Japan/U.S. education

nora l ishibashi (nli1@MIDWAY.UCHICAGO.EDU)
Wed, 13 Apr 1994 12:31:03 CDT

Regarding the discussion of the Japanese and United States educational
systems:

This issues are a bit more complex than they appear at first.
Japanese education is not necessarily better, and it depends on what you mean
by better. Corporal punishment is not only legal in schools, it is
encouraged. Students with varying abilities are not accommodated. There is
verylittle attention given to students personal meaning construction,and
verylittle encouragement of open discussion. Japanese students do well on
objective tests, particularly mathematics and science, which lendthemselves
to dichotomies between right and wrong answers.
Nora L. Ishibashi
nli1@midway.uchicago.edu