The State of Japanese Basic Education

[stubeeef]

Link

WOW, I couldn't believe it, 1 of 4 Japanese kids couldn't place N Korea on a Map. Granted it would be half the US ones, but 25% of Japanese kids seems a lot higher than I would have guessed. And 40% couldn't place the US. I am scared to see how bad the US kids would be if this is how the Japanese ones are. I can only venture to guess that this is a decline for them. I know there was talk of a Geography push in the US, but am not aware of any results yet, and haven't sought out any either.

Granted I am sure their testing is twice as good on average than in the US. Spent 3 years in and out of Japan while in the Armed Forces, Loved it too!

 

[jayscheuerle]

Good to know they're catching up. Now if we can only increase their general obesity, they'll really be top tier.

 

[stubeeef]

Good to know they're catching up. Now if we can only increase their general obesity, they'll really be top tier.

Ya, I used to say, they gave us sushi - and we gave them McDonalds!

 

[0098386]

of couse the japanese are stupid, they invented 90% of all gadgets.

America didn't just give Japan mcdonalds... how about 2 nukes? hmm

 

[aloofman]

I think that the tragic lack of knowledge of today's children is always an attention-getting story.

 

[Makosuke]

For what was once one of the most revered educational systems in the world Japan has really been falling apart recently. The blind focus on standardized testing to get into ever-more-prestigious schools, as opposed to actually teaching kids some thing useful and maybe even some life lessons, is severely impacting both their actual education and how they turn out as productive members of society.

If anything, as poor of an education as many students in the US get, we're actually doing better on some fronts. Certainly if you take the full course through college the US has a MUCH better system.

Other amusing facts: Japanese grade-school and high-school kids are getting so over stuffed with useless work and memorization for standardized testing that the government has finally decided to lighten the load a little bit (mostly to make room for cram schools outside the regular education system, I expect). The problem is they're lightening the load in absolutely stupid ways: Pi, for example, is treated as "3" for calculations to save time now, and they're cutting back on art classes since those don't affect your entrance exam performance.

Ah, nothing like the combination of a broken system, incompetent government bureaucracy, and lazy kids to provide a good education.

 

[stubeeef]

Macosuke, that was truly depressing, sorry to hear it. Please tell me that teachers are still held in high regard in Japan!