Satuday School in Japan

No, I don't mean the kind of Saturday school that you see on The Breakfast Club (though they could use that here).  I have been hearing from random people on Facebook and the Internet that the current prime minister wants to add a 6th day (Saturday) to the school week in Japan to increase teaching hours.  You can read more about that here.  Especially read the comments.

Anyway, I am pretty mellow when it comes to "cultural differences" in Japan.  Sure I may vent about certain things on Facebook/my blog/around the dinner table but for the most part I respect that this is not America and I have to play by the rules.  For example- the whole Robin can't have a middle name on her Japanese birth certificate.  STUPID- but I respect that and just put it on her American forms/IDs.  But when it comes to the education system I really do think that other countries have some "better" ideas.  Not the best ideas, but better.

I don't think going to school an extra day a week is going to make a difference.  A) the kids go to school seven days a week as it is for club and B) when they are in the classroom they aren't learning as much as they could be learning due to several factors.  After working in the school system for four years and working with K-9th grades, here is what I would suggest.  (And I know that I have mentioned this probably 100 times already, but it is current again).

1 Minimize break time for the days that they are in school.
Right now the students get 10 minutes between every class as well as a 20/30 minute break after lunch.  And this is for JHS kids, too.  They say it is to give the students a chance to relax so that they will better be able to focus in class, but really it is a time for teachers to take a break and for the students to run around screaming and wrestling.  I do think there needs to be some sort of break, but 10 minutes is too long.  If you cut down the break time you could add one more class a day, increasing the school day from 6 classes to 7. 

In elementary I think they could cut down the break time (or allow no break time) and extend the morning recess.  Rather than give them twenty minutes, give them thirty minutes with only five minute breaks elsewhere.  The problem with the ten minute break between classes in ES is that the students just get into a game when it is time to pack it up and go back to class.  This usually results in them taking a longer time to become focused because they are still thinking about the game they didn't finish over the break.

2 Introduce/increase discipline in the classroom to better maximize learning time.
One of the biggest culture shocks for every foreigner coming to Japan is how there is a lack of discipline in the classrooms.  So many of us come to Japan expecting this rigid school system and yet it is in many ways much more relaxed than what we are used to in our own countries.   There are some teachers who are able to "lay down the law" when it comes to keeping students on task, but so many are unable to due to a system that doesn't support them.  Students are free to make rude comments, walk out of the classroom, sleep, "forget" their learning materials, etc  Because it is impossible to fail or be held behind, and because most of them come to school/stay after school for club seven days a week anyway, there isn't really away to punish the students who are out of line other than to scream at them. 

And because the students are to be treated fairly, their isn't a way to reward them either.  Since they have this freedom it is really hard to keep them on task or to motivate them.  You either get students who won't shut up so we learn nothing or you get students who refuse to speak up so we learn nothing.  For example, when I was in school your grade was comprised of class participation, homework, and tests.  So you could earn or lose points by how you acted in the classroom.  I think that Japanese teachers keep track of this, but because they can't hold a student back there is really nothing they can do to the students who are disruptive or put forth no effort.  Even if they go an extra day they won't learn if students continue talking over the teacher, walking around the classroom, coloring, coming to class without books, etc

3 Split students into ability, not age.
OK, so I know that there are some bad things that come with dividing students up by ability, but there can be a lot of good.  ESPECIALLY for students who have a higher ability than the others.  For example, the first year of JHS all English students spend the first month or so learning the alphabet without exception.  Never mind if the student can write/read paragraphs.  This year we had a student in the 1st year of JHS that I taught privately in Tsuyama.  I started teaching her in 2005 and every week we read and wrote the ABCs.  As she moved up we went from the ABCs to words and later to books.  This year she was put with every other student and made to repeat, "A,A,A  B,B,B  C,C,C" for a full class period.  Talk about a waste of her time.  I could understand leaving her be if she was the only kid in the class who had been taking private English lessons.  But there were a dozen in each class who could do this (and more).

On the flip side you get the kid who has never seen the alphabet before forced to catch up with the rest of his class despite needing help.  They do split the classes up sometimes by level, but the rule is that they all have to take the same test.  So even if you wanted to go slower with the lower level group, you can't go at an actual pace that they need because they have to keep up with the regular test.  Never mind if they have learning disabilities, were absent for an extended period of time, etc

Now Japanese people aren't stupid.  They realize that there is a lot of gaps in what the students learn at school.  So they send their kids to cram schools to be privately tutored so that they can either advance at a higher level or catch up to the level they are supposed to be at.  This means that so many kids are already going to school on Saturday.  Surely that should show Abe that introducing another day to the school week isn't the answer.

4 Cut down on the Mickey Mouse time spent "in school" but "out of the classroom."
OK- so Japanese kids go to school year round, but they aren't actually in the classroom year round.  For example, the week before the sports festival Mon-Wed are half days (half in the classroom and half out on the sports field) and Thurs-Sat are full days (fully on the sports field).  Though I agree that their needs to be some practice for the sports day, I don't understand why it can't be done in PE or kept to one day.  Especially when the kids have been doing these sports days since nursery school.  But oh no, we need a full day to practice lining up for races, marching around a track, etc

They also "get out early" or have shortened class periods an awful lot for unexplained reasons.  I actually asked a teacher once, just because I was curious, why the classes were shortened that day and why they were missing sixth period, and she literally said,"I don't know."

Another thing is that, in the name of equality, the teachers will  not let a class move forward if a small amount of students are missing.  For example, one weekend there was a baseball tournament that didn't finish so on Monday all of the baseball students were missing from class (about 40 boys in a school of about 400 hundred students).  So the teacher gave the class free time to catch up on homework, work ahead, etc because heaven forbid we move along without the 3 baseball boys.  When I went to State Drill Team with the other girls on my team, our classes moved ahead without us and we were expected to make up the work on our own time.  Which is only fair to all of the kids not on the drill team.





I hate to be so preachy, but there are so many things that could be fixed with the school system without adding another day to the school week.  Teachers and students live busy enough lives as it is!  I know America isn't perfect, but I do think the Japanese could learn some things from us.  JUST as we could learn some things from Japan.  Such as having students clean the schools, having strong classroom bonding, etc  I know I am a hypocrite because I am sending my daughter to Japanese schools, but it is mostly so that she will have a strong base in Japanese culture and life.  We fully intend to send her to the states for high school and possibly university (although that will be up to her).  I think so many students are just getting an "average" education at school and getting everything else in private lessons when they could be getting a great education at school and getting life experience on their freetime.