Covert

Hi everybody,

Some very good news to report from Japan today!

Today's edition (Aug. 28) of the Asahi Evening News, an English-language
daily paper with nationwide circulation, features a wonderful spread on
its Education page about home-based learning. The spread fills about
two-thirds of the whole page.

There are two stories in the spread. The main one is a translation of an
earlier Asahi Shimbun Japanese-language story. This story includes quotes
from Yoshiko Kubo, a Japanese veteran homelearning parent near Tokyo, as
well as from Kyoko Aizawa of the Otherwise Japan group in Tokyo. The
overall tone of the story comes across as positive and respectful of
homelearning in Japan, despite a couple of misleading points about the
so-called "difficulties" and "illegality" of home-based learning in this
country.

The spread also features a sidebar story written by yours truly. It's a
first-person account of why and how our family does homelearning in
Japan. I don't remember seeing any other such stories in Japan's
English-language press -- that is, original articles written by a
homelearner FOR homelearners) in recent times, so this may well be the
first in Japan. Let us hope it is by no means the last.


Here are excerpts from the two stories:

(1)
More and more parents are rejecting the idea of sending their children to
school, and are instead taking direct responsibility for educating them
at home.

As homeschooling gradually wins broader acceptance here, a community
movement is building to provide support for parents who choose to go down
this route. As well, even an Education Ministry advisory group has
recommended support for "learning in the home."

To see the main story in its entirety, go to:
---> http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0828/asahi082812.html

(2)
For our family, homeschooling as a way of life began last year on a beach
in northern California during a summer break away from Japan, after my
5-year-old son and I were invited to join a "support group" of
homeschooling families on one of their regular outings.

To see the whole sidebar story, go to:
---> http://www.asahi.com/english/asahi/0828/asahi082813.html


As I've noted often in the past, the Japanese news media is becoming
increasingly open to homelearning as a serious alternative to mainstream
schooling. The Asahi spread today is further proof of that. The climate
for press coverage of homelearning these days may well be more hospitable
in Japanese society at this early stage than in other countries where
homelearning is more firmly established.

Why is that? Well, when in doubt, look close to home: News media people
in Japan have families of their own, and they are no doubt struggling
with the same kinds of educational problems that everyone else in society
is struggling with. Covering homelearning -- overseas and domestically --
as a legitimate news story allows reporters and editors in Japan to
explore the wild idea of alternative education for their own families as
well.

Things may change as time goes on and homelearning in Japan becomes less
of a novelty and more of a threat to the educational powers-that-be (as
it most certainly will). But for now, the climate for press coverage of
homelearning issues in Japan is good.

My deepest hope is that more Japanese families will be encouraged, after
reading these two Asahi articles, to indeed seriously consider home-based
learning as an alternative to conventional schooling.

Just my humble contribution to The Cause, of course....

Regards,

Brian Covert
(KnoK NEWS)
in Osaka, Japan