Question About High School

Somebody asked a very good question about the high school system in Japan. So good in fact, I want to devote a little space to answer it.

I was surprised by the high school system in Japan. It is very teacher-centered. By that I mean there is very little engagement with students. It is strictly lecture-based. This is the opposite of what we feel is best practice in the United States. We have been taught that engagement of our students is the best way to enhance learning.

I think that the structure and goals are so different that it is tough to compare. For example, the Japanese high school is college preparatory. If you are not college-bound, you go to a different training school. You may go to the agriculture school, or the technology school.

The Japanese high school is also based on a "sink or swim" philosophy. You either get it or you don't. There are no supports for students that struggle. There is no differentiated instruction to reach multiple learning styles. The only style that matters is the teacher's style of instruction. I would say that this is typical at all levels K-12. We saw students off-task or sleeping and the teacher ignored them. It is my belief that the teacher feels that it is solely up to the student to pass or fail. As I stated, there are no supports for students.

I have some good classroom pictures to show, but there are strict laws in Japan regarding posting pictures of students on the Internet. We were allowed to take pictures and we can use them in presentations. We are not allowed, however, to post them on the Internet unless the child can not be easily identified. You will see a lot of pictures of the back of student's heads.

School Visits

Wow, I have a lot to share and not a lot of time/space to do it. The last three days have been a whirlwind as we have spent all day in one of the schools within the Minamisoma's school district. In all of the schools, it was immediately evident that there are many students in each classroom. They range from 25 in primary to 40 in high school classrooms. Teacher's aides are not common with the exception of severe special needs students.

Our first day was in the junior high school. Junior high students are as rambunctious as they are in the US. They were eager to "show off" for us, I think. They take classes typical to what our students are taking. They show various levels of interest, just like our students. Like in the US, school is compulsory until the age of 16. Things change drastically, when students enter high school. I will touch on that in a bit.

Our second day was spent with an elementary school. These students were very excited to see us. They had taken time to learn how to greet us previously and many students wanted to communicate with us...in Japanese. Some of the younger students kept trying to talk to us although we couldn't say much in return. We quickly learned that limited speaking ability can be made up for by effort and pictures! I was particularly impressed that the students were training for a prefecture-sponsored 2K race. The students trained very hard for this. As young as first grade, they ran a few laps during the PE and recess time.

Our last day was with the high school. It is much more serious as it is no longer compulsory (mandatory). The parents have to pay for books, fees, etc to attend. They also must pass a test to get into high school as well as a test to get into college. It is very high stakes and the environment shows it. The lessons are all teacher-centered lectures, which they feel best prepare the children for the university. There is much less freedom at the high school.

I will try and post more as the week goes on, but I will be without Internet for quite a while so posting may be sporadic. Also, I wrote a story for the Beulah Beacon which you can expect in the next edition.

Volleyball, National FFA and the Coal Bowl

As they say, good news travels fast, so of course I have heard that we knocked off the Hazen Bison in volleyball. I am very proud of the progress that I have seen in the volleyball team throughout this year. If you continue to work hard and improve nobody will want to play the Miners in the upcoming tournaments.

Good luck to Ethan as he competes in Indianapolis for National FFA!

Although I am halfway across the world, I am anxiously awaiting hearing news about the Coal Bowl. I have been very excited about how well the football team has been playing over the last couple of weeks. Keep it up today when you beat the Bison!

Great job to all of our players and coaches. Go Miners!

A Quick Q & A

Thanks again for the questions. I will quickly try and answer some before I leave for the Junior High School in Hiramachi.

Are Electronics Cheaper?
I am not sure I haven't been down to the electronics district in Tokyo yet. However, based on other experiences, I would say that it would be similar. Also, certain things are regionalized, like DVD players. What this means is that if you purchase a DVD player in Japan it may only play DVDs with that same region code. I will look some more and see if I notice any differences.

10,000 Yen Bill
The 10,000 Yen bill is the largest I have seen. Possibly there are higher denominations, but the US only has a bill up to $100 in circulation.

McDonalds
McDonalds tastes very similar to me. The menu is a little different, but I had a bacon and lettuce hamburger and it tasted good. I have heard from some of my group mates that the Big Mac was the same. Some of the different menus items that I can remember are a shrimp burger, bacon potato pie, and a teriyaki burger.

Flame of Hiroshima
There was a question about the Hiroshima Flame. The flame is hooked up to a gas to keep it going. The relevance is that it has been a continuous flame.

Tuition
Is tuition for school higher than in the US? I would say that outside of the special fee for new students that it is close to most public universities in ND. We pay per credit hour and they pay for a year, but it would be similar.

Translation
A question was asked about the seminars I have attended and if they are done in English or Japanese. It has been both ways since I have been here. In Tokyo almost all of our seminars were conducted in English. Outside of Tokyo, they have all been in Japanese. We travel with two separate translators, one of which is our group coordinator. Speaking with a translator can be tedious. We are used to speaking much faster than that. When I gave my speech, I had to wait after every sentence for translation.

Economy
A great question was asked about the economy. We visited with economists and legislators around the time of the bailout. They are extremely concerned that this tactic didn't work because it directly effects the Japanese economy. The value of the Yen is dropping in the worldwide market too. It is certainly effecting their daily life and it will continue to for the near future. As a side note, I noticed on the bullet train that gas was equivalent to $6.00 per gallon.

As I said in an earlier post, I will try and post some pictures after the Junior High visit, or at least after the elementary visit.

Fukushima University

Today, we toured the Fukushima University. It was interesting to view higher education in Japan and visit with the University President, various Deans, and even some students. I was lucky enough to give the welcome speech to the Dean and faculty members. I have posted a picture above. That is our interpreter, Marikyo, on my left. Also posted is a picture of our group visiting in small groups (Science, Special Education, Music and Fine Arts, and Language).

I attend the special education group and was fascinated to learn that nationally only 6% of students are categorized as special education. That compares to a 13% average in the United States. I was shocked to hear that our host city of Minamisoma has only 80 students listed as special needs. The total student enrollment is 8,100. That is around 1%! According to a teacher and professor, the Japanese have only introduced Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in the past two years. These have been the standard document in the US since the institution of IDEA.

In response to Mrs. Wold's question about funding for Fukushima University, according to my rough calculations Fukushima has 38% of its revenue determined by tuition/fees. It would cost a freshman roughly 7,500 Yen per year (that includes a one time 2,500 Yen fee for incoming students). A sophomore and beyond would pay 5,000 Yen. The remaining 62% is federally subsidized in one way or another.

The tuition amounts are set by the national government. As I mentioned in my previous post, the educational system is very centalized. The public universities are told a range they can set their tuition in that is very limiting.

I am starting to realize that in the United States we are looking at our system and only seeing the negative. On the flip side, we look at other countries and only see their test scores or other data. I have started to realize that Japan is looking at the United States to determine what is best practice in education. They seem to realize, what we are seeming to take for granted. We have the best educational system in the world. Surely, we have things to fix and issues to address, but we, at times, are trying to fix a system that others are trying to emulate.

We are touring one of the Middle Schools tomorrow, so I hopefully will have some pictures to post and more to visit. I apologize for not getting to more questions. I will try to answer more as the week goes on. I think I will have a little more free time over the next couple of days.

Feel free to ask more questions. I am very glad that people are paying attention to it. Although it is vicariously, you are all hear with me.

The Flame of Hiroshima

We decided to take a detour on our way back from the Tokyo National Museum into a flea market and park. It was very intersting and we were able to see a handful of street performers that were tremendous. We also found another Shinto temple that we decided to visit.

In walking to the temple, we found a hidden away landmark called "The Flame of Hiroshima". The picture is posted above and the accompanying sign said that this flame was originally found on a building after the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. A man, in looking over the devastation, found a building that was still slightly enflamed. He took the flame and kept it burning until he got home. He kept this flame burning in his house for many years until he donated it to this landmark. I am not sure of the significance of the wreaths hanging on the shrine, but I am sure they represent family members lost to the devastation at Hiroshima.

Although I chose to attend a different session on mathematics education in Japan, I heard the seminar on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was very powerful. I ordered a DVD of the talk and I will provide it to any staff member or student that is interested.

Toto, We Aren't in Tokyo Anymore!

Today we left the comfortable confines of Tokyo and are in Fukushima. Tomorrow, I have been asked to represent our group in the introduction to the Dean at Fukushima University. Students and other faculty will also be present. I am honored to be the one doing this.

To get to Fukushima, we got to ride on the bullet train. It was fast, but we were continuously going through different cities, so I don't think it was at full throttle. Riding the bullet was one of the things that I wanted to do in Japan, so I can check that off of my list now!

We are now longer with the rest of the groups. We will meet up again in about a week. As of now, I am with only 15 other Americans, our translator, and group leader.

We knew that coming to Fukushima would be different than Tokyo, but I didn't have any idea it would be so vastly different. In Tokyo, nobody would give you a second glance. They saw Americans all the time. You could stop anybody in the street and ask directions and they likely spoke English. This is not the case in Fukushima.

When we walked down the street in Fukushima, it was obvious that they are not used to foreigners. There was a lot of staring and pointing today. It is certainly a change from Tokyo.

I will try and blog tomorrow about the trip to Fukushima University. Mrs. Wold, I believe that the University system is funded similarly to those in the United States. I believe that they are partially funded by large endowments and tuition, but that they are mostly funded by the government.

One item that I will touch on more later is the centralization of the Japanese educational system. We love our local control back in the United States, but there are surely pros and cons for both centralization and local control.