At this time of year, children all over Japan endure the pressure of entrance examinations. Over time, a more intense focus on testing their English-language ability has set in, with students memorizing a deluge of words and model sentences for reading and speaking tests.
This system is debatable. The focus on test-driven English education has eclipsed the true value of learning a foreign language, creating a sense of aversion among many of those studying it. Since 2020, elementary public school children have started learning English from the third grade and a poll conducted the following year reported that almost one-third of elementary schoolers said that they did not like learning English, an 8% rise since 2013.
If Japanese schools want to educate their youth to be internationally competitive, they should provide the more intangible benefits of interactive foreign language experiences of the kind that could ultimately inspire children to seek opportunities overseas. While the government aims for half a million Japanese students to pursue education abroad by 2033, these were just 58,000 in 2022.
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