Friday, 9 July 2004

Japanese Education

I've really been missing Sydney these last few days. What I would give for some parks, humidityless sunshine and general courtesy on the streets.

Anyway, in a high level class today, we got talking about the education system in Japan. He's (the student) a high school teacher, and sometimes with high level students they would rather practice their English in a conversation than use the text book. Needless to say, I'm always more than happy to do this!

Anyway, we got talking about the Japanese education system, which I already had my doubts about due to teacher/student violence (teachers are the ones commiting the violence) and it seems that about 17% of Japanese students don't want to study (in class and at home) but instead of the teachers disiplining them, they simply move them to a "low level" school where they don't have to do that much work. This just seems crazy, though I also found out that a lot of the students give up and don't see a point for studying to get into University as it's so expensive and not a lot of Japanese people can afford it so confine their future to working in part time jobs.

I've actually found ambition running very low in Japan. A lot of teenage students don't know what they want to do or name a career simply because it will make them money, not because they want to do it.

On another note, plans started today for a trip to Mt Fuji! (about time!)