I saw this posted on Facebook, and it immediately made me think of what we discussed in our last class!! It really makes me question the current education system and also the systems I have gone through growing up.
My family and I moved to the US when I was in middle school. I went through 8th grade in the Japanese school system; I attended high school, college, and graduate school on the mainland; and after taking "a few years" off from taking classes, I have been continuing my education at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Even just from the first couple of classes, it has already intrigued me and made me want to find out more about the differences between the education systems of Japan and the US. Maybe a possible topic for the paper assignment?
When
Dr. Collins talked about the forced-curve grading system, it reminded me that
that was the grading system that was used when I was in middle school although,
from my understanding, it is no longer the case in most schools in Japan. It makes me wonder what kind of impact that
type of grading system has had on my and the other students’ learning experiences,
self-efficacy, motivation, etc.
Another
thing that resonated with me was from the reading, in which it talked about how
some of the Asian societies value and encourage efforts vs. the American society
places it's value more on talents and innate abilities. Growing
up, I was always told to work hard; I was taught that if I put efforts in and be
persistent, I would be able to improve my skills, understand something that I
didn’t before, or learn to perform at a high level. As a child, I was not a fast learner per se,
but as I was encourage to keep at it, I have gotten to be a decent student in
middle school, in high school, and then in college.
If I or people around me had concluded early on that I did not have the
innate abilities to do well academically, I probably have not gotten to be
where I am now. I am grateful to have
been in the environment growing up in which the hard work was also valued, not
only the talents and innate abilities one possesses.
I'm sorry! I made a mistake, so I'm reposting:
ReplyDeleteI would ask the elephant to knock the tree down (sorry tree!) so that everyone would be able to "climb" to the "top". =)
I am currently reading "Waiting for 'Superman'", which is a companion to the documentary, which I have not seen. One of the authors, producer Lesley Chilcott, mentioned a story she heard while teaching English in Japan and I thought of it when I read your blog.
"Picture a teacher with a group of kindergarteners gathered in a circle around her. 'Today,' she says, 'we're going to learn to draw a picture of Daddy.' In the American classroom, each child is given a piece of paper and a bunch of crayons and told to draw his or her own daddy. The teacher walks from table to table, offering help, advice, and praise for those twenty-five separate, different pictures.
"In the Japanese classroom, the approach is very different. The teacher has an easel, and the children gather around her to talk about what Daddy looks like. One child says, 'He is medium height.' Another says, 'He wears a suit.' A third says, 'He has dark hair.' Together they draw a group image of Daddy, which represents the combined efforts of all children.
"This story elicits interesting reactions from people. Some may point out that the idea of a 'group image' wouldn't work very well in our heterogeneous society. In Japan, almost every dad has dark hair, and many wear suits to work. You don't have that kind of homogeneity in the United States. Others say, 'America is all about individualism and we emphasize our differences. Every kid draws his or her own picture because we are all different and unique. That's how we unlock the creativity inside each child.'
"But the more I've thought about this difference of approach, the more I've realized looking at this story as stamping out individuality and creativity misses the point. Rather than suppressing the individual through group-think, the Japanese drawing of Daddy symbolizes the fact that all the kids in the class are learning together, with no one left out. This approach is reflected in most facets of Japanese schooling where all kids can learn, and more important, do learn, and this includes scoring well on tests" (pp. 56-57).
When I initially read this, I thought about collectivist vs. individualistic societies, wondering how much the way we learn in the classroom (together or apart) affects us in later life. The book is about finding solutions to problems in America's public K-12 schools, so it draws comparisons to the education systems in other countries. As a result, I am only reading examples that the authors thought would match their arguments.
Please share your experiences with the class since you have been educated in both Japan and the US (Chi is also sharing about the education system in Vietnam). This will give us a fuller picture of how education is conducted in other countries.
I think the differences in education systems will be a great topic for your paper. I borrowed some books last semester from Hamilton library about Asian universities (they were for a paper topic that I ultimately did not pursue). You'll just have to look for the specific chapters on Japan. Good luck!
Citation:
Weber, K. (Ed.). (2010). Waiting for "Superman": How we can save America's failing public schools. New York, NY: PublicAffairs.
I echo Megan's comment and also encourage to share more about your educational experiences in Japan. I also love the cartoon above. I watched the movie "Waiting for Superman" and needed more than one drink after that depressing movie. Thank you both for the comments and interesting discussion.
ReplyDeleteGreat image!
ReplyDelete