Kids! Stop studying so hard

Kids... Stop Studying So Hard!

I recently read an article on the crackdown of hagwons also known as private tutoring schools in South Korea. After reading the article it is impossible not to draw numerous comparisons to the education system in South Korea with that of Japan. I ve been in Japan a year and a half now and I have thought about the education system here almost on an hourly basis. I don’t want to draw too many generalizations on the education system in Japan because I only have a small sample size to form an opinion on. My experience as a teacher in Japan is with a high performing academic high school where most of the students will attend university. This is why the article resonated with me so much because I see so many similarities between my students and the students referenced in the article.

The synopsis of the article is basically that the police are now enforcing a studying curfew for after school tutoring academies. The academies are not allowed to be open passed 10 pm and therefore students are not allowed to study past 10 pm. South Korea felt this was necessary because of the exorbitant amount of pressure high school students are feeling to pass university examinations. What university you attend in South Korea is strongly correlated with the type of professional success you will have.

(http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2094427,00.html) The same can be said for Japan.

In the states this idea is only partially true. If you attend Harvard, Stanford, or Northwestern most likely you will be a success in your chosen career (what defines success...money in this case) However students who attend the average state school, start at community college , or take another alternative path to college graduation can also be successful monetarily. (I think success is measured by happiness and satisfaction with your job but I am also an idealist)

What I see in my school is high stakes testing putting too much pressure on the students and teachers. In the states the argument is over how much a students academic success should be measured my standardized tests. Well in Japan there is no argument , everything is tied to the entrance exams these students take. A typical week for many of my students goes as follows

M-F Saturday

School 730-430 9-12 extra classes

After School Club/Sport 430-630

Commute Home 30 minutes to an hour

Studying 2-3 hours a night

You can make an argument with the exception of Saturday that this is a schedule many U.S. high school students have. But this is the minimum, the majority of the students at my school are pulling more study time. Many students feel that their quality of life is determined by these test. I have never witnessed this kind of pressure in my students in the U.S.

Because of this focus on exams and tests I see a lack of creativity and various learning strategies in the classroom. This is very different than what we are taught as teachers in the U.S. We are taught about differentiated instruction, cooperative learning, and various teaching methods that encourage students to be creative and problem solve. At my school in Japan there is a lot of text book learning, notes on the blackboard and lecture.

There are benefits to both ways of teaching in learning. Japan has some of the highest test scores in the all important subjects of science and math. The work ethic instilled in these students which carries into adulthood is phenomenal. They are much more disciplined than the average U.S. classroom. On the other hand the U.S. education system promotes diverse ways of learning, various teaching methods and learning strategies but you also have a lot of classroom management problems not seen in the Japanese classroom.

The ironic thing about the South Korea article was the statement that SK is trying to adapt educational practices that are more similar to the U.S and the U.S is applauding SK for its education practices and trying to adapt some of their methods. I think we can learn a lot from the Asian educational model and I think it would be advantageous for them to adapt some U.S. educational practices.