Everybody has an interest in education. So do I and I think compulsory education in Japan is just worthless. My opinion is supported by my experience in India, where I saw totally different kind of education compared to the one in Japan. I would like to explain why the Japan’s education is not good for children.
The main problem of the education is that it doesn’t make the children to think and imagine. Ken Robinson said “creativity now is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status.” As everyone knows, what the school in Japan makes the students do are calculations and some readings. No group activities or student- led classes. Most of the teachers just talk and students rarely listen. How can children train their brain with such kind of class? I do not deny the importance of knowledge that can be taught only by the teachers. However, current education system sees group works too low. If the teachers are good enough to attract students’ attention with interesting topics, and their storytelling skills, I think that is the best way to stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity, but that is an ideal education. Even in Keio University, which is said to be one of the best universities in Japan, it is difficult to find such teachers. Therefore, a class where students can discuss, think, and create something, is needed. All what teachers have to do is motivate the students to think by stimulating their desire to learn.
The school I used to go when I was in India had a humanity class, and in that class, we have done a unique role-playing class activity. The main theme of the class was about imperialism in Africa. The students were separated into 5~6 groups, and each group represented the countries that they were assigned. (Britain, Germany, France, etc…) I will not go into the details, but students had to work together to gain their territories in Africa by constructing their armies, and growing their economy. Students also had to negotiate with other countries to agree about the border of their territories, trades, and many others. Each class, students worked to reinforce their country, and this activity lasted for a month. Students compared the size of the area in Africa by the end.
Through this activity, students earned some knowledge about economy, politics, diplomacy, and imperialism. Moreover, they learnt how to work together as a team, how to negotiate with other people, and how to create an idea to win the competition. These things cannot be learned from teachers. Students must work out and try in order to achieve those skills.
No elementary school or middle school in Japan has held such class. Every school tries to teach math, Japanese, science, art etcetera, but children would not learn because the class is not interesting, and it doesn’t allow children to work in activities. These days, English classes are becoming more important in elementary school, even though not all students can write Kanji.
As a conclusion, if the government doesn’t want to kill the creativity and talent of the children, they must change the whole curriculum right away. They should encourage more in-class activity, and give the chances for children to think about certain topics much more. This is what I thought after watching Ken Robinson’s speech, and I support his idea strongly.