Tag - education

 
 

EDUCATION

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 19, 2014
China, South Korea face familiar woes in English quest
Japan isn't alone in its struggles with teaching English. China and South Korea have experienced similar frustrations, but their responses and results have been quite different.
COMMUNITY
Jan 19, 2014
Team-teaching rules can lead to confusing situations
At present, Japanese labor law restricts foreign native English-speaking teachers, referred to as ALTs (assistant language teachers) from team-teaching with Japanese classroom teachers. Students get the short end of the stick, as team teaching is considered a highly effective foreign-language teaching...
EDITORIALS
Jan 18, 2014
School costs gap wider than ever
A fiscal 2012 education ministry survey of parents throughout Japan reports that total spending for a child going to private schools from kindergarten through senior high school came to ¥16.77 million on average, significantly more than the ¥5 million for a child going to public schools.
EDITORIALS
Jan 14, 2014
Leave those kids alone
The education ministry should rethink its attempt to introduce 'morals' as an official subject of instruction in elementary and junior high schools.
EDITORIALS
Jan 13, 2014
Keep power in boards of education
The Abe administration next year plans to submit a bill to the Diet that would give local government heads the final responsibility for local education administration, thus downgrading boards of education.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 12, 2014
No lack of ideas on a course of action for English education
Last week's Learning Curve column, "English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul," looked at the persistent mismatch between the education ministry's stated goals and the actual outcomes of English language education in Japan.
EDITORIALS
Jan 11, 2014
More computers in education?
Two recent conflicting reports from government ministries expose the conundrum at the heart of the question of whether computers are helpful to education.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 11, 2014
Children are blank slates for truth, or propaganda
Imagine you are a parent whose child is being taught propaganda. What do you do? Teach your children the truth and watch their grades slip as they lose interest in school? Or turn a blind eye, knowing their future careers will depend on their grades?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Jan 10, 2014
Teachers must nurture critical thinking, confidence in English for a shot at 2020 goals
Until English teachers start developing critical thinking skills in the classroom and emphasizing confidence over competence, students will never be able to converse with native English speakers 'at a viable level of proficiency.'
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Jan 10, 2014
Educator with a mission sends out support from Hiroshima
Some people seem to have a knack for turning their hand to anything that comes along and, moreover, making a success of it. This is certainly the case with Hiroshima-based Adam Beck. Over the years, the American has been a children's theater director, an English teacher, a newspaper columnist and the...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2014
How South Korea rides out emerging-markets turmoil
With seven of every 10 high school graduates attending a university, there is a surplus of educated people in South Korea. Estimates are that 40 percent of college graduates are redundant.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jan 5, 2014
English fluency hopes rest on an education overhaul
Ringing in 2014, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has a dream: One nation that will actively re-engage with the global marketplace.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ENGLISH
Jan 3, 2014
Immersion tactics come with risks and benefits
Some parents opt to immerse their children at a young age in a multilingual environment, hoping they will become not only bilingual but also have new avenues of opportunity open up.
EDITORIALS
Jan 3, 2014
Dubious cure for doctor shortage
The education ministry's recent decision to approve creation of a new medical school at an existing university in Tohoku marks a new development in the government's oscillating policy on the education of doctors.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ENGLISH
Jan 2, 2014
Schools fret about assistant teachers ahead of proposed 2020 reforms
With education reform expected to place a great deal of emphasis on English, officials worry about the uneven quality of foreign assistant language teachers.
Japan Times
JAPAN / GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT ENGLISH
Dec 31, 2013
English to get 2020 push but teachers not on same page
A reform plan released in mid-December by the education ministry looks to bolster English study from elementary to high school from the 2020 academic year to pursue globalization.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Dec 29, 2013
Education in 2013: an 'A' for ambition, but Japan will have to do better
Will 2014 be the year we start to see a genuinely forward-thinking, globalized outlook for education in Japan? The rapidly changing global economy, regional tensions and shrinking population suggest huge challenges await the country's youth on their emergence into the job market in the coming years.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 28, 2013
Is teacher demoralization the next step?
Publicizing the names of teachers in newspapers when their students fail to measure up could be a prescription for demoralization in Japan.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY
Dec 27, 2013
Researcher sees digital maps as key to understanding, alleviating crises
'Maps put into pictures what policymakers traditionally see in numbers,' says Elise Montiel-Welti, a researcher at Doshisha University who produces digital maps to explain global crises. 'They also put us in perspective: We can see how small we are in the face of huge disasters or conflicts.'
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2013
Japan should take English lessons from Philippines
English is an official language of the Philippines but this does not mean that everyone understands or speaks English. However, it does mean that exposure to the language is so widespread that those who do speak it can communicate quite fluently.

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'