs. I'm actually in charge of teaching English to the EBD/LD class this year. There are only four students, but between the four of them they have widely varying special needs, so it's a real challenge. But they're great kids, and it's also immensely helpful for them to be getting so much individualized attention.
At the "big" middle school where I teach, most subjects are also divided into sections depending on ability level. I.E. there's a low, middle, and high section for English in each grade. Students from different homerooms are mixed together during their English classes, but are divided by ability level. At the start of each trimester we re-evaluate each student, and they can sometimes move up or down to different sections.
I'm fairly certain that this system is uniform across most of the middle schools in Nagano Prefecture, but don't quote me on that. We're a very rural prefecture and there are a lot of schools that just aren't big enough to support dividing classes by ability level. One of the middle schools that I teach at only has six students in the second grade, so obviously dividing them by ability level is not an option. ;)
10:44 AM
Interesting, thanks for the comments. My only experience with disabled kids was a girl named Akane who was unable to walk. Her mother was adamant about having her to go a special school so she did special rehabilitation so she could go to a normal school, using a special walker. So I assumed separate schools were more the norm.
4:16 PM
I know that drugs like riddilin are great help for some ADD or LD people but IMO they are just cheating pills. I know some friends who actually need those pills to concentrate in class but to me it's all about will power. You just have to pay attention, and try your hardest. Taking pills IMO is pretty much saying I give up I cant pay attention in class i'll go pop some pills. People with ADD or LD really try hard during class but if they rely on drugs all the time....well that's just plain cheating, but some kids actually need those drugs to do good in school. Thank god i'm not one of them, cause those pills are expensive
11:57 PM
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