Covert

* * * * KnoK NEWS * * * *
-- Views from the world of learning in Japan --


Welcome to the 6 May 2000 edition of KnoK (pronounced "knock") NEWS, an
informal and periodic bulletin concerning issues of learning in Japan. It
is brought to you by the Covert family -- Kazumi, Kenya and Brian -- a
multicultural, homelearning family in Osaka, Japan.

KnoK stands for *Kodomo no Kokoro*, meaning "Heart of a Child" in
Japanese. It is our belief that the heart of any child is indeed at the
center of true learning, wherever and however such learning may take
place.


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EDITOR'S WELCOME: Greetings again, everyone! We're already a month into
the new school year here in Japan -- the first school year of the new
millenium -- and along with it, no doubt, a slew of more news stories to
appear in the media about how schools appear to be failing Japanese
children.

But for us homelearners in Japan, there is a bit of good news of a
different kind: One year ago this very day, a family in the global
homelearning community was featured in a prominent news story on
childraising that was published in a major daily newspaper in Japan's
capital city. And guess what: The story even turned out to be respectful
of, and open to, homelearning as an alternative to school.

It was on 6 May 1999 that the Tokyo Shimbun newspaper ran a lengthy,
four-segment story on how families in the United States, China, Germany
and Hong Kong are coping with raising children. Interviewed for the
lead-in segment was Kathleen Iuzzolino, a homelearning parent based in
New Jersey.

Ever looking for chances to celebrate homelearning in and out of Japan,
KnoK NEWS is delighted to share with readers our English translation of
that original Tokyo Shimbun article, as well as Kathleen's own revealing
insights of the interview session with the Japanese reporters.

Not to be outdone by the mainstream media, KnoK NEWS also takes that
Tokyo Shimbun story one step further and looks briefly at where the
homelearners mentioned in the Japanese article are today -- one year later.

This edition of KnoK NEWS has turned out to be a double feature, so our
report this time is being sent in two separate sections: In the first, we
look at the Tokyo Shimbun coverage. In the second, we wrap up our
two-part "Q & A on Homeschooling in Japan" by a respected Japanese
homelearning advocate and parent.

So, enough of the introduction and into the action. With great pleasure,
we take you back one year ago today to a story that hit the newsstands of
Tokyo just around evening rush hour....

* * * *

[Tokyo Shimbun, evening edition, page 5; Thursday, 6 May 1999]

NEW WORLD AFFAIRS

Raising questions about childraising:
Moms and dads searching for answers

The decreasing number of children per family in Japan has brought about
increasing concerns over the care of children. The appearance of Japanese
government promotional posters featuring popular idol singer Namie
Amuro's husband, Sam, holding their child caused a sensation, and stirred
public discussion about fathers participating in the raising of children.

On the other hand, the case of the youth in Kobe who wounded and killed
other children over a period of time has attracted much attention, as
have other brutal acts by youths. Methods of childraising and educating
are being questioned as a result.

Here, we introduce circumstances around the world where such questioning
is taking place.

--UNITED STATES:

Kitchen becomes a classroom,
as distrust of educational system
fuels decision not to attend school

"Is this right?" ask Elizabeth, 12, and Alex, 11, notebooks in hand. "Let
me see..." responds Kathleen Iuzzolino, 39, running her pen over the pages.

This would be a typical scene at school, yet it is actually an average,
everyday household kitchen. And these two children would be in sixth and
fifth grades of primary school, if they were attending school -- but they
are not.

"Homeschooling," where children are taught in the home rather than being
sent to school, started spreading throughout the United States more than
10 years ago. Iuzzolino, who lives in a rural town in central New Jersey,
began teaching her three boys at home nine years ago. By linking up, she
and other parents are able to take charge of and share their fortes in
various subjects.

Iuzzolino is taking charge of chemistry and physics. Counting [one of]
her three boys, Elizabeth and the other children in her support group,
Iuzzolino teaches eight children in all, weaving her way through the
group as she walks around checking their studies.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, at least 500,000 children
are learning through such kind of homeschooling. That figure was a mere
10,000 in 1970. All 50 states now allow homeschooling, and more than a
few are like New Jersey, where, Iuzzolino says, "There are no legal
restrictions as to what is taught."

It is against this backdrop that a distrust of school education has
developed in the U.S., amid incidents of violence on school grounds and
falling educational standards. But, as Iuzzolino boasts, "Homeschooling
provides a detailed education that fits a child's own level, and this
gets good results."

A 10-year-old in Iuzzolino's group is learning about chemistry formulas
at a comparatively early age; middle school-age youths are also
proceeding well in high-school level studies. Thanks to this kind of
learning environment, Iuzzolino's eldest son, at 15 years old, is allowed
to attend courses at the local college.

Trust in education in the U.S. has been greatly eroded over the past year
in the wake of shootings by children, such as the random shooting at the
high school in a Denver, Colorado suburb.

"The ones who know children best are their own parents," says Iuzzolino.
"It's that simple."

--Story and photo by Masami Nagai, in New Jersey, USA

* * * *

The U.S. segment on homelearning ends there, but the original Japanese
article goes on to present coverage from:

--China, where the "4-2-1 Syndrome" (four grandparents, two parents, one
child) that has emerged under the country's population regulations is
leading to greater academic expectations on the only child in Chinese
families by parents and grandparents. A more active role by grandparents
in the lives of grandchildren has also come about as a result of this
social phenomenon, according to the story.

--Germany, where the good news is that fathers are taking a more active
role in their children's upbringing. The bad news is that crimes
committed by youths in Germany are on the rise, due in part, the article
says, to the lagging economic conditions there.

--and Hong Kong, where children are reportedly facing greater social
pressures than ever, especially from parents, to get into the best
primary and middle schools. Hong Kong working mothers usually have the
weekends off, and try to spend that time in "skinship" (physical
nurturing) with their children, the story says.

LOOKING BACK:

Kathleen Iuzzolino recalls the interview session a year ago in New Jersey
with the Japanese reporters that led to the story getting such prominent
placement in the Tokyo Shimbun....

"The reporters were out of their New York office and wanted to
specifically interview American homeschoolers. When I mentioned to them
that there were Japanese homeschoolers [in Japan], they seemed a bit
surprised.

"The reporters were by far among the most receptive interviewers that
I've run across," Kathleen says, "and I got *quite* an earful of their
opinions on what is wrong with Japanese schools."

Despite the prevailing Western stereotypes of schoolchildren in Japan as
being rocket-scientist material, what the Japanese reporters saw at the
Iuzzolinos' home that day seemed to have left them with positive
impressions of homelearning as a viable form of education for Japan.

"They came here during one of my chemistry classes and took pictures and
talked with the kids," she remembers. "They examined the chemistry text
that I used and exclaimed over and over again that they didn't know this
level of chemistry, that it had never been taught to them (which I found
surprising, considering all the stereotypes)."

The reporters' interest in homelearning extended well beyond the day's
lessons.

"I must have talked to them for two hours after class," Kathleen recalls.
"There was one American reporter with them and she just gushed for the
two full hours. The Japanese reporters, including the newspaper's New
York editor, were very complimentary and receptive to homeschooling as a
whole."

What appeared to be a professional interest in homelearning on the part
of the Japanese reporters soon revealed itself as something a little bit
closer to home.

"At first I thought they were happy that U.S. education had sunk so low
as to necessitate us do-it-yourselfers," Kathleen says. "Then I figured
out that they were happy that they were finding alternatives for
*themselves*.

"That surprised me the most."

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Where the Tokyo Shimbun left off, KnoK NEWS picks up. Here's what the
homelearners who were mentioned in the Japanese newspaper story are doing
one year later:

--Elizabeth has moved along well over the past year, and is finishing
studies at seventh-grade level. "[She] has become much more of a leader
this year than a follower as in the past," according to Kathleen.
"Science has helped Elizabeth to become more organized in her thinking."

--Alexandra ("Alex") is at sixth-grade level this year and is a
ballerina: "Too sweet for words," notes Kathleen. "Alex tackled
high-school level chemistry, physics AND biology this year."

--The three Iuzzolino boys: Kathleen's youngest son, Raphael, now age
six, "started piano lessons this year and blew on through three levels
since [last] September. He has a remarkable ability to read music -- even
though he can't read English yet. He plays, likes to cook with me, and
gets to ride all over the countryside as we take his brothers here,
there, and everywhere...."

Brandon, 13, is now studying Spanish, art, art history, biology,
religion, chemistry, physics and piano. He has a black belt in tae kwon
do and is in training to become a certified assistant teacher. "Right now
he is an apprentice instructor. He loves teaching kids and adults. He
spends about three hours a day at his academy. He is also an altar boy
and a Boy Scout...."

Michael, 15, continued taking classes part-time at the local college this
past year -- "had a marvelous time, loved working with the professors,
received too many credits and now has to matriculate because of them,"
says Kathleen. Michael recently gave his first college recital as a
classical pianist, to a warm reception. He has a 4.0 grade point average,
as of this writing, and looks forward to entering college full-time in
the fall. He has been working part-time at his job, pays for his own
expenses and travel excursions, and is in line for a job promotion at
work when he turns 16. He too participates in Boy Scout and church
activities. Adds Kathleen: "He doesn't consider himself to be
'homeschooled' any longer."

--Kathleen Iuzzolino continues to be a homelearning parent, however. In
addition to working full time (she and her husband, Mark, are court
reporters), Kathleen is also teaching chemistry, physics and religion to
her own and other children. She also teaches an advanced chemistry class
with her eldest son and other older teens; she has been teaching this
class for four years. This year will be the last, she says, since several
of the teens in the group plan to attend college in the fall:

"The activities of that older teens class are amazing. Last summer, one
girl went to Croatia to do missionary work; one went as a U.S. ambassador
to the Hague Appeal for Peace [May 1999] in the Netherlands, but had to
give a speech before thousands in Washingon, DC; one went alone to
Austria; one went alone to Germany; one toured Kenya with his family; and
one went to Iowa to do church-building missionary work (she's in Italy
right now). These kids have amazing lives. Their ages are 14 to 17."

Although Kathleen speaks with obvious pride of what all these children
have been accomplishing, she is also quick to dismiss her own
homeschooled sons as any kind of child "prodigies."

"They all have their strengths and their weaknesses," she says. "Both of
the older boys have learning difficulties, my oldest with dyslexia and my
middle with writing difficulties. We have spent their lives concentrating
on their strengths and letting their weaknesses catch up at their own
developmental rates.

"People always assume that these homeschooling 'success' stories are just
exceptional children and their own children would never be able to
accomplish such goals," she said. "I like to point out that homeschooling
allows *all* children to be 'exceptional' children!"

As the Japanese newspaper quotes Kathleen Iuzzolino as saying a year ago
today: "The ones who know children best are their own parents. It's that
simple."

Indeed.

* * * *


Continued in second section of KnoK NEWS:

Q & A ON HOMESCHOOLING IN JAPAN -- Part 2