Root causes of education problems

Kiyoshi Kurokawa, in his Oct. 18 article, "How Japan can regain its vitality," recommends changes in the Japanese education system in the years to come. Dr. Kurokawa played a significant role in "Innovation 25," which included recommendations for an increase in the number of Japanese students studying abroad, opportunities for researchers to change employment between universities, government research labs, as well as university branches overseas and research institutions.

The fact that we have a new administration in Japan means that we have the opportunity to make educational reform and to implement necessary policies to turn Japan into an innovative society, culturally and socially.

Before the new administration came in, the committee discussing education-related topics was dominated by employees of cram schools, education-material publishers, and education ministry people with bachelor degrees in law rather than doctorates in education. Any recommendation the committee made seemed to benefit publishers but not teachers or students — for example, the the nationwide exam for elementary school students and the requirement that teachers go through an exam process to renew their teaching license.

The root causes of education problems in Japan are: (1) high schools run by prefectures while elementary schools and middle schools are run by municipalities (entrance exams imposed by high schools force middle-school students to go to cram school); (2) the university entrance exam system; and (3) lack of a nationwide college credit transfer system, which creates big problems for students wishing to transfer after attending, say, a local college during their first two years (this drives up education costs as well as living expenses).

I recommend implementing elements of the "California Master Plan for Higher Education" and the "European Credit Transfer System."