The problem with education

Off Topic
61

Complicated issues here but to add my perspective on work ethic. This is not to say that Japanese have a worse work ethic than the average American (whatever that is), however -

The myth of Asian work ethic.

I worked in a Japanese company and despite what you here about 9am to midnight work hours, which is often true, what you don’t know is why they do those hours, and how it affects productivity.

Most in my company, including the executives would sit around smoking and chatting until noon or so, have lunch, have a smoke, and by 2 or 3pm start doing some work until about 6.

After 6 in many offices they send someone out for booze, start drinking, and even though they may stay until 12, how much work do you think gets done?

Why its done is because it is expected to be there 15 hours a day. Additionally many workers survive on overtime, because standard pay for those under 40 is shit.

This is not only my experience but many of my friends, both Japanese and non-Japanese.

62

Regarding education, while I don’t know much about Korean, Indian, or Chinese educational systems,

I can say that by the time many Japanese kids get to high school they are burned out beyond belief.

As for university education, in general Japanese univ. students study very little compared to in the U.S.,

because in Japan it matters relatively little what you study, but what the status of your University is. Good school = access to a good company (much more so than in the West).

Get into a good university and most drink and gamble away their 2 or 4 years (though that is changing).

From elementary school through high school many kids go to night cram schools (juku) after regular day classes in order to memorize what they need to know in order to pass entrance exams for a high status junior/senior high/university.

Those study habits are not due solely to work ethic, but overwhelming social pressures as well.

63

A Chinese School Day

Our partner school, Middle School No. 5, is not located near a main road, but in the centre of a hutong, surrounded by one-storey traditional old houses of the capital. Moving along the narrow streets of the hutong where countless cyclists try to pass and the pupils of Middle School No. 5 stand out due to their blue school uniforms, you will suddenly find yourself in front of the large entrance door of the school and take quite a surprised look at the newly renovated fa?ade of the school, the shining white-red-blue being quite a contrast to the grey houses of the environment. At the door there are several uniformed men and some pupils, friendly smiling to the arriving guests. These students have been successful in their lessons and therefore get rewarded now by being the reception committee. As most of the students come to school by bike, there is an uncountable amount of bicycle stands in the inner yard of the school and each class has its “bicycle parking guide”.

The Chinese school day is a very long day: It starts at 7:30 in the morning and mostly finishes at about 4:00 in the afternoon. In case the students still attend classes of optional subjects, they might stay even longer. After the fifth lesson there is a long lunch break of two hours. Lunch packets will be distributed to those who have paid for it and they will eat it in their classrooms. Those who have not ordered any lunch go to the snack bar across the road or to the restaurant at the net corner.

School starts with gymnastics, which everybody likes very much. All students meet in the school yard with some teachers on duty. In a nearly military order they are standing in long rows, alternately a row of girls and a row of boys. According to the orders of a teacher they do a 20 minutes exercise of concentration and gymnastics.

After gymnastics they go to lessons at a few minutes to eight. Classrooms are equipped with so many tables and chairs that there is hardly any space left for a small corridor where to walk. In each class there are between 55 and 60 students. But we still find a place for a chair for each of us from where we, the exchange students, can attend the lessons. Our first impression about Chinese lessons: It appears to be very much organized and in comparison to our lessons rather quiet. The Chinese students hardly participate actively during the lessons. Sometimes a student presents a prepared task or homework in class and every now and then the teacher asks a student to deal with a question. There are no marks for oral activities; consequently, there is hardly any motivation to ta actively take part in the process of the lessons. On the other hand there are also hard-working students who write down everything and show great interest, and there are of course - as well as in Germany - lessons which are well-prepared and interesting and those which are monotonous and boring.

We were also able to take take part in the sports lessons which differ considerably from those in Germany. The students do not have special sports clothes; they wear their school uniforms like in all other lessons. Their sports lessons obviously have a different meaning compared to Germany: They are far less achievement-orientated. The girls were doing gymnastics on the floor where some of them had great difficulty in rolling forwards and backwards. The boys were playing either table tennis or basketball.

On Monday after the lunch break you could always find some students cleaning windows or wiping the floor during the breaks. Monday is a “cleaning day” and the students are responsible for cleaning their school.
Monday is a special day even in another aspect: Every Monday morning all students have to be present and line up for roll call. They get in well-organised lines in the school yard. Then three students appear in goose-step with the national flag and hoist the flag with a military ceremonial. Afterwards all present people sing the national anthem and one of the headmasters delivers a speech.

? Carmen Bednorz im August 2001

this was taken from a website.
We have it too easy here in the US.

64

MP:

Your examples present one side of the picture. The other side of the picture would show the movement between those various strata of different individuals over time – including the turnover in the top tier. They would also show the rising standard of living for all the various strata within the U.S. system. Finally, they would take into account the effects of large-scale immigration on the widening of the gap between the richest and poorest strata.

Hard work and education can be a ticket to wealth, especially if you manage consumption and invest – not to say that “a four year degree” will be. Your education needs to be comprehensive and you need to pick a major with an eye on employment. No offense against sociology and like degrees, but there is a reason that they are always the goat in the joke about what would a graduate with such-and-such degree say (the answer for sociology: “You want fries with that?”).

Doogie:

Didn’t mean to imply that general training in being respectful, not lying, etc. constituted the type of “morals instruction” to which I was referring. I was being critical of the “morals instruction” that includes indoctrination in the latest from the “tolerance” grist mill, or encourages group discussions on controversial topics.

Also, didn’t mean to sound as if I was being critical of your school. Your program sounds excellent, and one that should serve as a model for others. I am all for charter schools, because: 1) I fail to see why public teachers should be a protected monopoly funded by tax dollars; and 2) market competition leads to innovation, and will lead to congregation around the most successful curricula and standards.

65

Interesting responses from everyone. I would like to respond but have to make my way to class right now and I probably won’t have a chance to elaborate for another day.

One thing now though, I don’t enjoy being pessimistic. As a matter of fact I am an optimist. Everything I stated are facts, not my opinions.

Mark :slight_smile: