When East meets West :The Educational System in Japan

by Hank F. Miller Jr.

 When my wife Keiko and I visited my home town of Gloucester City N.J. There were many people asked us many questions and the one popular one seemed to be about the Japanese educational system. So I'll now try to do my best to explain a portion of it.

What is education? If education is learning to conform to group standards and learning to recite as many facts as possible to pass the next exam, then Japan has a good educational system. The excellent performance of Japanese students in the classroom cannot be denied.

A few years ago it was reported that Japan had 99% literacy rate while 25% of American students did not graduate from high school. According to a test conducted by the Stockholm-based International Association for Evaluation of Educational Achievement for Japanese 10-year-olds, along with their Korean and Finnish counterparts, scored around 15.4 out of 24 possible correct answers to science questions.

American students have one advantage that many foreign students do not. It is the freedom of being uninhibited. We Americans have the most open school system in the entire world.  It encourages pupils to express their individuality and beliefs.

We Americans believe from childhood that we have the right and obligation of free expression which includes challenging their teachers.

Japan does not have the ethnic diversity of America. Japanese classes are nearly always made up of Japanese students whose forefathers were all Japanese. Critics say the nationally uniform materials dampen creativity and smother the Japanese individual and personal growth.

What factors contribute to effective debating on the international level? On the one hand, it has been noted that American students are among the first to voice their views.

The Americans excel in analyzing opinions and giving their personal evaluations.

On the other hand, the Japanese students possess an abundance of information which is necessary to base arguments on.

With a mixing of such qualities as having the readiness to speak up,factual awareness, and the power to reason, The Japanese and American educational systems be envied world wide.

My wife and I had a great and memorable stay at my brother Joe Miller's home in Gloucester City  over the Christmas  and the New Year Holidays.

We  got to see many old friends an family and got to part-take in eating many wonderful dinners.

Warm Regards From Kitakyushu City,Japan

 

Hank, Keiko Miller & Family

 

Comments

[Hank F. Miller Jr.]

Hi,Lori Walker , I'm Hank Here!
Thanks for your input to this blog.

I'm happy that you liked to read all my articles published on the Clearynotebook.I'll try to put more pictures on the blog.

Warm Regards from kitakyushu city, Japan .
Hank F. Miller Jr.

[lori walker]

I'm so glad your visit to our town was so great. It proves we are not all bad. The best thing about Gloucester is our strong family history. The first thing anyone from Gloucester does when they meet someone for the first time is play "who do you know and who are you related to". I find myself doing it all the time. Its because we are so connected to each other no matter where we go. Hope you and your wife can visit again soon. I love all the pictures you send from Japan. Keep them coming.