Japan news: Schoolkids "must" volunteer
Covert
Hi again everybody,
Just when you thought you've heard it all, along comes an official
Japanese government proposal for solving the education crisis: make
volunteer work a mandatory part of Japanese schoolchildren's curriculum.
Feast your logic on the story below for more details....
Brian Covert
(KnoK NEWS)
Osaka, Japan
----------------------------
The Japan Times - Saturday, September 23, 2000
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20000923a1.htm
PUPILS TO BE REQUIRED TO VOLUNTEER: PANEL
An education advisory panel to the prime minister on Friday submitted an
interim report calling for drastic changes in the current education
system that would nurture volunteer spirit among students by requiring
them to do community service.
The report also emphasized the importance of fostering a sense of
self-reliance and originality in individual children by discarding the
conventional idea of a standardized education.
This is apparently an attempt to develop more capable future generations
in an increasingly competitive world and at a time when Japan's economic
power is on the decline.
.
The proposals are among 17 suggestions the National Commission on
Educational Reform outlined in its interim report to Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori.
The 26-member panel, which is headed by Nobel Physics laureate Reona
(Leo) Esaki, will draft a final report by the end of the year, after
conducting public hearings based on the interim report.
"School curricula should be changed to give students diversified
educational opportunities to help develop their individual abilities,"
Esaki said, adding that panel members hope the proposals will provoke
public debate.
The proposal to require students between elementary and high school to
participate in extracurricular activities reflected the members' anxiety
about conventional education, which focuses too narrowly on classroom
studies.
In the report, the panel underlines the pressing need to reform the
nation's education system, which it says stands at a crossroads and will
be useless unless something is done.
The panel cited serious problems such as bullying, truancy and violence
among young people and proposed that elementary and junior high school
students spend two weeks performing community service, while high school
students spend one month.
The panel did not specify what kind of services the students should be
required to perform.
If enacted, the report says the proposal would change the conventional
idea of education, which mainly focuses on classroom studies, and will
give students "opportunities to widen their views on society while
working for others."
The report also says that in the future, the nation should consider
mandatory community service of one year for everyone aged 18. It lists
caring for the aged as one of the mandatory social activities.
Other proposals include abolishing the age limit that prevents people
from entering universities or colleges before they turn 18 and creating
professional schools, such as law schools and business schools, to train
experts.
The report also suggests merging about half of the national junior high
and high schools so single six-year secondary educations can be offered.
The reform would help ease the current "examination hell" and would
provide students with a more diversified secondary education, it says.
The panel also said academic years at Japanese universities and colleges,
which usually begin in April, should instead begin in September.
The report says that while many of the panel's members felt the need to
revise the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education to suit present needs, the
panel has not reached any decisions on how to revise it. The report
nonetheless says discussions should start toward revising the law.
Mori is keen to revise the law, which has served as the basis of all
subsequent education laws and ordinances, to include clauses emphasizing
the importance of Japan's traditional values and culture.
The prime minister has already expressed his government's intention to
draft bills to achieve education reforms based on the panel's discussions
and in his policy speech before the Diet the day before he said education
reform will be a key theme during next year's regular legislative session.
The panel also includes school teachers and representatives from various
circles, such as business and the arts.
The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2000
(C) All rights reserved
Just when you thought you've heard it all, along comes an official
Japanese government proposal for solving the education crisis: make
volunteer work a mandatory part of Japanese schoolchildren's curriculum.
Feast your logic on the story below for more details....
Brian Covert
(KnoK NEWS)
Osaka, Japan
----------------------------
The Japan Times - Saturday, September 23, 2000
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20000923a1.htm
PUPILS TO BE REQUIRED TO VOLUNTEER: PANEL
An education advisory panel to the prime minister on Friday submitted an
interim report calling for drastic changes in the current education
system that would nurture volunteer spirit among students by requiring
them to do community service.
The report also emphasized the importance of fostering a sense of
self-reliance and originality in individual children by discarding the
conventional idea of a standardized education.
This is apparently an attempt to develop more capable future generations
in an increasingly competitive world and at a time when Japan's economic
power is on the decline.
.
The proposals are among 17 suggestions the National Commission on
Educational Reform outlined in its interim report to Prime Minister
Yoshiro Mori.
The 26-member panel, which is headed by Nobel Physics laureate Reona
(Leo) Esaki, will draft a final report by the end of the year, after
conducting public hearings based on the interim report.
"School curricula should be changed to give students diversified
educational opportunities to help develop their individual abilities,"
Esaki said, adding that panel members hope the proposals will provoke
public debate.
The proposal to require students between elementary and high school to
participate in extracurricular activities reflected the members' anxiety
about conventional education, which focuses too narrowly on classroom
studies.
In the report, the panel underlines the pressing need to reform the
nation's education system, which it says stands at a crossroads and will
be useless unless something is done.
The panel cited serious problems such as bullying, truancy and violence
among young people and proposed that elementary and junior high school
students spend two weeks performing community service, while high school
students spend one month.
The panel did not specify what kind of services the students should be
required to perform.
If enacted, the report says the proposal would change the conventional
idea of education, which mainly focuses on classroom studies, and will
give students "opportunities to widen their views on society while
working for others."
The report also says that in the future, the nation should consider
mandatory community service of one year for everyone aged 18. It lists
caring for the aged as one of the mandatory social activities.
Other proposals include abolishing the age limit that prevents people
from entering universities or colleges before they turn 18 and creating
professional schools, such as law schools and business schools, to train
experts.
The report also suggests merging about half of the national junior high
and high schools so single six-year secondary educations can be offered.
The reform would help ease the current "examination hell" and would
provide students with a more diversified secondary education, it says.
The panel also said academic years at Japanese universities and colleges,
which usually begin in April, should instead begin in September.
The report says that while many of the panel's members felt the need to
revise the 1947 Fundamental Law of Education to suit present needs, the
panel has not reached any decisions on how to revise it. The report
nonetheless says discussions should start toward revising the law.
Mori is keen to revise the law, which has served as the basis of all
subsequent education laws and ordinances, to include clauses emphasizing
the importance of Japan's traditional values and culture.
The prime minister has already expressed his government's intention to
draft bills to achieve education reforms based on the panel's discussions
and in his policy speech before the Diet the day before he said education
reform will be a key theme during next year's regular legislative session.
The panel also includes school teachers and representatives from various
circles, such as business and the arts.
The Japan Times: Sept. 23, 2000
(C) All rights reserved