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EDU WATCH: Todai and Kyoto University, two Japanese top ranking universities announce their decision to carry out entrance exams reforms

April 16, 2013 in 1 | Leave a comment

After decades of intense public criticism of the rigidity and inflexibility of the higher education entrance exam system, Todai and Kyoto University, two universities at the top of the university ranking pyramid, have finally decided to redress these perceived weaknesses through their planned introduction of the recommendation-based entrance exam and admissions office exams.

The planned reform changes are also meant to address the criticisms that Japanese elite higher education, along with the rest of Japanese universities in the mid-to lower ranks, have been producing students, who may be adept at rote learning and passing academic entrance exams, but yet who lack academic proficiency, enthusiasm, motivation to learn or other broad skills necessary for future career or social success.

The negative effects of the over-reliance on standardized test scores, as well as of the competitiveness of and rigidity of the Japanese entrance exam system on student learning – have been noted in the 2009 paper by Dennis Riches, “The practices of university admissions and entrance examinations: Their impact on learning and educational programs“. In it, Riches roots strongly for Japan’s reform of university entrance exam practices drawing upon the American experience with:

“a growing movement in America to reduce or eliminate reliance on SAT scores and admit students based on their high school record, or other skills and achievements. Pink (2004, pp. 57-59), for example, describes new methods of assessing “right brain” creative problem solving to be used in formal admissions screening. An organization in Boston, The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, has been advocating in favor of reform of university admissions since 2002, and it has already been influential in the few years of its existence. All of the schools that have abandoned reliance on standardized test scores report improved student satisfaction and performance, and improved reputation of the institution. A skeptic would notice that few elite universities are in this group, but this is beside the point. This is an innovation that is useful to the second and mid-ranking universities who want to give the best education possible to the students they actually get, not the ones they wish they could have.”

Riches also levels other criticisms such as the problem of lack of open scrutiny or transparency of the entrance exam creation process and the lack of training of test developers (rendering the possibility that entrance exams may be unreliable or invalid tests)

“If universities still want to insist that prospective students take a difficult examination, they could rely on specialized test producers that have the resources to make reliable and valid tests that are open to public scrutiny. This would allow professors to devote more time to teaching and research in their specialties. Yet this would also require the individual professors and the universities to forego the financial incentives involved in holding entrance examinations. Unfortunately, most universities are stuck on having their own branded examination as a way of signaling to the public that their standards are difficult to attain.

Riches gives several reasons why exam reforms such as introducing greater flexibility such as AO exams would have a beneficial effect:

“High school graduates in Japan have already completed standardized national achievement tests and received grades and diplomas from a standardized national education system. Making them take entrance examinations is just overkill, or it is an admission that universities consider the public education system to be unreliable. Whether students succeed at university depends on the quality of their experience after entering university, and such quality is much more likely to be achieved if students have not experienced a phenomenon which their society refers to as “entrance exam hell.”

The planned reforms will also introduce essays which addresses the latter of Riches’ criticisms of the validity of Japanese entrance exams due to the opaque test design process and their overreliance of multiple-choice questions:

“Much worse is test design in which validity is not explicitly defined. Unfortunately, the situation at Japanese universities is that values and priorities are implicit and unexamined, buried in the traditional way of designing English tests. When validity does not exist, test results are only self-referential. A high score on a multiple choice grammar test tells only that the test taker is talented at this particular multiple choice grammar test. There is no evidence of a relation to skills that need to be applied in ‘real world’ situations.“

The overdue reforms, while they will be welcomed by many, are still rather modest … with Kyoto University proposals, out of admission quota of about 2,900 students, only 100 are selected, and the top 5 percent of students at each high school will be allowed to take special entrance exam which clearly continues to emphasize a reliance on academic testing scores (albeit those of the high school).

Note that Admissions Office or AO exams are not new in Japan, they have been introduced by a fair number of universities, but are sometimes viewed in a negative light as an easy route of student entry to universities with lower rankings or lesser reputations. A definition of AO entrance exams, for example, is given by Yamaguchi University as follows:

“The Admissions Office Entrance Examination differs from traditional written exams that only look at academic ability in that applicants are selected based on their comprehension creative thinking abilities, academic ambitions and other factors.

An interview examines the applicant’s character, curiosity and interest in humanity, society, culture, language, logic and other subject matter covered in the humanities. A written test following a lecture examines the applicant’s comprehension of the lecture. As with the general exam, any student with the appropriate qualifications to enter university may take this examination.”

Another article to which we might pay heed to when considering what drives university reform in Japan as well as worldwide is William Bradley’s Educational Policy in 21st Century Japan: Neoliberalism and Beyond? which suggests that Japan’s educational policies have been driven by the same forces affecting educational policy-makers and educators worldwide … forces which Bradley identifies as competition resulting from neoliberalism, and he notes “that the concepts of internationalization are of less importance than the actual numbers of foreign students, faculty and course offerings in English” as well as the number of Nobel prize winners produced, to Japan’s elite higher educational institutions. The article suggests that such overriding motives prioritizing competition will have a negative impact on cooperative learning and critical pedagogy and thinking. We need to consider whether this statement is true, and whether consequently, the planned reforms will merely be surface deep.

By Aileen Kawagoe

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To examine the details of the Japan News (Yomiuri Shimbun) report on the planned university entrance exam reforms, see below:

Japan in Depth / Todai, Kyoto University eye reforming entrance exams (Yomiuri Shimbun, April 16, 2013)

Two of the nation’s top universities–the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University–have decided to reform their entrance exams to cope with students’ changing qualities and a sense of crisis of being left behind globally in securing quality students.

Both schools have screened applicants solely with scholastic ability tests. For students starting in the 2016 academic year, however, Todai will start a special exam for candidates recommended by high schools. Kyoto University plans to introduce an “admission-office entrance exam,” an interview- and essay-based test designed to evaluate students’ motivation and abilities.

Each will admit about 100 students through the new system.

‘Sense of crisis’ behind decisions

“Todai is the leading university in Japan, and one of the most prestigious in the world, but a dark cloud seems to be forming over us. The review on the entrance exam represents the sense of crisis Todai has today,” said Kiyoshi Kurokawa, a professor emeritus at the university, at the school’s entrance ceremony at Nippon Budokan hall Friday.

Kurokawa, a former president of the Science Council of Japan, made the remarks in his speech to new students.

At the ceremony, university President Junichi Hamada touched on the “weakness” of the school.

“I’d like to frankly point to the University’s weakness as an organization,” he said, citing delayed internationalization and the homogeneity of the student body and the low number of foreign students.

As a matter of fact, the planned introduction of the recommendation-based entrance exam mainly aims at diversifying the student body, according to Hamada. Under the new system, which was announced in March, applicants require recommendations from their high schools, but Todai will not designate the schools from which they will accept recommendations, as many universities do. Instead, any school will be allowed to recommend up to two students.

The system is aimed at accepting applicants not only from certain prestigious high schools, but also those from rural areas and even those students who may be seen as mavericks.

The university said it wants to accept students with extraordinary talent in specific academic fields such as physics and history.

Among those who entered the university this spring, 56 percent graduated from high schools in the Kanto region, including 36 percent from Tokyo high schools. This is because of the tendency of the school to accept an increasing number of students from certain private schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area that offer integrated middle and high school education.

On the other hand, students from overseas accounted for only 1.6 percent. In addition, only 72 Japanese undergraduates studied overseas in the 2012 academic year, clearly indicating the university’s “introspective” nature.

“Having spent their school life with the same classmates through middle and high school, an increasing number of our students apparently have no opinion on society,” an associate professor of the College of Arts and Sciences said. “Those who are good at exams, but who have no chance to interact with those with different characteristics will never grow into people who will be active in global society.”

When it comes to the problem of declining motivation to study, Todai and Kyoto University students are no exception.

“We’ve traditionally had an atmosphere where students would learn on their own [without instruction],” Kyoto University President Hiroshi Matsumoto said at a press conference in late March.

He announced the introduction of an admission-office entrance exam, which the university calls “a characteristic exam,” at the press conference.

He said many students at Kyoto University cannot keep up with classes as they lack the academic ability or motivation for subjects other than those required for entrance exams.

“We need ambitious, knowledge-hungry students with comprehensive scholastic abilities acquired through studying a wide range of subjects at high school. We want to nurture such students into people who can actively participate in international society,” Matsumoto said.

In addition to evaluating applicants’ high school performance, Kyoto University requires them to take the national center test for university admissions and tests in individual faculties. Todai also plans to require candidates to take the national center test.

Yukitoshi Sakaguchi, head of the entrance exam information center at cram school chain Yoyogi Seminar, said, “The universities are after top talent and want to secure those with high scholastic ability through the new recommendation-based exam and the admission-office exam.“

New standard of excellence

What prompted the two top universities to carry out entrance exam reforms?

Shuji Hashimoto, vice president of Waseda University, said it is because the standard of excellence required for university graduates has changed over the years. Waseda University will discuss entrance exam reform from this academic year.

With increased globalization, companies are eyeing universities critically. Shuji Narazaki, deputy chief of personnel at Nissan Motor Co. said: “A leader in business requires not only language skills, but also the ability to negotiate and work with people from various countries. Compared with young people in other countries, Japanese youth are lagging.”

An executive of a manufacturer doing business overseas said the excellence businesses seek is not fulfilled by the students of Japanese universities, saying, “They have high academic ability but lack independence and are weak-minded.”

Other universities cut back

Though recommendation-based exams and admission office exams have taken root in national universities, except Todai, Kyoto University and the Tokyo University of the Arts, an increasing number of universities have started downsizing those exams.

Okayama University cut the number of students to be accepted through admission-office exams this academic year. “Because students admitted through admission office exams didn’t do well, we wanted to accept students with basic academic skills through regular exams.”

Other universities have different opinions.

“It became difficult to get the students we are looking for because high schools and cram schools started taking measures [to help students pass entrance exams],” one university official said. “We don’t see any real benefit though, and it requires additional screening,” another said.

While the two top universities’ attempt to attract public attention, a Todai lecturer who graduated from another university expressed concern regarding the reform.

“Many faculty members are Todai graduates who have passed the traditional entrance exam of the university. So, they are bound with the traditional view on academic ability. Todai may end up choosing the same kind of students they take through regular entrance exams.”

– Entrance exam at University of Tokyo (based on recommendation for enrollment in academic year 2016 or later)

–Out of admission quota of about 3,100 students, 100 are selected.

–Each high school recommends one to two students.

–Candidates submit academic records, reference letters and proof of extracurricular activities.

–Admission begins in November. Candidates who pass document screening are interviewed in December. After National Center Test for University Admissions releases scores in January, successful candidates are confirmed.

– Special entrance exam at Kyoto University (based on enrollment in academic year 2016 or later)

–Out of admission quota of about 2,900 students, 100 are selected.

–Top 5 percent of students at each high school are allowed to take special entrance exam.

–Candidates must submit academic records, extracurricular activity reports and plan of study after enrollment.

–Candidates are comprehensively evaluated through document screening, National Center Test for University Admissions and interviews. Successful candidates are confirmed before secondary screening portion of general entrance exam.

– Current admissions at Harvard University

–About 2,000 students from around world are selected.

–Candidates are comprehensively evaluated based on extracurricular activities, personal statements, essays, academic records and SAT scores.

–Specialized university admissions staff screen application documents. Alumni around the world interview candidates.

Summary look back at why Japanese see Margaret Thatcher as an icon, and what she did for education, among other things

April 14, 2013 in 1 | Tags: Thatcher | 2 comments

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Elections: 1979, 1983, 1987
In office 4 May 1979 – 28 November 1990

Margaret Thatcher: A Japanese icon? (BBC News Dec 26,2012) Excerpt follows:

“While former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is a divisive figure in the UK, many people in Japan regard her as an icon. So why are they fascinated with the Iron Lady?

Grantham has no tourist attractions dedicated to its most famous daughter but that does not stop visitors from around the world coming to see where Margaret Thatcher grew up.

Japanese people regularly visit the premises where her father once ran his grocery shop in the Lincolnshire town, now occupied by a natural health and chiropractic centre.

“It is not uncommon to see Japanese tourists having photographs taken outside the building,” said Sandra Good, who owns the business.

“It is rare that tourists venture inside but my staff know that they are welcome to show interested parties around and to show them her bedroom if it is free and there is time.”

“She’s huge,” said Jayne Robb, the museum’s general manager.

“She’s held up as this goddess in a way so far as 20th Century political history goes.”

She is so popular with international visitors – particularly those from Japan – that the museum is in the process of fitting its displays with QR codes, a type of barcode.

These can be scanned with mobile phones and the text can then be translated into Japanese or other languages.

So why do people say they have come to the museum?

“From what we can gather, obviously she’s a strong, powerful woman, and that’s quite a novelty still in that Asian culture,” said Ms Robb.

“They are just fascinated by her for lots of reasons but predominantly I think because she was a woman in a man’s world, and that’s a very rare thing in Asian culture.”

‘Sheer hard work’

Her rise to power from relatively humble beginnings also makes her interesting to Japanese visitors, said Ms Robb.

“She literally was a grocer’s daughter from a humble little market town corner grocery shop,” she said.

“I think they find it particularly fascinating; rising from the ranks, so to speak.

“It’s very much in keeping with their culture, the fascination with her, because she didn’t come from some dynasty, she got to the top of her tree through sheer hard work.” …

“They just see this incredibly tenacious, substantial woman achieving.

“They are always asking me questions. I think they want to know what she was like as a child.

“They want to draw from those qualities to create their own success.”

‘Eighties icon’

Mr Sawamura recently visited Grantham himself to write a column for his newspaper, which sells millions of copies every day.

He said there were further reasons why Japanese people look up to Baroness Thatcher.

“Japanese population is looking for having strong leadership after prolonged political turmoil. We have (had) different prime ministers almost every year since 2006,” he said.

“Also we are gradually fed up with a sort of populism. There seems to be some shift of opinion among Japanese.

“They prefer the political figure who might seek unpopular politics but are firm on political belief rather than someone who pleases electorates but deliver nothing.

“That is why if you ask Japanese intellectuals, probably they give you a positive view on Thatcher.“

Tim ParkerPolitical Reporter, BBC News

OPINION As a former ESOL teacher in Japan, I know there aren’t that many “famous” British names you can mention that Japanese people recognise. Mention Margaret Thatcher however and most students and adults in an otherwise shy and reserved English conversation class will burst into life.

She’s a unique and inspirational figure to many in Japan, reaching her position and succeeding in her role nationally and internationally in a way most women – and indeed many men – can only aspire to there.

Japanese politicians tend to be non-descript, usually elderly, men and the parties are countless and confusing, many accused of corruption or collusion.

Most people on the streets feel utterly disconnected from the political system and are cynical of its actions and motives. Governments appear slow to act and lacking inspiration – so you can see why Thatcher’s leadership-style appears to be at least fresh and different.

… end of excerpt. [See also Reconsidering Margaret Thatcher; What did the Thatcher brand mean to Asia?]

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History.net on Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born October 13, 1925, to Alfred and Beatrice Roberts in the market town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. Her parents ran a grocery business and lived in an apartment above the shop. They were Methodists who were very involved in the local congregation, raising Margaret and her older sister Muriel in an atmosphere that emphasized self-help, charity, and personal truthfulness. Alfred Roberts was a local councilor in Grantham and a Conservative, and the family would often discuss current political issues.

Just as Chamberlain had had his umbrella and Churchill his cigar, “Maggie’s” physical and metaphorical prop was her handbag. It contained crumpled notes full of facts and figures that could floor an interlocutor at 20 paces. “She cannot see an institution without hitting it with her handbag,” another observer wrote.

The “handbagger”—prime minister for 11 years, six months and 24 days (1979-90)—turned around the ruinously ailing British economy of the 1970s and shook the nation out of its demoralized slough. She broke the mold—she was the first woman prime minister in Europe and the longest-serving head of government in Britain in the 20th century. She achieved iconic status in the Conservative Party and, as the country’s representative, internationally. “Thatcherism” became a label not just for her aggressive “conviction” politics but also a byword for the changed spirit of the 1980s.

It’s a paradox, then, how much Thatcher was an Establishment outsider. She herself noted, in her autobiography The Path to Power, “I was often portrayed as an outsider who by some odd mixture of circumstances had stepped inside and stayed there for eleven and a half years; in my case the portrayal was not inaccurate.” By virtue of her social and nonconformist religious background she was an outsider in the patrician Conservative Party. By her heretical economic views she was a minority voice. By her individualism in the notoriously clubby world of politics, she generated suspicion. By her behavior in the European arena, she made heads of state bristle. By her very handbag, that symbol of femininity, she stood out from the male crowd of politicians. And by the fact that she wielded it with such masculine force she seemed an aberration of genteel womanhood. What shaped such individualism?

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born October 13, 1925. Her father, Alfred, a self-made man, ran a grocery with his wife, Beatrice, in the provincial Lincolnshire market town of Grantham. They had an elder daughter, Muriel, born in 1921. Home was, Margaret recalled, “practical, serious and intensely religious.” Indeed life revolved around Methodism, with its churchgoing and music. Young Margaret became an accomplished pianist.

This childhood living over the shop was “an idyllic blur,” with customers coming and going, Margaret helping to weigh out sugar, tea and coffee. The grocer’s daughter learned the basic tenets of economics, and from her mother she absorbed the efficient, make-good-and-mend housekeeping of the self-respecting middle class, virtues accentuated by World War II privations. Her father was an upstanding figure in the community, a lay preacher, an independent town councilor and later alderman. “Individual responsibility was his watchword and sound finance his passion,” Margaret remembered. From him she claimed her integrity—and a fondness for homespun aphorisms. “Never do things just because other people do them” was a favorite, and it was to stand the Grantham girl in good stead.

The family was “highly political,” and Margaret, aged just 10, could be found folding general election leaflets for a local Conservative candidate. At Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ (grammar) School she was a diligent but not star pupil; blessed with logic and determination, she shone in the debating society. She took elocution lessons—a pre-requisite for getting on in the world.

Margaret won a place to study chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford, in 1943. She cut a rather serious, slightly lonely figure: work, religion and, increasingly, politics filled her time rather than socializing. In 1946 she became president of the Oxford University Conservative Association—only the second female to hold the post in its history. Strange, perhaps, that a middle-class grammar school girl should be drawn to an essentially public school-dominated party. But its dicta, such as self-reliance, appealed to her.

Hers was also a dreamy nature. She loved Rudyard Kipling, the patriotic poet of British Empire, and the exotic worlds beyond Grantham that he portrayed. And when the cinema arrived in town, she was entranced by Hollywood romance, reflecting that maybe it was a “fortunate restraint” that she was not allowed to watch films too often. …When she left Oxford with a second-class chemistry degree, she joined BX Plastics near Colchester to work in research and development. However, she knew her true ambition was to be a member of Parliament.

She got her wish, after a struggle, in 1959 when she was elected Conservative MP for Finchley, north London. It had been a busy decade post-Oxford: in 1951 she wed Denis Thatcher, a well-to-do businessman and divorcé 10 years her senior. Early married life was “very heaven,” and in ensuing years in a series of homes in London and Kent she enjoyed interior decorating, gardening and collecting porcelain. Denis’ income meant Margaret no longer needed to earn a living, and she studied law. In 1953 she gave birth to twins, Mark and Carol; by the time they were 6 months old she had passed her bar exams. “While the home must always be the centre of one’s life, it should not be the boundary of one’s ambitions,” she liked to say. Fortunately, the Thatchers could afford a nanny to allow this.

The London Evening News heralded Margaret Thatcher’s entry into Parliament with the headline “Mark’s Mummy is an MP Now.” Women were a rarity at this level of politics—just 25 of 630 MPs—and Thatcher was given various shadow cabinet positions in “women’s” areas such as pensions. In the 1970 Conservative government under Edward Heath, she became secretary of state for education and science (1970-74). Sadly, neither her father nor her mother had lived to see this success.

“The fifties marked the start of a major change in the role of women,” Thatcher reflected in her autobiography. In the male preserve of the House of Commons and in the cabinet she felt isolated. Her strident tone, perhaps an overcompensation as she tried to prove herself, further alienated male colleagues. Yet there were plus-points to being different. Blonde, attractive, always immaculately dressed and a zealous worker, she stood out and was for some while a media darling. The tide turned when as education secretary, forced to cut her budget, she stopped the provision of free milk to schoolchildren over the age of 7. Tabloid headlines raged “Mrs. Thatcher, Milk Snatcher” and asked if she was the most hated woman in Britain. She was deeply upset….Behind the scenes, Thatcher had an awesome work ethic. She slept only four hours a night and “living over the shop” at 10 Downing St. suited her (there’s a delicious irony in a grocer’s daughter running a “nation of shopkeepers”). She quickly mastered briefs in minute detail and was intolerant of “woolly” thinking. Yet, despite popular opinion to the contrary, she could be persuaded by others’ views—if well argued.

Behind the hectoring caricatures—Attila the Hen, TBW (That Bloody Woman)—a far more charming, feminine side existed and was employed to get her own way. “Perhaps we were a little bit in love with her,” one young man who worked for her recalled. She enjoyed male company, female less so (the Queen was said to dislike their weekly meetings). Staff at No. 10 adored her for the thousand small kindnesses she showed, such as asking after the health of an ailing family member. This was not the uncaring tyrant of cartoonists. On occasion she appeared blissfully unstreetwise, most famously when she declared in admiration of her faithful deputy, Willie Whitelaw, “Every prime minister needs a Willie.”

Thatcher’s home life, indeed her career, had the firm anchor of her husband Denis. The media affectionately portrayed him as a gin-swilling, golf-playing buffoon, but he fulfilled his role of consort to perfection, content to support, a silent smile on his face. He had helped give the Grantham girl social confidence, and his money had allowed her to chase her ambition; his own success meant he felt unthreatened by her achievement. He encouraged, advised, gave the arm that consoled, and he alone could call late-night meetings to a close, tapping his watch and reminding, “Margaret, time for Bedfordshire.” In the morning, Margaret would cook his breakfast. She also doted on her son, Mark; relations with Carol seemed a little less close….

Margaret Thatcher and Thatcherism often evoke visceral love or hate. She was a role model for individualism and the success of the individual who worked hard—not always an easy trajectory in a nation of team players where traditionally it’s the playing, not the winning, that counts. Some said her policies legitimized selfishness. Feminists murmured that she failed to help other women break into public life—women were notably absent from high office in her governments. But that missed the point of her individualism, and she led by example.

Her legacy, like her life, is one of paradox. A force for change, she saved her country from the economic mire and made it governable again, but threw the Conservative Party into turmoil. She altered national attitudes: After monetarism there has been no return to Keynesian economics, and Britain is no longer the sick country of Europe. She consolidated the Atlantic Alliance and helped create the dynamics of the post–Cold War world, but left the Tory Party—and the country—deeply divided on Europe and integration into its union. However these legacies play out, Margaret Thatcher will be seen as an icon of the 20th century and one of Britain’s outstanding peacetime prime ministers.” End of excerpt.

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Margaret Thatcher showed us why tuition fees won’t work (Telegraph)

In the last few days several commentators have reminded us that the Thatcher government was not only ideologically committed to free markets but also pragmatic in its approach. Mrs Thatcher understood perfectly well that the ‘free markets’ do not arise spontaneously – they have to be created.

Take for example her privatisation of the utility industries. Mrs Thatcher and her advisers understood that simply transferring a public sector monopoly to the private sector would not automatically result in vigorous price competition. The privatisation of British Telecom required a revolution in the regulation of industries that had previously been considered ‘natural monopolies’.

Instead of arguing over Thatcher’s legacy, the Coalition ministers hoping to introduce choice and competition in our university system through variable tuition fees should take note: universities won’t compete over prices for students until the reward structure is changed.

To date, this lesson has been ignored. This is because of a fundamental misconception about higher education which makes it appear different: in 1979 it was impossible for most people to conceive of competition between providers of electricity or gas; in my experience, is it hard for outsiders to understand the extent to which universities do not compete.

Yes, in many respects the global higher education market is intensely competitive. Research-intensive universities compete to produce the best research and they compete for the best students.

And yes, the market for students is also competitive. Competition for places at top-ranked universities is a far more pronounced feature of higher education today than it was a generation ago.

But universities simply do not compete on the basis of teaching or price. For example, in London the price of a one year taught masters in economics at University College is £14,250 at the London School of Economics is £22,176. Why? After all, the content of these courses is almost identical.

The price difference depends almost entirely on differences in the prestige of these two departments. The higher fee is a result of a longer history of outstanding research at LSE.

It is almost universally assumed that if universities compete to attract the most talented students they must do so on the basis of their teaching. They do not. The problem arises because both research and the academic ability of students are relatively easy to observe – we know which universities have produced the best research and we know which universities recruit the most academically gifted students.

We have no equivalent way of assessing the teaching these universities offer. Just as the utility companies have been forced to publish transparent tariffs, universities must be required to make this essential element of the university experience less opaque.

Today there are few people who would recommend the renationalisation of the utility industries. However, this competition was created by a government that was truly radical in its approach.

Choice and competition cannot be taken for granted. The removal of ‘unnecessary regulations’ does not on its own guarantee success.

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Excerpts from Margaret Thatcher, Education Reformer below…

On her side of the Atlantic, this three-decade reform enterprise really did start with Margaret Thatcher, and I doubt it would have continued through changes of party, prime minister, and education ministers had the movement not been fundamentally right-headed, as she was on pretty nearly everything she touched.

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Thatcher’s education legacy

She established more comprehensive schools than any other secretary of state for education. She raised the school leaving age. She set up the Bullock Committee which produced a ground-breaking report on language and learning still held in awe by teachers of English. She accepted the James Report on teacher training and in-service education recomend that teachers should be released for in-service training for periods equivalent to one term in every 7 years of service. Her most substantial White Paper - Education, A Framework for Expansion - envisaged that within ten years “nursery education should become available without charge to those children of three and four whose parents wish them to benefit from it” , that the number of teachers in schools would increase by 10% above the number required to maintain existing class size …

She set up the commission which produced the Warnock Report on special educational needs, and the legislation based on the report introduced the concept of statementing to secure appropriate provision for children with additional learning needs. Her government funded the most lavish programme of technical and vocational curriculum development the country had ever seen.

She did not introduce local financial management of schools – that had been done by local authorities such as Solihull – but the 1986 Education Act extended financial management to all schools. She did not introduce parental choice – which still does not exist as a legal right in England – but the 1981 Education Act gave parents the right to express a preference on which school their children should go to. She introduced the first statutory entitlement to a broad and balanced curriculum England had seen. Her 1988 Education Act introducing this national curriculum was, at the time, the largest single piece of legislation Parliament had enacted, though she subsequently regretted the excessive detail the act had introduced. She introduced national testing at 7, 14, 11 and 16. The ‘City Technology Colleges’ introduced in 1988 prefigured City Academies; ‘grant maintained schools’ – for all practical purposes revised as converter academies in 2010 – were harbingers of autonomous schools. She abolished tenure for university academics.

Sir Peter Scott, professor of higher education studies at the Institute of Education, University of London – and editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement while Lady Thatcher was prime minister – said “her main legacy was the 1981 cuts in university funding, which set the pattern of squeezing the unit-of-resource that continued until after the election of the Blair government in 1997”.

John Akker, deputy general secretary of the Association of University Teachers in the 1980s, said Lady Thatcher’s “unprecedented” cuts to higher education meant it “was not a golden age for universities”.

“At the time, people regarded the period as an unmitigated disaster for universities,” he said.

“People should realise how close we came to several universities actually closing. Without the good sense of staff and university leaders, there would have been mass redundancies across the sector.

“Thatcher’s legacy was a disillusioned workforce as staff morale collapsed, while many young people were put off a career in academia.”

:::

Thatcher implemented a core curriculum and national standards for secondary schools arguing that that it was the government’s job to see that children get a basic education, “We do not want to dictate the total of education to teachers, but it really is a core curriculum. Not in every subject, but in core curriculum, and to work out a syllabus in certain fundamental subjects: arithmetic, English — spoken, written and some of the literature — and basic science … This ought to be a part of the education of every child, and parents are all for it because they want their children to be taught.”

In the Conservative Government Manifesto of 1979, Thatcher discussed the need to promote higher standards of achievement in basic skills, “We shall promote higher achievement in basic skills. The Government Assessment of Performance Unit will set national standards in reading, writing, and arithmetic.” In the Education Act of 1980, Thatcher enacted policies which gave public money for children to go to private schools and gave parents greater power in governing bodies and admission at schools. Echos of Thatcher’s policies can be seen in the United States in debates over school choice and voucher programs. School reformers in the U.S. are seeing choice models take off and strongholds of teacher’s unions in areas weakening.

As Prime Minister Thatcher sought to increase market forces within higher education, introducing fees at universities. Thatcher oversaw the introduction of fees for international students at higher education, prior to 1981 international students were educated essentially for free. Universities feared the move would decrease international students, and following an initial dip have since soared. A lasting legacy of Thatcher’s university policies is both Tony Blair and David Cameron instituted fees for undergraduates — moves which were highly unpopular among students but have allowed for better university funding and universities to be more receptive to student needs. Margaret Thatcher, a defender of smaller government and deregulation in education policies, understood there was a limited role for government in people’s lives. She sought to have the government serve the public interest and the people, rather than have people in service for government. By campaigning for higher education standards and introducing market measures into education, she understood Britain would be better for it. Margaret Thatcher dead, Britain was better off with her education policies

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Margaret Thatcher exposed the infantile illusions of socialism (Forbes)

“…she was a deeply moral thinker, and the moral superiority of the free market was central to her thinking. She made the case for it like no other major political leader.

Before Thatcher, the Conservative party had more or less acquiesced to the Labour view of the economy — as a fixed lump of wealth to be parceled out to whatever interest groups spoke up most loudly. But Thatcher freed up markets to vastly increase national wealth …There were, she declared, “only two political philosophies, noly two ways of governing a country. One is the Socialist-Marxist way in which what matters is not the people but the State. In which decisions affecting people’s lives are taken from them, instead of being taken by them. In which property and savings are taken from the people instead of being more widely held among them. In which directives replace incentives. In which the State is the master of the individual, instead of the servant.” The other, she said, was, “A free economic system” which “not only guarantees the freedom of each individual citizen, it is the surest way to increase the prosperity of the nation as a whole.”

The no-nonsense small-town grocer’s daughter learned, by careful study of the work of F.A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, both of whose lectures she attended, that her instincts about hard work, market competition, thrift and a sound currency were exactly the blast of oxygen Britain needed to save it from slow asphyxiation by the trade unions.

In 1981, during a round of fiscal tightening, she said of her opponents, “I tell you what they really mean, they mean, ‘We don’t like the expenditure we have agreed, we are unwilling to raise the tax to pay for it. Let us print the money instead.’ The most immoral path of all. Because what that is saying is let us quietly steal a certain amount from every pound in circulation, let us steal a certain amount from every pound saved in building societies, in national savings, from every person who has been thrifty.”

The unions’ many supporters in the media and popular culture failed to recognize that big labor’s demands were unsustainable in the long run — Britain could no longer maintain coal, steel and shipbuilding without massive subsidies that simply transferred wealth from productive industries to moribund ones. Moreover, a country’s ability to keep increasing the standard of living depends on more growth, more efficiency, more output per hour worked. The nationalized union-run industries were a drag on everyone’s advancement.

“I am not declaring war on the unions or their leaders,” Thatcher said in 1980. “But I am challenging their illusion that Government can be a universal provider. (Forbes)

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Margaret Thatcher’s influence on women (Guardian)

Mrs. Thatcher came to power 1½ years before Ronald Reagan won election as the US President, and she immediately began to implement her governing program. During that memorable eleven years, including smashing electoral victories in 1983 and 1987, Dame Margaret revived the British economy and then she took on and defeated Arthur Scargill and the coal miners union. In foreign matters she sent the storied British navy to slap down the impertinent Argentines in 1982, she worked closely with President Reagan (and indirectly with Pope John Paul II) in efforts to undermine and sink communism in Eastern Europe, and she continued to stand with the USA through the Cold warand beyond by sending British combat units to fight in the first Gulf War of 1990-91.

EDU WATCH: University of Tokyo introduces new seminar on teaching methods for prospective college lecturers.

April 4, 2013 in 1 | Leave a comment

Todai to introduce graduate seminar on teaching methods

April 4, 2013

The Japan News [The Yomiuri Shimbun]

The University of Tokyo will introduce this academic year a seminar on teaching methods for graduate students who want to become university lecturers.

The university judged lecturers should have teaching abilities in addition to research skills, a demand that is growing among other similar institutions.

In the program, students will learn how to create teaching plans and conduct lectures focused on student participation, including the incorporation of discussions and group presentations. The three-hour seminar will be held eight times a semester, and about 100 students will participate in the program this academic year. Students who complete the course will receive certificates they can use when applying for positions as university lecturers.

As of May 2012, there were about 6,000 doctoral students at the University of Tokyo. Each year, it is estimated that about 200 students become lecturers at universities across the nation. Kayoko Kurita, a special associate professor in charge of the program, said, “Lecturers formerly concentrated solely on their research, but now they must also possess teaching skills.”

When universities hire lecturers, they focus on candidates’ research performance such as academic papers and conference presentations. However, an increasing number of university students are exhibiting a lack of motivation for learning, including those at the University of Tokyo. Therefore, many schools are now requiring candidates to submit teaching plans or give demonstration lectures as part of the selection process.

Additionally, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has urged universities to improve lecturers’ teaching abilities and the quality of lectures. Kyoto, Tohoku and other universities have already implemented a similar program.

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Other news on education in Japan:

Tokyo to introduce ‘challenge’ levels for high schools

March 31, 2013 Daily Yomiuri:

The Tokyo metropolitan board of education has decided to introduce a new system that requires high schools to set academic goals for each subject according to three achievement levels. The education board plans to introduce the system to 32 high schools in April, and expand it to other high schools from the 2014 academic year, except for certain top-tier schools and integrated middle and senior high schools. It will be the first time for a prefectural-level board of education to set academic ability goals targeting individual schools … Read more here…

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2012 saw an 80% spike in EIKEN primary school student test-takers

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Earlier news:

Abe wants TOEFL to be key exam Japan Times, MAR 25, 2013

“Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is not satisfied with just revising monetary policy to spark the weak economy. He also appears bent on reviving another failing field — the public’s ability to speak English.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s panel on education will propose using TOEFL scores as criteria for entering and graduating from
universities, reports said Monday.

Although the idea is still in its early stages, it is hoped the effort will help transform the way foreign languages are taught in the country, where English ability is considered subpar.

“It could have an impact on improving the level of English among Japanese in the long run,” Manabu Horiuchi of TOFL Seminar in Osaka told The Japan Times on Monday. The school specializes in teaching preparatory classes for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC), the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) and other language tests.

“If the level of each student improves, the country’s skills should go up as well,” he said.” … end of extract

The first proposal from the Liberal Democratic Party’s education panel includes establishing “advanced Super Science High Schools (SSHs)”. -Yomiuri Shimbun/ANN

Sat, Mar 23, 2013
The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network

JAPAN – The first proposal from the Liberal Democratic Party’s education panel includes establishing “advanced Super Science High Schools (SSHs)” and having universities require applicants to achieve a certain score on the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL), it has been learned.

Advanced SSHs are institutions where university professors specialising in mathematics and science instruct motivated students of high scholastic standing.

The party’s Headquarters for the Revitalization of Education, chaired by Toshiaki Endo, will make an official decision on the proposal this month. The goal of the proposal is to implement educational reforms to nurture human resources who can actively contribute to the international community.

The LDP plans to include the proposal in its pledge for the House of Councillors election campaign this summer and is considering preparing legislation to realise it.

The proposal recommends a three-pronged approach for revitalizing the education system: drastic reform of English education, improved science and mathematics, and development of information and communication technology education. The proposal requests about 1 trillion yen (S$13 billion) to pursue these three strategies.

Specifically, the proposal advocates doubling the number of doctorate degree holders in the fields of science and mathematics to 35,000 a year, on par with the United States. For this, the establishment of advanced SSHs within seven to 10 universities is proposed across the nation.

The plan also recommends increasing the number of SSHs from the current figure of about 180 and placing science teachers in primary schools to interest more students in the subject.

Regarding English education reform, it proposes all public and private universities designate minimum TOEFL scores for each faculty and stipulate only applicants who achieve or surpass those score may take entrance examinations. The minimum scores would be set independently by each university. TOEFL is used to assess English proficiency and is often used as a screening tool for students who wish to study abroad.

In terms of the developing information and communication technology education, the proposal clearly includes the provision of tablet computers as teaching aids to each student at all primary, middle, high and special-needs schools before 2020.

- End of news brief run-down -

yours,

Aileen Kawagoe

Are changes on the horizon for Japan’s entrance exam system with Todai’s announcement setting a national precedent for colleges to introduce recommendations and interviews?

March 13, 2013 in 1 | Tags: entrance exams, Todai | Leave a comment

With Todai’s announcement (see Jiji news article below) that it aims to introduce a recommendation-based entrance exam system, this addresses in part the criticism of the over-emphasis on rote memory-learning and testing, and allows for more factors such as student personality, character and aptitude to be considered. See also the Japan Times, Editorial “Entrance exam change needed” on what changes to the system are considered welcome:

“Alternative methods of evaluating students are desperately needed. Some schools allow interviews, recommendations and submissions of work such as essays or creative projects to give a broader picture of the individual applying. Those methods take time and effort to evaluate, but are more likely to provide a meaningful picture of a student than the ability to sit in a chair for a day and answer multiple-choice questions”

University of Tokyo to begin recommendation-based entrance exam

JIJI, via Japan Times, MAR 13, 2013

The University of Tokyo, one of the most prestigious universities in Japan, aims to introduce a recommendation-based entrance examination system for the first time since its establishment in 1877, university sources said Tuesday.

In about five years, the national university will scrap written exams in part of its exam process in order to introduce a new screening system, the sources said.

The university is considering a system based mainly on interviews and recommendations from the high schools of the applicants, but no firm details have been set, the sources added.

The university hopes to work out details by holding discussions with high schools, the sources said.

National university entrance exams at present are conducted in two stages. The first one is common tests administered by the National Center for University Examinations and the second one is university-specific exams administered by each institute.

Usually, those passing the first-stage tests can take the university-specific tests, which have two types — conventional written exams carried out in the first period and other exams focusing on essays and interviews in the second period. Applicants can choose from either type.

The University of Tokyo plans to start the recommendation-based exam system on a trial basis only for the university-specific test in the second period. If the system works well, the university will consider introducing it also in the first-period test.

The university set the enrollment limit for fiscal 2013 on 100 students for those taking the second-period test, far fewer than the nearly 3,000 students for those taking the first-period test.

The university last April set up a panel, chaired by Executive Vice President Takao Shimizu, to discuss university reforms, including entrance exam reforms and a possible change in the admission period from spring to autumn.

The idea of introducing the recommendation-based entrance exam system has been floated at meetings of university executives and faculty members. None of them has clearly expressed opposition to the system, the sources said.

EDU WATCH: Anti-bullying and other school reforms; University of Tokyo comes in ninth in this year’s Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings … and other news

March 8, 2013 in 1 | Leave a comment

Japanese elementary pupils set melodica world record (NHK — Mar 05) for the largest number of children ( 712 pupils from 13 schools in Hamamatsu, central Japan) collectively playing melodicas, also known as keyboard harmonicas.

Quote of the day:

“Despite what our accelerating culture seems to think, great work is not always done with a gun held to your head. On the contrary, good thinking often takes time. The SAT, like most standardized tests, simply gets this wrong and unfortunately, one particular type of intelligence is thereby unfairly rewarded.” — Bill, SAT is getting a redesign

Dear Readers,

In about a week’s time, most schools will be thronging with parents and students attending their sotsugyoshiki graduating ceremonies, with many busy cameras clicking away against a backdrop of sakura blossoms.

As a wrap to the schoolyear, we bring you this edition of EDU WATCH, summarizing the key news and goings-on in the educational scene in Japan… as well as elsewhere around the globe.

Here’s what’s happening on the local educational scene:

Prime Minister Abe appears to be doing something about his stated priority to stamp out bullying in schools … see A government panel on education proposes that schools enforce suspensions of bullies more strictly (Japan Times, Feb 27), and Education panel wants 3rd-party to deal with bullying, physical punishment in schools (Japan Daily Press, Feb 27) Excerpt below:

“The Education Rebuilding Implementation Council led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged the government yesterday to create a third-party council that would specifically tackle bullying in schools and that would formulate guidelines that would effectively implement measures against physical punishment. This first recommendation of the panel was submitted by its chairperson, Waseda University President Kaoru Kamata, to Abe at the Prime Minister’s Office”

In the meantime, school bullying cases hit record in 2012 (Jiji Press Mar 4) with procedures having been launched in 3,988 cases to rescue victims of school bullying in 2012, up 20.6 pct from the previous year…the worst on record. (See also related: Bullying cases swamp legal bureaus (Japan Ties, Mar 2)

Bullying reports double in 2012 (Jiji Press, Feb.22) Article excerpted below:

Police handled 260 school bullying-related cases in 2012, 2.3 times as many as the previous year, following the story of a bullying victim who committed suicide in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The number skyrocketed after the suicide attracted nationwide attention in July. Of the cases, 65 were reported in January through June and 195 were reported from July through December.

The result does not necessarily indicate an increase in bullying, but suggests the suicide in Otsu triggered an increase of bullying reports to police, the NPA said.

The total number for 2012 was the fourth-largest since records were first kept in 1984. Of the total, 122 cases were categorized as injury cases, up 65 from a year before. Assault accounted for 74 cases, up 56, and blackmail for 20 cases, up 12. …

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The article Solution to bullying lies in ‘resetting’ culprits (Japan Times) excerpted below discusses some new philosophical thinking that’s underpinning a new experimental approach called “resetting” a child’s character. It has allegedly shown proven results…

“The biggest problem in Japanese education is the idea that you can eliminate bullying by reforming the system.”

That provocative statement opens an article in Shukan Gendai by the eminent Catholic novelist and conservative thinker Ayako Sono. It is provocative because the prevailing view is that bullying, not the effort to eliminate it, is the problem. Bullying, Sono maintains, is a fact of life — school life, professional life, social life. It arises in turn from another fact — that the human heart is not and never will be purely good; that evil is an ineradicable part of our nature. Her solution, imperfect but realistic, would be to strengthen individuals to cope with adversity rather than to struggle against the grain to build an adversity-free society.

The suicide in December of an Osaka high school basketball player physically abused by his coach is the latest evidence of something rotten beneath the polite and considerate surface of Japanese life. No doubt every society has its own variety of rottenness beneath, if not actually on, the surface. One point substantiating Sono’s position is that the flurry of hand-wringing and reform talk attendant on the Osaka incident will seem as repetitious and predictable to a long-term observer as will the incident itself. To go back no more than 27 years, in May 1985 a 16-year-old high school boy from Gifu Prefecture was beaten to death by his teacher while on a school trip. The boy had been using an electric hair dryer. That was against school rules. The teacher beat him as a disciplinary measure. The boy went into shock and died. There was talk then too of reform. Twenty-seven years is a long time. Maybe Sono is right. Maybe the problem is simply eternal.

Sono refers to the Osaka suicide, but in an unexpected way. She says it reminded her of something she witnessed among the Inuit. A lot of transportation in the Arctic is by dogsled. Among the dogs attached to the sled is one whose sole purpose is to be whipped. Its barking spurs the others on. Such, she says, metaphorically speaking, was the boy’s role on the basketball team. Inuit or Japanese, she implies, primitive or hyper-civilized, humans are human and the variations among them count for less than their similarities.

To what extent is the world subject to change, and to what extent must it be simply accepted as given? It’s an ancient question. Broadly speaking, Asian culture stresses acceptance, Western culture change. One Christian answer through the ages has been that only divine grace can change sinful human nature. Sono writes, “Humans, unlike animals, can exercise self-control through reason. The training to do so is called education.”

But is education — especially mass, standardized, career-oriented education — always sufficient? Bullying is not the only evidence that many children are going astray. Some children turn violent and destructive at home. Others experience eating disorders. Hikikomori — complete withdrawal from society — is widespread; so is the condition known as NEET — not in education, employment or training; doing nothing, in short. Sono’s “strength to cope” and “self-control through reason” are obviously not universal. She rejects the notion of systemic failure, but the evidence of failure at some level is hard to ignore.

The weekly Shukan Post raises an issue it calls “resetting children’s characters.” Conscientious parents of growing children are beset by doubts at the best of times. At worst, the doubts turn to anguish: “I was a bad parent, I did it all wrong, if only I could raise my child over again!”

You actually can, claim some specialists.

The expert Shukan Post speaks to is Aichi Gakusen University early childhood education specialist Harutaka Kadota. From infancy to age 9, he explains, is “the period of direct experience” — youngsters soak up whatever happens to them without much brooding over what it all means. This is when they learn — or fail to learn — to trust the adult world. It depends on the unconditional love and attention received from parents and teachers. Failure here — sometimes the parents’ fault, sometimes society’s, sometimes nobody’s — can warp the adolescent character-building that follows.

That’s where “resetting” comes in.

Kadota cites a boy who’d been a “quiet type” until his final year of junior high school, when suddenly he began physically attacking his mother and kicking in the walls at home. What had gone wrong? What could be done? Kadota’s advice: “Never mind that he’s 15; treat him like a 1-year-old; indulge him, make excuses for him.” To his violent outbursts his mother would respond, “You’re doing this because there’s something you don’t like, is that it? Go ahead, just do as you please.” The effect was dramatic; within a week the boy calmed down and “began trying to put his feelings into words.” Pity the story doesn’t tell us what those feelings were.” — End of excerpt. Read more here.

An even more spectacular illustration is the famous case of “Youth A,” who at age 14 in Kobe in 1994 killed and beheaded a 10-year-old. Sentenced non-punitively to rehabilitation because of his age, he was given treatment that included a “counterfeit family” — the head of the treatment institution was “grandpa,” a male psychiatrist was “dad,” a female psychiatrist was “mom.” This “family,” in effect, reared him all over again, from infancy on, with results considered successful enough to allow his release into society under a totally new identity.”

PM Abe’s gov. began to focus on educational reforms starting in January, see Abe brings back education reform panel from 2006 (KYODO, Jan 25) Excerpts of his gov.’s discussions on education reform below:

“To re-create a strong Japan, it is essential to revive the education of the children who will be responsible for the country’s future,” Abe said during the first meeting of a 15-member panel on education reform. “The revival of education is a top priority, just as much as economic revival.”

The meeting marked the restart of the Education Rebuilding Council, which was created in 2006 under the first Abe administration. The panel will meet twice a month.

During his previous stint, Abe, known as an advocate of education reform, engineered changes to the Basic Act on Education, putting more emphasis on instilling a sense of patriotism in students.

The panel, consisting of scholars, business leaders and education-related Cabinet members, discussed measures to prevent school bullying, among other issues, at its first meeting.

Based on the panel’s discussions, the government and the ruling parties will aim to enact legislation to deal with bullying during the next Diet session.

The panel will also seek to reform boards of education across Japan after the Osaka board drew criticism recently for its slow response to a case in which a high school basketball captain committed suicide as a result of being beaten by his coach.

The council is tasked with recommending whether to change the nation’s 6-3-3-4 education system as well, which refers to six years in elementary school, three in junior high school, three in high school and four in college.

Japan Times reported that University of Tokyo maintains reputation as top institution in Asia: survey (Mar 6, 2013), according to a study released Tuesday, but the editor of the study said Japan is slipping in relative academic prominence and some action is needed to fight competition. The institution came in ninth in this year’s Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings (slipping one place from 2012), an annual survey of academic opinion, beaten only by American and British universities. The University of Tokyo’s nearest rival in Asia was the National University of Singapore, which climbed one place to 22nd. Most of the East Asian universities in the top 100 improved their ranking on 2012. Other Japanese universities that made it into the top 100 were: Kyoto University (23rd, down three places from 2012), Osaka University, (ranked between 51st and 60th, no change), Tohoku University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, (ranked in the 61st to 70th group, down from last year’s rankings, which put them in a cluster between 51st and 60th.

Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, was quoted saying,

“The country’s government has acknowledged that Japan step up its efforts to attract more overseas academics and students and internationalize its research, but the latest ranking shows that more needs to be done.

Japan’s showing in the reputation rankings is much better than its record in the overall World University Rankings, (coming 27th in 2012) based on 13 largely objective indicators, so there is a concern that the country has for too long been resting on its laurels and historical reputation. Strong action is needed to protect Japan from falling behind Asian rivals.”

Parents sent college students less money in 2012 (Yomiuri Feb 16) … according to a nationwide survey on student living conditions conducted in October and November at 30 public and private universities, falling in 2012 for the sixth straight year. The Yomiuri reported that “Results showed that 4,256 students living away from home–excluding those who live in dormitories–received an average of 69,610 yen per month from their parents, down 170 yen from last year. About 10 percent of the students said they did not receive any money from their parents”.

Read Louise George Kittaka’s balanced look at an ever current issue for parents in Japan: Juku: an unnecessary evil or vital steppingstone to success? (Mar 5, 2013 Japan Times)

Parents ‘turn stricter eyes’ on middle schools (Yomiuri, February 9)

Private middle schools are taken drastic reform measures, including shifting to more intensive studies aimed at getting into high school, to attract students. The 220 private middle schools in Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture that began their entrance examinations Feb. 1 showed fewer exam takers than last year.

“According to a cram school chain, the number of entrance exam takers at private middle schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area has been declining since last year. This is apparently due to the nation’s economic slump and because the reputation of public middle schools has improved due to the government’s move away from a cram-free education policy.

In the other hand, the cram school chain said the number of exam takers has been rising at highly competitive schools, schools affiliated with universities and so-called renewal schools….”

More than 150 Japanese companies turned up at a Job fair held for international students studying in Japan (NHK, Mar 03) the largest turnout since the fair, organized by a vocational school association, began 7 years ago. Watch video newsclip here.

Gov. eyes tuition aid increase (Mar 4, Yomiuri)

The government is considering increasing financial aid to low-income families with children attending private high schools to cover their tuition. MEXT is to set a household income ceiling to ensure it can obtain the necessary fiscal resources by reviewing the current tuition aid program for high schools, and the ministry plans to decide on the details of the program by summer when it makes a budgetary request for fiscal 2014. …

Tuition-free education plan eyed (Yomiuri, Feb. 19, 2013)

The government will establish a panel to study a plan to eliminate tuition fees for children aged 3 to 5 in a bid to improve preschool education and stem the declining birthrate by easing the burdens of child-rearing households, according to sources.

The government aims to flesh out the details of the plan before the House of Councillors election this summer, and implement the new system from as early as fiscal 2014. …

The panel will be led by three Cabinet ministers–Mori, education minister Hakubun Shimomura and welfare minister Norihisa Tamura….

A rough “preschool education outline” will be compiled by around June, the sources said.

Among the facilities the panel will consider making tuition-free are kindergartens, day care centers and so-called authorized kodomo-en facilities, a hybrid between kindergarten and day care.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has estimated about 790 billion yen would be needed annually to finance the measure.

While the consumption tax rate is scheduled to be raised to 10 percent in October 2015, increased tax revenues will be unavailable for the tuition-free plan. The government therefore needs to allocate other funding for the plan when compiling the fiscal 2014 budget or later.

Some within the ruling parties have proposed a plan to gradually introduce tuition-free preschool education by first targeting 5-year-olds. Other lawmakers have suggested reviewing the way increased tax revenues from the planned consumption hike would be utilized.

However, such a review would likely be met with opposition from the Democratic Party of Japan and groups of day care facility operators, among others. As a result, observers say the government will likely have a hard time securing the necessary funds to implement the plan. …

According to the Mar 4 Japan Today report Identity of Osaka elementary school bandit discovered , they’ve finally nabbed the thief who had been stolen up to 235,000 yen in 16 different incidents, from the wallets of teachers who had been working at the Nozato Elementary School in Osaka City … it was the vice principal!

98 windows smashed, staff room flooded at Odawara school (Japan Today, Feb 24) Police said they were alerted by an alarm just after 4 a.m. at Johoku Junior High School. TBS reported that police found 98 window panes smashed. A hose had been placed through a hole in the window of the staff room and left turned on.

Saga colleges to train development disorder experts (Japan Times, Feb 7)

Five colleges in Saga Prefecture will introduce a joint program in April to educate nursery teachers about developmental disorders to support such children at an early stage … Those who earn the required number of credits for courses, including child health, support for children’s families and practical work, will be designated as “teachers to support child development” and will be expected to lead approaches to the issue.

Turning the page on history books (KYODO via Japan Times, Jan 29)

“Ministry to discuss revising guideline giving ‘special consideration’ to invaded Asian neighbors

Publishers of school textbooks may one day no longer have to give so-called special consideration to neighboring parts of Asia when describing historical events.

The education ministry will start discussing revising this guideline, which publishers of textbooks used from elementary to high school must follow, sources close to the ministry said.

Stricter vetting of social studies textbooks began in 1982 after China and South Korea objected strongly to Japanese high school history textbooks the previous year that began referring to Japan’s past “invasions” in Asia as “advancements.”

To counter anticipated criticism of the revision by the two countries, both of which Japan occupied, the scope of “giving consideration” may be expanded from Asian neighbors to the “global community,” according to the sources.

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is expected to start a detailed study of the issue, the sources said.

Many Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers believe the current guidelines result in “masochistic” or “self-condemning” views of history in textbooks.

During the campaign for the general election in December, the LDP pledged to revise the guidelines so students can use textbooks that “allow them to be proud of traditional culture.”

Although education minister Hirofumi Shimomura has said it is “not a subject that we should work on immediately,” officials at the ministry say discussions on the possible revision could start soon after the Upper House election in July, in time for the fiscal 2014 textbook screening.

Even after the 1982 guideline, China and South Korea repeatedly criticized the wording of some history textbooks in the screening process, claiming they were glorifying past aggression. In 2001, a junior high school textbook written by a group of Japanese nationalists invited strong criticism from the two countries.”

Assemblyman’s rebuke of moms seeking day care draws outrage …

Here’s a useful educational video for the classroom to get students thinking: A War Between China and Japan: What It Could Cost You .. in view of the recent escalation in the Japan-China conflict over the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands issue may be accessed by clicking on the link below:

Created by: OnlineMBA.com

On the impact of N. Korean nuclear tests, find out what happens when support for Korean schools in Japan is withdrawn here.

Entrance exam tutors go digital / Cash-strapped university hopefuls flock to free online lecture service (Yomiuri Feb 27)
Good news for university hopefuls who cannot afford prep schools: A popular website is now offering free video lectures given by successful entrants of prestigious universities. The site, “manavee,” was launched two years ago by a University of Tokyo student to support those who may not be able to attend cram or prep schools for financial or other reasons. Currently, about 170 students from 15 universities nationwide are participating in the initiative to help teach over 10,000 users. Student teachers film their lectures using their own video cameras and upload them onto the website as a free learning service.

American teacher’s spin on Japan’s racism riles Internet nationalists (Washington Post via Japan Times)

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Spotlighting educational issues elsewhere in the world:

BBC news reported that East Asia universities ‘gain ground’ in world rankings (Mar 4) that universities in East Asia have gained ground on western institutions in the latest university reputation rankings, East Asian institutions were quietly gaining ground although the table was dominated by western universities. The University of Tokyo is now in ninth place, Japan has five institutions in the top 100, Singapore and Hong Kong three each, China and Korea two each and Taiwan one. Cambridge came third and Oxford fourth in the rankings, behind Harvard in first place and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second. Oxford and Cambridge remain in “an elite top six of Anglo-American super-brands”, according to Times Higher Education magazine’s 2013 rankings. The report noted that “three UK universities have fallen out of the top 100 since 2011″ and that some “UK institutions are losing stature”, urging that to stay competitive, there was a need to increase university funding with a view to ”protecting the research budget, making UK research more accessible and delivering a better student experience.” Sally Hunt, of the University and College Union, was quoted saying: “It is unlikely that recent negative headlines around the world about the UK threatening to deport students, coupled with changes to how students are classified for migration figures, will have done much to enhance our reputation on the international stage.

According to The Economist article, “Democracy in America: The freedom to teach” producing more creative and innovative teaching requires improving teaching as a profession … read on

In FEATURE: Tsunami images displayed at U.N.’s “Journeys to School” exhibit (Kyodo, Mar 6) Called “Journeys to School”, an ongoing photo exhibit at U.N. headquarters that runs through March 26 features photos of children on their way to school, including students in the coastal city of Higashimatsushima, where most schools were destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan two years ago. The photos show how a natural disaster can really affect the way children go to school even in a country where things are pretty well organized as well as other challenges brought on by natural disasters, conflicts, extreme poverty or discrimination that the students have to overcome.

SAT is getting a redesign (NY Times Feb 28, 2013) Excerpted below:

The College Board is planning to redesign the SAT, less than a decade since its last revision, which introduced a writing section, eliminated analogies and raised the value of a perfect score.

It’s too early to tell how or when the SAT will change, said Kathleen Steinberg, a spokeswoman for the College Board, which administers the exam. But David Coleman, the College Board’s new president, has criticized the SAT before, in part for the vocabulary words on the exam and for failing to provide source material to analyze and cite in the written portion that requires students to construct an argument.

Mr. Coleman did not address those issues in a letter to College Board members this week, but he did identify some broad goals for the redesign.

“We will develop an assessment that mirrors the work that students will do in college so that they will practice the work they need to do to complete college,” Mr. Coleman wrote. “An improved SAT will strongly focus on the core knowledge and skills that evidence shows are most important to prepare students for the rigors of college and career.”

Mr. Coleman, who became president of the College Board last October after having served as an architect of the Common Core curriculum standards, praised the SAT for being “aligned to the Common Core as well as or better than any assessment that has been developed for college admission and placement.”

He called the SAT “the best standardized measure of college and career readiness currently available” but added that “the College Board has a responsibility to the millions of students we serve each year to ensure that our programs are continuously evaluated and enhanced, and most importantly respond to the emerging needs of those we serve.

Some education professionals interpreted the announcement as the College Board’s response to increased competition with the ACT, Inside Higher Ed reported.”

See related article: Getting In Without the SAT (NY Times Blog, Mar 1) shows students two alternatives to relying on SAT scores: “you can withhold your scores from test-optional institutions, or you can apply exclusively to schools on this growing list, dropping out of the testing process entirely”… Read more here.

NY Times reported that the reopening of the newly refurbished and expanded Yale University Art Gallery with its added fourth-four gallery at a cost of $135 million is now where Classroom Meets Gallery (NY Times, Feb 1), allowing Yale professors to choose pieces from Yale’s vast collection “to serve as teaching tools. The unorthodox space, open to the public as well as students, serves as a potent visual metaphor for what is happening throughout the institution, the nation’s oldest university art museum, and in a broader movement to embed campus art collections much more deeply into university curriculums.”

A $1 million bet on students without teachers (CNN)

“What if everything you thought you knew about education was wrong?

What if students learn more quickly on their own, working in teams, than in a classroom with a teacher?

What if tests and discipline get in the way of the learning process rather than accelerate it?

Those are the questions Sugata Mitra has been asking since the late 1990s, and for which he was awarded the $1 million TED Prize on Tuesday, the first day of the TED 2013 conference….

Mitra, professor of educational technology at Newcastle University, won the prize for his concept of “self organizing learning environments,” an alternative to traditional schooling that relies on empowering students to work together on computers with broadband access to solve their own problems, with adults intervening to provide encouragement and admiration, rather than top-down instruction…

He [Mitra] argues that today’s world needs a new system in which the role of computers in aiding learning is paramount.

To help speed learning, Mitra has recruited hundreds of “grannies,” volunteers from the United Kingdom, many of them retired teachers, who function more in the role of “grandparents” than teachers, skypeing into learning environments around the world, encouraging students to do their best and praising their achievements….

With the TED Prize money, Mitra intends to build a laboratory, most likely in India, where he can test his theories through experiments that supplement schoolwork. He likens it to a “safe cybercafe for children” where they can strengthen their English skills, which can be a route to economic advancement.

Mitra said he doesn’t think teachers are obsolete but suggests their roles may be changing as students increasingly have access to self-learning through computers. And he argues that his self-organized teams may be an alternative to regular schools in places where teachers may not be available. …”

‘Dokdo’ island classes to become mandatory for S Korean children (Japan Today, Feb 27) Article excerpt below:

“Beginning this year, all schools will be required to provide a minimum of 10 hours of classes annually on “the importance of Dokdo”, a ministry spokesman told AFP.

The South Korea-controlled islets in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) are known as Takeshima in Japan and are the subject of a bitter and decades-old territorial dispute…

The education ministry said the new Dokdo classes were aimed at countering what it sees as a growing disinformation campaign by Tokyo.

“Some schools have already offered such Dokdo-related classes, but we viewed it necessary to set specific hours,” the spokesman said.

On Thursday, a state-funded education center, known as the “Dokdo School” will be officially dedicated in the midwestern city of Cheonan, providing families and schoolchildren with historical background on the islets…

The territorial row deepened last year following a surprise visit by then South Korean president Lee Myung-Bak to the island chain.”

Another historical link to visit: Analects: Let’s not forget Re-examining the cultural Revolution (The Economist, Mar 7)

Daniel Wong in Is it a terrible mistake to send your children for tuition classes? (Yahoo! news, Feb 28) addresses the fears that lead parents to send children to tuition classes and suggests antidotes and alternatives to a life that over-emphasizes academics…

Having shut most same-sex schools after the Communist Party came to power in 1949, China’s only all-boys junior high schools in the country are now privately run. Now Shanghai tries out all-boys classes as girls leap forward (Japan Times, Feb 27)

“SHANGHAI – Teenage boys in a Shanghai school are on the front line of teaching reform after the world’s top-scoring education system introduced male-only classes over worries they are lagging behind girls.

Rows of white-shirted boys are put through their paces as they are called up individually to complete a chemical formula by teacher Shen Huimin, who hopes that a switch to male-only classes will help them overcome their reticence. …

The Shanghai school system topped the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) worldwide assessment tests of 15-year-olds in 2009, the most recent available, ahead of South Korea, Finland, Hong Kong and Singapore.

But even so officials are concerned that some male students may be slower than their female counterparts in development and certain academic areas, such as language, and the shift toward single-sex classes aims to boost boys’ confidence.

A prominent Chinese educator, Sun Yunxiao, found the proportion of boys classed among the top scholars in the country’s “gaokao” university entrance exams plunged from 66.2 percent to 39.7 percent between 1999 and 2008. …

Shanghai’s elite No. 8 High School is halfway through the initial year of an experiment, putting 60 boys into two classes of their own — a quarter of its first-year students — and teaching them with a special curriculum.

“This is a big breakthrough,” said school principal Lu Qi- sheng. “There’s lots of hope — hope that boys will grow up better.

“Boys when they are young do not spend enough time studying,” he explained. “Boys’ maturity, especially for language and showing self-control, lags behind girls.”…

The scheme was launched after China’s government called for more “diversification” in educational choices within the state system….

A Peking University professor has called for an even bolder reform, suggesting in September that boys should start school one or two years later than girls.”

Worth reading from the NY Times are: Room for Debate: Preschool vs. Day Care; Letter Testing the Gifted;

Adults Are Flocking to College That Paved Way for Flexibility (NY Times)

Number of homeschoolers growing nationwide (Educationnews.org) Researchers are expecting a surge in the number of students educated at home by their parents over…Read more here

Next up, we take a look at educational issues brewing in the UK:

The school with 20 spoken languages (Guardian, Feb 28) Not one pupil at Gladstone primary in Peterborough speaks English as a first language. But, despite the challenges, it has received a glowing Ofsted report. This is a good story about multiculturalism and bilingualism from the UK … about “the 450-pupil school has made the national news. Gladstone Primary is believed to be the only school in the country where none of its children speak English as their first language. This fact fascinates and repels media commentators. “If you wonder what’s gone wrong with Britain look no further than Gladstone Primary School, Peterborough, where not one pupil speaks English as a first language,” thundered Peter Hill in The Express, without actually explaining why. Is Gladstone Primary a vision of a dystopian future or a triumph of multiculturalism? And what is it like to be a pupil and a teacher there?…Where does a school begin when faced with so many foreign languages? … “Bilingualism isn’t a learning difficulty. A positive view of the bilingual child is the key…”

Guardian takes a look at The Oxford race gap: exploring the data (Guardian, 26 Feb 2013)

“New findings published in the Guardian reveal that 25.7% of white applicants received an offer to attend Oxford, versus 17.2% of students from ethnic minorities in 2010/11. …

White students were more than twice as likely to receive an offer to study medicine than those from ethnic minorities. The effect persisted for the most able students: 43% of white students who went on to receive three or more A* grades at A-level got offers, compared with just 22.1% of minority students.

For economics and management, the university’s most competitive course, 19.1% of white applicants received offers, compared with 9.3% for ethnic minorities. Among the most able, these success rates increased to 44.4% and 29.5% respectively….

The overall application gaps between different ethnic groups are stark, whether for all applicants or even just for those who go on to get the top grades (A*A*A* or better at A-level)…

More than half of white students achieving three A*s at A level and applying to Oxford in 2010 and 2011 were awarded a place, compared to one in three Chinese or Asian students, and less than one in four black applicants. These ethnic disparities were higher than those between all applicants regardless of grade …”

In her blog post, We’re so well educated – but we’re useless (Guardian Blog, Feb 25) Leonie Veerman lampoons her generation for being internet-savvy but hopelessly bankrupt in terms of life skills… somewhat in the same vein, we have Mari-Jane Willia’s articleshe urges that beyond skills in academic area, we

Teach your teens basic life skills.

Eton headmaster Tony Little: ‘I don’t feel defensive about what we do’ Feb 2013:

Eton College is a school that occupies a very particular place in the country’s psychology – and its influence is spreading. Is this where Michael Gove is getting his education idea …

Why Gove’s type of education is not the way forward (Guardian, Feb 25) “There is plenty of rigour in education already – even in arts and humanities. We don’t need to go back to the past to find it” … writes Estelle Morris

Secondary schools should look to primaries for innovative ideas (Guardian, 6 Feb)

The creative curriculum is alive and kicking in primary schools, but it is in danger of being dead and buried in secondary education, says Adam Webster…

English Students Lag International Peers by Nearly 2 Years (Educationnews.org, Feb 26) Not even the brightest students in England are performing as well in academics as their similarly talented peers in the Far East, according to a study from the University of London’s Institute of Education. Although at age 10 the academic outcomes are similar, as children get older England begins to lose ground, with the gap widening to as much as 2 years by the time they turn 16.

I’m setting up a free school – and I know the system isn’t working with implications we can’t control, Toby Blume tells us why leaving things to market forces won’t work… in a Guardian commentary (excerpted below):

“Leaving things to the market clearly won’t work. In fact I’m deeply uncomfortable about even describing education as a market: it’s children’s education we’re talking about. But neither do I believe that the alternative is to call for a return to a post-1945 model. Rather than rejecting outright the idea of free schools, I would encourage consideration of how the policy can be adapted to deliver the education provision we want.

Two things need to happen if free schools are to become a force for social good. First, the government needs to play a more directive role in determining where the current provision is inadequate. Support could be targeted at areas that are currently poorly served – not just by the quality of provision, but also the type of provision. Outstanding selective schools that take just a tiny proportion of local children, or high-performing single-sex schools offer no choice for parents.

Second, we need to support parents and local communities in areas that are poorly served by current schools, to believe that there is an alternative and then help them to realise their ambitions. This will require educational experts and community development practitioners to work together to encourage local parents to develop their own solutions to the problems they face and bring these ambitions to fruition. Until those two things happen, it’s my belief that we will see increasing evidence of market failure accompanying state failure in our education system …”

More article links on reforms to UK education:

Computing in schools: teaching the next generation of computer scientists (Guardian, Feb 13) and the related Computer science added to English Baccalaureate: ICT teachers react

Not even the brightest students in England are performing as well in academics as their similarly… according to this Telegraph article English Students Lag International Peers by Nearly 2 Years

Online Learning May Not Help Those Who Need Help Most (Educationnews.org)

A study by Di Xu and Shanna Smith Jaggars from the Community College Research Center at Teachers College, Columbia University finds that students perform worse in online courses than they do in traditional ones. This is one of the first comprehensive research efforts aimed at figuring out how such courses compare to the ones taught. The authors looked at the results of more than 40,000 students and their results in nearly 500,000 courses and found that those enrolled in online courses were more likely to drop out or fail compared to their peers taking classes face-to-face with the instructor. The likelihood of failure was also determined to be inconsistent across all subjects and across groups studied, such as for humanities, like English and Social Studies (which the article surmised required peer support). Males, Black students, younger kids and those who already had lower grade-point-average had the widest gap between their performance in online courses and those taught in a typical classroom. Read the article here

Study: College Students Resist Idea of Switching to E-Books (educationnews.org, Feb 25) The march towards the total replacement of traditional textbooks with e-book counterparts has hit a snag in the form of a new study released by researchers from Canada’s Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University. The findings show that students think that they learn better from traditional texts and would feel that their studies would suffer if they were forced to make the switch to electronic versions…

UK Study: Parents, not teachers, key to education (educationnews.org, Mar 27): A new study finds that pupil attainment and ability is affected five times more by parental… Read more

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Spotlight on books:

Read Japan Times review of the Law reference title: The Compendium of Basic Laws of Japan, by Ted Toku Morita

“The Art of Changing the Brain by James E. Zull (2002, Stylus Publishing), it is subtitled “Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of the Brain” (Read this review by Rebecca Reid)

I found an article by James Zull himself “The Art of Changing the Brain” http://www.dekampanje.org/NL/Artikelen/includes/el200409_zull.pdf where he informs us of his teaching practices, and I found the sections “Don’t Explain” and “Build on Errors” to be very helpful, especially where he shows us how he practises it in the classroom.

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On kids’ health, growth, safety and parenting matters:

Rubella at 5-yr-high … health ministry calling for the families of pregnant women to request rubella vaccinations a.s.a.p.

Cesium levels still exceed standards in wild mushrooms, seafood, game (AJW, Mar 6)

Nearly a year after the government set tougher safety standards for radioactive materials in food and drink, roughly 2,000 samples–mostly from wild mushrooms, seafood and game–were found to exceed the new limit.

Most of the food products showing cesium levels higher than the safety standards were not for commercial distribution and were collected only for the test.

Marine products such as flatfish, boar and other wild meat and mushrooms accounted for 80 percent of the contaminated items seen in tests from April 2012 to January 2013. The vegetables that exceeded the standards were mostly gathered from the wild.

All drinking water, infant formula and baby milk tested showed lower cesium levels than the standards.

Under the standards that took effect on April 1, 2012, the limit for general food items is 100 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. The limit for milk and infant formula is 50 becquerels per kilogram. The new standards are much tougher than the tentative ones decided on immediately after the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake.

“After a round of the seasons with the new standards, we have gone through almost all of the food items that could contain radioactivity,” a health ministry official said.

Experts say radiation levels will be affected for a long time. Cesium 137, for instance, has a half-life of 30 years, and radioactive contamination in mountainous areas can reach seawater through river flow.

Yasuyuki Muramatsu, a chemistry professor at Gakushuin University who has been studying the radioactive content in mushrooms, said some types of fungi may absorb higher radioactivity levels.

“It depends upon the variety,” he said. “But wild mushrooms need to be tested for at least 10 years.”

Muramatsu has tested wild mushrooms growing in Fukushima Prefecture.

He said there was no sign of cesium levels having decreased in the second year after the accident.

While cesium has no longer been detected in rivers and seawater, it can cling to organic substances such as clay and fallen leaves.

“Bottom fish, which consume marine organisms that eat accumulated leaves in the sea bottom, are likely to remain contaminated,” said Tatsuo Aono, an expert in marine radioecology at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the central and local governments carried out about 230,000 tests for cesium between April 2012 and January 2013.

Of those tests, about 2,000, or 0.9 percent, had cesium levels that exceeded government standards. Cesium levels are diminishing, the ministry said.

Fifty-five percent of the samples with higher cesium levels were detected in Fukushima Prefecture, while Iwate, Tochigi, Miyagi, Ibaraki and Gunma prefectures each had more than 100 samples that exceeded the government limit.

The central government asked 17 prefectural governments mainly in eastern Japan to test food and drink for cesium. When high levels are detected in a food item, its distribution is stopped either voluntarily by the producer or by a government ban.

While the government focused its testing on foods and areas that showed high levels of radioactivity in the past, the results painted a different picture.

More than 60 percent of the food samples tested were beef, as radioactive cesium had been detected in cows that were fed rice straw immediately following the Fukushima No. 1 accident. But none of the roughly 17,000 tests conducted on beef in January exceeded the government limit.

On the other hand, only 1,493 commercially distributed food items, including vegetables and fruits, were tested. Of those, only one item, dried mushrooms, were found to have had radioactive levels exceeding the government standards.

While the risk of radiation-contaminated food escaping the tests and appearing on store shelves has been sharply reduced, it is still not zero.

Since April 2012, the government has introduced new shipping bans on more than 130 food items in 14 prefectures.

On the other hand, shipping bans on many other items have been lifted after their radiation levels dropped below the government standards.

The government plans to review food items to be tested from fiscal 2013, which starts in April.

(This article was written by Senior Staff Writer Fumikazu Asai and Akiyoshi Abe.)

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Related news: New way to remove cesium from rice fields (Yomiuri, Feb.23)

A team of researchers has announced positive results with an experimental new method using clay to remove radioactive cesium from rice paddies, without scraping off surface soil…but as the method involves draining the paddy water and separating the clay from the soil (and thereby the nutrients), the resultant yield was also lower.

WHO says only slightly higher cancer risk for Fukushima residents

A global team of experts says residents zapped by the most radiation from the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won’t be detectable.
LONDON – Two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, an international team of experts said Thursday that residents of areas hit by the highest doses of radiation face an increased cancer risk so small it probably won’t be detectable.

In fact, experts calculated the increase at about 1 extra percentage point added to a Japanese infant’s lifetime cancer risk.

“The additional risk is quite small and will probably be hidden by the noise of other (cancer) risks like people’s lifestyle choices and statistical fluctuations,” said Richard Wakeford of the University of Manchester, one of the authors of the report. “It’s more important not to start smoking than having been in Fukushima.”

The report was issued by the World Health Organization, which asked scientists to study the health effects of the disaster in Fukushima Prefecture.

The most exposed populations were directly under the plumes of radiation after three reactors at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant suffered meltdown and spewed radiation into the surrounding air, soil and water.

In the report, the highest increases in risk are for people exposed as babies to radiation in the most heavily affected areas. Normally in Japan, the lifetime risk of developing cancer of an organ is about 41 percent for men and 29 percent for women.

The new report says that for infants in the most heavily exposed areas, the radiation from the nuclear plant would add about 1 percentage point to those numbers.

Experts had been particularly worried about a spike in thyroid cancer, because radioactive iodine released in nuclear accidents is absorbed by the thyroid, especially in children. After the Chernobyl disaster, about 6,000 children exposed to radiation later developed thyroid cancer because many drank contaminated milk after the accident.

After Fukushima, dairy radiation levels were closely monitored, but children in Japan generally are not big milk drinkers.

The WHO report estimates that women exposed as infants to the most radiation after the Fukushima accident would have a 70 percent higher chance of getting thyroid cancer in their lifetimes. But thyroid cancer is extremely rare and one of the most treatable cancers when caught early. A woman’s normal lifetime risk of developing it is about 0.75 percent. That number would rise by 0.5 under the calculated increase for women who got the highest radiation doses as infants.

Wakeford said the increase may be so small it will probably not be observable.

For people beyond the most directly affected areas of Fukushima, Wakeford said the projected cancer risk from the radiation dropped dramatically. “The risks to everyone else were just infinitesimal.”

David Brenner of Columbia University in New York, an expert on radiation-induced cancers, said that although the risk to individuals is tiny outside the most contaminated areas, some cancers might still result, at least in theory. But they’d be too rare to be detectable in overall cancer rates, he said.

Brenner said the numerical risk estimates in the WHO report were not surprising. He also said they should be considered imprecise because of the difficulty in determining risk from low doses of radiation. He was not connected with the WHO report. …”

High radiation in fish caught off No. 1 plant (KYODO, Mar 2)

“A greenling caught in the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant’s small harbor contained 510,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, 5,100 times above the state-set safety limit, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

If someone were to eat 1 kg of fish with this level, they would be exposed to about 7.7 millisieverts of internal radiation. Also caught during efforts by Tepco to rid the harbor of all fish was a spotbelly rockfish containing 277,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram. …

The highest level of radioactive cesium found in fish had been 254,000 becquerels per kilogram, also in a spotbelly rockfish caught in the harbor …” Read more here…

Radiation levels fall 40 pct in 80 km of Fukushima Plant last year Article excerpt below:

“Tokyo, March 1 (Jiji Press)–Radiation levels in areas within 80 kilometers of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant fell about 40 pct last year, according to aircraft monitoring data released by the science ministry on Friday.
The decrease was much sharper than the expected annual fall of about 21 pct from natural radioactive decay of cesium-134 and cesium-137, due possibly to the effects of rain and other factors, the ministry said.
The recent aircraft survey was conducted in the 80-kilometer-radius zone from last October through November.”

Watch this BBC documentary ‘Inside the Meltdown‘ which recently won the best international current affairs documentary at the RTS Television Journalism Awards.

How do you view yourself as an educator? That’s right. You are an educator, even if your classroom is your living room or your kitchen. I was a public school teacher for five years, and I considered myself an educator. Now I am an educator of my own children in our home. I just happen to be Mom, too! My most important and precious role is as Mom, but I do enjoy teaching and learning with my children, too. … read more in “Facilitator of Learning.

Child porn cases up 10% in ’12 / Record-high 1,596 cases found due to increased awareness, efforts (Yomiuri, Mar.8)

Student program with China cut due to smog (Yomiuri, Feb.23). The Awara municipal government in Fukui Prefecture decided to cancel an annual exchange program for middle and high school students with its Chinese sister city due to strong parental concerns over the potential health hazard caused by the PM2.5 pollutant problem in China.

Eighteen middle and high school students were scheduled to visit a middle school in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, for six days from March 13.

However, the Awara municipal government decided to skip the event city officials said.

Some topics of interest by the BBC:

Babies ‘hear syllables’ in womb

Slow-grow babies ‘catch-up’ by teens

Can Mozart boost brainpower?

Can you shape kids’ music taste (BBC news)

Many parents can’t help but try to shape their children’s taste in music. But is it an effort doomed to failure, or worse, will it make children hate the music their parents love, and love the music their parents hate?

Katherine Lee has a few pointers on Table Manners for Kids

Distracted smartphone ‘addicts’ at greater risk of mishaps (Japan Today, Feb 24) Article excerpt below:

“… such public nuisances appear to be on the increase.

Katsumi Tokuda, a professor at Tsukuba University medical school, conducted a survey of 300 people in January. The survey compiled cases in which the respondents said they had experienced collisions with smartphone users on station platforms or steps.

One of the most frequent type, so-called “mixed accidents,” involve people who utilize more than one device simultaneously, such as those who listen to iPods while operating their smartphones, while crossing the street against the traffic light.

“Smartphones can handle larger amounts of data than do regular cell phones, so users devote more time to looking at them, and use them for longer durations,” observes Tokuda. “Users will suddenly stop whatever they’re doing while operating. Under such circumstances, it’s natural for collisions to occur.”

Tokuda’s survey found that phone owners used their devices to access visual data 83% of the time, as opposed to 11% for voice communications.

“Visually handicapped people tend to compensate by becoming more sensitive to sounds,” observes Takao Yanagihara, a lecturer at Kinki University Faculty of Engineering. “But people with normal vision who gaze at their smart phones while walking are not receptive to sounds. And by simply screening out visual data, it’s extremely dangerous.”

To be clear, the article is not referring to people who glance at their phone screen to check arrival of incoming mails, but those who feel the urge to access them constantly—whether walking or cycling or even, yes, driving their cars.

“Many smartphone addicts are actually SNS addicts,” says Kobayashi. An Internet survey of 556 people between the ages of 25 to 59 conducted last summer by Mobile Marketing Data Labo found that about 40% of respondents said they periodically accessed an SNS via their smartphones. Broken down by age segment, it’s apparent that usage by younger people is particularly heavy: 52.7% in their 20s and 42.2% in their 30s gave positive replies, as opposed to 37.8% in their 40s and 26.5% in their 50s.”…

Parents if you want to boost your child’s writing skills, you might find this service useful: Online Writing Enrichment Classes for Homeschoolers – San Diego Scribblers now offers online classes for students everywhere– visit their website www.sandiegoscribblers.com and click on Online Classes

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Last but not least, just because it’s cool to pass the following along…

Hideki Watanabe, a 45-year-old dentist from Tobe invents a Self-stirring saucepan that has foodies in a spin

Soba noodles spin in a whirlpool induced by the self-stirring pot. (Daisuke Hatano)

Microsoft unveils self-sketching whiteboard prototype (BBC news, technology), an interactive whiteboard that aims to interpret users’ sketches to complete the diagrams they were drawing.

Kagoshima’s 1st Japanese ceratopsian fossil found (Yomiuri, Feb.27)

KAGOSHIMA–The Satsumasendai municipal board of education in Kagoshima Prefecture has announced the discovery of the fossilized tooth of a ceratopsian dinosaur in an 80-million-year-old stratum on Shimokoshiki Island.

Ceratopsians were a group of plant-eating, horned dinosaurs that originated in East Asia in the early Cretaceous period. They migrated to North America, where they flourished in the late Cretaceous period.

According to the National Museum of Nature and Science in Tokyo, there had been a previous discovery of neoceratops, a more primitive dinosaur, in Hyogo Prefecture. This is the second discovery of fossils belonging to horned dinosaurs and the first discovery of a ceratopsian fossil in the country. There have only been two other discoveries of ceratops fossils in Asia, in China and Uzbekistan. This finding will be reported at a meeting of the Paleontological Society of Japan in Kumamoto Prefecture in June.

The tooth fossil constitutes a joint of a dental root measuring 12.1 millimeters long, 8.6 millimeters high and 3.7 millimeters thick. It was discovered during a survey conducted by the board of education in November 2011.

As ceratopsians were believed to bite off vegetation using their mouth like a pair of scissors, they were the only dinosaurs to have two dental roots. The discovery’s shape helped its identification as pertaining to ceratopsians. In particular, it nearly matched triceratops fossils, which have been discovered mainly in North America. Experts judged the length of the dinosaur’s body to be two to three meters or more, based on the size of the dental root.

That’s all folks till the next schoolyear, enjoy your springbreak!

Digitally yours,

Aileen Kawagoe

Internship opening in Atlanta for Japanese college student

March 7, 2013 in 1 | Leave a comment

Are you a Japanese college student who would like to like to spend 9 months (September 2013 through May 2014) working as a intern at The Carter Center in Atlanta?

The Carter Center is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter and works to advance human rights and alleviate human suffering. The Yoshida Scholarship provides interns with round trip airfare from Japan to Atlanta and a monthly stipend for living expenses. The deadline to apply is April 19, 2013. Details in Japanese can be found at this page of the Yoshida Scholarship Foundation.

Yakan gakko / Yakan gakkyu – Night Classes

January 25, 2013 in 1 | Leave a comment

Public Yakan Gakko ['ya-kan' lit. means 'night-time'] are public night schools designated for people who were not able to complete their compulsory education. ‘Yakan gakkyu’ means education by night classes.

Part-time schools at junior highs, high schools and universities run programs for people who want to continue their learning while working, and they function as educational institutions for people in all sorts of situations. Take, for example, junior high night school. It offers retraining for people who were not able to receive sufficient education because of the Second World War. In addition, recently many repatriated orphans who had been left behind in China and Koreans living in Japan have studied Japanese in junior high night schools.

Generally speaking, while you should check with your local ward or city office for local requirements, the requirements to enrol generally are cited as follows:

People who meet the following conditions are eligible to take classes:

Did not graduate from either elementary school or junior high school
Living or working in Tokyo (requirement of Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education) or other ward/city location depending on where the night classes in question are held
15 years old or older

In addition to full-time high schools, part-time (daytime or nighttime) and correspondence high schools exist, however information on the internet is hard to come by. It is best to contact your local city or ward office (shi-yakusho or ku-yakusho) as the case might be, and ask for a listing, and to talk to your Board of Education official or school counselor there.

For other information on night high school classes, contact the Zenkoku Juku Kyoukai (The Japan Juku Association). Their website offers juku information all over Japan and gives some form of assessments on the jukus. In addition, http://yakan-senmon.com/ offers a search function for vocational night schools in your area. Toyo Institute of Art and Design runs night programs as well.

Public Junior High Night Schools – to read more about the night schools see this page from the Japanese Model of Schooling.

The public night junior high schools for Tokyo Metropolitan area are listed here below.

足立区立第四中学校 [Link is currently down; see Wikipedia entry]
（あだちくりつだい４ちゅうがっこう）
【Adachi ward Adachi 4th Junior High School】

足立区梅島１－２－33
Phone:　 03-3887-1466
Fax:　03-3887-6066

八王子市立第五中学校
（はちおうじしりつだい５ちゅうがっこう）
【Hachioji city Dai-go Junior High School】

八王子市明神町４-19-１
Phone:　 042-642-1635
Fax　042-646-6473

葛飾区立双葉中学校
（かつしかくりつふたばちゅうがっこう）
【Katsushika ward Futaba Junior High School】

葛飾区お花茶屋１-10-１
Phone:　 03-3602-7979
Fax:　03-3838-5769

墨田区立文花中学校
（すみだくりつぶんかちゅうがっこう）
【Sumida ward Bunka Junior High School】

墨田区文花１-22-７
Phone:　 03-3617-1562
Fax　03-3617-7920

大田区立糀谷中学校
（おおたくりつこうじやちゅうがっこう）
【Kojiya Junior High School of Ota City】

大田区西糀谷３-６-23
Phone:　 03-3741-4340
Fax　03-3744-2668

荒川区立第九中学校
（あらかわくりつだい９ちゅうがっこう）
【Arakawa ward Dai-kyu junior high school】

荒川区東尾久２-23-５
Phone:　 03-3892-4177
Fax　03-3819-6818

江戸川区立小松川第二中学校
（えどがわくりつこまつがわだい２ちゅうがっこう）
【Edogawa ward Komatsugawa Daini junior high scool】

江戸川区平井３-20-１
電話　 03-3684-0745
Fax　03-3684-165

Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education

For public night junior high school classes in Shinjuku, visit the Shinjuku City Official website page here. Or see listings below.

Adachi Municipal Daiyon Junior High School

Phone: 03-3887-1466
1-2-33 Umejima, Adachi City

Hachioji Municipal Daigo Junior High School

Phone: 042-642-1635
4-19-1 Myojin-cho, Hachioji City

Katsushika Municipal Futaba Junior High School

Phone: 03-3602-7979
1-10-1 Ohanajaya, Katsushika City

Sumida Municipal Bunka Junior High School

Phone: 03-3617-1562
1-22-7 Bunka, Sumida City

Ota Municipal Kojiya Junior High School

Phone: 03-3741-4340
3-6-23 Nishi-Kojiya, Ota City

Setagaya Municipal Mishuku Junior High School

Phone: 03-3424-5255
1-3-43 Taishido, Setagaya City

Arakawa Municipal Daikyu Junior High School

Phone: 03-3892-4177
2-23-5 Higashi-Ogu, Arakawa City

Edogawa Municipal Komatsugawa Daini Junior High School

Phone: 03-3684-0745
3-20-1 Hirai, Edogawa City

Yokohama area:

There are 5 night junior high schools in Yokohama for persons living or working in Yokohama who are of a designated age (age 15 or older as of April), but have not graduated from junior high school. Non-Japanese who have completed their home country’s compulsory education are not eligible. Classes are taught in Japanese, and held 5 times a week from Monday to Friday from 5:30PM to 8:30PM.

•Yokohama City Tsurumi Middle School: Tsurumi station (Keikyu express / JR), 10 minutes walk
•Yokohama City Urashimaoka Middle School: By bus from JR Higashi Kanagawa station, Urashimaoka Middle School stop, 2 minutes walk
•Yokohama City Nishi Middle School: 10 minutes walk from Keikyu Express Tobe station
•Yokohama City Nakaodai Middle School: 5 minutes walk from JR Yamate station
•Yokohama City Maita Middle School: 5 minutes walk from Maita station on subway

To enter these classes, please contact Yokohama City Board of Education Instructions and Planning Division (Phone : 045-671-3266).

Or contact the Board of Education Secretariat, Elementary and Junior High School Education Division (Phone: 045-671-3266)

Source: City of Yokohama website

For the Sapporo area: please refer to the SapporoEnjyuku website

FURTHER RESOURCES:

夜間中学生 : 133人からのメッセージ /
Yakan chūgakusei : hyaku sanjūsannin karano messēji 東方出版, Ōsaka : Tōhō Shuppan, 2005.

Some researchers find that TIMSS and PISA rankings are irrelevant predictors of a successful economy, instead a negative relationship exists: high test scores correlate with economic failure

January 9, 2013 in 1 | Tags: competitiveness, education, PISA | 1 comment

Last month, on our Edu Watch column, we reported that Japanese children improving in the TIMSS rankings, reversing the previous declining trend. Policy-makers and observers of Japanese educational scene, along with those in the US and UK, have often made much of any perceived slide in rankings-related academic decline of students.

However, this hand-wringing might be pointless…because according to a New Scientist report, researchers say that new analyses’ results suggest that there may no statistically significant relationship between prowess shown on TIMSS or PISA tests and the prosperity or future success of a country, OR that high test scores could instead indicate the lack of entrepreneurial creativity and initiative and therefore be a predictor of economic failure.

Below are excerpts from the New Scientist 7 January 2013 report:

West vs Asia education rankings are misleading by MacGregor Campbell

“MATHEMATICS and science are as essential to modern economies as coal was to the industrial revolution. So when the results of international tests show Western schoolchildren lagging behind their peers in countries like Singapore and Japan, alarm bells start ringing.

The latest results to cause consternation are from a comparison of mathematical and scientific knowledge called TIMSS, or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. This is given every four years to 9-10-year-olds and 13-14-year-olds from more than 50 countries.

The results, released last month, show that students from the UK, US and Australia continue to perform disappointingly. In maths, for example, English, American and Australian 13-year-olds were outperformed by their peers in South Korea, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Japan and Russia. It was a similar story in science.

Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth. US secretary of education Arne Duncan lamented that “a number of nations are out-educating us today… If we as a nation don’t turn that around, those nations will soon be outcompeting us in a knowledge-based, global economy.” …

… the common-sense connection between test scores and future economic success doesn’t necessarily hold up. For developed nations, there is scant evidence that TIMSS rankings correlate with measures of prosperity or future success. The same holds for a similar test, the Program for International Student Achievement (PISA).

In 2008, Christopher Tienken, then at Rutgers University in New Jersey, compared 1995 TIMSS scores with the 2006 Growth Competitiveness Index. This index was devised by the World Economic Forum to measure a nation’s future economic health. Tienken found that for developed countries there was no statistically significant relationship (International Journal of Education Policy & Leadership, vol 3, no 4).

Tienken, now at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, has since done a similar analysis of the 2003 PISA mathematics rankings and two measures of economic success: per-capita GDP in 2010, and the 2010-2011 Growth Competitiveness Index. The study, to be published in April, again found no statistically significant relationship.

These findings make TIMSS and PISA rankings seem irrelevant. But it could be worse than that. In many cases, high test scores correlate with economic failure.

Japanese students, for example, have always been near the top of the TIMSS. You might expect those high-flying students to be driving a high-flying economy. Yet the Japanese economy stagnated throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

There may be no causal connection, but the same negative correlation is seen elsewhere.

In 2007, Keith Baker of the US Department of Education made a rough comparison of long-term correlations between the 1964 mathematics scores and several measures of national success decades later.

Baker found negative relationships between mathematics rankings and numerous measures of prosperity and well-being: 2002 per-capita wealth, economic growth from 1992 to 2002 and the UN’s Quality of Life Index. Countries scoring well on the tests were also less democratic. Baker concluded that league tables of international success are “worthless” (Phi Delta Kappan, vol 89, p 101).

A more recent analysis of 23 countries found a significant negative relationship between 2009 PISA scores and ranking on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s measure of perceived entrepreneurial capabilities. This counts the percentage of people in a country who feel confident that they could start a business.

With so many indicators showing a negative relationship, perhaps we need to reconsider how we interpret success – or failure – on international education scores. “If we believe that these tests actually tell us how well a kid or a country is doing, and then we hold people accountable for that, those people are going to focus on what’s most likely to be tested, and they’re going to cut out everything else,” says Tienken….

We might instead consider that in a global economy, where the answers to almost any standard question are a few smartphone taps away, skills like creativity and initiative will be the true drivers of prosperity. None of these traits can be measured easily by tests. When testing consumes precious educational time, focus and money, they get squeezed out.

“Standardised tests reward the ability to find answers to pre-existing questions, but finding the question is more important,” says Yong Zhao, an education researcher at the University of Oregon in Eugene who found the negative relationship between PISA scores and entrepreneurship. …” Read more here.

Historical discovery of Poseidon temple indicates the historical connection of the pagan deity to the veneration of Saint Nicholas, the pre-cursor to Santa Claus celebrations

December 18, 2012 in 1 | Tags: Poseidon temple, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas | Leave a comment

Ancient temple unearthed in Sozopol bulgaria Photo: Focus news agency

Ancient Poseidon temple unearthed in Sozopol, Bulgaria Photo: Focus news agency

Santa Claus is here to stay in Japan, as well as in the December festive city scenes of much of the developed world. And while the background to Santa Claus is increasingly better known, a most recent archaeological discovery helps throw more light on the early historical origins and background of the Santa celebration and tradition.

The practice of venerating the early 4th century Greek Saint Nicholas (and the derivative Dutch Sinterklaas and pre-cursor to Santa Claus) who lived in Lycia or modern-day Demre, Turkey and who is the patron saint of sailors, fishermen, merchants, in many of the Balkan and Central European nations, is believed to have been a Christian replacement for pagan deity worship, and the Bulgarian remains represented the takeover of worship buildings that housed the older pre-Christian pagan deity, Poseidon*. A new archaeological discovery in Bulgaria (see news report posted below) of the well-preserved remains of what is believed to be the altar to Poseidon’s temple, located virtually at the doorstep of a Christian church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, supports this theory.

Poseidon holding a trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia currently in the Louvre Photo: Wikipedia

From the Wikipedia:

“The historical Saint Nicholas is commemorated and revered among Anglican, Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox Christians. In addition, some Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Reformed churches have been named in honor of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, thieves, children, pawnbrokers and students in various countries in the Balkans, Central Europe (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Hungary), and Eastern Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia), as well as in parts of Western Europe (Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, and Portugal). He is also the patron saint of Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Barranquilla, Bari, Burgas, Beit Jala, Fribourg, Huguenots, Kozani, Liverpool, Paternopoli, Sassari, Siggiewi, and Lorraine. He was also a patron of the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors, who protected his relics in Bari.

The Dutch St. Nicholas holiday tradition, a variant of the pan-European St. Nicholas custom, filtered into the United States through the many European immigrants who guarded their cherished customs, and in time turned into the current celebration of Santa Claus. A number of common characteristics between the Dutch St. Nicholas and Santa Claus festive celebrations can be discerned, click here to read about them.

Sinterklaas, designed by Ron Hendriks Sinterklaas Backpack Dutch Pencil Topper

How Sinterklaas morphed into Santa Claus (Extreme Llft sculpture by Ron Hendriks) Photo: St Nicholas Center Collection

Fit for a god: Archaeologists find Poseidon temple in Bulgaria A summary and excerpt follow below:

Archaeologists think an ancient building found in Sozopol, Bulgaria, could have been a temple for Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea. A large and relatively intact altar recently discovered in the building led to that conclusion, said National History Museum Director Bozhidar Dimitrov. The Roman empire’s official shift from polytheism to Christianity in 330 A.D. sparked the destruction of many such temples, which were replaced with Christian worship sites. Greek Reporter blog (12/16)

Temple of Poseidon Found in Sozopol

By A. Papapostolou on December 16, 2012 In Bulgaria, News

One of the buildings excavated in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Sozopol appears to have been a temple to Poseidon, going by the discovery of a large and relatively well-preserved altar to the Greek god. This is according to Bozhidar Dimitrov, Director of Bulgaria’s National History Museum. Archaeologists found the building in front of the medieval fortified wall of the seaside town, Dimitrov said.

He said that the numerous pieces of marble found during excavations indicate that after the declaration of Christianity as the office religion of the Roman empire in 330 CE, the emperor’s order to destroy the temples of other religions was carried out, followed by the building of houses of worship dedicated to Christian saints, with iconography with features similar to that of the ancient gods.

Dimitrov said that in Sozopol, there was an example of how a temple to the Thracian horseman in the centre of the old town was converted into a church dedicated to Saint George. He said, according to a report by local news agency Focus, that in the case of the temple to Poseidon – the god of the sea – the time of its destruction saw the building of a Christian church a very short distance away, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of fishermen and sailors. The statement about one of the latest archaeological finds in Sozopol is the town’s newest headline-maker on the archaeological front this year….”

(Sources: Sofia globe, Focus)

***

Sources & References:

Saint Nicholas (Wikipedia)

Domenico, Roy Palmer (2002). The regions of Italy: a reference guide to history and culture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 21. ISBN 0-313-30733-4. “Saint Nicholas (Bishop of Myra) replaced Sabino as the patron saint of the city…A Greek from what is now Turkey, he lived in the early fourth century.”

St. Nicholas and American Christmas customs (St. Nicholas Center)

Netherlands’ Sinterklaas:

“In mid-November Dutch television broadcasts the official arrival of St. Nicholas and his helper Zwarte Piet live to the nation. Coming by steamer from Spain, each year they dock in the harbor of a different city or village. Wearing traditional bishop’s robes, Sinterklaas rides into town on a white horse to be greeted by the mayor. A motorcade and a brass band begin a great parade which leads Sinterklaas and his Piets through the town.

Nearly every city, town and village has its own Sinterklaas parade. He usually arrives by horseback, but occaisionally he comes by boat, carriage, moped, or helicopter.

In the following weeks before St. Nicholas Day, December 6, Sinterklaas goes about the country to determine if the children have been well-behaved. He and his Zwarte Piet helpers visit children in schools, hospitals, department stores, and even at home. Bakeries are busy making speculaas, molded spice cookies, for the season.

During this time children sing Sinterklaas songs and put their shoes next to the window or door, or, by the fireplace or heater, along with a nice drawing, a wish-list and a carrot or hay, and maybe a saucer of water, for the horse. If St. Nicholas happens by while checking on their behavior, the next morning children may find chocolate coins or initial letter, candy treats, pepernoten, and little gifts in their shoes….

The Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on December 5th, St. Nicholas Eve, with festive family parties when gifts and surprises are exchanged. In the Netherlands, unlike other places, adults as well as children join in the fun. As the Dutch like an element of surprise, a small gift may be wrapped in a huge box, or it may be hidden and require following clues to discover where it is.”

Poseidon

Poseidon, god of water and the sea as well as of earthquakes, was an important deity for the sea-faring Greeks. He lived at the bottom of the ocean and used his trident – a gift from the Cyclopes – to rule the waves. He used his trident to create straits, ports, islands and springs.

Although Poseidon is a greek god, according to Greek mythology, he is the son and product of the union of Cronus/Kronos and Rhea…and may thus have been of Mesopotamian/Middle Eastern/Anatolian origin. From Kronos, Poseidon received the dominion of the sea upon the division of the cosmos…which suggests a foreign borrowing. Kronos is connected to a festival called Kronia held in honour of Kronos to celebrate the harvest, and associated with the Canaanite-El/Hurrian-Sumerian-Anu sky-gods. Thus, Poseidon is believed to be a Phoenician-semitic derived deity. When Greek writers encountered the Levantine deity El, they rendered his name as Kronos. According to other sources, Cronus during Hellenic times, was the supreme god of Byblos (Syria) and was depicted on the coinage of Antiochus IV (175-164 BC) nude, leaning on a scepter, with three pairs of wings, two spread and one folded.

Alternative theories from the Wikipedia suggest an Indo-European or Anatolian provenance:

“Given Poseidon’s connection with horses as well as the sea, and the landlocked situation of the likely Indo-European homeland, Nobuo Komita has proposed that Poseidon was originally an aristocratic Indo-European horse-god who was then assimilated to Near Eastern aquatic deities when the basis of the Greek livelihood shifted from the land to the sea, or a god of fresh waters who was assigned a secondary role as god of the sea, where he overwhelmed the original Aegean sea deities such as Proteus and Nereus. Walter Burkert suggests that the Hellene cult worship of Poseidon as a horse god may be connected to the introduction of the horse and war-chariot from Anatolia to Greece around 1600 BC (Source: Burkert, Walter (1985). Greek Religion)”

Poseidon is said to have inherited the powers from Rhea, mother of Poseidon who hailed from Minoan-Crete and who was thought to be behind the delphic oracle at Delphi, is thought to have its origins in Gaia the pre-Indo-European Great Mother goddesses of Mesopotamia-through-Anatolia (James Mellaart, Marija Gimbutas and Barbara Walker), or Cybele, the Anatolian or Phrygian earth goddess. According to Wikipedia, “in historical times, the resemblances between the two goddesses were so marked that some Greeks regarded Cybele as their own Rhea, who had deserted her original home on Mount Ida in Crete and fled to Mount Ida in the wilds of Phrygia to escape Cronus. A reverse view was expressed by Virgil, and it is probably true that cultural contacts with the mainland brought Cybele to Crete, where she was transformed into Rhea or identified with an existing local goddess and her rites.” Rhea is also associated with the pomegranate, a fruit native to Iran and Iraq, and cultivated from the Caucasus and throughout the Middle East, as well as the Mediterranean region of southern Europe…

Cronus / Kronos (Hellenica)

Photo credit for Poseidon temple image (top of the page): Focus news agency

Why FUJITSU’s latest offering of the hybrid tablet vs. convertible notebook will be the college student’s best friend

December 14, 2012 in 1 | Tags: Fujitsu tablet PCs | Leave a comment

Students, academics and professionals in Japan have been standing by their dependable FUJITSU Lifebooks for a long time, but where academic-life is concerned, only now has FUJITSU finally come through with the most winning tablet-PC and PC-tablet of all.

Windows® 8 Professional is everything the student needs for his/her work at school or college and at home.

“With the new STYLISTIC Q702 hybrid tablet, Fujitsu is delivering the best of both worlds: the portability and ease-of-use of a tablet, which is perfect for consuming content, and an attachable keyboard that converts the device into a full-fledged notebook for ergonomic content creation.” — Craig Parker, head of product marketing at Fujitsu

Called the “hybrid form factor, with a split personality” by Fujitsu tablet product manager, Dave Shaw, the device is “is absolutely capable as a tablet but it can be used with a keyboard for heavy-duty data entry where necessary.”

To start to create content, the student only needs to attach the keyboard or use the touch-screen for direct pen and finger input. The hybrid tablet allows the student to either type up papers and essays or to take notes, going with the student’s situation and needs. The optional keyboard docking station incorporates a pen stylus or digitizer pen with a right-click button on the side, making it ideal for any application that requires a signature or accepts hand written annotation.

High school and college students are always on the go, portability is key… But not only do they want work anywhere more easily, they also want to work anywhere more securely… If you’re the one footing the bill for these devices, you really want to make sure the student has a robust and theft-free device. And you’ll appreciate these advantages especially when their exams around the corner, and their research papers are stored on Fujitsu devices with anti-theft features or theft-free advantages.

Fujitsu has a long-arm experience with education institutions for years, including University of Illinois, College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, and several private school districts across the USA, as well as many Fortune Global 500 companies designed and built to work in an educational environment. So it does customer support particularly well, and provides a wide array of service plans — Fujitsu also offers “No Worries” plans to students and their parents that include accidental damage service plans, battery replacement, theft protection services, and security features, including the fingerprint reader, and apps that will allow IT managers to trace, lock and wipe the device remotely. The Fujitsu LifeBook notebooks and Stylistic Tablet PCs offer the latest technologies—including hard drive protection systems, solid-state drives, spill-resistant keyboards, magnesium-alloy casings, and titanium hinges. See also De Paul Catholic School’s experience and Cincinatti Country Day School’s Q702 tablet PC purchase.

Students and teachers will find the digital inking features great for taking notes in class and share information wirelessly with colleagues and classmates. The Q702 tablet has an 11.6″ screen at 1366×768, is capable of sensing capacitive touch but also features an active digitizer for accurate handwriting and note-taking. Fujitsu’s multitouch Tablet PCs let students work or play with ease- with the touch of a finger, launch applications, rotate photos and zoom in or out of maps.

If you are of the “old school” on educational methods, and are still unsure how tablets could translate into learning benefits in the classroom, then read Julie DeNeen’s recent December article entitled “25 Ways To Use Tablets To Enhance The Learning Experience” and the white paper “Assessing the Impact of a Tablet-PC-Based Classroom Interaction System” that studied a strictly controlled Tablet-PC-based classroom interaction system and its impact on student performance, and that concluded that the use of such a system improves student learning, especially among the poorest performing students.

Another study by the University of Toronto, “Blackboards, PowerPoint, and Tablet PCs in the Classroom“ reviews highlights of research into eye movements, reader’s cognitive processes, provides insights on the delivery of visual information in the classroom and how people learn from complex written materials.

In this next segment, we run through the features of the recently rolled out Fujitsu’s first Windows 8-based hybrid tablet, the Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 (new notebook and desktop range all running Windows 8) that might interest the student.

The wow factor of the Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q702 hybrid tablet includes the following features and specs :

The tablet is simply converted into a slim but full-fledged notebook for content creation …by attaching the ergonomic keyboard dock (optional)…no need for users to juggle between multiple workplace devices. With the hip looking swindle-screen “slate/notebook,” and the attachable keyboard, the student can turn the lightweight tablet into a traditional notebook for additional usability during lectures or at his study desk.
Fast performance … the latest (up to 3rd) generation Intel® Core™ i3 or i5 ULV processor (model dependent) ensures a powerful multitask-capable standalone tablet experience. Having a powerful processor means there will be marked difference in how quickly this computer performs all kinds of tasks, from booting up to loading a program.
Superior anti-glare control due the 11.6-inch HD LCD LED backlit, AH-IPS anti-glare display, and…
The new Windows 8 user interface that is optimized for finger touchscreen input and convenience, and as well as digital pen input. The touchscreen has 10-finger touch functionality: Enjoy the benefits of operating on the touchscreen with more than only one finger at the same time. Double-tap, scroll, zoom, rotate – with your fingers directly on the display.
The Keyboard docking station featuring 4-cell battery and a full keyboard, with mousepad, and a pen digitizer* stylus for easily penning information
All the most essential ports you need are incorporated: integrated 1x USB 2.0 Port, 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x HDMI port, and 1x SD card slot/SDHC tablet connectivity. The host of ports also includes a standard VGA port for powering older projectors and displays up to resolutions of 1920×1200. More slots means more upgrade possibilities.
The robust, chemically strengthened display glass and solid magnesium cover means your Q702 is protected from the daily droppage and scratches of common use.
Having the multiple security features like Intel vPro, embedded Trusted Platform Module (TPM), Fingerprint reader, Intel® Anti-Theft Technology and Mobile Device Management support, and apps that will allow IT managers to trace, lock and wipe the device remotely. This means Q702 will give you peace of mind in the event of loss or theft.
Built-in tablet sensors, like the Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) that automatically adjusts to lighting conditions, as well as an accelerometer, magnetometer, gyrometer, magnetometer
Superior multimedia features including two cameras for high resolution pictures; a front facing HD camera(1280 x 720 pixels), and a rear facing 5Mp FHD Webcam camera(1920 x 1080 pixels) with Autofocus with status LED indicator, two internal microphones and two built-in speakers.
The 11.6-inch Stylistic Q702 features the latest IPS (In-Plane Switching) display technology–AH-IPS, or Advanced High Performance IPS–for wide viewing angles and color accuracy.
Optional 3G/4G: Mobile broadband can be accessed via LTE and WWAN 3G channels. The latest connectivity standard 4G/LTE provides ultimate connectivity, facilitating study mobility or professional work and business trips.
Optional: 802.11 b/g/n wireless LAN modules
System Memory: Latest generation 4GB, 1600 MHz, DDR3. The Q702 outdistances rival specs with its hard drive based on flash memory. The 11.6 inch touch-screen slate contains the processor and memory, with a basic spec of an Intel i3 1.8GHz unit with 4GB RAM and 64Gb of internal RAM via a msata SSD. This can be upgraded to an Intel i5 2.8GHZ with a current maximum of 256Gb of SSD storage
Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7 Professional (64 bit)
Communications: 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN; Bluetooth v4.0
Tablet’s Lithium-ion battery 3 cell, secures up to 5 hrs 10 mins(34 Wh, 3,150 mAh) of power while the Keyboard Docking Station’s 4-cell — up to 11 hr and 10 mins (45 Wh, 3150 mAh) of power and usage.
The lightweight tablet weighs in at 1.87 lbs or 0.85kg. The Fujitsu business tablets are said to be aimed at the business market and to appeal to vertical markets such as the healthcare/life science and logistics market, also to the sales, government, finance and manufacturing industries…and obviously, the education industry.

* Starting price is $1,099 USD / with docking keyboard: $1,369

But perhaps, best of all are its security features, and possibly most important of all, Q702 is supposed to be hacker-proof or hacker-resistant.

Just how hackable are Fujitsu’s new line of hybrid tablet/PCs?

Derrick Hodges says:

“The T902 adds Intel’s Core vPro chip public key infrastructure technology to tools it shares with the Q702. This means further passwords are generated and embedded at the firmware level of the chip, where hackers could only at their best become, hopefully, more confused. All this security should not be seen as a yawn, especially as businesses shift more and more of their Big Data into offsite cloud servers. Coming out ahead of Microsoft’s own heavily expected Surface tablet, the Fujitsu models are at least primed to show the way of a secured future.”

[On the other hand, the downsides that observers have noted are the relative added weight of the keyboard dock (should the student choose to bring it around), and that the pen stylus isn't part of the screen tablet but is part of the keyboard instead.]

:::

Coming from the other end and aimed at the corporate crowd (which nobody had thought of until now), Fujitsu unveiled the LifeBook T902, which is not only one of the slimmest (33.8 cm /13.3-inch) notebooks around but also one that is convertible into a tablet. Fujitsu touts their great “ultimate versatility. With the attachable keyboard, you can turn your lightweight tablet into a traditional notebook for additional usability in business meetings or at your desk.”

As Q702′s near-mirror-twin, the super features of the revolutionary LIFEBOOK T Series convertible tablet PC, according to Fujitsu’s press release include the following:

“ground-up design for greater usability and the convenience of touch-screen”
“Fujitsu’s flagship PC, convertible notebook and tablet models featuring Windows 8″
“Thinner, lighter and faster than outgoing models with Windows 7 preinstalled – and make the most of the operating system’s capabilities, especially multi-touch and pen input”
“Mobile Office on the Go: A light weight, long battery runtime, a ShockSensor to protect your hard disk drive and a robust magnesium lid convert your LIFEBOOK into a real mobile office to support you on business trips”.
“Multiple Touch: Enjoy the benefits of operating on the touchscreen with more than only one finger at the same time. Double-tap, scroll, zoom, rotate – with your fingers directly on the display.”
“Flexible Working: Enjoy maximum flexibility and convenience with the modular bay. Just insert a second battery, a second hard disk drive, a weight saver or a Blu-ray Disc™/DVD drive, depending on your Fujitsu LIFEBOOK”
All Fujitsu tablets and notebook models featuring Windows 8 offer seamless connectivity through support for Wi-Fi and UMTS/4G mobile data and add the convenience of Bluetooth to connect wireless peripherals.
“Security – Protect your most valuable asset – your data with features like Fujitsu’s Advanced Theft Protection, the optional fingerprint sensor, TPM module or SmartCard reader, granting you ultimate security.”
“One of the stand-out new features is an ultrasound presence sensor in the new Esprimo X913-T PC. This sensor is clever enough to keep the display fresh the whole time that a user is sitting at their screen – even if they are not touching any of the input devices such as keyboard, mouse and touch-screen. Once the user leaves their desk, it automatically locks and switches the PC into a lower power consumption mode, also saving energy – and can be configured to shut down the system. On the user’s return, just looking at the 23-inch HD resolution screen is enough to unlock it, thanks to a facial recognition sensor. The versatile ESPRIMO X913-T also features a multi-position touch display that folds to a fully-flat working position, ideal for collaborative working environments”.
Users can enjoy benefits such as support for Adobe Flash and HTML5 with Internet Explorer 10 as well as full support for multiple user accounts even on tablets;– Source: http://www.fujitsu.com

The business-friendly features like TPM, Intel Anti-Theft technology, Computrace support and built-in WWAN and LTE connectivity differentiate the T905 tablet PC from all its competitors on the market. And while the Q702 tablet also sports security features like TPM and Computrace support, unlike the Q702 tablet the T905 convertible-PC adds a fingerprint biometric scan-reader and IT-friendly vPro chips.

Also, while the Fujitsu tablet runs on Intel’s 3rd generation Ivy Bridge processors (Core i3 or i5) with 4GB of fast 1600MHz RAM and as well as a 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB SSD of storage space, the T902 convertible PC is powered by Ivy Bridge processors (i5 and i7 chips, to be precise) with up to 16GB of RAM.

A summary of Fujitsu LIFEBOOK T902′s specs:

13.3-inch HD+ LCD (1600 x 900) LED backlit anti-glare display
Up to 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3520M
Up to 16 GB of DDR3-1600 MHz SDRAM
Up to 500 GB HDD; Up to 256 GB SSD
Intel vPro technology
Trusted Platform Module (TPM)
Realtek ALC269 with (HD) audio
FHD Webcam (1920 x 1080) with status LED indicator, two digital microphones
Optional port replicator for easy drop-and-go in corporate environments
Optional second battery or second hard disk drive mounted in modular port
Support for 802.11 a/b/g/n and UMTS/4G mobile data
Optional Bluetooth v4.0
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 LAN
Full size anti-microbial, spill-resistant, chiclet keyboard
1x HDMI port, 1x 15-pin D-SUB connector
2x USB 2.0 ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports
SD Card clot

Prices for the Lifebook T902 Windows tablet PC begin at $1,899 USD.

Other PCs in the new lineup:

Besides the T902, the new Fujitsu Stylistic Q572 is also a fully-fledged 10.1-inch tablet PC system which combines enhanced performance with extensive security-enhanced features including an incorporated fingerprint sensor, SmartCard reader and Full Disk Encryption (FDE) STYLISTIC Q572 offers the highest security of all: You can get logged in and working fast and secure with the built in fingerprint and SmartCard readers and benefit from Computrace® enabled BIOS, Full Disk Encryption (FDE) and optional embedded TPM module. Q572 gives you power to work all day long if you use the support of the swappable and detachable battery where a power socket is hard to find.

At the corporate end, the PCs offer “maximum connectivity” with embedded mobile broadband, so you can expect to work more efficiently because won’t have to hunt for a hotspot. With WLAN, Bluetooth and optional GPS you won’t lack for a way to connect with the world and stay on track.

A note about flash drives: “The LifeBook P1610 and LifeBook B6210 are now available with either 16GB or 32GB flash drives “more reliable, according to advocates; you could drop a flash-memory computer or camera from an airplane and the drive would probably survive. M-Systems, bought by SanDisk last year, produced flash drives for Israel’s armed services for years.”"Fujitsu’s flash memory features are said to have the following advantages: “Flash memory drives … consume less power. Flash drives are also more reliable, according to advocates; you could drop a flash-memory computer or camera from an airplane and the drive would probably survive. M-Systems, bought by SanDisk last year, produced flash drives for Israel’s armed services for years.”

What all this means is, which-ever end of the twin hybrid devices you choose, you get the converging advantages:

hybrid devices of versatility or flexibility
tablet-gadgetry style
touchscreen convenience and ease-of-use
ultra-portability
multi-media fun,
serious all-day work capability and productivity potential from any location thanks to…
the full suite of wireless and wired connectivity, powerful storage features with a modular bay for protracted battery runtime
Ultimate Security - your data are protected with features like Fujitsu’s Advanced Theft Protection, an integrated fingerprint sensor, SmartCard reader or an optional TPM module, granting you the same security as a business.
The 11.6-inch resolution for the Fujitsu tablet is 1,366 x 768 res., but Fujitsu also added Gorilla Glass coating and ratcheted the brightness up to 400 nits vs. the LifeBook T902 (1,600 x 900) display which uses a higher-res 13-inch Gorilla Glass that was created by Corning “to better survive the real world events that commonly cause glass failure.” Designed specifically for mobile devices, Corning’s Gorilla® Glass improves screen durability without adding weight to the highly mobile tablet PCs”
Migrating operating systems: All new Fujitsu models ship with a choice of Windows 7 or Windows 8 licenses. Customers with a Windows 7 Professional license are also entitled to downgrade to Windows XP.”

Back to the student’s tool … it’s no accident that these FUJITSU products fit the student’s needs perfectly. Back in the fall of 2006, Fujitsu Computer Systems and Microsoft partnered with Virginia Tech to use Fujitsu LifeBook T4000 computers to change the way its engineering classes are taught, particularly at the introductory level. The LifeBook then already offered “features typical of what is known as a “convertible” tablet … the computer morphs from a conventional-looking laptop with a keyboard to a flat tablet that can be written on with a stylus” so that engineering students at Virginia Tech were able to “take notes and construct designs on their LifeBooks, which are intended to make it easier for students to collaborate with each other and share their work with instructors electronically” and faculties could use the device designed for classroom presentations with its software including “Microsoft Office OneNote, SketchUp and Classroom Presenter.”

With the launch of the exciting Fujitsu hybrid tablet with “all the power of a laptop in a tablet format” and that is capable of running fully fledged apps, what more could the student ask?

Well, for starters, we suggest that a special student-friendly line of FUJITSU hybrid tablet-PCs and PC-tablets that comes pre-packaged with all the hottest student and learning software and apps … such as the scrapbook and personalized diary custom-made apps, a UNIQLO-like-range of colours and “cool chick” apps like those already found on the Fujitsu Floral Kiss and you’ll probably get Fujitsu tablets selling like keitai hotcakes.

Secondly, how about a really affordable device so parents can afford more than one where they have more than one child? In fact, with the current economic slump, the current pricing is probably still too steep for the average Japanese family to own even one Fujitsu hybrid tablet, let alone two, or for other than private schools with the deepest pockets to consider buying them en masse.

With the currently burdened Japanese economy and the Japanese IT industry badly in need of a best-selling hit success, Fujitsu’s launch comes at a time when parents and students are especially hard-up of cash and student allowances and educational spending are at an all-time low. The launched hybrid products are clearly highly desirable. But while iPad and Android users complain about the frequent hardware refreshes, we have the opposite complaint — the Fujitsu LifeBook T4000 came out in 2006 … six years ago, so what took you so long FUJITSU???

Digitally yours from Japan,

Aileen Kawagoe

P.S. If you have younger kids and are wondering whether to buy a desktop PC or a tablet, then the answer to “Should we bother get our kids a desktop computer, or go straight to tablet?“ on the Quib.ly website might interest you…

Sources & references:

Fujitsu unleashes Windows 8 25 Oct 2012

Tablet PCs required for Virginia Tech engineers, June 30, 2006

Fujitsu eye-tracking tech uses built-in motion sensor, infrared LED for hands-free computing (video)

Fujitsu pitches Windows 8 hybrid tablet at the enterprise” by Ben Woods

Photos: Fujitsu pitches Windows 8 hybrid tablet at the enterprise

Are hybrids and convertibles the future of computing, or destined to fail? October 13, 2012

Are hybrid and convertibles the future of computing or destined to fail?

For Fujitsu pricing see http://www.shopfujitsu.com/store/.

High School Goes High Tech: Fujitsu LifeBook Tablet PCs Help

Students Make the Grade Three years after introducing the Fujitsu LifeBook notebooks, DePaul Catholic High School says the incorporation of devices into existing curriculum has not only helped its students become adept with computers, it has raised the bar on education. The goal was to equip students and teachers with the portable, versatile and durable Fujitsu LifeBook T3000 and T4000 Tablet PCs, to give its students the technology skills they would need in college and in their careers. “Students are now technologically savvy, better organized, more engaged and enthusiastic about learning”, the school said.

Cincinnati Country Day School’s Director of Technology, Rob Baker announced on their Tablet PC Purchase:

“This fall’s rollout of the Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 hybrid tablet PC will be one of the most exciting we have ever done at CCDS. We are ending our first decade of Tablet PC use at Country Day with a real paradigm shift. What makes the Q702 a “hybrid” is the fact that the screen unit can be fully detached from the keyboard base unit and used independently without any loss of functionality. The screen unit makes for a lightweight e-reader while retaining full digital inking capabilities — the writing, annotating, sketching, and highlighting functions on which our teaching and learning have come to depend.

We have envisioned having a device like this for a number of years now. I was fortunate to have some design input to the Q702, and it is gratifying to see it come to fruition. The key point is device convergence. The Q702 is not just a lightweight tablet device for information consumption. At the same time it is a general purpose PC that runs a fully functional Windows 8 operating system with all the powerful productivity, communication, and collaboration tools that we use every day.

We look forward to introducing this cutting-edge technology to your children as we continue to prepare them for success in the world of the 21st century.”

Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 and LifeBook T902 hands on by Richard Lai posted Aug 24th 2012

New Windows 8-Ready Hybrid Tablet, Convertible Laptop from Fujitsu by Melinda Pinola, PC World

N-trig has revealed that Fujitsu’s Stylistic Q702

Stylus maven N-trig revealed that Fujitsu’s Stylistic Q702 laptop/tablet hybrid will be the first to shop with the company’s new G4 DuoSense pen and multi-touch digitizer. The use of the new active pen stylus the company promised would provide a “pen-on-paper handwriting experience – Daniel Cooper Engadget.com

Preview of Fujitsu Stylistic Q C

* Multitouch or dual digitizer | The phrase “multi-touch” can be confusing when you’re talking about tablet PCs. Windows 7 has some new features that will only work on tablets that allow you to control certain functions by placing two (or more) fingers directly on the screen. This is being called “multi-touch” or “multitouch” by many companies, but Fujitsu is calling this feature a “dual digitizer” function. This technique is integrated in the touchscreen and allows the dual input via pen or finger. But there is one great thing: Auto turn off the skin (or finger) recognition so that you can put your hand on the touch screen while writing with the pen. See youtube videoclip

Fujitsu Announces Windows 8-Ready Stylistic Q702 and LifeBook T902 by Daniel P. Howley

New Windows 8-Ready Hybrid Tablet, Convertible Laptop from Fujitsu

Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 works with N-Trig Active Pen by Edwin Kee

New Fujitsu STYLISTIC Q702 Hybrid Tablet Offers Ultimate Usability

Hands-on with the Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 Windows 8 Hybrid Ultrabook — This One Should Be on Your List

Hands on: Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 tablet |Sneak preview of the latest Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 tablet

Fujitsu adopts flash memory for new tablets

Fujitsu Lifebook T3000 Tablet PC Buttons – CNET Download.com

Hands-on with the Fujitsu Stylistic Q702 Windows 8 Hybrid Ultrabook — This One Should Be on Your List by Ben Lang

Fujitsu Intros Hybrid Tablet, Slate for Windows 8

Fujitsu unveils the Stylistic Q702 hybrid tablet and the LifeBook T902 convertible laptop by Dana Wollman

* Multitouch or dual digitizer |

Fujitsu’s “Dual Digitizer” tablet PC display September 17, 2009

With Fujitsu’s “Dual digitizer”, you get all the benefits of the pen, and the ability to tap the screen with your finger. see Fujitsu’s “Dual Digitizer” tablet PC display

The phrase “multi-touch” can be confusing when you’re talking about tablet PCs. Windows 7 has some new features that will only work on tablets that allow you to control certain functions by placing two (or more) fingers directly on the screen. This is being called “multi-touch” or “multitouch” by many companies, but Fujitsu is calling this feature a “dual digitizer” function. This technique is integrated in the touchscreen and allows the dual input via pen or finger. But there is one great thing: Auto turn off the skin (or finger) recognition so that you can put your hand on the touch screen while writing with the pen. See youtube videoclip

Edu Watch: Japanese children improving in the TIMSS rankings, reversing the previous declining trend

December 11, 2012 in 1 | Tags: Japanese student performance, TIMSS | Leave a comment

Dec 11 NHK news: Japan’s children improving in math and science

An international study shows that Japanese children are getting better at math and science.

The study is conducted every 4 years throughout the world by the Netherlands-based Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study.

Last year 8,800 Japanese 4th and 8th graders were a part of about 500,000 students tested in 60 countries and territories.

For 4th graders, Japan ranked 5th in math and 4th in science among 50 countries and territories.
For 8th grade students, Japan also ranked 5th in math and 4th in science among 42 countries and territories.
The average scores of the Japanese students tended to improve.

Asian schoolchildren from Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan dominated the higher ranks.

Eight years ago, Japanese schoolchildren showed a clear declining trend in math and science. This prompted the education ministry to revise its policy of promoting pressure-free education, and increased classroom hours and subjects.

Schools have introduced scientific experiments and observation methods in order to help children study math and science as it relates to their everyday lives.

Ministry officials say these efforts may have contributed to the schoolchildren’s improved performance.
Dec. 11, 2012

::::

Check out the top 10 scoring countries TIMSS study below.

Source: Yahoo! image

Related: Students 4th in science, 5th in math, intl poll finds (Dec. 12, 2012) Jiji Press

Japanese primary and middle school students ranked fourth in science and fifth in mathematics worldwide last year, an improvement from four years before, according to an international survey released Tuesday.

The results of the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were announced by the education ministry.

Fourth-year primary school students and second-year middle school students, or eighth graders, scored 558 to 585 on average against the international average of 500.

Fourth-graders from 50 countries and territories and eighth graders from 42 nations and regions participated in the survey, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

Japan’s rankings from the previous survey in 2007 were unchanged except for mathematics for fourth graders and science for eighth-graders, where Japan fell by one place. However, average scores rose by four to 17 points, except for eighth-grade math.

The ministry said there was an increase in the number of high-scoring students in Japan, showing signs of improvement in academic ability due to reforms of curriculum and new teaching guidelines.

Asian economies performed well in general. Singapore scored top in fourth-grade mathematics and eighth-grade science, while South Korea led in fourth-grade science and eighth-grade mathematics.

In Japan, about 4,400 students each from primary and middle schools participated in the tests in March 2011.

The survey found that the number of those who enjoyed studying in Japan was up from the previous survey, while the only category that exceeded the international averages was fourth-grade science. All other categories were three to 27 points lower than international averages.

:::

Japanese students improve test scores in math, science (Japan Times, Dec 12, 2012)
Kyodo
The average score of Japanese elementary school students in global achievement tests in mathematics and science last year showed a marked rise from the previous survey in 2007.

The average score for the fourth-graders showed an upward trend for the first time since 1995 in the tests conducted every four years by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

The education ministry on Tuesday attributed the rise to changes in the curriculum guidelines in fiscal 2009 that led to an increase in hours spent on instruction.

In the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, the average score of Japanese fourth-graders stood at 585 points in arithmetic, up 17 points from the 2007 survey, and 559 points in science, up 11 points.

The points were calculated based on the TIMSS scale in which the average score of all participants comes to 500 points.

In the 2011 test held by the Amsterdam-based organization, the number of participating countries and territories increased to 50 from 36 in 2007 for fourth-graders but declined to 42 from 48 for eighth-graders.

The average scores of Japanese students in the second year of junior high school was 570 points in mathematics, unchanged from the 2007 survey, and 558 points in science, up 4 points.

The education ministry said it expects the average score for Japanese in this age group, which remained almost unchanged from the 2007 survey, to rise in the next TIMSS in 2015 after new curriculum guidelines take root.

Among the 50 countries and regions, Japanese fourth-graders ranked fifth in arithmetic, down from fourth in 2007, and fourth in science, unchanged from the last test.

The junior high students finished fifth in math, unchanged from the last survey, and fourth in science, down from third.

Singapore occupied the top spots in arithmetic for fourth-graders and science for eighth-graders, while South Korea came out on top in science for fourth-grade students and math for eighth-grade students.

In the 2011 survey, Japanese fourth-graders who said studying science is fun accounted for 90 percent, up from 87 percent in the previous test and above the international average of 88 percent.

But enthusiasm for studying science was below the global average among Japanese second-year junior high students. The fourth-graders interest in arithmetic was also below the world average.

Of the Japanese junior high participants, 18 percent said they want to enter professions that utilize knowledge of math and 20 percent said they will seek jobs that are related to science, both below the international average by about 35 points

Japan comes up fourth in newly launched Pearson education index-rankings

November 28, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

The newly launched Pearson global league table ranks and identifies the world’s top educational superpowers as follows:

EDUCATION TOP 20 [Source: Pearson Rankings Website, including all data and the Learning Curve summary report (produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit and published by Pearson, an educational firm).]

Finland
South Korea
Hong Kong
Japan
Singapore
UK
Netherlands
New Zealand
Switzerland
Canada
Ireland
Denmark
Australia
Poland
Germany
Belgium
USA
Hungary
Slovakia
Russia

According to the Pearson Rankings, the top two education superpowers are Finland and South Korea …followed by Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore.

We already have PISA and TIMSS and PIRLS scores in Reading, Maths and Science rankings and reports, why do we need another … what does the Pearson report have that the others don’t?

Well, for one, the index and accompanying report takes into account intangibles, factors for example, like ”a society’s attitude to education”, or status of teachers. See BBC news’ UK education comes up sixth in ranking

“Pearson says the intention of this ranking is to provide a more multi-dimensional view of educational achievement – and create a databank which will be updated, in a project that Pearson is calling the Learning Curve.

Looking at education systems that succeed, the study concludes that spending is important, but not as much as having a culture that is supportive of learning.

It says that spending is easier to measure, but the more complex impact of a society’s attitude to education can make a big difference.

The success of Asian countries in these rankings reflects the high value attached to education and the expectations of parents. This can continue to be a factor when families migrate to other countries, says the report accompanying the rankings.

Looking at the two top countries – Finland and South Korea – the report says that there are many big differences, but the common factor is a shared social belief in the importance of education and its “underlying moral purpose”.

Another way the Pearson seeks to distinguish its index from the others is that its index and accompanying report called The Learning Curve purports to give a more global picture being based on a series of global test results together with a composite basket of measures of education systems, such as how many people go on to university. The Pearson report highlights the Global Index of Cognitive Skills and Educational Attainment as one of its most important outputs. Covering 40 countries, it is based on results in a variety of international tests of cognitive skills as well as measures of literacy and graduation rates.

This last one, graduation rates is a very pragmatic factor, that I suspect people like parents and students with vested interest in their futures and employment prospects, will like very much.

Educators and education policy-watchers may also be interested in the Pearson index and report because it takes account and analyzes a different set of data and includes some of the factors that have been shown in recent research to be significant in impacting the quality of an education system – such as teacher quality, pay-and-performance correlation, democracy ranking of the country, or autonomy and school choice:

“The report also emphasises the importance of high-quality teachers and the need to find ways to recruit the best staff. This might be about status and professional respect as well as levels of pay.

The rankings show that there is no clear link between higher relative pay and higher performance.

And there are direct economic consequences of high and low performing education systems, the study says, particularly in a globalised, skill-based economy.

But there are less straightforward and conflicting messages about how schools are organised.

The ranking for levels of school choice shows that Finland and South Korea have among the lowest levels of school choice. But Singapore, another high performer, has the highest level. The UK is among the upper levels in terms of school choice….

Higher levels of school autonomy are a characteristic of many higher performing systems – headed by China, the Netherlands, the UK and Hong Kong (which is considered as a separate school system in such education rankings).

But Finland, the most successful system, has a relatively low level of school autonomy.” — source: BBC news

What’s also very interesting is that the Pearson report actually includes prescriptions for policymakers which it calls the “Five lessons for education policymakers“.

The Pearson index and report will, I think, prove to be a welcome innovation, since it addresses the criticism that the reliance on various previous index rankings like TIMSS and PISA overly emphasizes the significance of test-scores, while ignoring other strengths of various education systems.

There is a glaringly odd omission and outcome from the report. The index strangely omits an intangible factor, the catchphrase “creativity & critical thinking” that most of Asian nations’ school systems are said to be lacking in, and whose policy-makers are in a current state of self-scrutiny and self-flagellation over. For example, the US currently comes in 17th in the Pearson rankings a long way away behind Japan, and the UK , Australia and Canada too, lag behind Japan in these rankings…despite their being ahead of Asian nations in terms of schooling destinations for international students. If creativity or critical thinking values or measures or how innovative its schooling is perceived to be on a scale… were to be factored into the basket, I suspect most Asian nations would slide considerably in the rankings. As it stands, the surprising omission allows the Pearson rankings to produce a rankings result that is very disparate and different from those of the world university rankings.

Read more at In Global Education Rankings, Asian Tigers Nip At Finland’s Heels, IBTimes.com Nov 27, 2012

EDU WATCH: Bullying cases in J-schools between April and September more than double whole of last year’s; Prospective university graduate hiring up 3.2% from year before

November 27, 2012 in 1 | 1 comment

Dear EDU WATCH readers,

We are pleased to bring you our regular EDU WATCH summary of educational news and events in Japan as well as elsewhere in the world.

First up, the local news on education:

Bullying cases exceed 140,000 in 1st half see also: Figures show bullying rife in Japanese schools (News On Japan via Asahi — Nov 23)

144,000 cases of school bullying (Kyodo via Japan Times, Nov. 24, 2012)

“Bullying cases recognized by schools between April and September more than doubled to 144,054 from about 70,000 for all of the previous school year, according to the education ministry.

The total includes 278 serious cases that could have endangered the lives, or at least the physical safety, of students, the ministry said Thursday.

The figures cover elementary schools through high schools, as well as schools for students with special needs, and showed a sharp increase due to growing awareness of bullying in schools, the ministry said.

By prefecture, Kagoshima recorded the most bullying cases: 1 per 6 students. This was about 160 times greater than in Fukuoka, which had the lowest rate, at 1 case per 1,000 students…

The tally was compiled on the basis of reports sent as of Sept. 22 from prefectures across the country….

By school, about 88,000 cases of bullying were reported at elementary schools, roughly 43,000 cases at junior high schools, some 13,000 cases at high schools and about 600 cases at special schools for disabled students.”

Related: Korean film on school bullying rings true in Japan (Oct. 14, 2012 Japan Times)

:::

Prospective university graduate hiring rises to 63%, 2nd year of gain (Nov. 27, 2012 Kyodo)

A total of 63.1 percent of university students due to graduate next spring had secured employment as of Oct. 1, up 3.2 percentage points from a year earlier and rising for the second year in a row to possibly signal a recovery from the low marked following the 2008 global financial crisis, a Japanese government survey showed Tuesday.

But the figure is still more than 6 percentage points lower than in 2007, with about 157,000 prospective graduates believed to be still without job offers, according to the joint survey by the education and labor ministries.

The survey is designed to estimate employment prospects for the around 425,000 students hoping to get jobs after graduating. It polled students at 62 universities chosen among higher learning institutions in the country.

[See also related: Update: University grad hiring up for second year, to 63% (Japan Times, Nov. 28, 2012) extract follows:

""Job offers at major firms have been rising. With the number of openings bottoming out at small to medium-size firms, there is more hiring appetite," an official with the major employment service Recruit Holdings Co. said.

A survey by the private research company Recruit Work Institute shows that the number of job offers grew 3.6 percent from a year ago among companies with at least 5,000 employees and 2.2 percent among firms employing 1,000 to 4,999 people.

"Recruitment by small to medium-size firms will move into full swing. But the situation is unpredictable, with uncertainties surrounding the economic outlook," a labor ministry official said.

A 23-year-old male senior studying economics at Chuo University said he has offers from four companies, including his first-choice firm.

"All my friends have secured job offers. I felt that job hunting was a lot easier than what I heard from my seniors," he said.

But not everyone has had such a positive experience.

"I don't feel myself that the percentage of students securing job offers has gone up," said a 24-year-old graduate student at Nihon University who attended a job fair in Tokyo earlier this month. He said he had attended briefings with more than 20 companies but had yet to land an offer.

"Students at top schools are faring well, but those in the rest of the pack are struggling," said an official in charge of job placement at a private university in Tokyo.

"The situation is tough due partly to the worsening of Sino-Japanese relations," said an official with a steel-related small enterprise in Chiba Prefecture. "The priority for companies is to keep going rather than to hire new graduates."

The percentage of high school students who had secured employment offers as of the end of September declined 0.5 percentage point to 41.0 percent from a year earlier, according to the government survey.

Job openings for high school graduates grew 13.3 percent to about 182,000."]

Public libraries are thriving (Japan Times Nov 18)

“That Japanese public libraries are thriving may come as no surprise to anyone, but an education ministry report found that the number of books checked out by elementary school children from the 3,274 public libraries nationwide reached an average of 26 per child in fiscal 2010. That is up from 18.8 in 2007, a significant and commendable upswing to the highest level ever. The total number of books checked out by all people was also at a peak of 663.6 million books nationwide. …” Read the rest of the article here.

Daily Yomiuri runs a series taking a look at the Efforts being made by Japanese middle and high schools to integrate more global elements into their curriculums with the International Baccalaureat (IB) program

Mike Guest in his Daily Yomiuri article, “INDIRECTLY SPEAKING / Textbooks finally showing more of the world” writes:

” … since textbooks and other teaching materials have developed a more global perspective, with U.S. standards and norms no longer dominant, I’ve noticed a welcome shift in student awareness of a world existing on an axis other than a U.S.-Japan (and maybe Chinese or British) one. This is welcome, as it is in accordance with the fact the majority of English speakers in the world are not Americans but in fact learners of English as a second language from myriad countries.

A recent decrease in the number of Japanese students studying in the United States has been said to be indicative of an increasing Japanese insularity among younger people. But as Japanese students increasingly see the world as multipolar my hope is that they shift their study abroad interests to other nations ridding themselves of the immediate association between the United States and “foreign countries.”

I have noted among my own students the gradual realization that the United States is just one country among many. This has precipitated a marked shift in interest, so that it is no longer unusual to find students keener on learning about, and experiencing life in, Indonesia, Thailand, Portugal or Sweden (to name some countries of particular interest mentioned by students recently).

The next step in English materials development that I would like to see is for the characters from various countries to be presented not as caricatures, amalgams of the various national stereotypes, but as personalities–a scenario in which the human, psychological model trumps the cultural representative motif….”

New universities are big business, needed or not (Nov 18, 2012 Japan Times) on why universities are courted by local governments and developers…

Japanese in U.S. colleges off 6.2% (Kyodo, Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012)

NEW YORK — The number of Japanese students enrolled in U.S. universities in the academic year that started in fall 2011 dropped 6.2 percent from a year earlier to 19,966, compared with around 194,000 Chinese students, up 23.1 percent, the Institute of International Education said Monday.
The figure for the Japanese students was down nearly 60 percent from the peak in the 1997-1998 academic year, and ranked seventh in the country-by-country enrollment ranking, while China remained at the top for the third consecutive year. Indian students came in second, followed by South Koreans and Saudi Arabians, according to the institute.

In the rankings of U.S. college students’ choice of overseas study destinations for the 2010-2011 academic year, Japan fell to 14th place from 11th a year earlier, partly because several study programs in Japan were canceled in the wake of the March 2011 disasters.

Next, Japan Times analyses why Japanese students are increasingly staying local…

Students staying in Japan (Japan Times, Nov. 18, 2012)
Japanese college students are studying abroad in fewer numbers than ever before. A new report from the nonprofit Institute of International Education in New York announced that a mere 19,900 Japanese students were enrolled in American colleges and universities in 2011-12. That is down 60 percent from the peak in 1997-98 when a total of 47,000 Japanese students studied in U.S. colleges and universities.
The 6.2 percent decrease from a year earlier is the seventh year-on-year drop, putting Japan after China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Canada and Taiwan (in first to sixth places) for students in U.S. schools.
China had 10 times as many students and India five times as many. Even South Korea far outnumbered Japan with 72,000 students in American universities.

The reasons why Japanese students no longer go abroad are many and complex. For most Japanese families, education is one of the major expenses and deeply affected by the economic downturn.

However, the report found that Vietnam, Mexico and Turkey, the next three countries in the ranking, are sending more and more students even while their economies suffer. Japanese perceptions of the economy may mean that many students and parents see studying abroad as an extravagance and indulgence rather than a high value and necessary undertaking.

The declining birthrate and the competition inside Japan also contributed to the lower numbers. Many Japanese universities are expanding international studies programs that are run mainly, or even exclusively, in English. Those programs are good ones, but the portion of students they enroll will not have the experience of living in a different culture and environment.

The most important reason for Japanese deciding to study at home, though, is surely increased competition for jobs. The recruiting and interview schedule of most Japanese companies has become more rigorous, exacting and time-consuming than ever before.

When students study abroad, they fall out of the usual rounds of explanation sessions, pre-interviews, “entry sheet” submission and interviews.

If Japanese companies were to allow interviews of students after graduation, rather than during their third and fourth year, many students would surely head overseas.

If companies asked for language skills, international experience and a global mindset as part of their requirements, the numbers studying abroad would skyrocket. Business employment practices directly affect the educational process. That system needs greater flexibility and a broader mindset so students can go abroad and not lose out on the chance to get a job.

Changing the system requires careful coordination from the government and companies, with fresh attitudes and new procedures, but change is urgently needed.

Meanwhile, as Japanese students job hunt at home, students from other countries are gaining the language skills, cross-cultural mentality and educational experiences they will need in the future.

Gregory Clark defends Education Minister Tanaka Makiko’s veto of the new universities proposal as the right move that would have helped address Japan’s university education crisis (Japan Times, Nov 28)

“There is a crisis in Japanese tertiary education. Student numbers decline while the number of approved universities increases relentlessly — by almost 100 in the last 10 years. Some 45 percent of private universities cannot fill the student number quotas set by Education Ministry (MEXT); this year 18 of them could not even reach half their quota. In desperation many will accept almost anyone who applies, provided they have a pulse as the saying goes. Some have already gone bankrupt. More will follow…

In Japan, failing students goes against the communalistic ethic, and against the law to some extent. It also cuts university income.

So the bureaucrats end up degrading the entire education system here by approving yet another bunch of institutions seeking to provide four years of fairly shallow education to students who do not need it, who cannot handle it and who may not even want it. Even the elite universities suffer the contagion…..

Many of these two-year or newly minted four-year universities try to increase their appeal by emphasizing what is called international education, mainly in the form of increased English-language teaching. But ability to operate internationally cannot come from a few force-fed classes in basic English….advanced research today is almost impossible for people who cannot work fluently in English and understand Western systems. The same qualities are now needed for many other forms of international activity. Nakamura pointed out how the best Chinese and Korean students now reach these standards. Japanese students do not.

Instead of simply adding to the army of second-rate universities in Japan trying to survive by further dumbing down the system, Japan’s education bureaucrats should be trying to focus on the specialized education needed to bring graduates up to those top global levels urged by Nakamura-sensei. The recent emphasis on post-graduate studies here in Japan is not enough. Unless universities are drastically reformed it will simply add to the glut of unemployable M.A.s and Ph.D.s.

Arming students with the linguistic and academic abilities for advanced study abroad, as with many of those Chinese and Korean students, should be the first priority. Tanaka’s admittedly impromptu efforts to start to clean up the system deserved praise, not brickbats.”

Related: See “Tanaka Makiko’s Apology” (Shisaku blog discusses the meaning of a politician’s apology) / Tanaka neither sorry nor reflective over her about-face

Education ministry starts university establishment guideline review process (Japan Today, Nov 23, 2012)
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has conducted the first of a series of talks to review its guidelines for the establishment of new universities. The meetings come after the ministry’s shock refusal to grant official university status to three institutions which had already been given the green light by a ministry screening council and were already accepting enrolments. (Japan Today

Japanese universities in crisis – what they can learn from Europe (Japan Today, Nov 16, 2012)

Make Japanese universities more or less like sumo world (Nov. 19, 2012 Japan Times)

One of the reasons why Japanese universities are weak in their international competitiveness is found in the uniquely Japanese way in which educational and research projects are undertaken at the postgraduate level. TAKAMITSU SAWA says he “would like to emphasize that Japanese postgraduate schools must deviate from the existing pattern that is so similar to the sumo world” and that,

“…any postgraduate institution should operate in such a way that a student who aspires to become a professional researcher receives a highly specialized education in a systematic manner, determines the theme of his or her doctorate or master’s dissertation after a series of trials and errors, seeks advice from an instructor deemed most appropriate for that particular theme, and completes the thesis with the help of that instructor.

In reality, however, any new student at a Japanese postgraduate school is assigned, willy-nilly, to a particular research group, just as a new professional sumo aspirant is assigned to a stable, and made totally dependent on the instructor, just as the wrestler is made obedient to the stablemaster, and given little opportunity of receiving high-level and broad education in specific fields.”

Nicolas Gattig writes a scathing piece for Japan Times ( Nov. 13, 2012) on the state of Japanese higher education, THE ZEIT GIST | Failing students: Japanese universities facing reckoning or reform

Click here to learn about Nishimachi International School scholarships

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Elsewhere in the world … the news on education:

Students from China add $5b to US economy (China Daily | Asia News Network, Nov 17, 2012)

Beijing (China Daily/ANN) – Booming Chinese-student enrollment in United States colleges and universities contributed nearly US$5 billion to the US economy in the 2011-12 academic year, an education expert estimated.
“The rise of China as a contributor to the economies of many US institutions mirrors the increasing influence of China in the global economy,” wrote Rahul Choudaha, director of research and advisory services at World Education Services in an e-mail to China Daily.
World Education Services is a New York-based nonprofit that specialises in international education and research.
“In 2003-04, there were 61,765 Chinese students enrolled in the US, contributing an estimated $1.4 billion to the economy. This ballooned to 194,029, contributing nearly $5 billion, in 2011-12,” Choudaha added.
The number of Chinese students enrolled in US institutions of higher education in 2011-12 increased from 157,558 to 194,029, or 23 per cent, over the previous year, a new report shows.
The Open Doors 2012 report, published on Tuesday by the Institute of International Education with support from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US State Department, reveals that international students in US universities make a significant positive economic impact on the US.
The report also shows that nearly half of Chinese students favour business and engineering, which became the top two majors among Chinese students.
The Open Doors report said that 64 per cent of international students – and 82 per cent of undergraduates – rely primarily on personal and family funds to pay for their studies.
The number of Chinese students has greatly increased, particularly at the undergraduate level. Chinese student enrollments increased by 23 per cent in total and by 31 per cent at the undergraduate level.
The figure from the Ministry of Education in 2012 shows that nearly 340,000 Chinese students studied abroad in 2011, and nearly 320,000 of them were self-sponsored.
Research from the World Education Services in 2012 shows that Chinese students were more likely to be well-funded for their studies abroad compared with other international students.
The research also found that nearly 60 per cent of US-bound Chinese respondents were indexed high in terms of financial resources, as compared to the overall average of 49 per cent.

A gov. working paper out of Singapore on the societal costs of “The educational arms race: All for One, Loss for All” makes for an interesting read, with similar implications for the exam-oriented paperchase society in Japan.

Cambridge exam office sets up branch in Singapore (Yahoo! Newsroom, Nov 8, 2012)

International schools in Singapore will now be given more GCE exam support, with the opening of a new Cambridge Assessment Singapore (CAS) branch at Odeon Towers. CAS, working alongside Cambridge International Examinations, will become the regional hub to deliver increased support to international schools in Singapore and other schools in the Asia Pacific region. Cambridge International Examinations is the administrator for GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’-Level exams worldwide.

The new branch, built at a cost of S$7 million, will offer professional development programmes for teachers to educational leadership seminars for principals among other initiatives in line with the Cambridge curriculum. ”What is new now is that we bring a new quality to the educational debate and we engage in issues that are very important and very topical in the Asia Pacific region. We engage people at a different level of debate so that it’s about pedagogy, classroom practices, … curriculum development,” Ben Schmidt, regional director for Asia Pacific. There are currently 28 international schools in Singapore, including ACS (International), Hwa Chong International, St Joseph’s International and Tanglin Trust School. They are among 2000 schools in the region offering Cambridge international qualifications.

The exam office will not support the majority of local schools in Singapore that already use the GCE O and A Level exams, as these are already supported under the government’s Ministry of Education.
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School leavers must ‘earn or learn’ (Guardian, Nov 20)

“…Coalition plans to make it more difficult for 18- to 21-year-olds to go straight on to benefits after school, and instead require them to work or study, are to be announced by the business secretary, Vince Cable.

He will hint at the new “earn or learn” plans, being discussed as a possible centrepiece of a new coalition agreement, in a speech to the Association of Colleges.

Government figures show 18.5% of boys aged 18 and 15.3% of girls are Neets – not in education, employment or training. The total is 115,000. The degree to which a benefit sanction would be included, and on what terms, is still up for discussion within the coalition, with Conservatives favouring a sanction.

Cable will say in his speech: “The issue is this: the government has a clear vision for 16- to 18-year-olds, where we are raising the participation age and increasing support for English and maths. But for young people over 18, the offer is much less clear. There’s generous educational support for some, while, for others, financial support through the benefits system can actually prevent them from learning.

“Ideally, we should be keeping this age group as far away from the benefits system as possible, unless there’s a really compelling need. For this group, we need a much simpler system, which supports and incentivises people to get the skills they need to secure sustainable employment, whether through higher education, further education or an apprenticeship, or through more bespoke interventions to help them acquire the employability skills that too many companies tell me are lacking.”

The new approach for 18- to 21-year-olds is being described as “earn or learn”, a term borrowed from Australia.

Cable will say that policy work is at an early stage but it is designed to address a gap in the government’s social mobility agenda. It has been reported that the coalition is divided on the extent to which trainees would be required to take up one of the options or lose some or all benefit.

Cable will also say it is his intention that 18-year-olds leaving school by the end of this parliament should consider an apprenticeship to be as rewarding and socially valuable as going to university.

He will say: “My ambition is that, by 2015, an 18-year-old leaving school and weighing up the choice of degree versus apprenticeship would do so without factoring in social stigma – seeing them as different but of equal value in terms of experience, job prospects, value for money and earnings potential.”…. Read more here.

Michael Gove’s curriculum attacked by expert who advised him (The Guardian, 12 June 2012)

“Michael Gove’s proposed reforms of the national curriculum have been attacked as “fatally flawed” by a member of the expert panel involved in drawing up the changes.

Andrew Pollard, an academic who was one of a team of four involved in the review, said the published proposals – which include officially mandated spelling lists – were so prescriptive they denied teachers the scope to exercise their professional judgment. He described Gove’s initial instructions to the head of the review team as “crude”.

Teachers will be presented with “extremely detailed” year-on-year specifications in English, maths and science that risk wrecking “breadth, balance and quality” in children’s school experience, and fail to acknowledge that children learn at different speeds, he said.

Pollard told the Guardian there were two key problems with the proposed changes.

“It is overly prescriptive in two ways. One is that it is extremely detailed, and the other is the emphasis on linearity – it implies that children learn ‘first this, then that’. Actually, people learn in a variety of different ways, and for that you need flexibility – for teachers to pick up on that and vary things accordingly. …

The proposals published this week include making a foreign language compulsory from the age of seven, as well as introducing more demanding programmes in maths and English.

For the first time, the government will set a list of words that all children must learn how to spell.

The reforms set detailed instructions about learning grammar, including teaching the use of speech marks and possessive pronouns by the end of year 4 of primary school, relative clauses by the end of year 5 and the use of the subjunctive by the end of year 6.

The reforms will be opened to consultation and are due to be introduced in September 2014….” Read more here.

Related earlier news:

The new curriculum: made to order? New questions are being asked about the framing of the planned primary curriculum …

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Meanwhile, James Harris a senior lecturer at the U. of Leeds defends what universities have already achieved and highlights the wealth of learning and teaching resources bridging the education gap in: What ‘more’ can universities do for Michael Gove and Alan Milburn? (excerpted below):

“Both universities and the private sector have developed bridging resources with considerable potential. JISC Content has digitisated a large number of educational resources mainly for university students. Jorum is a repository of free learning and teaching resources created by UK FE and HE institutions. Khan Academy delivers the basic building blocks of knowledge in a wide range of disciplines via short animated podcasts. MOOCs (or Massive Open Online Courses) are generating huge interest from universities and learners. Curriki, a non profit online education community, enables teachers to create their own bespoke resources – as does the Guardian Teacher Network.

Universities also organise conferences where research specialists address A-level students and teachers. They act as consultants for exam boards and review syllabi. They work with local schools in disadvantaged areas and invite pupils to ‘taster’ lectures, summer schools, and other activities that demystify university for those, often the first in their families, to enter higher education. However, in the overwhelming majority of cases, academics and universities work locally, without much coordination and all too often without significant effect.

Universities could substantially and effectively contribute to the agendas set by Gove and Milburn by means of a common virtual platform which universities across the UK contribute to, and from which teachers and students across the UK can draw. There are several platforms available that would fulfil this need, such as the Excellence Gateway. Another that I am personally involved with and which I think could make a difference is JISC-funded the Faculties.

This site includes filmed lectures by academics on topics taken directly from the A-level curriculum. These free ‘stretch and challenge’ resources can be played on laptops, tablets and mobile phones, and bring the latest research into A-level classrooms not to prep students for the exam, but to inspire the sort of higher level thinking that Gove wants to see. And they keep teachers and examiners up-to-date with the research too.

Many of the films are specifically tailored to prepare students for the challenges of higher education. An entire section of the site is devoted to careers, so prospective students can see what opportunities an undergraduate degree opens for them. Students and teachers can also use the interactive discussion function associated with every podcast to engage with each another and the presenter.

The site addresses the Milburn report recommendations by providing a platform for universities to create ‘access’ resources and engage in outreach activities collectively instead of individually and nationally instead of locally. And by building a library of rigorous A-level study aids and access resources, universities can make a big difference by recording what they do already and by virtually engaging their audience too.

It may sound like another burden for universities but platforms such as this promise powerful impact from modest effort by taking advantage of simple technologies that students use every day. And there’s a sweetener. Universities cringe at the demands made of them at a time when they must focus on the new fee regime and the challenge of sustaining recruitment. But those universities that contribute resources to the Faculties can embed banners to draw attention to their programmes. There may be other ways for Gove and Milburn to achieve their goals, but as things stand, innovating trumps asking universities to ‘do more’”

Are Middle Class Parents Souring on College Education? (Education News, Nov 20, 2012)

“Faced with numerous financial concerns, a growing number of middle-class parents are souring on college, according to a new report released this week. The Merill Edge Report, which canvasses the views of adults falling in the middle income bracket and which is published twice every year, finds that while middle-class parents continue to contribute a large chunk to their children’s college expenses, four in ten have been expressed worries that the price of higher education is now too high to be affordable.

The fallout from the recent financial collapse and ongoing recession means that even families with reasonable financial resources now must give college-related costs a second look. This is especially important in light of the fact that a growing number of families who have dipped into their savings to help finance their children’s higher education have subsequently found themselves in a financial hole of their own.

The proportion of people over 60 who are holding a loan and are more than 90 days overdue has jumped to nearly 10% this year from 6% in 2005. There are also growing numbers of people holding federal loans who are getting their Social Security checks garnished for repayment. There were only 23,996 such garnishments recorded in 2001. This year, there were nearly 120,000.

The growing price that students are expected to pay for their college degree makes it doubly important for everyone to make sure that the school they choose and the major they select provides a good return on the investment made in the form of tuition. According to Daily Finance, students who are hoping that a degree will provide a boost in their career should focus on majors in the technology and computer science industry while staying away from those in the social services sector.

The five lowest-paying majors are nearly all in the social service sector, while computer sciences and engineering programs continue to churn out high-paid workers. A recent PayScale study listed the median mid-career pay for a Petroleum Engineering major at $163,000 and the median mid-career pay for a Social Work major at just $45,300. Of the 1,000+ parents polled by Merrill Edge, just over one-third plan on relying on scholarships and grants, and about one-in-four will ask their kids to chip in. Yet again, one of the simplest ways to save for college is still vastly underused — just 20 percent of families take advantage of education savings plans, according to the report.

Even those parents who regret the choices they made when saving for college for their first children aren’t likely to avoid similar blunders when thinking of paying for college for their subsequent kids. Merill Edge finds that nearly half of those polled wished that they had been more aggressive in their savings strategies, yet only 32% have actually taken their own advice and learned from their mistakes when putting aside money for younger children.” Read the entire article here.

Study Shows Parents Struggling to Save for College (Education News, Oct 13, 2011) A recent study shows the real effect of the poor economy on parents’ ability to save for their children’s college education: “The study showed that 25% of U.S. households are contributing less toward their children’s college education — or have stopped saving entirely. 44% have not started saving at all. A meager 15 percent have reduced spending on other things to keep saving/paying for their children’s college educations.” Read more here.

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Strategic Data Project Report Shows Teacher Quality Matters (Nov 20 2012, Edu news) Excerpt follows:

“The Strategic Data Project has released the results of an extensive 6-year study that looked at the instructional quality and the environment surrounding around one third of the teachers working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Among the conclusions published by the authors were that newer teachers are frequently assigned to teach underperforming students [...]

The Strategic Data Project has released the results of an extensive 6-year study that looked at the instructional quality and the environment surrounding around one third of the teachers working in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Among the conclusions published by the authors were that newer teachers are frequently assigned to teach underperforming students more often than their more experienced peers, and that graduates of Teach for America typically have a greater impact on the academic success of their students than new teachers who haven’t gone through the program.

The Strategic Data Project, an organization affiliated with the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University, has conducted similar studies before in more than 35 districts around the country. The researchers looked at “teacher recruitment, development and retention patterns,” not only in traditional public schools but also in national charter organizations. The data collection and analysis had been funded in large part by grants from the Gates Foundation.

LAUSD’s report, which was released Wednesday, could become a key resource as the district and United Teachers Los Angeles negotiate changes to teacher evaluations and other parts of the teachers’ contract.

The report shines a brighter light on how much of an impact an effective teacher can have on student achievement. Specifically, when measured by student standardized test scores, a teacher who is in the 75th percentile of instructional effectiveness in mathematics provided benefits equivalent to an additional 8 months of schooling over a student taught by a teacher who was at the bottom 25th percentile of effectiveness. …” Read more here.

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Follow the debate: “would the economy be better off without MBA students?”, see the pros and cons of an MBA education at the Economist with some comments excerpted below …

“The stock of the MBA may never been higher. Of the Fortune 500 companies some 200 are now run by a holder of the degree, far more than for any other qualification. Forty of these chief executives graduated from Harvard Business School alone. Below them are boardrooms stuffed with business-school graduates, replenished by fast-track leadership-development pools fed by a similar source.”– the moderator

“… a large number of (well-heeled, privileged) students had little or no work experience and seemed to be hiding from entering the work force by going to graduate school. Many who couldn’t get into law school went for MBAs as a second choice.

The result was a bunch of 2nd lieutenants with no work experience, no personnel experience and inflated views of their self-worth who were in influential positions in the management of companies. During my experience rising to management before starting my own business I’ve found that the MBA’s rarely get into the field where the real business is done.

In finance they’ve created fantastic capital constructions that have contributed little to the economy–or worse.

It seems that we’d be better off if everyone was BARRED from graduate business school until they have at least 8-10 years in real jobs and have learned the nitty-gritty about business.

While I was a national sales manager I had the experience of spending 60% of my time riding with salespeople in the construction industry. I found that when I came off the road and spent several weeks in the office I started “generating” letters and programs, etc, etc. ….after 6 weeks in the office it was a good “reality adjustment” to get back in the field–there I found in a day or two that at least half the BS I was creating was nonsense that was getting in the way of the people who were really doing the business for the company. The grandiose schemes of the accountants and MBAs were so far from reality and the needs of the company that it was scandalous.”– Guanologist

“Henry Mintzberg, a management guru most famous for his book “Managers Not MBAs”, does not agree. He says that MBA programmes teach the wrong things to the wrong people. Not only does this mean that companies are led by unsuitable people, but it also means that the right candidates—who have learned the craft of management through years of practise—are barred from leadership positions by an old boys’ network. This, he believes, holds the economy back.

Related readings: Can business be taught? | MBA diary: The best of times, the worst of times | Business school research: The physics envy problem

Technology Helps Non-Verbal Autistic Kids Communicate (Nov 15, Education News)

” as Ontario deals with a growing number of autism diagnoses, education officials hope that this “golden key” in the form of a popular digital gadget will unlock more than just the needs and wants of Beverly students. Figuring out how to connect with autistic students who are non-verbal is a huge challenge and many schools are now experimenting with technology to make that task easier.

Carroll, who with colleague Sabrina Tayebjee Morey recently won a Prime Minister’s teaching award, was part of a three-year project that put an iPod touch or iPad tablet in the hands of students at the Toronto public school. The groundbreaking research at Beverley found autistic students were able to achieve things seasoned educators — even the children’s parents — had no idea they were capable of, using no-cost to low-cost applications. Some students’ attention spans exceeded five minutes by the end of their research….

The benefits of the technology, however, come with a warning: the devices can open up lines of communication but may further isolate autistic children, who already struggle to socialize. Bridget Taylor, a researcher who founded the Alpine Learning Group, a private school for autistic children in New Jersey, says autistic children can become too focused on the devices.

“Kids are drawn to technology and . . . there could potentially be a reliance on it that’s not so beneficial in the long run,” says Taylor, who has worked with autistic youth for 25 years and uses tablets with her students.

Singapore reducing exam pressure on students (AFP news Nov 21), a summary of the article follows:

Singapore is doing away with its annual ritual of publishing the names of top scorers in national student examinations (primary and secondary) to reduce academic pressure on children but the move has drawn mixed reactions, press reports said Wednesday.
An education ministry spokesman told the Straits Times that the move was aimed at showing pupils and parents that academic performance was “just one aspect of a student’s overall development and progress.”
Like many East Asian societies, Singapore puts strong emphasis on education but a traditional obsession with test scores has been blamed for stressing out students and parents, as well as fostering memorisation instead of creative and critical thinking.
Academic pressure has also been blamed for suicides and psychological disorders among children in the region.

See related article: Singapore wants creativity not cramming (BBC news, 22 May 2012)

S. Korean parents turn to crime over school access (AFP News, Nov 6, 2012)

“South Korean prosecutors Tuesday charged 47 parents with forging documents to enrol their children in foreign-run schools to give them an edge in the country’s hyper-competitive education system. Among those indicted was a 37-year-old housewife, identified by her surname Kwon, who hired a broker in 2009 to create false British and Bulgarian passports, the prosecutors’ office in the western city of Incheon said. Foreigner-only schools in South Korea require at least one of their students’ parents to be a foreign citizen, and Kwon used the passports to gain admission for her daughter. She was also accused of faking a Guatemalan passport to transfer her daughter to another school. Kwon allegedly paid about 100 million won ($91,250) for the fake documents.

Access to foreigner-only schools is seen as hugely advantageous, because English is the medium of education in them and it provides a useful stepping stone to eventual overseas study. Students in education-obsessed South Korea begin learning English at the age of nine, and parents spend a small fortune on private cram schools to improve their fluency levels…” Read more here…

Children in Taiwan should stop studying so hard (The China Post, 21 Nov 2012) Excerpts follow on below:

“… as eight out of 10 third and fourth-graders in Taiwan join after-school arrangements, such as day care, tutoring or cram schools, every day.

According to Taipei-based Child Welfare League Foundation’s annual Survey of Elementary School Students’ After School Programmes, the number of respondents with after-school obligations increased by nearly 6 per cent last year, which is an even more worrisome trend.

Without a doubt, cramming is deeply embedded in Taiwan’s culture, where grades are considered essential for future professional success. Families have been hiring test-prep tutors in China for centuries, and modern-day Taiwan has taken this competition to new extremes as national exams can make you or break you.

The problem with keeping children at school for so long is that it is in fact pointless. Education experts suggest that you shouldn’t cram. It’s a lousy habit that is likely to see you drummed out of top schools thanks to bad marks. It’s indeed an ineffective study method, for a couple reasons.

To begin with, children aged between 8 and 9 already face a lot of stress from school-related work. Cramming is just adding more stress to it. As tempting as it is to press your children to study hard seven days a week, they can’t. Their brains can only handle a little at one time, and if you try to get too much in at once, most of it will just bounce off uselessly and be lost. In other words, children’s brains are like sponges that need to absorb what they’ve been given at school first, before you try to get in more at a cram school.

By cramming, you’re also denying their bodies what they need to perform adequately every day: sleep. If they stay up until late with their brain churning, their minds will not only work ineffectively at night, but also on the following day — the body wants to go to sleep so it will try to compensate the next day.

Even more worrisome, the Child Welfare League Foundation pointed out that the environment at many after-school programmes is not safe enough for children. Up to 26.8 per cent of the surveyed students cram at schools operated without a proper license, according to the same survey….”

Taiwan’s cram schools warm up in puppy-love tale (AP, Nov 9, 2012)

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Attending a full day of school then spending hours more in tutoring is a must in Taiwan, where students start ‘cram schools’ as early as elementary school so that they can better their exam results and get into a prestigious high school or college.
Director Hou Chi Jan knows it all too well.
He said he spent a copious amount of his adolescence on “Nanyang Street” – the Taipei street home to many cram schools. He has such vivid memories and imagination about the place, it became the backdrop to his new film, “When a Wolf Falls in Love with a Sheep.”
“I think that (Nanyang) street is a place where dreams are lost. In reality, there’s some sadness to it,” Hou explained. “I want to make a film about it, to give it some warmth. The story is about sweet young love and tells you whatever you lose, you’ll get it back in other ways.”
Kai Ko plays “Tung,” who goes to Nanyang Street to search for an ex-girlfriend who dumped him to go to cram school. He meets a quirky girl who loves drawing pictures of sheep on the test papers. He draws a picture of a wolf to begin a dialogue and later explores his feelings for the girl.
Coming off his successful first film, Ko said this character is someone who’s closer to his heart. “In private, he’s not stable, is insecure, don’t want to face whatever he needs to face, or he wants to get something done, but he’s unsure of himself. I think the inner self is more similar in this film,” he said…

Out of Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Sri Lanka and India, Meet the ‘tutor kings and queens’ - features the celebrity tutors with their good looks, “sophisticated hair-dos and designer trappings” who are gaining star-idol status and making it rich, having attracted flocks of young fans to their tutoring classes. Article by the BBC news, 27 Nov, 2012

Tablets to aid Indian students (BBC news, 12 November 2012) India backs Aakash 2 tablet-based national education project…

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On kids’ health & safety and other parenting issues:

Find out about a remarkable life-changing but non-intrusive new device that helps stutterers at this Youtube videoclip.

Discrimination of working mothers persists in Japan(News On Japan via Denver Post — Nov 18)

To resume work after the birth of her first child, Terue Suzuki moved back to her family home on weekdays to get help with baby-care, leaving her husband in the house they shared.
“It was like a weekend marriage,” Suzuki, 45, who works at a Japanese telecommunications company, said of the arrangement that started 14 years ago. “I had a satisfying job and really wanted to go back to it. In Japanese society, when a woman chooses work instead of staying at home to look after her husband, she’s called a devil wife.”
Limited day care, peer pressure and job inflexibility mean Suzuki remains a minority in Japan, where 70 percent of women quit work with the birth of their first child, said Nana Oishi, a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo. That level compares with about a third in the United States, according to Goldman Sachs.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s government set a goal in July to boost the proportion of working women within eight years to spur an economy that has had two recessions since 2007. Increasing the number of employed women might bolster gross domestic product by as much as 15 percent, according to Goldman Sachs.

“Many women of the “bubble generation” and earlier are now reaching retirement age without having generated a single yen for the economy in 40 years. They paid household expenses, pension premiums and health-care costs all out of their husband’s (vastly inflated) salaries. With shrinking salaries, part-time work, zero-bonus jobs and a plummeting birth rate, this is no longer feasible. How much larger would the pension pool be now if half the population had been allowed to work all these years?

While laws have changed to assist working mothers, they still reflect a deeply entrenched chauvinism. As reported in Hifumi Okunuki’s column, working women get six weeks of maternity leave before birth and up to eight weeks after, with the first 30 days back at worked protected from mandatory dismissal. This falls far short of many developed countries.

Furthermore, many companies still pressure women into leaving regardless of the law. So do many families, for whom a married woman’s place is still in the home.

This kind of Confucian segregation must end if Japan is to develop socially and economically. More women are graduating from top universities with advanced degrees in business, medicine, biotechnology and engineering. They often come better equipped with language skills in English, Chinese and Korean. More women are entering politics and their presence will affect change.

Gone are the days of the old boy network — graying septuagenarians whose only solution to changing demographics is to demand more babies.

It’s time to give the bright young women of Japan a greater stake and a larger say in the nation’s future — especially after they have also chosen to be mothers” — Craig Currie

How Not to Talk to Your Kids The inverse power of praise. (NY Times magazine)

“For a few decades, it’s been noted that a large percentage of all gifted students (those who score in the top 10 percent on aptitude tests) severely underestimate their own abilities. Those afflicted with this lack of perceived competence adopt lower standards for success and expect less of themselves. They underrate the importance of effort, and they overrate how much help they need from a parent.

When parents praise their children’s intelligence, they believe they are providing the solution to this problem. According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they’re smart. In and around the New York area, according to my own (admittedly nonscientific) poll, the number is more like 100 percent. Everyone does it, habitually. The constant praise is meant to be an angel on the shoulder, ensuring that children do not sell their talents short.

But a growing body of research—and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system—strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of “smart” does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it.” Read more here.

See also Giving a Child Permission to Be Miserable NY Times parenting blog, November 15, 2012

[Real] Sugar water can help increase self-control, says study (Shine On – Tue, Nov 13, 2012)

If you’re struggling with self-control, a quick gargle of lemonade — made with real sugar — might boost your resolve, new research suggests.
Researchers from the University of Georgia recently published their findings in the journal Psychological Science.
Fifty-one students took part in the study, each perform forming two self-control-testing tasks.
“The first task, which previous research has shown to deplete self-control, was tediously crossing out all the Es on a page from a statistics book. Then, participants performed what is known as the Stroop task where they were asked to identify the colour of various words flashed on a screen, which spell out the names of other colours,” Forbes explains.

Before performing the Stroop test, half of the students rinsed their mouths with sugar-sweetened lemonade. The other half swished Splenda-sweetened lemonade. The researchers found that the students who rinsed with the sugary drink were faster at responding to the Stroop test than those who rinsed with the artificial sweetener.
Why the better performance? Researchers believe glucose — even when simply touching the tongue — triggers the brain’s motivational centres.
“Researchers used to think you had to drink the glucose and get it into your body to give you the energy to (have) self control,” says UGA psychology professor Leonard Martin, co-author of the study. “After this trial, it seems that glucose stimulates the simple carbohydrate sensors on the tongue. This, in turn, signals the motivational centres of the brain where our self-related goals are represented. These signals tell your body to pay attention.”

Martin adds that glucose doesn’t just boost energy levels, it boosts personal investment in current tasks.
“The glucose seems to be good at getting you to stop an automatic response such as reading the words in the Stroop task and to substitute the second harder one in its place such as saying the color the word is printed in,” he says. “It can enhance emotive investment and self-relevant goals.”.. Read the rest of the article here.

Or the actual study which is entitled “The Gargle Effect …“

Also see: How you deal with stress is more important than your amount of stress … which is a hilarious study that classes people into two types – the Velcro and the Teflon types of people …those to whom stress sticks like velcro, and those to whom worries slide off like food off a non-stickpan! Which type are you?

Growing up in the country helps to prevent asthma (Nov 07, 2011 )
By Aarhus University

Children who grow up on a pig or dairy cattle farm have a natural vaccination against the form of work-related asthma from which farmers frequently suffer. This has now been proved for the first time ever by researchers from Aarhus University.

The study, which has been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, demonstrates that the risk of developing the non-allergic form of asthma is reduced by almost fifty per cent if you are exposed to the kind of environment found on pig and dairy cattle farms when you are a child. On the other hand, the risk of work-related asthma is doubled if you grow up in an urban environment and become a farmer as an adult.

The researchers have been monitoring all the students of agricultural science in Denmark from two different year groups and for 15 years – a total of 2,000 students. And the process has been performed on a regular basis, which makes this study unique.

“We now know that children who grow up in this kind of agricultural environment are protected until the age of 20-25, and there are many indications that the effect lasts even longer than this,” explains Professor Torben Sigsgaard from the Institute of Environmental and Occupational Medicine at Aarhus University.

“The perspectives of this study mean that if we can identify the mechanism involved and then find out how to have an influence on it, we may be able to help a great number of people in all walks of life,” he says.

The study should be seen in the light of the fact that farmers in general have a greater risk of suffering from asthma and chronic bronchitis.

See article in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Kids’ Stuff has a downloadable funbook with games to teach your child about asthma and triggers. It’s important for your child to know what can be good or bad when it comes to asthma. Click here to Download the Funbook here.

Regrets of an Accomplished Child NYTimes, November 2, 2012 offers insights on nurturing children:

“… I’d like to share a lesson I learned only years later: the overtly accomplished child is often the less educated one. To be clear, what I call the accomplished child is a very different creature from the born or cultivated genius, and equally different from the aspiring superstar. With neither the superlative skill of the former nor the extraordinary efforts of the latter, the accomplished child does exactly what is expected of him. And nothing more.”

I loved this interview piece 7 creativity tips from a top mathematician (11/12/12 Huffington Post) between Hillary Harkness and mathematician-Steven Strogatz, which strikes a rich chord, when addressing creativity, about process; passion and meaning; flow and absorption; the need for space to muddle, doodle, play; and the need for investment of one’s time and energy; and the place for frustration, difficulty and tenacity. Mathematician Steven Strogatz,is also the author of the new book, The Joy of X.

Parents working on bilingualism will find a foray into Adam Beck’s colorful Bilingual Monkeys website a delight. Try out his pages chock full of ideas on raising bilingual children in this article at Japan “12 More Tips for Raising a Bilingual Child in Japan” and the earlier article at the same site, “16 Tips for Raising a Bilingual Child in Japan“…both articles appeared on Japan Today online.

“Embracing Children for Who They Are” (Personal Health, Nov. 6 ), and the Letter The ‘Different Child‘ Nov 12, 2012 …response to the article debate balancing the need to celebrate and accept the ‘different child’ as well as the proper place of influence and power to change the child.

Uploaded new resource page: Genetics vs. Culture: Which trumps over which in education?

Fukushima cancer risk said low (Kyodo, via Japan Times)

“There is a low risk that cancer rates will rise among nonnewborn residents near the Fukushima No. 1 power plant despite the triple-meltdown crisis that started last year, a preliminary report by the World Health Organization indicates.

The report, released Sunday, said the possibility that cancer risks will significantly rise among adults and children, excluding newborns, is low based on the statistics of actual cancer incidence. How complete those statistics are is unclear.

However, there are also data showing newborns in the town of Namie and the village of Iitate in Fukushima Prefecture could suffer from cancer, leukemia or other illnesses in the future.

The preliminary report is based on the assumption that the residents lived in the affected areas for four months after the nuclear crisis started and continued to eat local produce. In reality, most of the residents were evacuated…”

Cesium in trout 110 times over limit (Kyodo news via Japan Times, Nov. 18, 2012)

A mountain trout caught in the Niida River in Fukushima Prefecture contained 11,400 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram, more than 110 times above the government limit for food products, a survey by the Environment Ministry showed.

Presenting its findings Friday on cesium in fish and insects in rivers, lakes and sea in Fukushima, the ministry said it also detected 4,400 becquerels of radioactive cesium in a smallmouth bass and 3,000 becquerels in a catfish caught at the Mano Dam in Iitate.

The maximum threshold for food items is 100 becquerels per kilogram.

It is only the second time the ministry has conducted such a survey, after undertaking a study between December and this February. The first data were published in July.

“Like the previous survey, concentrations (of cesium) tended to be higher in rivers and lakes than in the sea. We want to grasp the extent of pollution by continuously conducting the survey,” a ministry official said.

:::

Wild mushrooms far from Fukushima show high levels of cesium (Asahi, November 21, 2012)

Wild mushrooms, a seasonal delicacy in many parts of Japan, have lost their magic.

Tourism industry officials and restaurant operators have been aghast to learn that wild mushrooms picked far from the site of the nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture last year are showing high levels of radioactive cesium.

Last year, only wild mushrooms picked in Fukushima Prefecture were found to have cesium levels that exceeded legal standards.

This year, however, wild mushrooms from as far away as Aomori, Nagano and Shizuoka prefectures, all more than 200 kilometers from Fukushima, have been found to be contaminated with cesium. …

One reason for the increase in such restrictions this year is a lowering of the legal standard for cesium from 500 becquerels per kilogram to 100 becquerels.

As of Nov. 16, officials said 93 municipalities in 10 prefectures, including Fukushima, had a shipment restriction in place.

For five prefectures–Aomori, Saitama, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka–wild mushrooms constitute the only produce for which a shipment ban is in effect.

Cesium levels have also risen in various areas compared with last year.

According to tests requested by the central government, the highest levels recorded this year were 120 becquerels in Aomori Prefecture, up from only 60 becquerels last year; 2,100 becquerels in Nagano Prefecture (1,320 becquerels last year); and 3,000 becquerels in Tochigi Prefecture (134 becquerels last year).

Yasuyuki Muramatsu, a chemistry professor at Gakushuin University who specializes in radiation effects on ecology, said, “While the detailed mechanism is still unclear, mushrooms can more easily absorb cesium in comparison to plants because they are fungi.”

As for why cesium levels are higher this autumn, Muramatsu said, “There is the possibility that radioactive materials that were attached to the trunks and leaves of trees last year were washed away by the rain and entered the soil into which mushrooms extend their fungal filament.”

Muramatsu cautioned that some types of wild mushroom may have high cesium levels next year as well, which will require continued testing…” Read more here.

:::

The muddy issue of cesium in a lake (Nov. 18, 2012 Japan Times)

Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is facing an environmental threat that has essentially turned it into a time bomb ticking away 60 km northeast of Tokyo.

News photo
Environmentally minded: Hiroshi Iijima, head of the Asaza Fund, says local and national authorities should work in tandem with citizens’ groups like his to investigate and deal with radiation contamination in and around Kasumigaura Lake.

Experts warn that Japan’s second largest lake with a surface area of 220 sq. km is quietly but steadfastly accumulating radioactive cesium released from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

It’s no big surprise. The lake’s catchment area is huge, covering 2,200 sq. km across 24 municipalities in Ibaraki, Chiba and Tochigi prefectures. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that the radiation that fell across some of the Tohoku region, and beyond, in the wake of the March 2011 nuclear disaster found its way into the area’s rivers and thus flowed into the lake. In addition to that, Lake Kasumigaura, which is the name given to three contiguous lakes (the largest is Lake Nishiura and the other two are called Kitaura and Sotonasakaura), is a closed lake with no outflow. That means incoming radioactive substances have nowhere else to go.

More disturbing than this, however, is that 20 months after the nuclear crisis, government agencies have shown no signs that they are trying to prevent the accumulation of cesium in the lake — which is not only rich with fishery resources but whose water is used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and even for consumption as drinking water for 960,000 people in Ibaraki Prefecture. Furthermore, no one knows how and by how much the problem has worsened over the months, except for one obvious thing: it hasn’t gone away.

Hiroshi Iijima, director general of the nonprofit organization Asaza Fund in Ushiku, Ibaraki Prefecture, has tried to alert the public to the situation for months. “What’s unique about Kasumigaura, as opposed to other lakes across the nation, is that it’s fed by numerous small rivers and streams, not only the 56 rivers running directly into the lake but also hundreds of tributaries,” Iijima told The Japan Times. “Also, the area is flat, meaning that the radioactive substances travel downstream very slowly; they will accumulate in the lake over a long period of time.”…

Radiation on the lake’s bottom has hit the local fisheries industry hard, however. Five species of fish, including eel, American catfish and carp have been banned from the market as samplings in those animals showed levels of cesium surpassing the government-set exposure limit of 100 Bq/kg. And while drinking water sourced from Kasumigaura is technically safe now, dry solids that are produced in the water sedimentation process contains cesium, according to the Ibaraki Prefectural Government.

Iijima from Asaza Fund says the government monitoring of radiation levels is far from satisfactory, as it only surveys one location per river. For its part, in cooperation with other citizens’ groups and a local food-delivery cooperative, his own group measured radiation levels at some 200 locations in March-April and again in October covering up to 20 locations in one river. The results have shown that, over the six-month period, radioactive substances are believed to have traveled downstream, as figures of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in upstream locations have gone down while those downstream have increased. The highest level of cesium contamination so far detected by the group’s volunteers is along the Onogawa River, which snakes through the cities of Ibaraki Prefecture and runs into Kasumigaura’s Lake Nishiura, where, close to the river banks in the city of Ushiku, 13,200 Bq/kg of cesium was detected in a sample of sludge in May.

“What we have found is that there are ‘hot spots’ in the rivers as well as on land,” Iijima said. “Measures should be taken to stop cesium from moving into the lake, because once it’s absorbed into the lake, it will be too hard to track and collect.”…

Both Hamada and Iijima maintain that the inevitable solution would be to release Kasumigaura’s cesium into the Pacific Ocean via the Tone River, which the lake feeds. But to do that would involve a change in the national government’s water management policy. The 250-meter-wide Hitachigawa Water Gate was built in 1963 at the southern end of Kasumigaura to store water and keep seawater out, thereby stopping salted water from damaging the area’s crops, preventing floods and securing enough water for the region’s industrial complexes. This might have worked while demands for industrial water were high —due to the booming economy of yesteryear — but it’s now out of date, Hamada says, adding that the water quality has greatly suffered over the years from the policy of closing the water gate into the lake.

“In our negotiations with the Ibaraki government, we have repeatedly asked that that the gate be opened (to keep cesium from being accumulated further),” said Hamada, who now serves as secretary general of the environmental nonprofit Kasumigaura Academy. “We pressed the prefectural government until it finally said it’ll keep monitoring the cesium levels and base their future decisions on the results of the monitoring. But it will be too late if we wait until the results come out.”

… institutions and individuals with a stake in the future of the lake, not just government agencies but people from the private sector and citizens’ groups like his, should band together to investigate and deal with the issue. A systematic and comprehensive monitoring of cesium movement along the rivers and across the lake would only be possible through such collaboration, he said.

Read the rest of the article here.

In our book nook:

“Carly’s Voice” by Carly Fleischmann, the remarkable story of a severely non-verbal autistic girl who finds a breakthrough to speak through the use of PC programs (Watch a videoclip trailer of her story here)

Temple Grandin’s book “Thinking in Pictures” comes up again and again on our forum as a recommendation. Also useful would be the videoclip at TED TALKS: The World Needs All Sorts of Minds“

Dr. Maté’s third book, Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, examines parenting from the perspective of attachment theory to illuminate the crucial role parents must play in the upbringing of their children. This book was co-authored by Dr. Gordon Neufeld, a developmental and clinical psychologist. We also recommend his other great book, “Scattered Minds” on the subject of ADD.

Introducing the irreverent, unconventional Ryokan is Kris Kosaka’s review of “SKY ABOVE, GREAT WIND: The Life and Poetry of Zen Master Ryokan“, by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Shambhala

Minor Soseki work gets first English translation Paul MCCARTHY’s book review of “NOWAKI” by Natsume Soseki.

That’s it for now.

Digitally yours,

Aileen Kawagoe

“ Traditional colleges are on their way to extinction and it’s about time.

They are extortionate in their costs – and everyone knows it – given the technology we have today.”
— Mary Duffield

“ The interaction between the student, his professor and his peers is seminal to a quality education.

Online courses in subjects that don’t involve points of view may be acceptable

but most learning involves directed discussion best found in the classroom.”
— JOEL K.

“Don’t sweat over rejection. People who never get rejected usually aren’t aiming very high.”
— Tomian
In the Early Admissions Waiting Room, Fighting Off Jitters

Internet Addiction hospital program (in Kanagawa): over 70% patients were junior high or high school students, most of them boys …internet addiction fast-becoming the top problem of youths across wired Asia …

November 22, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

Internet addiction is surging to the top ranks of the listed societal problems in Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Singapore…even as internet usage in Asia in terms of absolute numbers of internet users has overtaken the USA and Sweden which in 2004 (which led the world as countries with the highest percentage of internet users).

Internet addiction disorder is defined as “the excessive use of a computer that eventually interferes with daily life”. Experts say there are three types: cyber-affair/relational addiction, net compulsions, and information overload.

In China, Taiwan and Korea, internet addiction is regarded as a genuine psychiatric problem called Internet Addiction Disorder or Internet Use disorder with dedicated treatment centres for internet-addicted teenagers (and these countries are said to be at the leading edge of studies on IA). America’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the authority on mental illness, is considering including “internet use disorder” in its official listings, and IA is being considered a possible disability. Silicon Valley experts in July this year warned of the addictive power of technology.

Scientists have found that compulsive internet use can produce morphological changes in the structure of the brain. A 2009 study titled “Gray matter abnormalities in Internet addiction” investigated brain gray matter density (GMD) changes in adolescents with Internet addiction (IA) using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis on high-resolution T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance images. Compared with healthy controls, the studied IA adolescents had lower GMD in the left anterior cingulate cortex, left posterior cingulate cortex, left insula, and left lingual gyrus. On the other hand, increases in the density of the right parahippocampal gyrus and a spot called the left posterior limb of the internal capsule were also found. The study suggested that brain structural changes were present in IA adolescents, providing a new insight into the pathogenesis of IA. A 2011 PLOS:One study similarly found that decreased gray matter volume of the DLPFC, rACC, SMA, and white matter FA changes of the PLIC were significantly correlated with the duration of internet addiction in the adolescents with IAD. These changes are thought to reflect the learning-type cognitive optimizations for using computers more efficiently, but also impaired short-term memory and decision-making abilities—including ones in which may contribute to the desire to stay online instead of be in the real world. *** Internet usage, however, appears to affect the young and old differently(see note below).

There were 94.08 million Internet users as of 2009 according to the communications ministry. While Japan has had to play catchup to the USA in terms of internet usage, by 2008, 73.4 percent of households used high-speed broadband and Japan has the world’s fastest Internet connections with broadband 8-30 times faster in Japan than in the US and cheaper as well. Media download speeds, in megabits per second in 2007: Japan (61); South Korea (46); Finland (21); Sweden (18); and the United States (2). According to a survey in 2007 by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, about 60,900 people stay overnight at Internet and manga cafes; 5,400 people in Japan regularly spend the night in Internet or manga cafes and 82.6% of them are males. In late 2006, Japanese (with 37 percent) eclipsed English (with 36 percent) as the most common language used in blog spots, according to the U.S. blog survey company Technocrat, which is remarkable in that only 1.8 percent of the worlds’ population speaks Japanese and Japanese people account for 7.1 percent of the global online population. A 2007 study “Internet Addiction among Students: Prevalence and Psychological Problems in Japan“ based on college students, puts the Internet Addiction rate in Japan at 9.1 %…but the report suggests that the worse addiction may be the growing cases of addiction to mobile phones given the widespread use of the devices among Japanese adolescents (In 2005, Japan was No. 1 in the world in the number of users of broadband Internet services via mobile phones). According to a Rocketnews24 via Japan Today article ”Online gaming addiction becoming serious problem in Japan“ the Absentee Students Support Center based in Nagoya “received 327 requests for help concerning online game addiction from January to July this year. The National Web Counseling Association also has reportedly received nearly 150 similar requests in the past three years. A hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture famous for its alcoholism treatment program even set up an outpatient program dedicated to Internet addiction in July this year, and since then they have received 85 patients, over 70% of which were junior high or high school students, most of them boys…” (scroll down to bottom of page to see article extract below).

According to an article “Fighting Online Addiction“, the Norton Cyber Crime Report 2011 survey found that a Singaporean spends 31 hours weekly online, while globally, a person would spend 24 hours online. This put Singaporeans at the top of the list in terms of internet hour usage, with Singaporeans spending more time online every week as compared to people in countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom and Hong Kong. This was the finding from an online survey that Norton conducted with over 19,000 respondents in 24 countries which included adults, children and teachers. The report also found a higher percentage of Singaporeans who are more “connected” online as compared to respondents from other countries.

In a Korean study titled Internet Over-Users’ Psychological Profiles: A Behavior Sampling Analysis on Internet Addiction, investigating the IA disorder, pathological use of the internet results in negative life consequences such as job loss, marriage breakdown, financial debt, and academic failure. 70% of internet users in Korea are reported to play online games, 18% of which are diagnosed as game addicts. Up to 30% of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are said to be at risk of Internet addiction (according to Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who completed a 2007 three-year government-financed survey on IA). On internet addition in South Korea, watch the videoclip called “Love child” on internet addiction in S. Korea“, said to be the most wired society (95%) in the world,

Out of China, we often get the most sensationalist stories of all about the extremes young students will go (selling kidneys and virginity to own digital devices), as well as the lengths at which parents and authority figures will go to curb those excesses (Internet Addiction Clinics cracking down on beatings; Internet addicted 11 year-old knifed by distraught mother in China). China has more than 200 internet addict bootcamps.

In China, the religious-sounding Qihang Salvation Training Camp (an internet addiction bootcamp) reportedly claimed that an estimated 80 percent of Chinese youth suffered from IA. And according to TIME magazine, “With the world’s largest netizen population of 300 million, China is struggling with a new plight: Internet obsession among its youth. Since the 2004 establishment of the country’s first Internet Addiction Center, the military-run boot camp in Beijing … more than 3,000 adolescent and young-adult patients have been treated for Internet addiction…“. The number of Internet users in the country has skyrocketed in the past 12 years from 620,000 to over 513 million (data from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of January 16 2012), which is 55.4% of the “netizen” population in Asia, and 23.2% of the similar population in the world, making it the world’s largest and fastest-growing online population.

The China Communist Youth League (via “17% Of Youth Addicted To Internet”, Jan 11, 2007) claimed that over 17% of Chinese citizens between 13 and 17 were addicted to the Internet. A survey was published 2010 (source) regarding China Internet usage: Chinese internet users spend roughly 6.13 hours online each day and approximately 42% of young Chinese considered themselves addicts.The number of young China Internet addicts soared to 24 million by 2009, and one of every seven internet users is now considered an addict. Another study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences classified 33 million Internet users as addicted, which means they spend more than 90 minutes a day online outside of work or school. Of the 236 million Netizens in China who are under 29 years old, almost 14% are hooked on the Web, the report said via Informationweek.

According to Information Week’s “Internet Addiction Plague“, the report “particularly focused on the increasing problems associated with Internet gaming. Nearly 50% of young Chinese hop on the Net just to play games. And they tend to favor massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), which have made companies like Tencent and Shanda some of the most popular on Wall Street because of the industry’s fast growth. Nearly 70% of young Internet addicts are hooked on such games, said the report, which cites a survey by China Internet Network Information Center of almost 10,000 users aged 6 to 29.”

Chou and Hsiao reported in 2002 that the incidence rate of Internet addiction among Taiwan college students was 5.9% A Taiwanese internet addiction study of college students “found that Internet addicts spent almost triple the number of hours connected to the Internet as compare to non-addicts, and spent significantly more time on BBSs, the WWW, e-mail and games than non-addicts. The addict group found the Internet entertaining, interesting, interactive, and satisfactory. The addict group rated Internet impacts on their studies and daily life routines significantly more negatively than the non-addict group. The study also found that the most powerful predictor of Internet addiction is the communication pleasure score, followed by BBS use hours, sex, satisfaction score, and e-mail-use hours.” According to an internet guide, one of the major reasons that the Internet is so addicting is the lack of limits and the absence of accountability (“Internet addiction and lack of accountability“. internet-addiction-guide.com. 2010-12-07. Retrieved 2011-07-06).

As internet usage and addiction problems become more widespread, what can we as parents do?

You can have your child take a simple Internet Addiction Test diagnostic quiz developed by Kimberly Young (which is said to be highly effective but which is criticized for not having “been subjected to systematic psychometric testing” …or the Chinese official test which is a lot simpler. Go to this page to administer The Parent-Child IAT by Kimberley Young’s IAT which is more suited for younger children.

Arm yourself with information – a truly excellent guide for parents and guardians by the ZUR Institute is to be found online: “Psychology of the Web & Internet Addiction“.

First, we are advised on how to identify if our child is suffering from such a disorder. According to the psychologists (Hinič, Mihajlovič, Đukič-Dejanovič, Špirič, and Jovanovič), these are the characteristic traits:

(1) The incidence of tolerance (spent more time than before on the Internet);

(2) Withdrawal symptoms (attempted to decrease Internet use and presented anxiety, subjective sense of compulsion, obsessive thoughts and occupation with the Internet, etc);

(3) The incidence of feeling of fatigue and nervousness (when stopping using the Internet will become irritated, so they will access the Internet);

(4) Because of Internet use, there is much risk of loss of significant relationships, occupational and educational opportunities;

(5) There are some problems such as sleeplessness, marital conflicts, employment problems caused by excessive Internet use etc.; and

(6) The Internet is a destressor that allows the user to get away from disturbances such as helplessness, guilt, anxiety and depression

Mark D Griffiths‘ five criteria of Internet addiction are:

Salience: Using the Internet dominates the person’s life, feelings and behaviour.
Mood modification: The person experiences changes in mood (e.g. a ‘buzz’) when using the Internet.
Tolerance: Increasing amounts of Internet use are needed to achieve the same effects on mood.
Withdrawal symptoms: If the person stops using the Internet, they experience unpleasant feelings or physical effects.
Relapse: The addict tends to relapse into earlier patterns of behaviour, even after years of abstinence or control.

Understanding the “impulsivity” of adolescents A 2008 Chinese study titled The relationship between impulsivity and Internet addiction in a sample of Chinese adolescents suggested that adolescents with Internet addiction exhibit more impulsivity than controls and have various comorbid psychiatric disorders. The Internet Addiction group scored higher than the control group on the failure to inhibit responses of GoStop Impulsivity Paradigm (P < 0.05) but had significantly higher scores on the BIS-11 subscales of Attentional key, Motor key, and Total scores than the control group.

Watch out for a high level of depression. A number of studies (see the Whang, Lee & Chang study as well as the questionnaire-based study now show a link between high internet usage and depression - those who regard themselves as dependent on the Internet report high levels of depressive symptoms. According to Kim et al., depression and suicidal tendencies are the highest in IA (reported source).

The same Taiwanese study above suggested a variety of approaches could work in helping internet addicts overcome their addiction, while maintaining their self-esteem. Treatment of addictions could take on individual, group, and family counseling, but some researchers believe group counseling is the most effective. Extracted from the study:

In some researchers’ views, the most effective approach of treatment for internet addiction is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Kim developed some cognitive behavioral approach elements such as time management skills, and teaching reminder cards (how to use such in a group counseling program)….based on ..the five basic needs, total behavior, friendly involvement, and making a plan to treat college students. Kim used the core instructions of choice theory to help clients assert healthy behaviors on the Internet by exploring how they could get their basic needs by requesting information about their actions, wants, self-evaluation plans, and then choosing more effective behaviors. It was found that treatment programs effectively reduced addiction level and promoted self-esteem of college students with Internet addiction.

In constructivist approaches, counselors can work with families to map their perceptions of these situations through narrative construction. They must see the family as a social unit amid concerns that technological, economic and social pressures should affect household functioning. For example, adolescents have computer issues, and these are linked to the parents’ ability to control computer access at home. Counselors can work with families and through providing contextual analyses and support, assist families to reframe their situations. If clients’ technological and environmental contexts under their conditions were include in counseling process, and then this could enhance their insight in problem solving. Constructivist approaches let families get a better sense of their conditions in context, so they prompt cultural and economic changes in order to explore potential solutions.

A multi-level intervention was developed by Shek, Tang, and Lo. The multi-level intervention had following features such as emphasis on healthy use of the Internet, understanding the change process in Internet addiction behavior, a directive, client-centered counseling style, adoption of a family perspective, and a multi-level counseling model (individual, family counseling, and a peer support group).

Corrective strategies for IA, other than counselling, and cognitive behavioural therapy, include the use of content-control software which is designed to control the content permitted to a reader by restricting the material delivered over the Internet via the Web, e-mail, or other means..

If we find the above prescription to be too clinical … on a simpler note, Fighting Online Addiction has these three-pronged tips for us:

Establish House Rules – Set house rules on computer usage duration (i.e. 2 hours a day) to prevent children from spending excessive amounts of time online. Also, homework should be completed before your children are allowed to use the computer for recreation.

Maintain Open Communications – Initiate open and friendly discussions with your children on why house rules are required, and also listen to their concerns and experiences with their online usage and experience.

Have a balanced lifestyle – Engage in other leisure activities, such as sports and outdoor activities or adopt a new hobby, besides spending time on the computer and Internet.

We could also take note of the words of Richard Fernandez, the development director of Google’s “mindfulness” movement that is aimed at teaching employees the risks of becoming overly engaged with their devices and to improve their concentration levels and ability to focus, who says teaching people to occasionally disconnect is vital.

Last but not least, now that mobile phones have gotten “smarter” and are as net-ready and capable as PCs, we are also warned that “mobile email addiction may be considered more prevalent than other technology addictions“.

***

Online game addiction becoming serious problem in Japan By Kay JAPANTODAY Nov. 22, 2012

TOKYO —
People — especially the young — becoming focused on game-playing to the point of obsession is nothing new, but online game addiction appears to be an increasingly serious problem here in Japan.

While cases as extreme as the boy in China addicted to online games who attempted suicide to escape a correctional facility are fortunately (and hopefully) far and few between, a recent article on Yomiuri Online described the dire situation that some online game addicts in Japan find themselves in.

According to the article, the Absentee Students Support Center based in Nagoya reports having received 327 requests for help concerning online game addiction from January to July this year. The National Web Counseling Association also has reportedly received nearly 150 similar requests in the past three years. A hospital in Kanagawa Prefecture famous for its alcoholism treatment program even set up an outpatient program dedicated to Internet addiction in July this year, and since then they have received 85 patients, over 70% of which were junior high or high school students, most of them boys. So, what’s happening to all of these troubled game addicts?

The history of one 19-year old male student residing in Tokyo is recounted in the article. The young man started playing games on his cell phone when he was in junior high school, but what started as an activity to simply pass the time while commuting to school started to gradually change and then eventually control his life.

Even though the games themselves can be played for free, the game service providers make sure that there are ways for players to spend money – several hundred yen for an item here, a thousand yen for a “special power” there. By the time the young man was in high school, he was spending about 80,000 yen a month on online games from his allowance and money earned from part-time jobs. Even when he received the considerable sum of 100,000 yen as “otoshidama,” the New Year’s good luck money customarily given to children on New Year’s Day by family and relatives, the money would be gone within 10 days. Still, being complimented or admired by other players he met online felt so good that he couldn’t stop “investing” in his game.

By the time his parents found out about his excessive gaming, a demand notice for non-payment of 50,000 yen had been sent to his home, and he had spent well over one million yen on online games. He was also chronically late to school from lack of sleep and had lost a noticeable amount of weight as well.

But his story doesn’t end there. After receiving counseling as a high school junior, he did manage to stay away from games for a while, but earlier this year, after he entered a technical college, he found himself addicted once again to a different online game. Now, he has gone back to spending most of his time gaming on his phone and ends up barely getting any sleep some days The sad part is, he himself is acutely aware of the trouble he is in but still can’t stop playing, saying that the future doesn’t hold any hope for him in the real world, while in the virtual world of games, he is able to grow and make steady progress, which allows him to feel a sense of achievement he can’t experience in reality. It’s obvious that people like him need help and support.

Excessive game-playing and related on-line spending has been a topic of concern in Japan for some time now, with cases of young children running huge online bills on their parents’ cell phone accounts being reported in the news from time to time. So much so that the Japanese government, through its Consumer Affairs Agency, has been discussing steps to restrict, if not ban, certain practices common in Japanese online games that allow players to buy a chance to win important items (note: not the actual items but a “chance” to win them), which some people feel is an irresponsible and unethical way to encourage players to keep spending money in hopes of obtaining that coveted item. As one executive of the Agency commented, it probably doesn’t help that “the increasing availability of smartphones is making it easier for everyone to stay online anytime, everywhere”.

In response to public opinion, some of the major social game operators in Japan have implemented measures to restrict on-line spending by players aged 15 or younger to under 5,000 yen per month, but as yet, there are no restrictions on the amount of time a player is allowed to spend on-line.

While social games can be great fun, these stories do serve as a warning that too much fun can have disastrous consequences if it leads to addictive behavior that can’t be stopped — a fate I’m sure we all want to avoid. So, how much time do you spend online?

Source: Yomiuri Online

RocketNews24

External Link: http://en.rocketnews24.com/2012/11/21/online-game-addiction-not-exactly-substance-abuse-but-could-be-becoming-a-serious-problem-in-japan/

Health advisory: The alien poisonous redback spider arrives in Kawasaki … creeping closer to the nation’s capital

November 14, 2012 in 1 | Tags: poisonous creatures, redback spider | Leave a comment

News photo

Keep clear: This poisonous red-back spider was found Monday in Kawasaki. CITY OF KAWASAKI

Red-back spider found in Kawasaki Japan Times Nov. 14, 2012
By JUN HONGO

A poisonous red-back spider was found in the garden of a home in Kawasaki, suggesting the invasive alien arachnid is creeping closer to Tokyo.

The Kawasaki resident found the spider along with an ovisac Monday and used a pesticide on them. The spider was later confirmed to be a red-back, which is listed as an invasive alien species by the government.

The first red-back spider found in Japan turned up in the port of Takaishi, Osaka Prefecture, in 1995, presumably arriving aboard a freighter from Australia.

The National Institute for Environmental Studies has certified that the spider has been located in 18 prefectures since then, but that number is expected to be larger in reality.

“Red-back spiders are pretty harmful,” Masahiro Yoshida, a former Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health senior researcher who now heads the Osaka-based Laboratory of Bio Research, told The Japan Times.

He said the spider’s venom can cause a sudden rise in blood pressure and may be lethal to young children or elderly people with heart conditions.

Red-back bites have caused deaths in Australia, Yoshida added, urging municipal authorities, especially in Tokyo, to be on guard.

“Each local government should have an officer in charge of the extermination of poisonous spiders. They should also educate the public on the dangers” of red-backs, he said. Like many other spider species, female red-backs grow much bigger than males and can reach about 1 cm in size.

The spiders, which are black, have a red blotch on their bodies. Only the females are venomous, according to the Environment Ministry. Red-back spiders are usually found in dark, moist and warm places, including inside gutters.

But when an 86-year-old woman suffered a red-back bite in Fukuoka on Sept. 3, the spider was in her shoe. She was taken to a hospital and recovered after taking a shot of serum.

Most municipalities have posted warnings on their websites that red-backs, while not aggressive, will bite if irritated. One should “trample on the spider with their foot or use pesticide for extermination,” warns Joto Ward, Osaka, on its website.

:::

Deadly red-back spider spreads across Japan October 18, 2012, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

The red-back spider found in Fukuoka city in September (The Asahi Shimbun)

FUKUOKA–A venomous spider endemic to Australia has established colonies across Japan after apparently being brought in on cargo containers.

The red-back spider was first identified in 1995 in Takaishi, Osaka Prefecture, experts say, and by Oct. 1 the spider had reached 22 prefectures, the majority of them in western Japan.

In September, a spider bit a woman in her 80s from the Higashi Ward of Fukuoka city. She suffered breathing difficulties.

While the spiders are not aggressive, the female spider has a virulent poison that can cause spasms and fever. Deaths have been recorded in Australia.

“I have become more aware of whether there are spiders in areas where children play,” said Mikiyasu Koga, 44, who was recently taking his 4-year-old daughter to a park on Higashi Ward’s Island City.

Japan’s Environment Ministry has said the red-back spider is often found near Japanese ports. Officials believe it originally arrived aboard cargo.

The red-back spider was first identified in Fukuoka’s Higashi Ward in 2007 and since then specimens have turned up there every year. But this year saw an increased number of sightings. Last month alone there were 63 recorded sightings, as of Sept. 28.

City officials plan to erect warning signs close to harbor facilities in the neighborhood urging vigilance.

However, city officials say there is no need to panic because the spiders are not aggressive.

“People do not have to become excessively fearful,” said one official.

In June, the red-back was identified for the first time in Shingu, which borders Fukuoka city. In September, one was found near a resident’s front door. That same month, the spiders turned up, too, in Koga, Fukuoka Prefecture, and at the Ground Self-Defense Force Camp Metabaru in Yoshinogari, Saga Prefecture.

Masahiro Yoshida, who heads Osaka-based Ikimono Kenkyusha (“Living Things Research Company”), is a former senior researcher with the Osaka Prefectural Institute of Public Health.

He said red-back spiders prefer temperatures around 25 degrees and often live in ditches or within fence posts. The peak breeding period is summer.

There have been sightings of large numbers at a time. In Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and Kyoto city more than 100 spiders turned up in city parks in September alone, officials said.

“The spiders’ distribution has spread because of Japan’s warm climate and the relatively few natural predators,” said a Fukuoka city government official.

Many local governments seem unprepared to deal with the problem.

After the woman’s bite in Fukuoka, the city’s stores of antitoxin were all found to have had an expired shelf life.

Under the Invasive Alien Species Law, it is Japan’s central government that should take the lead in extermination efforts.

However, an official with the Environment Ministry’s Office of Alien Species Management said, “Our priority is to exterminate those species that damage biodiversity conservation areas, such as national parks.”

For that reason, extermination of the red-back spiders is being left up to local governments.

“One reason for the spread in the spider’s distribution is the haphazard pattern of extermination efforts so far. The spider’s spread could be stopped through a more carefully planned extermination,” said Osaka’s Yoshida.

(This article was written by Taro Ono and Tomoko Yamashita.)

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Advice from the Australian Museum “Redback Spider, Latrodectus hasselti” webpage is as follows:

“Danger to humans and first aid

Redback bites occur frequently, particularly over the summer months. More than 250 cases receive antivenom each year, with several milder envenomations probably going unreported. Only the female bite is dangerous. They can cause serious illness and have caused deaths. However, since Redback Spiders rarely leave their webs, humans are not likely to be bitten unless a body part such as a hand is put directly into the web, and because of their small jaws many bites are ineffective. The venom acts directly on the nerves, resulting in release and subsequent depletion of neurotransmitters.

Common early symptoms are pain (which can become severe), sweating (always including local sweating at bite site), muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting. Antivenom is available. No deaths have occurred since its introduction.

Apply an ice pack to the bitten area to relieve pain. Do not apply a pressure bandage (venom movement is slow and pressure worsens pain). Collect the spider for positive identification. Seek medical attention.” — read more about the medical symptoms and treatment at Wikipedia: Redback spider

Advice from WCH Clinical Toxinology Resources:

1. After ensuring the patient and onlookers are no longer at risk of further bites by the spider, the bitten person should be reassured and persuaded to lie down and remain still. Some will be terrified, fearing sudden death and, in this mood, they may behave irrationally or even hysterically. The basis for reassurance is the fact that many bites do not result in envenoming, death is a very rare outcome, and the effectiveness of modern medical treatment.
2. The bite wound should not be tampered with in any way.
3. Some victims find the application of a local cold pack may relieve local pain.
4. Do not apply a local bandage, tourniquet, or cut or suck or incise the wound or apply electric shock. Application of local heat has not proved beneficial.
5. If there is any impairment of vital functions, such as problems with respiration, airway, circulation, heart function, these must be supported as a priority. In particular, both airway and respiration may be impaired, requiring urgent and prolonged treatment, which may include the mouth to mask (mouth to mouth) technique of expired air transfer. Seek urgent medical attention.
6. If the offending spider has been killed or caught it should be brought with the patient for identification.
7. Avoid peroral intake, other than clear fluids, in the first 6 hours, absolutely no alcohol. No sedatives outside hospital. If there will be considerable delay before reaching medical aid, measured in several hours to days, then give clear fluids by mouth to prevent dehydration.
8. Most traditional, and many of the more recently fashionable, first aid measures are useless and potentially dangerous. These include local cauterization, incision, excision, amputation, suction by mouth, vacuum pump or syringe, combined incision and suction (“venom-ex” apparatus), injection or instillation of compounds such as potassium permanganate, phenol (carbolic soap) and trypsin, application of electric shocks or ice (cryotherapy), use of traditional herbal, folk and other remedies including the ingestion of emetic plant products and parts of the snake, multiple incisions, tattooing and so on.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: THE AGE OF EMPOWERMENT FOR CHILDREN – LISTEN TO CHILDREN NOT WHAT THE MEDIA SAY ABOUT THEM | CHARACTER & NON-COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT MATTERS MORE THAN IQ – PAUL TOUGH

October 26, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

St Barnabas Church of England Primary School, Oxford Photo: Wikimedia

Today’s “food for thought” reading comes from a publication by the Cambridge University, “Children, their world, their education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. ” The Review was the first comprehensive investigation of English primary education in 40 years and while the review was based on UK primary school education, it contained many findings and insights that are relevant for Japanese education as well. The review stated its goals were to clear away the cobwebs created by the scaremongering and myth-making surrounding UK schools … “Primary education suffers more than its fair share of scaremongering and hyperbole, not to mention deliberate myth-making. Standards are rising / standards are plummeting …”.

***

Much the same might be said of the Japanese education system … the frequent MEXT (Ministry of Education,Culture,Sports,Science & Technology in Japan) policy tinkering with the public school system has to do with public perceptions of how Japanese schools fare in international ranking tests, rather with actual insightful examinations and observations of what is actually happening within the Japanese school system or possible flawed structure of and failing or outdated pedagogies undertaken within the Japanese educational system.

A similar indepth review needs to be done of the Japanese public school education system. Japanese children are said to be the unhappiest and most stressed of children in the world despite being in the safest or one of the safest and healthiest of child-raising environments. It is possible that the underlying reasons for their unhappiness is due to their state of and sense of lacking empowerment and control over their education and their futures. The UK and Japan share the same debate over the over-emphasis of standardized testing and exams. The most recent policy initiatives of the Japanese MEXT have resulted in the beefing up of textbooks reported in the press to include so many percent more pages, in an attempt to shore up failing educational standards and sliding academic skills of Japanese children. This approach suggests that children are but blank slates to be filled, or stuffed with more and more learning that is defined as units of information and pages of data in a textbook. .. the more the better. Hence, we suggest here that there is an urgent need to pay attention to the insights provided and approaches suggested in the Cambridge Review – that in part highlighted the problem of the lack of empowerment of children in today’s school systems.

Relevant extracted passages from the Cambridge Primary Review follow on below:

***

Age of empowerment

Listen to children, not what the media say about them

Children today are portrayed as vulnerable innocents – and as celebrity-obsessed couch potatoes. Their teachers are reported as struggling with hazards they cannot contain, standards they cannot uphold and pupils they cannot control.
For most children – and teachers – neither perception is accurate. A minority of young people do endure blighted lives but the cause is not the celebrity culture so much as poverty and prejudice (see page 14). For the rest, the sense of a ‘crisis’ of modern childhood has been overstated.
In terms of health, living standards, public services, educational opportunity, and access to information and entertainment the majority have never had it so good. Despite the media’s erroneous insistence that schools neglect the 3Rs, children in England are perfectly capable of counting their blessings. They were the most upbeat contributors to the Review, their optimism in marked contrast to the pessimism expressed by parents – a perennial tendency of the older generation. Among their assets are their primary schools, shown to be largely happy places that unfailingly seek to celebrate the positive.
Of course, valid concerns remain – about family breakdown, obesity, poor mental health, and lack of space to play. But with so much bleak reporting of childhood, it is important to stress the positive. A recent gain is the growing respect for children as agents, valuable people and citizens in their own right. Children who feel empowered are more likely to be better and happier learners. In recognition of this, the power relations in many schools are beginning to shift, but the picture is still mixed and children are far from uniformly regarded as young citizens with important and insightful things to say about their education. The Review says that the ‘children’s voice’ movement is not a fad, but a trend that needs to become the way of school life (see box).

Key points
• Respect children’s experience, voices and rights. Engage them actively and directly in decisions that affect their learning.
• Build on new research on children’s development, learning, needs and capabilities.
• Ensure that teacher education is fully informed by these perspectives

Many contributors to the Review drew on the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, expressing concern that schools could do more to foster children’s competence, sense of responsibility and self-respect. The UN convention should shape all policies relating to young people, says the Review. The government has correctly put children at the centre of its policies though the temptation to try to control the nature of childhood must be resisted. Childhood is a valuable time in its own right. It is a time to be relished, where the priority must be to strike the right balance between the child’s current needs and building the foundations for future education and employment.
At home, as at school, young people do not want to be over-protected, preferring some independence and choice in relation to their family life. Home is valued as a private place, one where school does not encroach. Yet children spend longer in school and school-related settings than they did 10 years ago, and when they get home they face what is called homework, but is in fact more school work. Many adults worry about the effect of this creeping ‘scholarisation’ on children’s well-being. Some say simply that children have other worthwhile things to do. The desire to keep family and academic life separate leads many children to regard parental involvement in school with unease. Some are wary of a double dose of control; others worry that their parents will not meet with teachers’ approval.
However, while children do not want school to have an open door into home, most are keen that bridges between the two are maintained. And it is vital, says the Review, that the traffic along these bridges flows both ways. Children take valuable understanding and skill into school as well as away from it. Many help out at home and are proud of what they can do in terms of looking after themselves and others. Home is where they first play with toys and friends, and where they first learn about relationships, moral codes and how to be healthy. Schools will benefit greatly from building on the fact that even their youngest children are not blank slates.

***

Cognitive developments
Forget the idea that children’s development advances in fixed stages. Forget right-brain versus left-brain functions. Forget all those learning ‘styles’. Our understanding of children’s cognitive development and learning has grown hugely in recent years and schools can build on this research.
Consider these key findings. First, babies and young children learn, think and reason in all the same ways as adults – what they lack is the experience to make sense of what they find. Second, their learning depends on the development of multi-sensory networks of neurons distributed across the whole brain. In other words, watching an ice cube melt may stimulate neurons in networks concerned with seeing, deducing, remembering and moving. Third, children learn from every experience, their brains distributing the information across these networks, with stronger ‘representations’ of what the experiences have in common. Fourth, the biological, social, emotional and intellectual aspects of learning are inextricably interwoven. Fifth, even the most basic learning relies on effective linguistic and social interaction with parents, teachers and other children. And finally, children, like most humans, tend to interpret the world in line with their own explanations as to why things happen.

Teachers who want to exploit these developments enhance children’s learning with collaboration, challenge and purposeful talk. The ways in which teachers talk to children, ideally amplifying and elaborating their comments, can enhance learning, memory, understanding and motivation. Providing a diversity of experiences strengthens children’s multi-sensory neural networks and also helps them modify their understanding of the world and become better at reflecting on their observations.
Creative activities, the decline of which concerned many witnesses to the Review, raise the quality and capacity of children’s thinking, perseverance and problem-solving abilities, as well as fuelling their imaginations. Children are very competent and capable learners – given the right linguistic and social environment. We are now better informed than ever as to what that environment should contain.

Other insights from the review that pinpoint what empowers children in education:

“Creativity and imaginative activity must inform teaching and learning across the curriculum.”- p. 24

“Literacy empowers children, excites their imaginations and widens their worlds. Oracy must have its proper place in the language curriculum. Spoken language is central to learning, culture and life, and is much more prominent in the curricula of many other countries.
It no longer makes sense to pay attention to text but ignore txt. While ICT reaches across the whole curriculum, it needs a particular place in the language component. It is important to beware of the perils of unsavoury content and long hours spent staring at screens, but the more fundamental task is to help children develop the capacity to approach electronic media (including television and film) with the same degree of discrimination and critical awareness as for reading and writing.
Therefore it demands as much rigour as the written and spoken word. The Review disagrees with the Rose report’s decision to establish ICT as a separate core ‘skill for learning and life,’ especially in the light of some neuroscientists’ concerns about the possible adverse effects of overexposure to screen technologies.

Placing it in the language component enables schools to balance and explore relationships between new and established forms of communication, and to maintain the developmental and educational primacy of talk.
Every school should have a policy for language across the curriculum.
If language unlocks thought, then thought is enhanced and challenged when language in all its aspects is pursued with purpose and rigour in every educational context. Language should have a key place in all eight
domains and children should learn about the uses of language in different disciplines.” – pp 24-25

“…concern for children’s emotional health and wider well-being needs to pervade the entire curriculum.

On the role and importance of the humanities for a child’s self-identity and understanding of his/her place in the world :

“This includes how history shapes culture, events, consciousness and identity and its contribution to our understanding of present and future. It includes the geographical study of location, other people, other places and human interdependence, locally, nationally and globally. Like the arts, the humanities need proper public and political recognition of their importance to children’s understanding of who they are, of change and continuity, cause and consequence, of why society is arranged as it is, and of the interaction of mankind and the physical environment. This domain may include anthropology and other human sciences. It is central to the aims of respect and reciprocity, interdependence and sustainability, local, national and global citizenship, and culture and community.

This includes the exploration and understanding of science and the workings of the physical world, together with human action on the physical world and its consequences. Although science is currently a core
subject, Review evidence shows that it has been increasingly squeezed out by testing and the national strategies …”

There are other valuable comments made that are really pertinent for the conventional Japanese classroom and top-down teaching method, I particularly like the ones about the need for dialogue with the child, to connect the child with the community that I like about the Cambridge Review Report:

“No classroom layout can, of itself, raise the quality of interaction and research shows that in many classrooms traditional exchanges have survived the many organisational changes. Pupils compete for the attention of teachers who ask ‘closed’ questions. Answers are brief, usually only proving a child can recall what they have just been told and feedback is minimal. Cognitive challenge is low and talk remains a vehicle for the transmission of facts rather than the simulation of thought. Yet talk – at home, in school, among peers – is education at its most elemental and potent. It is the aspect of teaching which has arguably the greatest influence on learning. Hence the Review has nominated classroom interaction as the aspect of pedagogy which most repays investment by teachers and those who support them.

An increasing number of local authorities and schools are exploring the true potential of talk. Certainly teaching which is ‘dialogic’ – where classrooms are full of debate and discussion that is collective, reciprocal, supportive, cumulative, critical and purposeful – can only be seen as the antithesis of any ‘state theory of learning’ and indeed as its antidote. In promoting its value the Review builds on a vast body of research.
As the old assumptions about where authority should lie in a school are being challenged and knowledge has been democratised by the internet, there is a recognition that transmission teaching, top-down school organisation and government micro-management of the classroom are simply no longer appropriate.”

The Review is also helpful in identifying (what is one of Japanese schooling’s great strengths):

Good teachers:
what they have in common …
• Secure knowledge of what is to be taught and learned.
• Command of a broad repertoire of teaching strategies and skills.
• Understanding of the evidence in which the repertoire is grounded.
• Broad principles of effective learning and teaching derived from the above.
• Judgement to weigh up needs and situations, apply the principles and deploy the repertoire appropriately.
• A framework of educational aims and values to steer and sustain the whole.

Children, as revealed by the Review’s 87 regional consultations, are interested in pedagogy. They said that good teachers are those who:
• ‘Really know their stuff’ (what researchers refer to as pedagogical content knowledge).
• ‘Explain things in advance so you know what a lesson is about’ (advance cognitive organisation).
• ‘Make sure it’s not in too big steps’ (graduated instruction).
• ‘Give us records of what we learn’ (formative feedback)

Also, the Review while noting that teacher “Excellence includes much artistry, flexibility and originality”, it made key recommendations related to teacher training by the Review including:

• Refocus initial training on childhood, pedagogy,
curriculum knowledge and wider questions of value and
purpose.

• Train for critical engagement, not mere compliance

• Balance clear frameworks for inexperienced and less able
teachers with freedom for the experienced and respect for
the idiosyncrasy of the truly talented.

Read the entire Cambridge Primary Review Report here.

***

The other very valuable reading on educational success, to which we were clued into by members of our online community (discussion forum) — has come from Paul Tough who authored the book “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character” (reviewed by NY Times)

The transcript of his views in a radio program broadcast “This American Life” provides a summary view of his novel approach to education by focusing on the non-cognitive developmental aspects that are important in generating success in educating children, read the transcript of the broadcast here or listen to the radio program podcast here.

EDU WATCH: Nobel prize winner Shinya Yamanaka and Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki of Kyoto University…and 12-year-old Tomoki Kai share the educational spotlight; Todai ranked Asia’s best university; Bullies to face suspension in Osaka schools…

October 9, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

Welcome to our regular wrap on the news on the educational scene, both local and global.

First up, we’ll take the pulse of the educational scene here in Japan:

12-year-old becomes youngest to pass weather forecaster test in Japan (News On Japan via Mainichi – Oct 07, 2012)
“A 12-year-old junior high school student from Aichi Prefecture has become the youngest person ever to pass the test for certified weather forecasters in Japan, the examiner said Friday.

Tomoki Kai, a first-year student at Aichi Kyoikudai Fuzoku Nagoya Junior High School in Nagoya who is 12 years and 11 months old, broke the previous record of 13 years and 7 months set in March 2009, according to the Japan Meteorological Business Support Center.

Tomoki said he developed an interest in weather-related phenomena around the time he was in kindergarten, adding, “(They’re) interesting as they change moment to moment as seen in the rapid development of cumulonimbus clouds.”

He said he would like to become a Japan Meteorological Agency official or a university researcher in the future… Out of 3,986 applicants, 167 passed the exam held Aug. 26.”

Yamanaka, Gurdon win Nobel prize in medicine for work on iPS cells (Japan times, Oct 9, 2012) Kyodo, AP

“STOCKHOLM — Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University and John Gurdon of Britain have jointly won this year’s Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for development of a multipurpose stem cell that has the potential to grow into any type of body tissue, the award-giving body said Monday.

Yamanaka and Gurdon discovered that mature and specialized cells “can be reprogrammed to become immature cells capable of developing into all tissues of the body,” the Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute said.

“Their findings have revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop,” it said. The iPS cells are believed to have great potential for regenerative medicine and development of new drugs.

Gurdon, 79, head of the Gurdon Institute of Cambridge University, discovered in 1962 that the specialization of cells is reversible — the initial step for the discovery by the two scientists that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

More than 40 years later Yamanaka, a professor at Kyoto University, successfully produced induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, from mice in 2006 and from human skin cells in 2007.

Yamanaka, 50, is the first Japanese winner of the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine since Susumu Tonegawa won in 1987 for his discovery of the genetic principle for the generation of antibody diversity.

Yamanaka was given the coveted prize only six years after the announcement of his development of the iPS cells.

“From now on, I’d like to make a contribution to society in a real sense. I feel a great sense of responsibility,” Yamanaka said at a news conference in Kyoto. “I want to use our medical breakthrough for medical purposes.”

A native of Osaka Prefecture and a graduate of Kobe University, Yamanaka has received a number of awards for his achievements, most recently this year’s Millennium Technology Prize given by a Finnish academy.

He currently heads Kyoto University’s Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, and the International Society for Stem Cell Research. …” Read the rest of the article here.

Japanese mathematician offers solution to important number theory (Mainichi, Sep 19, 2012)

“Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki at Kyoto University has released a document on the Internet that claims to provide proof for the abc conjecture in number theory, said to be the most important unresolved problem in modern mathematics, causing a stir among peers.
The abc conjecture provides immediate proofs for other theorems including even Fermat’s famous last theorem, a vexing issue in number theory that took roughly 350 years to be demonstrated, and Mochizuki’s 500-page document, if it withstands scrutiny, will represent “one of the most astounding achievements of mathematics of the 21st Century,” Dorian Goldfeld, a mathematician at Columbia University in New York, was quoted as saying by Nature magazine in its Sept. 10 online edition.
The abc conjecture, proposed by European mathematicians in 1985, is about a simple equation of three integers — described as mathematical variables a, b and c, where a + b = c, and considers each number’s prime factors, which can be divided by 1 or themselves. …” – End of excerpt, read the rest of the article here…

Univ. of Tokyo ranked Asia’s No. 1, other Japanese schools (Mainichi, Oct 04)

The University of Tokyo was once again crowned Asia’s best university in an annual global league table released Wednesday, while other Japanese institutions slipped down the rankings.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings places the university in 27th place — up from 30th last year — in a table of the world’s top 200 establishments.
However, the four other Japanese universities in the top 200 fell behind on last year. Kyoto University dropped from 52nd to 54th, the Tokyo Institute of Technology moved from 108th to 128th, Tohoku University went down from 120th to 137th, and Osaka University fell from 119th to 147th. That said, Japan has more universities in the top 200 than any other Asian nation.

Phil Baty, the report’s editor, told Kyodo News the declines are due to several factors including the rise of other Asian nations, particularly China and Taiwan, and also the failure of Japanese universities to adopt a more international outlook

A Tokyo University Looks to Foreign Students to Raise Its Profile (NY Times, Oct 8, 2012) Excerpted below:
As Japan becomes less of a player on the world stage, the University of Tokyo is trying to strengthen its reputation as a globally relevant institute of higher learning.
Prospective students have long needed strong Japanese-language skills to do well at the university, which was founded 135 years ago, but that is beginning to change with the introduction of an undergraduate degree program taught in English.

The program, PEAK, for Programs in English at Komaba (Komaba being the name of the campus in Tokyo), is the university’s first four-year undergraduate curriculum where all courses required for graduation can be taken in English.

“We wanted to remove the language barrier so we can tap the pool of top talent out there in the world,” said Yujin Yaguchi, associate professor of American studies and the chairman of PEAK.

Driving such a move, which Mr. Yaguchi said was “unthinkable” 10 to 15 years ago, is the sense that Todai, as the university is commonly called in Japan, might be falling in international rankings, particularly behind top counterparts in Asia.

“There are problems with the way the ranking is done, but the university’s leadership is not ignorant of the ranking, either,” Dr. Yaguchi said.

The new degree program in English, Mr. Yaguchi said, raises Todai’s visibility in the international education marketplace and plugs the university into the stream of top talent looking for opportunities worldwide.

“I visit university fairs around the world, and there are great talents emerging from high schools around the world,” Mr. Yaguchi said.

Those students tend to be drawn to top colleges and universities, he said, adding, “We want them to include University of Tokyo as a possible choice.”

Many high school graduates from South Korea and China, proficient in Japanese, are bound for Todai, but the talent pool is limited to a few Asian countries.

“We wanted to diversify our international student body” to include people from other regions, Mr. Yaguchi said.

The 27 incoming PEAK students, who finished their entrance ceremony on Oct. 1, arrived from 11 countries including Australia, Britain, Finland, Poland, the United States and Vietnam.

Bryan Kuek, a Singaporean, said he never imagined that he would attend Todai because “I thought they teach only in Japanese.” But he was browsing the Todai’s Web site and noticed information that said the university was introducing a program entirely in English. “I got interested in the chance of becoming the pioneering batch,” he said. “And this university is very prestigious, so that is a plus point.”

The new group of international students adds less than 1 percent to the freshman class of 3,000. But expectations are high among top officials at the university.

Increasing the flow of international students and researchers and “enhancing diversity in our student body is high on the agenda for the university,” said Masako Egawa, executive vice president for international affairs. PEAK will add to the dynamism of student flow, both in and out, she said. …

Students who speak English will be able to take an array of classes during their first two years, including physics, mathematics, philosophy, linguistics and economics. They will then proceed to a major in one of two fields during their third and fourth years: environmental science or East Asian studies, with a particular focus on Japan.

About three-quarters of the students are eligible for a full-tuition waiver and a monthly living allowance. Tuition is ¥535,800 annually, or about $6,800, plus a one-time admission fee of ¥282,000.”

International Education Fair October 14th, and October 16th in Tokyo and Osaka

September 21, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

International Education Fair – UK/USA/Australia

Website: http://www.beo.co.jp/fair/english/ for Japanese website click here

This is the only event in Japan for people planning to go and study at a university, college, language school, or boarding school in the USA, the UK, Australia or Canada. The beo Fair will be attended by leading schools from around the world.

International Education Fair Japanese website

Meet and discuss with school representatives, instructors, and professors!

You will get the latest information which is not on the brochures or websites, including the atmosphere of the school and the specific information you want.

Apply for courses directly at the Fair!

You will be able to apply to university, college, language, and boarding school programmes at the Fair. Experienced, professional staff will help with your application documents.

TOKYO

Date: Sunday, October 14, 2012

Time: 13:00 – 18:00

Location: Sunsky Room, 30F Shinjuku L Tower
Address: 1-6-1 Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 163-1590, JAPAN
Access: 2 min. walk from JR Shinjuku Station (West Gate)

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OSAKA

Date: Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Time: 16:30 – 20:30

Location: Herbis Hall, B-2 Herbis Osaka
Address: 2-5-25, Umeda, Kita-ku, Osaka, 530-0001 ,Japan
Access: [Private railway] 6 min. walk from Hanshin Umeda Station (West Gate) / [JR] 7 min. walk from JR Osaka Station (Sakurabashi Gate) / [Subway] 6 min. walk from Umada Station (North Gate) on the Yotsubashi Line

Follow on to the beo website link for access maps, school list information and pre-registration forms

Resources and readings on the current flashpoint issue

September 18, 2012 in 1 | Tags: education, history, politics | Leave a comment

“The Sino-Japanese dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands is not single or simple as it itself may indicate. Instead, it is a multifaceted and complicated issue. The complexity of the dispute lies not only in its multiple and interrelated foci such as its ownership, its return, and the demarcation of Sino-Japanese maritime boundary, but also in its entanglement with other problems in bilateral relations, both China and Japan’s domestic politics, and their respective broad foreign relations as well.

Since the disagreements between China and Japan over the islands are too complex to be reduced to a single cause and both sides prefer to attach great significance to their claims to the disputed islands due to their security, economic, and political implications, the claimants find great difficulties in coping with this issue. Although the dispute has not led to direct military conflict between the parties involved, neither side can afford to relax its vigilance. The governments have been at pains to downplay the issue, keep the dispute as low-key as possible, and prevent the trouble from deteriorating bilateral relations. But they are at the mercy of domestic and international political factors beyond their immediate control.”

– ZHONGQI PAN, “Sino-Japanese Dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: The Pending Controversy from the Chinese Perspective“

Following on below, this resource seeks to provide a collection of different analyses, theories, positions and various interpretations and approaches taken by the various engaged and affected parties on the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands Dispute.

These sorts of issues complicated and multifaceted and wrapped up in historical tit-for-tats as they are, always make me think of Robert Fulghum’s poem in his book “ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN (a guide for Global Leadership)” which advocates that grownups and leaders would abide by the simple rules that we teach our kids in a sandbox or playground and resolve their differences in more mature ways without resorting to violence…to which I would add, try and stand in the other person’s shoes. An excerpt of his famous words follows:

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.

These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.

Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.

Source: “ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN” by Robert Fulghum . See his web site at http://www.robertfulghum.com/

Resources and background readings on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute:

For breaking news see this page.

Disputed islands

Nationalism stokes island disputes around Asia

Shilling for our side over the Senkakus Truth becomes the first casualty as Japan faces big trouble over little islands in the East China Sea has different points of view (Japan Times)

Japanese gov. position vs The Chinese gov. position

Japan and China: Barren Rocks, barren nationalism and Q&A: China islands row provides historical context. GlobalSecurity.org’s analysis on Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands issue has one of most detailed briefs online, and also mentions the political machinations on both sides as well as the discovery of greater oil reserves than earlier thought as a possible reason for the escalation of tensions and claims. JapanFocus.org’s The China-Japan Clash Over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands also has detailed background and motivations behind the regional rivalries over barren rocks.

HistoryToday’s Senkaku/Diaoyu: Islands of Conflict is a good brief commentary Chinese Sinocentric worldview and why it ignores generally accepted international law interpretations/practices. Sino-Japanese Disputes over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: The Pending Controversy from the Chinese Perspective is an excellent paper on the Chinese stakes on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands sovereignty issue

Outrage to a point The Economist blog

Dangerous Waters - By Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt
Why China’s dispute with Japan is more dangerous than you think. 09/17/201

The US’ on the US position: Rising tensions in the East China Sea | Avoiding escalation and Banyan: Too small an ocean; also Senkaku Islands Dispute

Foreign Policy magazine’s Trouble in the South China Sea – By Bonnie Glaser shows Chinese not willing to play fair nor honor their verbal agreements

The role of international law and importance of EEZ to Japan see Islands Apart, Make Law not War, The Senkaku/Daioyu Islands Dispute (old 1996) and Lines of Latitude by Cohen, Van Dyke and Tkacik (NYU School of Law). The current Chinese political position appears to have shifted from the position taken in this paper Explaining Stability in the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands Dispute.

Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: A Comparative Analysis of the South China Sea with the East China Sea (Journal of Current Chinese Affairs 2/2011: 165-193 ) This article systematically compares maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. It draws on the bargaining model of war and hegemonic stability theory to track the record of conflicts and shifts in the relative power balances of the claimants and calls for a differentiated methodological approach to devise strategies to mediate and resolve the disputes.

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EDU WATCH: School bullying problem holds the media spotlight this summer

August 23, 2012 in 1 | 3 comments

Dear Readers,

Edu Watch is back! Rounding up the news on education over the summer holidays for you now … here we go:

Here in Japan, the Otsu school bullying incident has taken centerstage in the past months, with public opinion and criticism forcing the police, education board, government to take a proactive stance and to redress the bullying problem in Japan. The spotlight on bullying has encouraged more aggrieved parties to step up so that More bullying victims turning to police to file criminal charges (Japan Today). The story is excerpted below:

“Police have been called in to take action in 11 cases of bullying nationwide in the past month, according to the National Police Agency.

The filing of criminal charges by bullying victims is believed to be the result of a high-profile case in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, in which three bullies were blamed for the suicide of a 13-year-old boy last October. More victims have started to speak out against their tormentors now that bullying has become a national talking point.

Public broadcaster NHK reported that in the past month, police were consulted on bullying that included victims suffering broken bones and cases in which photos and video of acts of violence were posted online.

In the most recent case, a junior high school boy in Tokyo filed criminal charges against his classmates after he sustained broken ribs in a bullying incident. In other cases, a high school boy in Sendai sustained 20 cigarette burns to his arms, and a junior high school boy reportedly took a video of himself bullying a primary school boy in Hyogo and uploaded it to the Internet. The video was viewed around 180,000 times, NHK reported.

Last month, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced plans to conduct a nationwide survey of all public elementary and junior high schools in an attempt to ascertain the prevalence and nature of bullying in the nation’s public schools.

On Aug 2, the ministry also launched a taskforce dedicated to supporting schools as part of its drive to stamp out bullying.

The taskforce consists of staff from departments currently dealing with bullying, national educational policy researchers and experts from the National Police Agency.”

:::

A Yomiuri editorial article highlights the perceived problems with education boards and why they have been powerless to prevent or resolve the bullying problem:

Education boards must improve their responses to bullying (Aug.3, 2012 Yomiuri)

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry has set up a new office specializing in bullying issues in response to a case in which a second-year middle school student committed suicide in Otsu last October.

In addition, two other serious middle school bullying cases have recently been revealed–one in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, and the other in Neyagawa, Osaka Prefecture–both of which resulted in severe injuries to the bullied students.

Bullying-related issues continue to appear. We urge the ministry to make effective use of the new office to deter bullying, which causes serious suffering to children.

The new office, established Wednesday, comprises about 20 officials, including some from the National Police Agency. When serious bullying cases are revealed or students commit suicide as a result of bullying, the office is supposed to provide schools and boards of education with instructions and advice regarding how to probe such cases and prevent their recurrence.

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Ministry’s commitment needed

The ministry used to leave how to respond to bullying cases up to schools and boards of education whenever they came to light. It can be said that the ministry has responded slowly to bullying issues so far even though it is aware of the overall trend of bullying nationwide.

Setting up the new office suggests that the ministry has concluded it would be difficult to solve bullying cases as long as it leaves them up to schools and boards of education.

It is necessary for the ministry to gather information related to bullying and establish a framework that will allow it to swiftly respond to emergency cases.

It is also important for the ministry to dispatch experts to schools and boards of education to give them appropriate advice on preventing children from killing themselves.

It would, however, be unreasonable to expect the ministry to directly respond to every single bullying case. Only schools and boards of education are responsible for dealing with the issue firsthand.

The Otsu case has revealed how dysfunctional the city’s board of education was in responding to the problem. Reforming education boards is an urgent task.

The Otsu Municipal Board of Education rushed to wrap up its investigation even though many students at the public school the boy attended told how he was bullied when the board surveyed them following his suicide.

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Board showed no understanding

Members of the board, moreover, reportedly did not raise any questions or express any opinions regarding the case during their regular meetings following the suicide. The board did not show that it understood the seriousness of the case or that it was committed to probing the cause of the suicide.

This seriously calls into question whether boards of education are really necessary.

It has long been said that boards of education–most of whose members are appointed from among local communities–lack substance. Although the boards are independent from the heads of local governments, it is often the case that the majority of board members simply rubber-stamp decisions made by their secretariats, which handle practical affairs.

Many boards of education have former teachers as their superintendents–the heads of the secretariats. A common criticism is that such superintendents fail to respond properly when problems arise because they feel camaraderie with the teachers involved.

Some observers strongly feel that boards of education are unnecessary. Some heads of local governments insist that it should be up to them to decide whether to even have such boards, in light of moves toward the decentralization of power.

Should boards of education be left as they are? It is necessary for the ministry to review the system.

:::

Education board’s response to suicide mustn’t be overlooked (Yomiuri Shimbun, July 12, 2012): “… The education board’s handling of the boy’s suicide was utterly slipshod. The board apparently lacks a sense of responsibility in confronting school bullying.

Otsu Mayor Naomi Koshi admitted earlier this month that the education board’s probe was flawed and has decided to launch a new investigation into the boy’s suicide. This is a reasonable move.

The new investigation will be conducted by an independent expert panel. Why did the people concerned fail to prevent the suicide? Did the education board and the school attempt to cover up information unfavorable to them? We want the panel to thoroughly clear up such questions.

The student’s parents have filed a lawsuit against the Otsu city government and others, seeking damages. The city has denied a direct link between the bullying and the suicide, but the mayor has indicated the city may seek to settle. Koshi reportedly intends to ask for the suit to be discontinued or suspended for the time being….

Police’s response questionable

Questions also have been raised over the police’s response to the incident.

After the student’s death, his father tried three times to submit an offense report to police, but the Shiga prefectural police did not accept it, saying it was difficult to determine whether this was a criminal case. The police should be criticized for their hesitancy in uncovering the truth behind the suicide.

The prefectural police finally set up a special team and searched the education board’s offices and the middle school on Wednesday.”

:::

Bullying back in focus, answers far off (Japan Times, Aug 17, 2012) Excerpted below:

“…. The number of reported cases of bullying in elementary, junior high and high schools fell from 124,898 in fiscal 2006 to 77,630 in 2010, a decline of some 62 percent, according to the education ministry. Yet deaths like the one in Otsu continue year after year.

Analysts say bullying is present in all societies and can’t be completely eradicated. But they add that an escalation can be prevented by a more drastic approach to fundamentally alter classroom environments.

Asao Naito, an associate professor at Meiji University who has researched the issue for decades, said the current school system, under which 30 to 40 students are jammed into a single homeroom for the entire day, is behind the problem.

Unlike secondary schools in the United States and Britain, where students move from classroom to classroom every period for different subjects, teachers in Japan’s junior high schools are the ones who are constantly on the go, based on the daily schedule.

By abolishing this system at junior high and some high schools and reporting cases of abuse to police, the incidence of abuse could be greatly reduced, according to Naito, who has interviewed many alleged bullies since the early 1990s during his research.

“Students are put into a homeroom and forced to spend most of the day with the same classmates in a confined space. In an environment where students are forced to spend almost all their time together, they live under their own set of rules that aren’t always acceptable in society,” he said.

Students tend to simply go along with the general atmosphere in the classroom and follow their classmates’ lead to avoid standing out, Naito said, and if bullying is prevalent, then that is perceived as the normal course of action.

Even teachers are susceptible to the general mood of a class and can lose their usual sense of perspective, as was the case in a well-known tragedy that took place in 1986 at a junior high school in Tokyo.

In that incident, the bullying of Hirofumi Shikagawa, 13, escalated from being ordered to run errands to physical abuse and so-called funeral play, in which his classmates treated him as dead and placed flowers along with his portrait on the boy’s desk. As part of the funeral play, even teachers wrote messages in a tribute “commemorating” his death, along with the students. Shikagawa hanged himself later that year, leaving a note describing his torment.

“The important thing is to teach your children that they are placed in a restricted space” and need to understand societal rules outside the school’s boundaries, Naito argued.

He said physical abuse can be significantly cut by reporting incidents to the police, adding that both teachers and students have traditionally refrained from notifying the authorities because they consider their school a sacred community.

But without intervention by the police, students will obey whichever student calls the shots, often resulting in bullying of a classmate escalating, according to Naito.

“They should let students understand that if they engage in violence at school, they will be punished just like they would be on the outside, including being arrested or standing trial,” he said.

When it comes to emotional and mental bullying, including ignoring or mocking the victims, Naito said that unless the homeroom system is replaced with a credit-based system that gives students the choice to move to different classrooms, like at universities, the problem won’t be eradicated.
A response to a poll conducted among the students reads “funeral play,” backing claims the victim was made to “practice” killing himself.
“There would be little chance for emotional abuse if there were no longer any fixed classrooms. . . . Think of a university: Even if you want to mentally abuse someone by ignoring them, it doesn’t work and you simply end up not being friends with that person,” Naito said.

“But at schools where students have no option but to try to get along with everyone, they lose the ability to control their emotional distance from their classmates. . . . When this ability is lost, mean words and giggling can hurt students by 100, 200 or even 1,000 times more than when the victims are in a normal mental state.”

Read related article: Free schools a haven for kids who don’t fit in

Education board slammed over student’s suicide (Jul 12, Yomiuri)
An Otsu middle school and the city’s education board have come under scathing criticism for not preventing or properly investigating the death of a 13-year-old student who leaped to his death after he was routinely bullied–and reportedly even forced to practice killing himself.

The city of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, reversed its stance Tuesday and said bullying was behind the suicide last year of a junior high school student.
“At this point, the city is (prepared) to admit a causal link between the bullying and the suicide,” an attorney of the municipal government told the Otsu District Court at the second session of the lawsuit filed by the parents of the 13-year-old victim against the city and the alleged bullies, a case that put the boy’s school under the national spotlight.
“We intend to proceed with negotiations for an amicable settlement,” the lawyer said.

Related article links: In Otsu now admits bullying led student to kill himself (Japan Times, Jul 18) the city of Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, reversed its stance Tuesday and said bullying was behind the suicide last year of a junior high school student. ; Shiga cops stop rebuffing suicide victim’s father (Japan Times, Jul 12); Otsu junior high teachers discussed possible bullying shortly before boy killed himself ; Shiga police search school, city office over suicide of bullied boy (Asahi); The Otsu school principal apologizes for not taking action over bullying (Japan Today) The principal of the school in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, where a 13-year-old boy was repeatedly bullied before killing himself, on Saturday apologized for not taking action over bullying; Youth tries to murder Otsu head of schools (Japan Times); Otsu school principal apologizes for not taking action over bullying (Jul 15, Japan Today) The principal of the school in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, where a 13-year-old boy was repeatedly bullied before killing himself, on Saturday apologized for not taking action over bullying. ..The principal said that the school failed in its responsibility to protect students and that teachers should have followed up on the first report of bullying, Fuji TV reported.

Report: Middle school students biggest bullies (Yomiuri, Aug 10, 2012)

Middle school pupils accounted for about 80 percent of all students charged with bullying at schools in the first half of 2012, a National Police Agency survey showed Thursday.

The number of middle school students arrested, taken into custody or given warnings by police for bullying from January to June totaled 103, compared to 13 for high school students and nine for elementary school pupils.

The total of 125 was up 38 from a year before, according to the report.

Of the students involved, 118 were categorized as bullies, while seven were classified as victims taking revenge. The report showed 61 students, or 51.7 percent, were charged on suspicion of inflicting injury. Nineteen students were charged with extortion or blackmail, 16 with assault and seven with forced sexual contact.

School bullies need to take responsibility for their actions (Japan Times) examines the fixation with suicide, role of responsibility, remorse and hansei for bullies and their families in bullying incidents: “Shukan Shincho is surprised to see no sign of hansei (反省, repentance) in the three alleged ringleaders. Quite the contrary, their families seem to be on the offensive. “

Bullying inquiries increase sharply (Japan Times)

Kyodo OTSU, Shiga Pref. — Phone inquiries to a government contact number for victims of bullying have increased sharply since it was reported earlier this month that bullying may have been behind a boy’s suicide last year in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, officials said Thursday.

There were 1,191 calls to the education ministry hotline in the 13 days from July 4, against the usual monthly figure of around 1,000, the officials said.

The ministry set up the contact number for inquiries about bullying in 2007 in response to the suicide of a junior high school student the previous year in Fukuoka Prefecture that was linked to bullying. Calls to the contact number — 0570-0-78310 — are transferred to local boards of education, with board officials or psychotherapists on standby 24 hours a day….

Monster parents make matters worse for their children and teachers (Japan Times, Aug 19)

In the West they hover and swoop. In Japan they stalk and are known to strike. We all have them and some of us have been them. And in recent years the media, both social and antisocial, have put them under the magnifying glass of criticism. They — or we — are parents. To be specific, helicopter parents in the English-speaking world; monsutā pearento, or monster parents, to the Japanese. These are the mothers and fathers of CWKs (Closely Watched Kids). The Chinese call them monster parents too. Leave it to them to have their own website: monsterparent.com. …Read the rest of the article here.

Govt team to help schools to fight bullying problems (Yomiuri, Jul 24)
A series of suicides related to bullying has prompted the education ministry to form a new team tasked with helping schools combat the problem, which shows no signs of ending.
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Minister Hirofumi Hirano said Sunday that the envisaged team will provide schools and boards of education nationwide with professional advice and guidelines on how to deal with bullying. The team will be set up as early as August.
The team will be the ministry’s first specialized body to deal with problems associated with bullying. The ministry is concerned that there seems to be no end to bullying-related suicides, and plans to strengthen efforts to prevent and combat bullying.

Kindergarten teachers to get easier exam to obtain nursery license (Japan Times, Jul 18)

The welfare ministry plans to help kindergarten teachers get a nursery teacher license by allowing them to take an easier certification exam, as a new type of merged child-care facility is expected to increase and having both certificates will be necessary.
The preferential treatment for kindergarten teachers will start no later than fiscal 2015, according to government sources.
Under a draft plan for new child-rearing support system to be introduced possibly the same year, the government aims to increase the number of the new facilities that integrate the functions of kindergartens and day care centers to cope with the serious shortage of nurseries.

On the university scene …moves to internationalize, produce more bilingual, more multicultural graduates coming from newly formed universities, but foiled by resistance to change faculty and administrators of older established institutions Japanese universities go global but slowly (NYTimes, Jul 29)

Speaking of reforming Japanese universities(Daily Yomiuri Online, 7/5/2012)
“A survey of Japanese university presidents has confirmed what many of us have long known, “the puny amount of hours studied by students and their minimal achievements at university [needs] to be addressed urgently.” Admitting a problem is the first step toward solving it.

What makes teaching college here so difficult for many of us foreigners is that we know the system is fatally flawed but we aren’t able to do anything about it. I never could understand why a form-over-substance college experience could possibly be good for the students or the country. Nor could I grasp the logic in the oft repeated excuse that Japanese companies do extensive on-the-job training, so college isn’t important. Training to be a bank teller, for example, is not the equivalent of a real college education. And why not have both good college education and good OTJ training programs? Do they need to be mutually exclusive?”

University of Tokyo plans ‘elite ‘ linguistic education (Yomiuri, Jul. 13, 2012)

The University of Tokyo will establish a new course for the 2013 academic year to cultivate students with advanced linguistic skills, with the aim of nurturing future Asian leaders.

After selecting students through gauges including Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which measures the English skills needed for study abroad, the university will provide an “elite” linguistic education, including lectures in English and dispatching students to summer schools at universities overseas.

The new course, “Global Leadership Program,” will select about 300 students from the annual intake of 3,000. During freshmen and sophomore years, when students are required to take liberal arts courses, the 300 selected students will take intensive courses in a foreign language in addition to English class. About 50 of them will be dispatched to summer schools in the United States, China and other countries.

In their junior year or later, about 100 students will have the opportunity to study at universities or experience internships at companies overseas.

Classes at the University of Tokyo for all departments, such as philosophy and environment, will be held in English in principle.

The university’s aim is to equip students with the problem-solving ability and global mind-set required of leaders.

Besides nurturing students with linguistic skills, the university is considering utilizing TOEFL as part of its second round of entrance exams or to reform the entrance exam system to take the experience of studying abroad into consideration.

Most teachers against fall enrollment (Japan Times)

Around 60 percent of high school teachers remain negative about a proposal for universities to switch undergraduate enrollment from spring to autumn, a survey by an education-related information provider showed Thursday.

While several universities are studying the proposal, made by the University of Tokyo, to shift the start of the academic year to conform with the international norm, the survey by Sanpou showed a cautious view among high schools.

The survey collected responses from guidance counselors at 223 high schools in the Tohoku, Kanto and Kinki regions.

Among the respondents, 60 percent expressed opposition to autumn enrollment, while 14 percent were in favor of a complete shift to autumn. The remaining 26 percent said they were in favor of mixed spring and fall enrollment.

Some teachers said it would be problematic to switch to autumn enrollment without changing spring enrollment and graduation for elementary, junior high and high schools, while others warned that a six-month window between high school graduation and college entrance could lower students’ enthusiasm for learning.

High schoolers win intl math medals (Yomiuri, Jul 17) Four Japanese high school students won silver medals and one won a bronze medal at the 53rd International Mathematical Olympiad held in Argentina, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry said Monday. By country, South Korea was first and Japan came 17th. …

The Japanese students who won silver medals were: Takuma Kitamura, 17, a third-year student at Nada High School in Hyogo Prefecture; Hiroki Komatsu, 17, a third-year student at Eiko Gakuen High School in Kanagawa Prefecture; Kento Nomura, 15, a first-year student at High School at Komaba, University of Tsukuba in Tokyo and Shogo Murai, 17, a third-year student at Kaisei Academy in Tokyo.

6-year education system effectively sharpens students’ English skills (Yomiuri, Aug. 21, 2012) Spotlight on Gunma Prefectural Chuo Secondary School, a Gunma prefectural secondary school that strives to improve its students’ English communication skills under a curriculum that combines 6 years of middle and high school studies

Use achievement tests to improve school instruction urges a Yomiuri Shimbun editorial

6 university cuties to face off at Miss Science beauty pageant (JapanToday, Aug 14)

At Japanese universities, female science and engineering majors are definitely in the minority. Even in Tokyo, it’s not uncommon for ladies to make up less than 10% of enrollment for science departments. But the elusive “rikei joshi,” or “science girl,” does exist and Japanese student organization CURIE is holding a pageant called “Miss Rekei Contest” to give them a chance to prove they’ve got beauty as well as brains.

The pageant will be held on Sept 12 at the Kitazawa Town Hall located about 10 minutes from Shimokitazawa station in Tokyo.

Does certification really set you apart by William Reed (Daijob)

Japanese firms are waking up to the merits of hiring globe-trotting recruits (The Economist, Aug 27th 2011) vs. Companies hire more of the same in Japan (Straits Times)

Foreign students of Japanese hold Tokyo summit (Japan Times, Aug 6)

At a symposium in Tokyo on Sunday, 12 people between the ages of 17 and 25 from a dozen different countries exchanged views about their cultures and the things they experienced during a one-month stay in Japan.

The symposium was the final event of the 2012 Nihongo Summit (Japanese language summit), which brought young Japanese-language students from overseas to learn about and experience the country first-hand.

The young envoys arrived in early July and traveled to Oita and Miyazaki prefectures in Kyushu, where they held symposiums and engaged in home stays to learn about the Japanese lifestyle and indulged in sightseeing.

The nonprofit organization Japan Return Program has organized the annual Nihongo Summit since 1999 to help youths overseas who want to use the language for their careers. …

A Tokyo high school adopts Task-based Language Teaching method focusing on mastery, over of the conventional method of translating passages into Japanese, read more in EDUCATION RENAISSANCE / Task-based teaching focuses on mastery

NPOs send tutors for children in Iwate town (Japan Times)

Miyagi university program fostering future leaders for quake recovery (Japan Times)

The next two links are for the kids, “How to play kendama” and Possible imprint of dinosaur skin found (Yomiuri, Aug 2):

FUKUI (Jiji Press)–A possible imprint of dinosaur skin has been discovered in 98-million-year-old geological layers in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture. The imprint, if proved genuine, would be the second such discovery in Japan, following a similar print found in Katsuyama, Fukui Prefecture. However, the Kumamoto discovery reveals greater skin texture. The print is believed to have been created through the fossilization of skin imprinted on wet soil. It shows scales two millimeters in length.

The imprint is part of an 18-centimeter-long, 11-centimeter-wide fossil discovered in Amakusa in 2001 by a fossil hunter. The Goshoura Cretaceous Museum in Amakusa has asked the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum to examine the fossil.”This is the first fossil in Japan that shows scales quite clearly,” said Kazunori Miyata, chief researcher at the Fukui dinosaur museum. The imprint was possibly made by a member of the hadrosaur or choristodera families, although identification is difficult, according to the dinosaur museum.

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Kids’ health and safety issues:

The Child Development Index (CDI) released by NGO Save the Children may show that Japan is the best place in the world to be a child (an index based on child health, education and nutrition) see “Japan best place to be a child, India ranking poor“ (firstpost.com), and yet … the number of child abuse cases handled by child consultation centers nationwide reached a record high of 59,862 in fiscal 2011, up 3,478 from the previous year, according to a report by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry released Thursday. See Child abuse reports increasing/ Most fatalities involve children aged 3 or younger (Yomiuri, Jul 27); Baby dies in car as mum plays pachinko

In Japan, child-abusing parents retain parental rights (japandailypress.com, Aug 7)

Several facts stood out to me from the recent report on the record-high number of child abuse cases in Japan in 2010. One was that in the previous three months, only seven petitions to temporarily suspend parental rights were presented to the court. And of those, only one was granted.

Realize that these were not petitions to end parental rights, just to suspend them for up to two years.
It is extremely difficult to terminate parental rights against the will of the parents in Japan. For example, in 2007, out of 40,639 cases of child abuse handled by Child Welfare, staff members appealed to the family court for termination of parental rights in only four cases, and only one case was approved.1 This is the norm. As a college professor said ironically, “It is easier for judges to give someone the death penalty than for them to forcibly sever parental rights in Japan.”

Secondly, over 84% of the 51 children who died due to child abuse were age three or under; most were under age one.

Hong Kong faults more Japanese baby formula deficient in iodine (Japan Times, Aug. 12, 2012)

Why breast-feeding won’t make kids smarter (Bloomberg, Jul 3, 2012) This report investigates the claims “that breast-feeding increases a child’s IQ. Even many mothers who return to work believe their breast milk to be essential to their babies’ future intellect. Research shows that this is a myth. Although it is true that children who were breast-fed as babies have higher intelligence than bottle-fed children, the reason for the correlation is in the mother’s brain, not her breast. A U.S. mother whose IQ is 15 points higher than her neighbor’s is more than twice as likely to breast-feed.” The article underscores “data from more than 5,000 children, the IQ differences associated with breast-feeding were eliminated when the mothers’ characteristics were taken into account. Among 332 pairs of siblings in which one was breast-fed and the other bottle-fed, researchers also found no difference in IQ.” and asserting that “mothers who are unable to breast-feed need not worry that they are harming their baby’s intellectual development. Indeed, adopted children, many of whom are not breast-fed, have higher IQs, on average, than their siblings who remain in the birth family, presumably because their adoptive families provide an environment better suited to cognitive development.”

Understanding what is on infants’ minds (NY Times, May 13)

A Japanese schoolgirl was in intensive care Tuesday after being speared in the head by a javelin while taking part in track and field training, an official said. See Japan schoolgirl speared in head by javelin (Jul 17, Newsonjapan.com)

Ensure children’s safety in school PE activities urges a Yomiuri paper editorial

Missing school party found in Nara mountains (Mainichi, Aug 14)
Police located a school group Tuesday that had gone missing a day earlier while on a camping trip in a mountainous area of Nara Prefecture in western Japan. All 12 members of the group from Uenomiya Junior High School in Osaka, including 10 students, were found around 11:05 a.m. about 3.5 kilometers southwest of Myojindaira, a 1,323-meter-tall mountain in the Higashiyoshino village in the prefecture … The students reportedly got lost because some roads were demolished by last year’s typhoon.

Japanese student killed in Romania(Aug.22)

Romanian authorities on Monday identified the woman, a victim of rape, as Yurika Masuno from Tokyo, reportedly a sophomore at the University of the Sacred Heart, Tokyo. She was found dead in a Bucharest suburb last week as a 20-year-old Japanese university student who came to the country to teach Japanese.

85% of Japan’s schools can survive upper-6 temblor, leaving 3,545 that can’t: survey (Aug 3, Japan Times)

A total of 3,545 public elementary and junior high school buildings nationwide might collapse if an earthquake measuring an upper-6 on Japan’s seismic intensity scale to 7 strikes, the government said Thursday.
While the number out of the 122,069 buildings surveyed fell from 4,614 a year earlier, the speed of ongoing work to make such structures quake-resistant varies significantly from one region to another, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said.

See also: Upgrade earthquake research to protect lives and property (Yomuiri, Aug 1) This article alleges that “almost none of the existing research results could be utilized in the case of the March 11, 2011, disaster. This is because the occurrence of a mega-earthquake and a huge tsunami was not assumed. The basic policy was shaken to its foundations due to the occurrence of events that were totally “beyond assumptions.” It is essential to utilize research results to bolster earthquake and tsunami countermeasures. The Central Disaster Prevention Council, which serves as the government’s control tower for disaster prevention measures, must cooperate closely with the Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion…” and that there is “A shortage of experts. The proposals worked out this time for revision of the basic policy incorporate new initiatives, such as conducting research of the past tsunami traces along the coasts in various parts of the country. The fact remains, however, that there are almost no experts available to carry out such research. No effort should be spared in fostering human resources and improving the research system…..” Read more…

Record cesium found in fish off Fukushima (Yomiuri, Aug. 23, 2012)
Tokyo Electric Power Co. has said that 38,000 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram have been detected in a fish caught for sampling about 20 kilometers offshore from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

The amount is the highest detected in seafood caught off Fukushima Prefecture since the nuclear crisis following the Great East Japan Earthquake, and drastically higher than the government limit of 100 becquerels per kilogram for food.

The number translates into about 0.4 millisievert of estimated internal radiation exposure when eating one kilogram of the fish.

Test fishing off Fukushima Prefecture for octopus and a type of shellfish resumed in June and sales of the seafood have begun in local markets.

As a shipment ban has been issued on the fish (greenlings) and fishing for them has not resumed, they are not distributed in markets.

TEPCO said there may be a hot spot in the ocean and the fish may have eaten there.

Fukushima Record cesium level detected in fish around Fukushima nuclear plant Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday it detected a record-high 25,800 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in fish sampled within 20 km of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.

The figure is 258 times the level of cesium the government deems safe for consumption, indicating that radioactive contamination in the area remains serious more than a year after the nuclear crisis started.

According to the Fisheries Agency, the previous high for radioactivity density in fish was 18,700 becquerels per kilogram detected in cherry salmon.

Tepco said two greenlings caught Aug. 1 at a depth of 15 meters were used for the sampling. The Fisheries Agency also checked the fish and detected the same density level.

Related news: Record radiation levels found in fish caught off (Japan Today Aug. 22, 2012)

A pair of rock trout have shown the highest level of radioactive cesium detected in fish and shellfish caught in waters off Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, its operator said Tuesday.

The fish, caught 20 kilometers offshore from the plant on Aug 1, registered 25,800 becquerels of cesium per kilo, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said—258 times the level the government deems safe for consumption.

The previous record in fish and shellfish off Fukushima was 18,700 becquerels per kilo detected in cherry salmon, according to the government’s Fisheries Agency.

TEPCO said the trout might have fed in radioactive hotspots and that it would sample more of the fish, their feed and the seabed soil in the area in the coming weeks to determine the cause of the high radiation.

Fishermen have been allowed since June to catch—on an experimental basis—two kinds of fish and shellfish, but only in areas more than 50 kilometers off the plant.

Those catches have shown only small amounts of radioactivity.

Rock trout have not been caught by fishermen off Fukushima since the massive earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 triggered meltdowns in reactors at the plant

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Cesium-laden fish may point to ocean hot spots (Japan Times)
A record-high 25,800 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium has been detected in fish caught within 20 km of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., indicating there may be hot spots under the sea that need further investigation. Read more…

Rice cesium levels to go online (Jiji, Aug. 23, 2012)
The Fukushima Prefectural Government plans to launch an online system that allows consumers to check the radioactivity of raw rice, it was learned Wednesday.
The prefecture is scheduled to begin conducting radiation checks this week on all shipments of raw rice produced in Fukushima.
Only bags that exhibit less than 100 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, the government-set limit, are allowed to be shipped.

Plutonium traces detected at 10 locations in Fukushima (Japan Times)

Fukushima ’caused mutant butterflies’ (AFP News – Tue, Aug 14, 2012)

Genetic mutations have been found in three generations of butterflies from near Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, scientists said Tuesday, raising fears radiation could affect other species.
Around 12 percent of pale grass blue butterflies that were exposed to nuclear fallout as larvae immediately after the tsunami-sparked disaster had abnormalities, including smaller wings and damaged eyes, researchers said.
The insects were mated in a laboratory well outside the fallout zone and 18 percent of their offspring displayed similar problems, said Joji Otaki, associate professor at Ryukyu University in Okinawa, southwestern Japan.
That figure rose to 34 percent in the third generation of butterflies, he said, even though one parent from each coupling was from an unaffected population.
The researchers also collected another 240 butterflies in Fukushima in September last year, six months after the disaster. Abnormalities were recorded in 52 percent of their offspring, which was “a dominantly high ratio”, Otaki told AFP.
Otaki said the high ratio could result from both external and internal exposure to radiation, from the atmosphere and in contaminated foodstuffs.
The results of the study were published in Scientific Reports, an online research journal from the publishers of Nature.
Otaki later carried out a comparison test in Okinawa exposing unaffected butterflies to low levels of radiation, with the results showing similar rates of abnormality, he said.
“We have reached the firm conclusion that radiation released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant damaged the genes of the butterflies,” Otaki said.
The quake-sparked tsunami of March 2011 knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing three reactors to go into meltdown in the world’s worst atomic disaster for 25 years.
The findings will raise fears over the long-term effects of the leaks on people who were exposed in the days and weeks after the accident, as radiation spread over a large area and forced thousands to evacuate.
There are claims that the effects of nuclear exposure have been observed on successive generations of descendants of people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the US dropped atomic bombs in the final days of World War II.
But Otaki warned it was too soon to jump to conclusions, saying his team’s results on the Fukushima butterflies could not be directly applied to other species, including humans.
He added he and his colleagues would conduct follow-up studies including similar tests on other animals.
Kunikazu Noguchi, associate professor in radiological protection at Nihon University School of Dentistry, also said more data was needed to determine the impact of the Fukushima accident on animals in general.
“This is just one study,” Noguchi said. “We need more studies to verify the entire picture of the impact on animals.”
Researchers and medical doctors have so far denied that the accident at Fukushima would cause an elevated incidence of cancer or leukaemia, diseases that are often associated with radiation exposure.
But they also noted that long-term medical examination is needed especially due to concerns over thyroid cancer among young people — a particular problem for people following the Chernobyl catastrophe.
“There are a number of unknown factors surrounding the genetic impact of radiation,” said Makoto Yamada, a medical doctor who examines Fukushima residents. “We still cannot 100 percent deny that the impact may come out in the future.”
Associate professor Noguchi said: “The case of Fukushima plant workers is a different story. Some of them have already topped exposure limits. It is necessary to strictly monitor them to see if there is any impact.”
No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the Fukushima disaster, but many who fled the area and those who remain, including workers decommissioning the crippled plant, worry about the long-term effects.
Scientists have warned it could be decades before it is safe for some people to return to their homes.
“Even if there is no impact now, we have to live with fear,” said Sachiko Sato, a mother of two, who temporarily fled from Fukushima. “And concerns will be handed down to my children and grandchildren.”

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Japanese kids get a taste of farming down under (ABC Rural, 9 August 2012)

16 ecstatic 12 to 15-year-old Japanese school students, from the Fukushima region are on a tour are visiting the south west of Western Australia. It has been almost 18 months since a terrifying tsunami devastated the Pacific coast of Japan, triggered by a massive earthquake. Cattle farms were inundated by seawater and left with dangerous levels of radiation, forcing farmers to abandon properties. Motivated by their dire situation, Meat and Livestock Australia arranged for these Japanese school students to visit beef cattle farms in Western Australia to reinspire their interest in agriculture….read more here

Village emptied by nuke crisis holds coming-of-age day (Japan Times, Aug 15, 2012) Excerpt follows below:

“The village of Kawauchi, Fukushima Prefecture, on Tuesday held its first coming-of-age day ceremony since it was removed from the radiation no-go zone in January and the mayor urged its evacuated citizens to return home. Kawauchi, located just 20 km southwest of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, was one of nine municipalities designated by the central government as being within the no-go zone. … In January, Kawauchi Mayor Yuko Endo called on villagers to return home and the administrative office reopened in March. The ceremony this year was held in the village’s community center for around 30 new adults. They are among 40 from the village who came of age in the year through March 3. …”

Agency claims Monju reactor can withstand monster quake (Japan Times)

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency believes its Monju fast-breeder reactor would be safe even if peak ground acceleration amid a huge quake exceeded original estimates by more than 1.86 times.

The agency provided the figure Tuesday at a meeting of experts assessing its proposal to check the reactor’s safety in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, in light of the Fukushima nuclear crisis. The unit, if not idled, would use highly enriched plutonium-uranium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel.

The assessment assumed that the unit’s cooling functions would be maintained and that its liquid sodium would continue to circulate normally even if all alternating current power sources were knocked out by a giant temblor.

The agency concluded that it could maintain the reactor core in a cool and stable state if the facility is rocked far more violently than the maximum 760 gals estimated during design.

Monju also would be able to withstand tsunami of up to 21 meters, the height at which the complex was constructed above sea level.

ENERGY |Fukushima Cancer Fears Are Absurd (Forbes.com 7/20/2012) and “Risk vs Fear” from Fukushima: Rare Rationality in Today’s LA Times Op/Ed Pages (Nov 3, 2012); see comment on radiation levels here.

Japan and the atom | Nuclearphobia (Aug 6th 2012, Economist blog)

“… issue of deep controversy. Many anti-nuclear accidents argue that there are not enough studies of low-level radiation to judge the risks accurately. But Shunichi Yamashita, son of a hibakusha, or atomic-bomb survivor, and vice-president of Fukushima Medical University, is adamant. Recently returned from a trip to Chernobyl, he insists the fallout in Fukushima is far less severe than the Soviet Union’s nuclear accident of 1986, despite having reached the same technical status (Level 7) because a majority of the radioisotopes were blown out to sea. Also the government quickly stopped consumption of contaminated food and milk, which reduced the potential of thyroid problems, such as those suffered by children around Chernobyl.

Several studies bear out his views. A fortnight after the disaster, the authorities screened the thyroids of 1,149 children exposed to radiation and found that the maximum equivalent thyroid dose was 35 millisieverts (mSv). This is much less than at Chernobyl. Researchers from Japan’s HirosakiUniversity followed up the study a few weeks later. Their findings, published recently, showed iodine-131 active in the thyroids of 46 out of 62 evacuees. The average dose was about 3.5mSv in adults and the equivalent of 4.2mSv in children—which is better than 100 times less than the average for Chernobyl evacuees, 490mSv.

According to a draft report of the Fukushima Health Management Survey Group, which is canvassing the prefecture’s 2m residents on their health problems, ultrasound examinations of 38,114 children in Fukushima have so far revealed no evidence of thyroid problems. However, because thyroid cancer takes time to appear, the survey will continue for three years.

Dr Yamashita says a questionnaire answered by 15,000 villagers (of the 30,000 who were evacuated from near the nuclear power plant) showed that in the four months after the disaster, almost all had an accumulated exposure of less than 10mSv. This suggests a rate far below the rate of 100mSv per year at which health problems are proven to emerge, he says.

His views on the relative safety of radiation exposure below 100mSv are controversial, especially in Fukushima. But it is supported by the Hiroshima-based Radiation Effects Research Council, an American-Japanese scientific body whose studies date back to 1947. At times, the government, media and scientists have issued a bewildering mixture of messages, some of which suggest that much lower levels could be dangerous—especially to children. Dr Yamashita has been given the disparaging moniker “Dr 100 millisievierts” for sticking to his guns, and he remains unrepentant. He notes that while nobody in Fukushima has died as a result of radiation, there were 761 victims of “disaster-related death”, especially old people uprooted from homes and hospital because of forced evacuation and other nuclear-related measures.

As in Chernobyl, he argues, the psychological trauma of evacuation, overlaid by the fear of radiation, poses the biggest health risk. According to the Fukushima health survey, 14.6% of almost 9,000 pregnant women who replied indicated some feelings of depression. As in Chernobyl, the empty bottles of sake outside temporary housing complexes are an indication that more such trouble may lie ahead. Yet Dr Yamashita says too little attention is being paid to the post-disaster trauma ….” Read more here.

In a complete direction, you will find rather disturbing a German video production “Lies of Fukushima” Part1/3 with English subtitles(福島の嘘1/3　英語字幕） You can also watch Lies of Fukushima with Japanese subs here.

Tsunami traces point to triple-quake hitting long stretch of Tokai in 684 (Japan Times report): Triple-whammy: Traces of ground liquefaction that occurred in the late seventh century indicate three temblors simultaneously hit the Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai regions. Excerpted below:

“Researchers have found sediment of tsunami that hit what is now Shizuoka Prefecture at the same time as the Hakuho earthquake of 684, the oldest recorded major temblor to hit the Nankai region on the Pacific coast of western Japan.

The new findings in the Tokai region by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology raise the possibility that three temblors occurred simultaneously at that time in wide areas in the Tokai, Tonankai and Nankai regions, which are considered to be at particularly high risk of major seismic activity.

Evidence of tsunami sedimentation at the time of the quake in the late seventh century had so far been found in the Tonankai and Nankai regions. Until now, the Hoei quake of 1707 had been considered the oldest such triple disaster. …

Smartphone apps like LINE a potential hotbed of high school girl hooking Junior high and high school girls using smartphone services for enjo kosai
Highly popular smartphone networking services like LINE are proving to be a breeding ground for prostitution, reports Spa! (Aug. 7). The smartphone application allows text messages to be sent or calls to be made between users. Each user of LINE is required to have a unique phone number. Line checks which names in a user’s address book are also using the service and puts them in contact. There are 50 million users of the service, which started in July of last year.

Spa! says that the problem is related to third-party applications, or apps, some of which are designed to function as anonymous classified ad services. These apps allow users of LINE to openly make anonymous connections with other users by sharing their identification numbers on the message boards.
About thirty such applications have been confirmed as of July this year, and they are helping facilitate enjo kosai, or compensated dating, and other equivalent activities.
“It was last summer that we saw the sudden rise in the number of LINE apps,” says an operator of online dating sites. “We have also seen an increase in the number of female middle school and high school users who indicate that they are looking for sponsors.” Read the rest of the article here...

Baby dead ‘for a day’ as Japan mother chats on net (smh, June 29, 2012)

In “the Diet Debacle” Robert Lustig, Professor of Pediatrics addresses the root causes for toddler obesity, malfunctioning metabolisms and fatty livers, insulin resistance and metabolic disease.

Myopia in kids: Spend more time outdoors (Straits Times, 5 May 2012) | East Asian Children Most At Risk From Myopia (iBTimes, May 4) | Massive rise in Asian eye damage (BBC)

Parents and teachers — the source of students’ fear of failure … says educational excellence coach

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Book reviews on parenting:

Infant minds at work Lise Eliot’s review for AmSci on the “The Infant’s World” by Philippe Rochat.

Why rich kids hate their parents is Canadian wealth advisor, Robert Frank’s book review of the book, “The Great White Elephant: Why Rich Kids Hate Their Parents,” authored by Franco Lombardo who says that the anger between kids and their parents is especially strong in wealthier families.

NY TImes Book review: OPINION Raising Successful Children by MADELINE LEVINE author of “Teach Your Children Well: Parenting for Authentic Success” , August 4, 2012 and The Ego in ‘Raising Successful Children’ August 6, 2012

The Bible of Parent Blame: Your Kids Are Your Own Fault by Larry Winget – a blog post with a blurb about the book, by phD in Parenting

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Elsewhere in the world, the educational news:

America’s Best High Schools 2012 (Newsweek, May 21, 2012) - This year’s list of America’s best high schools rewards the institutions leading the way in getting their students ready for college and beyond. Those highest-ranking schools share a heavy emphasis on challenging students with college-level academics. At the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science, in Bowling Green, Ky.—which came in first place—nearly all courses are university-level: in 2011, the school averaged almost five AP exams per student. Overall, the 6,514 students at the top 10 schools averaged 2.5 AP and similar International Baccalaureate exams per student…read more …

David Brooks in The Campus Tsunami on the future of online learning, and in the Opportunity Gap where he notes: “Putnam’s data verifies what many of us have seen anecdotally, that the children of the more affluent and less affluent are raised in starkly different ways and have different opportunities. Decades ago, college-graduate parents and high-school-graduate parents invested similarly in their children. Recently, more affluent parents have invested much more in their children’s futures while less affluent parents have not.” and Helaine Olen’s commentary.

Report: K12 online students lag in math, reading(East Valley Tribune, Jul 19)

“A new report takes aim at the nation’s largest for-profit online education provider and finds students taking K12 Inc. classes in Idaho and four other states are falling more behind in math and reading than their traditional school counterparts.
The study was released Wednesday by the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Along with lagging test scores, the report says the rate at which K12 students graduate on time is far lower than in regular schools.
The study “into K12 Inc. raises enormous red flags,” said center director Kevin Welner.
The group has previously issued reports critical of online learning. A study released by the center in October said school-choice advocates are pushing states to rush headlong into virtual education despite limited data on these programs.
The latest report looked at schools managed by Virginia-based K12 in Idaho, Arizona, Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania and found that on average, they had a consistently lower proportion of their students meeting or exceeding state standards in reading, according to 2010-2011 test scores.
The report also said math scores were lower compared to the state average. The on-time graduation rate for K12 students was about 49 percent for that year, compared to about 79 percent for the states, according to the study.
K12 has managed online schools in 29 states with mixed academic success.
The company contends that the report is flawed and fails to show the academic progress of students over time. The report finds K12 students are falling further behind in math and reading than students in regular schools, but doesn’t provide evidence to back up that claim, the company said….” Read the rest here

Out of Singapore … Preschool education should be free: Study

A study on early childhood education reveals concerns about the difference in programmes offered by public and private preschool providers. (AFP file photo)
Singapore could consider providing free preschool education, up to kindergarten 1 and 2, for children, a recent study done on the sector suggested.

Commissioned by the Lien Foundation, the study was led by a panel of 27 early childhood professionals and included suggestions to improve preschool education here.

Among others, the panel said the image of preschool teachers can be raised by developing a more formal pay structure and by setting a salary scale comparable to those of mainstream school teachers.

A coordinating ministry could also be formed to oversee and regulate the early childhood sector, the panel proposed.

In addition, the study highlighted challenges present in the early childhood education sector.

These include uneven quality, equity and affordability of education; difficulties faced by the preschool profession such as the high turnover rate of teaching staff; and the need for improved participation from parents as well as the Government.

The study added that one way to get more parents involved is to equip them with the right skills and information to care of their children, through conducting parental outreach programmes.

Such programmes can help parents to improve their children’s potential. This, in turn, will boost the overall quality of Singapore’s preschool education.

On the issue of quality and affordability of preschool education, the panel was concerned about the difference in programmes offered by public and private preschool providers. In particular, they feared children from lower-income families could be at a disadvantage, as school fees can range from S$100 to S$2,000.

To even out any inequality, the panelists called for the Government to recognise early childhood services as a necessary public good, and provide free preschool education for all children.

“The study provided compelling rationales for increased government investment and funding of the sector, in order to ensure that underlying causes such as the high attrition rate of the workforce, pay disparities, and inequities of the sector are addressed, said lead investigator Lynn Ang, who is a senior lecturer of early childhood from the University of East London.

The chief executive officer of the Lien Foundation, Lee Poh Wah said a child’s preschool education should always remain the responsibility of his or her parents.

He added, “The early years of a child’s life are so vital that preschool education should be a shared responsibility of both parents and the government. Any efforts by the government to step up its role in this area should be balanced by active parental involvement.”

An earlier study by the Economist Intelligent Unit, also commissioned by the Lien Foundation, saw Singapore’s early childhood education environment ranked 29th out of 45 countries across the globe….

Stamford American International School in Singapore is slated to be The most advanced international school in the world ever built Excerpted below:

“Stamford will be the perfect environment for preparing children for entry into the world’s most prestigious universities.
“The new Singapore school will be a flagship in Cognita’s portfolio of schools. When completed, Stamford will be the most advanced international school ever built. Its features and facilities will be second to none.”
“Stamford will be the school the rest of the world visits, to see the future of education today.”

Key features of the school include:

Singapore’s first Interactive Learning Environment – where guest lecturers and teachers from around the world can interact with students. Teachers will be able to give lectures on site – e.g. teaching about Ancient Egypt from the base of the Great Pyramid
Singapore’s first 1 to 1 iPad program for K2 to Grade 5. Older students will have their own MacBook
A 21st century Media Resource Centre – beyond the traditional library, this centre is up to date with the latest traditional as well as technological resources
State of the art science wing and computer laboratories
Comprehensive art facilities – Dedicated spaces for art, theatre, dance and music, including areas for exhibiting of fine arts and hosting of performances
World-class sporting facilities – Two swimming pools with ionized water and a ‘learn to swim’ wading pool, basketball courts, and an outdoor field for various sports including American Football plus two indoor gyms, including a commercial standard fitness centre
Specially designed Early Years/Nursery facilities, with its own enclosed secure playground
Indoor and outdoor meeting spaces, including student breakout areas
Electronic security system for each child and Singapore’s first fully computerized vehicle drop off and pick up facility

Related: See White Paper on Building the Next Generation School: Overcoming Challenges to Implement Online Education: K¹² partnered with Project Tomorrow to examine the challenges faced in implementing online learning, and how ”online visionary” administrators are overcoming these challenges. See the types of programs they are implementing, and the five measurements of quality that will make your online learning program successful.

Also out of Singapore is the invention of a “green loo” by researchers at the Nanyang Technological University … Nothing goes to waste when visiting this toilet … now if only somebody would also invent a toilet that will clean itself!

Building a community of learning at Yale-NUS on the peer effect of mutual learning and growth fostered by the residential college model

On Why Harvard and MIT put its course online for free (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Higher Education: The college-cost calamity(The Economist, Aug 4th 2012) reports that many American universities are in financial trouble and that “A crisis in higher education has been brewing for years.” Excerpts follow below:

“Long-term debt at not-for-profit universities in America has been growing at 12% a year, estimate Bain & Company, a consultancy, and Sterling Partners, a private-equity firm (see chart 1). A new report looked at the balance-sheets and cashflow statements of 1,692 universities and colleges between 2006 and 2010, and found that one-third were significantly weaker than they had been several years previously.

Universities have been spending like students in a bar who think a Rockefeller will pick up the tab. In the past two years the University of Chicago has built a spiffy new library (where the books are cleverly retrieved by robots), a new arts centre and a ten-storey hospital building. It has also opened a new campus in Beijing.
And it is not alone. Universities hope that vast investments will help them attract the best staff and students, draw in research grants and donations, and ultimately boost their ranking in league tables, drawing in yet more talent and money. They have also increased the proportion of outlays gobbled up by administrators (see chart 2).

To pay for all this, universities have been enrolling more students and jacking up their fees. The average cost of college per student has risen by three times the rate of inflation since 1983. The cost of tuition alone has soared from 23% of median annual earnings in 2001 to 38% in 2010. Such increases plainly cannot continue.

Student debt has reportedly reached a record $1 trillion …” Read more here.

In a rare swimming-against-the-stream sort of speech, David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School, Ma. gives a graduation speech that beings with “None of you is special. You are not special. None of you is exceptional …” read about it here (NY Daily, Jun 8)

To increase learning time, some schools add days to academic year (NYTimes, Aug 5)

While other children around the country readied for beach vacations or the last weeks of summer camp, Bethany, 11, and Garvin, 9, were preparing for the first day of the new school year at Griffith Elementary, just six weeks after the start of their summer vacation.

Griffith, one of five schools in the Balsz Elementary School District here, is one of a handful of public schools across the country that has lengthened the school year in an effort to increase learning time.

A typical public school calendar is 180 days, but the Balsz district, where 90 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, is in session for 200 days, adding about a month to the academic year.

According to the National Center on Time and Learning, a nonprofit research group in Boston, about 170 schools — more than 140 of them charter schools — across the country have extended their calendars in recent years to 190 days or longer. Read the rest of the article here.

Some pressure ‘not necessarily a bad thing‘ (TodayOnline, Jun 26)

“Having established himself as one of the leading academics on the teaching of mathematics here, Professor Fan Lianghuo, 50, decided two years ago to uproot himself and move to the United Kingdom, taking up an offer to head the Mathematics and Science Education Research Centre in Southhampton University …

Prof Fan told the Daily Telegraph: “I never heard a child in China or Singapore say that they don’t like maths … without a sense of embarrassment.”

Among other things, he also noted that in both Asian countries, there is strong emphasis on the subject in the schools. He also cited how math teachers in Singapore’s secondary schools are specialised in the subject and there is sufficient professional development. …

Prof Fan told TODAY that the Republic’s mathematics education is “undoubtedly among the best in the world … but there are still many areas for further improvement” – including his observation that Singapore students’ written communication skills to explain maths solutions are “quite weak”.

He said: “Their logical reasoning skills in mathematics are also a concern to me. Many students lack interest in mathematics. Even in the fundamental knowledge and skills, my personal experiences in both China and Singapore suggest that China students are generally better than their Singaporean peers, although both of them are among the best (I am not saying Chinese mathematics education is perfect, of course).”

He added: “There is much room for improvement in school mathematics curriculum, textbooks, and their use in classroom. The list can go longer. So there is reason for Singapore mathematics educators to feel proud but definitely no reason to be complacent.”

And while many parents here feel the maths syllabus is too difficult, Prof Fan disagreed that this is the case when compared to “many other countries”.

Said Prof Fan: “The stress comes more from elsewhere, for example, peer pressure, high expectation from teachers and parents … a ‘kiasu’ culture, high-stake tests and the streaming policy.”

Prof Fan also felt that a large number of students have “too many” co-curricular activities (CCAs). “The amount of CCAs should be reduced and controlled at both the school and national levels,” he said.

He added: ” Of course, I must also say that having some pressure is not necessarily a bad thing – many UK students probably don’t have enough pressure in maths – but having too much pressure definitely is.”"

Algebra and the Pointlessness of The Whole Damn Thing

SAT Prep for the Ultra-Rich, And Everyone Else By educationrealist

After Vs. Before: Education in Finland (The Observer)

Raising bilingual kids: benefits and techniques (phD in parenting blog)

Test That Can Determine the Course of Life in China Gets a Closer Examination (NYTimes, Jun 30)

Students in China hiring ghostwriters to finish holiday homework (Straits Times)

British children unhappiest in the world, say academics (The Telegraph, Jun 12) “… Growing numbers of children are failing to develop properly at a young age because of the toxic pressures of modern life, it was claimed.

Michael Gove: ‘School must challenge children to do better’ (Telegraph, Jun 21)
As plans are unveiled to scrap GCSEs and bring back O-levels, the Education Secretary says that the Government wants a state school system “where there is no excuse for failure”.

Ministers will remove the qualifications from official league tables as part of a radical move to boost standards among 14 to 16 year-olds in England.
Pupils starting GCSEs in September next year will be the last to sit the exams, which will be scrapped due to fears that they are too easy and fail to prepare teenagers for the demands of sixth form and university.
In their place, the Government is to introduce a range of tough new qualifications modelled on the old O-level to stretch pupils further, particularly in the core subjects of English, maths and science. The new exams will “meet or exceed the highest standards in the world for that age group”, it was claimed.

The powerful lobby of childcare experts said that many “commercially vulnerable” under-16s were spending too much time sat unsupervised in front of televisions, games consoles and the internet in their bedroom instead of playing outdoors.
Children are also among the most tested in the Western world after being pushed into formal schooling at an increasingly young age and more likely to be exposed to junk food and poor diets than elsewhere, they said….” See also: UK debates S’pore education system (Today!)

See related:

Education expert: I don’t want to see GCSEs go, or ‘elitist’ O Levels return: Michael Gove’s plans to bring back O Levels would cause uproar amongst teachers and fail to recognise the good done by the GCSEs, according to Dr Tina Isaacs

It’s the ‘S’ word for better education Letter from London (Straits Times, Jun 30, 2012) in which a Singaporean mother living in London compares her “free” Singaporean public school education to her children’s expensive UK private school education.[NB: private and public school education mean opposite thing in the UK vs. elsewhere in the world]

Robots spur pupils to solve problems creatively (Straits Times, June 19 2012)

ROBOTS have yet to displace human teachers in the classroom, but they are an integral part of lessons in one suburban primary school.

Since 2008, Chua Chu Kang Primary School has been infusing subjects such as science, mathematics and art with robotics.

For instance, it comes into play in the Primary 5 maths lesson on ratios. Pupils measure the distance over which the robots move and compare it with the number of rotations their wheels make.

During art lessons, Primary 1 and 2 pupils construct and design houses, imaginary animals and ships using Lego sets. This helps to get them interested in building robots later on.

Madam Fauziah Othman, the school’s subject head for robotics, said that apart from making learning more fun, robotics also forces pupils to ‘exercise their creativity through engagement in basic design problems’.

The school in Choa Chu Kang Avenue 2 was awarded the Programme for School-Based Excellence in Robotics in 2008. This win earned it funds from the Education Ministry that have been ploughed into improving and expanding its robotics programme.

School principal Lee Wai Ling said the programme develops her pupils’ critical thinking and information gathering skills.

10 smart things I’ve learned from people who never went to college (Forbes.com)

The best place in the world to be creative, by Frederik Haren, author of “The Developing World” | William Reed’s The Nation of Imagination also makes for interesting reading

***

Tech talk and online offerings:

Turning mere thoughts into communication and With clicker no hands are raised (NY Times, May 20, 2012)

The 50 Best Smartphone Apps for Back to School: The Student Edition (Onlinecolleges.net) surveys the range of smartphone apps available to help students better organize classes, events, activities, and basic needs as well as supplement classroom lessons.

With Coursera, Daphne Koller and co-founder Andrew Ng are bringing courses from top colleges online, free, for anyone who wants to take them. Full bio » “https://www.coursera.org/

“Daphne Koller is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free — not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. With Coursera (cofounded by Andrew Ng), each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed. Find out more at http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html

For free world history resources from www.homeschoolfreestuff.wordpress.com click here.

Free printable Olympics coloring pages here.

www.MasterMath.info offers free middle grades math help: 110 video math lessons covering Common Core State Math Standard for 6th – 8th grades. Each lesson also offers a worksheet, and answer sheet, and a self-grading online quiz.

Nagoya University, Fujitsu start trials of technology to detect phone scams Japan Today AUG. 06, 2012

Nagoya University and Fujitsu will begin the world’s first field trials of technology for detecting phone scams at households. These trials, commencing later this month in Okayama Prefecture, will be in collaboration with the Okayama Prefectural Police, the Okayama Prefectural Information Communications unit of the National Police Agency’s Chugoku Regional Police Bureau and Chugoku Bank.

During the trials, when the technology detects a call suspected of being a phone scam targeting a monitored household, it will first warn the participant with a synthesized voice message. Next, the system will send an e-mail alarm to the person’s family members, as well as the police, banks and other relevant institutions.

After receiving an alert, each party can take steps to prevent the fraud from occurring. For example, police can visit the participant’s household, while banks can temporarily freeze the person’s bank account and be on alert.

The new field trials will help to improve the accuracy of phone scam detection technology, in addition to testing the ability of groups such as families, police and banks to prevent fraud. Nagoya University and Fujitsu said they hope to explore how to prevent phone fraud before it actually occurs.

Research into this area was conducted as part of “Modeling and Detecting Overtrust from Behavior Signals,” a study led by Kazuya Takeda. This took place within the “Creation of Human-Harmonized Information Technology for Convivial Society” project under the direction of Yoichi Tokura, Research Supervisor, in the Core Research of Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), announced in November 2009.

Nagoya University and Fujitsu have previously developed technology for detecting situations of “overtrust” that focuses on an individual’s tone of voice, as well as basic technology for detecting phone scams that employs detection technology capable of picking up on keywords characteristic of such scams. The new field trials were planned after confirming in simulation test calls that the detection accuracy of the technology had reached a sufficient level.

Overview of trials

Detection devices will be equipped on landlines in the households of over 100 Okayama Prefecture residents. Their telephone calls will be analyzed, and when a call suspected to be a phone scam is detected, the following steps will be taken:

Once the equipment detects a phone scam, alarm messages will be sent to the relevant parties (selected family members, the police, the bank, Fujitsu). Upon receiving an alarm message, family members will contact the participant and inquire about what went on to determine whether or not it was an attempted fraud. The police will also immediately visit the household to ascertain the situation; and the bank will temporarily halt payment transactions from the account that has been pre-designated by the participant for this purpose, thereby helping to prevent the scam.

***

Community announcements:

Tokyo Junior Playhouse – Tokyo’s community theater group for & by children, is now accepting sign-ups from drama enthusiasts of age 5 – 15 yrs. for our September drama meets in Setagaya. We plan to have weekly or more “Drama Meets” every month. You can sign up for as many dates as you wish to come.
September has 6 meeting dates. Monthly membership fee is 9000yen. We are planning to have our first show on November 17, 2012. Auditions and casting will begin in October, with rehearsals starting soon after. September will serve as a nice “runway” before the October take off. Join us and have fun!! Details & forms are here: http://tokyojuniorplayhouse.weebly.com/index.html

I’d like to end today’s EDU WATCH blogpost with two excerpts. The first is “Let the Children be Children” (Todayonline, May 15) by Amanda Tan Pheck Choo, a former primary school teacher and a homeschooling mother…which cautions against an education that is standards-oriented but lacking in creativity and full of artificial busy homework.

“As a former teacher, I was berated by senior teachers for not using “flowery, pretentious sentences”, as described in the letter “It’s a strong foundation that counts” (May 9), in creative writing.

I was accused of wanting my pupils to fail their Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

Recently, my eight-year-old came home with a “creative” writing assignment. She produced a list of “useful words and phrases that her teacher copied from a creative writing book” for the pupils to transfer onto the whiteboard.

The instructions were to write these down in complete sentences. I paused for a second, then asked: “Which of these words are yours?” “None,” came the innocent reply. After doing what the teacher ordered, my little girl asked: “Now, can I write my story?”

In writing, we are told what to write, what title to give it, what words to use and avoid, to discard the unbelievable and play safe.

We are given picture compositions about a day at the beach, a bad fall, an incident on a bus – hardly fodder for interesting discussion.

My spouse, a college teacher, laments the lack of disciplined training in clear, logical thinking and the lack of ideas, persuasive argument and communication skills in his pre-university students. I wonder where we went wrong, when all this started.

When children are in primary school, why are they not asked for solutions to train disruptions, how to get women to have more babies, how to stop people from smoking? These are just as relatable, if not more fascinating, topics for discussion.

In learning, we are made to learn what the system deems important at this period, for how long, how much, how deep. Mathematics and science are in; free reading, non-examinable topics are out.

But boundaries have to change, to adapt, to involve the child. This is his education, not ours.

This obsession with what to learn and how to present acceptable answers is ultimately a fear of not doing well in the PSLE. Ex-Nominated Member of Parliament Paulin Straughan’s proposal to abolish it is a step in the right direction.

Do we need to “accredit” 12-year-olds? Granted, there will always be parents who want their children to stay ahead of the competition and, hence, send them to tuition centres.

There will be those, free of the shackles of exam stress, who would give their children the time and freedom to explore, dream and love learning.

The hope is that schools would then have the courage to ditch homework, to give pupils more curriculum time to read and explore the world around them.

If they do not read, they cannot write. If they cannot write, those famous “flowery, pretentious sentences” will present themselves year after year in PSLE exam scripts.”

:::

The second excerpt taken from Japan Watching’s “Are Japanese Intelligent ?” which both parodies the Japanese as well as the Japanese educational system.

“A good friend of mine is convinced that the Japanese are fundamentally stupid. He believes that the only reason why they achieve anything at all is by perspiration and perserverance. Quite frankly, when I look at my fellow country men, I have to agree with him.

In fact, intelligence is neither valued or rewarded in Japan. On the contrary, we must be modest and humble, and not shine out above everyone else. Our higher education system helps us in this regard. Although we are force fed with information at secondary school, basically rote learning, once we get to university, we learn virtually nothing. Importantly, the IQ and PISA tests occur while we are still young and learning.

It is only if we join a large enterprise, that we actually receive serious training. And since we are always working in groups, it is our group that teaches what to do. This means that we keep doing the same thing over and over again, with only some tiny improvements – innovations which will not be punished for excessive initiative.

Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on the survival of the fittest. However, in Japan, it is not the fittest who survive, but the most cautious and risk averse, and sometimes the most stupid!”"

That’s all folks … for now.

Digitally yours,

Aileen Kawagoe.

The buzz on the Grand Izumo Exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum

August 6, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

The Grand Izumo Exhibition, scheduled from July 28th to September 9th, 2012, marks exactly 1300 years since the Kojiki – one of the most authoritative historical texts in the country – was first released. The Kojiki chronicles many landmark events both actual and mythical, eg. the first ever sumo match.

In commemoration of this, the Kyoto National Museum will hold an unprecedented exhibition introducing treasures from the ancient Izumo shrines and closely affiliated temples as well as artifacts excavated from historic sites in Izumo in a single venue. This exhibition includes new discoveries made during preparatory surveys. Presented will also be an overview of Izumo legends, the beginning of Izumo Shrine, and the forms of prayers offered to the gods and buddhas by the ancient and medieval people of Izumo.

With next year 2013 also seeing the first grand renovation of Izumo Taisha shrine for six decades, the National Museum will be showcasing treasures from ancient Izumo shrines and artifacts excavated from the area – the first time they have been under one roof. An overview of Izumo legends, the story of the Grand Shrine’s foundation and explanations of ancient prayers to the gods will also make for fascinating viewing.

For more details on this event, please see: KANSAI “The Grand Izumo Exhibition” Kyoto National Museum

Space history exhibition now on at the Yokohama Japan Newspaper Museum

July 15, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

Museum chronicles space history,　July 15, 2012
Kyodo
YOKOHAMA — An exhibition on the history of space exploration as reported by newspapers opened Saturday at the Japan Newspaper Museum in Yokohama.

The events covered by newspaper extras and photos from the period include the first manned space flight by the Soviet Union’s Yuri Gagarin, feats by Japanese astronauts and the 2010 return to Earth of the Hayabusa space probe. Also on display are model rockets, spacesuits and space rations.

This year marks the centennial of the birth of Hideo Itokawa, considered the father of Japanese rocket development. An asteroid examined by the Hayabusa probe was named after Itokawa, who died in 1999.

Admission to the exhibition is ¥500 for adults and college students, ¥300 for high school students and free for everyone else. The event runs through Sept. 23

：：

Official website: http://www.kaikou.city.yokohama.jp/ (Japanese) in English here

About the museum:

Yokohama Media and Communications Center

Yokohama Media and Communications Center is directly connected to Nihon-odori Station Exit 3. This Center was specifically built to preserve Yokohama’s rich media and communications history and to use it as a base for the city’s media industry. The basement and first floors of the building are a shopping plaza with a wide variety of shops. The 6th and 7th floors have a Seminar Hall and Conference Rooms with state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment and movable seating systems. The 11th and 12th floors are rented office floors. The other floors are the major attractions of the complex.

The 2nd to 5th floors of Yokohama Media and Communications Center is Newspark or the Japan Newspaper Museum. Established by the Japan Newspaper Foundation for Education & Culture in Yokohama in October 2000, the museum depicts the history of newspapers in Japan, starting from the first paper to the present day ones, including their production processes. On display are all the different newspapers, replicas of old printing machines, Japan’s original printing blocks from the Meiji period, besides many different pictures and documents. The Japan Newspaper Museum is an interesting and delightful experience for all those interested in the newspaper industry. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Tuesdays to Thursdays and Sundays, and from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The museum is closed on Mondays. Entry is 500 yen for adults, 400 yen for senior citizens, 300 yen for high school students, and for children entry is free.

On the 8th to 10th floors of Yokohama Media and Communications Center is Broadcast Library. Opened in October 2000, Broadcast Library contains all the programs that have already been broadcast on television. There are over 6000 old television programs of every genre, starting from the very first television broadcast, which have all been digitized. Viewing of these programs is possible through booths from a video server and DVD players. TAO’s gigabit network has also been set up through which viewers in Osaka can also watch the programs from special booths set up there. Various other exhibits related to the old programs are also on display at the Library. The Broadcast Library is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Mondays. Admission is free.

Tel： 045-661-2040 Fax：045-661-2029

Admission and Access:

Get off at Nihon Odori sta. on the Minato Mirai line, or Kannai sta. on the JR line and Yokohama City Subway

The history and institution of the Kyushoku — Japanese School Lunch

July 7, 2012 in 1 | 2 comments

These days a school lunch story is often able to make the news headlines, see Teacher goes “undercover” to expose American school lunches — and it’s not pretty! School lunch scandal…; How a Box of Milk Became a Right Wing Scandal of the Day. With the dwindling birthrates, assertive and demanding X-generation parents or the so-called “monster parents” in Japan are also quite capable of making a meal out of this issue.

The school lunch is afterall, a topic that everyone can relate to, just about everyone has had to eat a school lunch … unless you happened to have been homeschooled all of your life. School lunches create memories for a lifetime … adults may remember their school lunch hour affectionately, with nostalgia, or with horror … depending on the kind of associations built around them. Only recently, a Scottish 9-year-old’s school lunch blog caused quite a stir both overseas … see “9-year-old’s lunch blog shames school into making changes” and amused the Japanese community somewhat (see Japanese blog). The school lunch affair at both my kids’ public elementary school in Kanagawa looks somewhat like this picture below:

The Japanese kyushoku tends to have rather positive connotations, and attempts by the government to abolish the institution, have been met with fierce objection by parents in Japan. Recent concerns have had to do with E. coli scares with fresh salads, over the increasing number of parents who have been skipping payment of their school lunch fees or over adequacy of radiation checks on the school lunches since the Fukushima nuclear disaster last year.

In this next segment, we shall take time off to scrutinize the history and the institution of the Japanese Kyushoku School Lunch.

The School Kyushoku (Soba City Kyushoku Center)

Kyushoku, A Lesson with Lunch

For most Japanese school children, school lunches are more than just a tray of food. Gakko-kyushoku, school lunches, are an integral part of their studies. Along with tasty meals, Japan’s unique kyushoku system serves up some very important lessons in nutrition, health, cooking, social skills and more.

Kyoshoku toban

Most public elementary and many junior high schools in Japan provide lunches for their students. These meals, paid for by monthly school lunch fees, are prepared in kitchens within the school or at school-lunch centers serving several schools. School lunches in Japan are an integral part of a school’s educational activities: in fact, school lunch instruction is defined as a special classroom activity. Lunch programs are designed to help school children understand what constitutes a nutritionally balanced meal while learning the fundamentals of proper eating and table manners.

Children deliver and serve the food themselves and eat at their desks in the classrooms with their teachers. Each week, different students are appointed kyushoku toban – lunch staff. The process of taking responsibility to prepare, serve, eat and clean up after lunch gives school children a real work experience. These kinds of cooperative activities help to build a sense of service and a spirit of harmony. In addition, lunchtime presents an opportunity to apply skills learned in homemaking, social studies, biology and other subjects.

Students also learn about how we get our food: the fishing and farming industries are introduced, as well as food production, processing and marketing. And once a year, some schools invite parents to a tasting of the lunch menus and to learn about balanced nutrition.

Japan’s school lunch program has its roots in the late nineteenth century, when an elementary school in Yamagata Prefecture served lunches to students from poor families. Much later, in the face of food shortages following the Second World War, school lunch programs provided necessary nutrition to many school children. In 1954, the school lunch law was passed and by the mid-fifties, such programs were in place throughout most of Japan. During this era, menus featured powdered skim milk and bread. In following decades, typical kyushoku menus served age-pan (fried bread), soft noodles with meat sauce, cream stew, curry rice and milmake, flavored milk. It was not until 1976 that rice-based menus were officially introduced.

Soba City Kyushoku Center school lunch program

Today’s school lunches are well-balanced and provide about one-third the daily nutritional requirements of each student. A typical menu might include a staple dish of either bread, rice or noodles; a soup dish; and a meat or fish dish followed by dessert. Today’s kyushoku menus comprise a wide variety of dishes representing not only Japanese cuisine, but foods from various countries. During the school year, students experience a wide-ranging and international palate of tastes that might include such varied offerings as Korean bibimbap, rice topped with seasoned meat and vegetables; tandoori chicken; spaghetti pescatore; and minestrone soup. There are also schools whose menus include regional foods or vegetables harvested locally, to help students better appreciate their own hometowns.

For those Japanese reminiscing about their childhood, the very thought of gakko-kyushoku triggers myriad memories of old friends and classroom camaraderie. To nurture this nostalgia, there are restaurants that serve kyushoku menus, and special Internet sites that sell typical kyushoku foods to help feed the craving for the lunchtime lessons of school days past.

Source: Courtesy of Kikkoman

Editor’s afternotes:

Another excellent account of the history of kyushoku comes from Roger Pulvers’ Who dares take the ‘Q’ out of Japan’s 5-star kyushoku? (from Counterpoint, The Japan Times Apr 22, 2007) Excerpted immediately below:

“The Japanese adopted their school-lunch system from Europe, where it has traditionally been the belief that the central government has a duty to look after the welfare of all children equally. The Germans and the French instituted the school lunch in the 18th century, followed by the British in the 19th. What could be more important to your modernizing nation, thought the Japanese of the Meiji Era (1868-1912), whose social models came from Europe, than raising well-nourished, healthy children?

The first school lunch in Japan was served in 1889, in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture. It consisted of two rice balls, salted fish and pickled greens. Tokyo followed in 1914, when the Japanese government began subsidizing school lunches. In 1919, bread was introduced to the menu.

But the real history of the school lunch began after World War II, when, in December 1946, Tokyo, as well as Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures, started serving them. By the next year, the entire country had joined in. The typical fare then was stewed tomatoes and skim milk. By 1952, primary schools in all prefectures were offering school lunches, and by 1954 all middle schools had followed suit.” Read more here.

Explore further:

What do high school students have for lunch?

Hear the Kindergarten Kyushoku Song

Early school lunches (1965) and what it looks like today

School lunches in Japan (Genki radio)

What’s a Kappogi? - on the paraphernalia that school children have to don in order to serve the kyushoku

Kyushoku (Higo Blog)

P.S. to this segment, if you want to hear what the foreign teachers in local schools are griping about, check out this thread.

***

For a comparative survey, take a round-the-world-trip with school lunches:

French school lunches rival the Japanese school lunches for quality and cost, see French School Lunch Menus and French school lunch compared to American school lunch article by a registered dietitian living in Southwest France.

If you have to have a book in the hand, then check out “What’s for Lunch? How Schoolchildren Eat Around the World” by Andrea Curtis, a new nonfiction book aimed at kids aged 8-12 published by Red Deer Press, you can find out more at the related What’s for Lunch blog here; also French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon and Outside the Box (about Italy) by Jeannie Marshall

If that was enough to whet your appetite, you might also also want to peruse these: School lunches from around the world 30 pics; School lunches around the world; School lunch China vs Malaysia; What’s best for our kids 11 school lunches from around the world; American Lunch Room; Sean’s School lunch in America blog; What school lunches look like in 20 countries around the world. And don’t forget to read the highly amusing Kyushoku Diaries (from the “Shitara Happens” Blog) and NeverSeconds: primary school pupil’s daily dose of school dinners, the 9 year old Scottish girl’s blog that has gone so viral!

Kyushoku Center Homepage

EDU WATCH: Fabrication of research data on the rise; Super Science High Schools nurture future talent; a third of college presidents say classes are boring …these and other news …

July 6, 2012 in 1 | 2 comments

渡良瀬遊水地 (Hot-air ballooning over Watarase Reservoir)

***

Dear readers,

The mercury in the thermometer is going up, temperatures are predicted to stay above 30 degrees celsius, we are being advised by public health authorities to take precautions against heatstroke and to drink lots of fluids. We’ve done an investigation on what are our best options for hydrating the kids with hotter days ahead, check out our feature here.

I also want to take this opportunity to say, on behalf of all of us here in our EIJ (Education in Japan) community, a big thank YOU to the … 1,000 U.S. high school students to start volunteer work in tsunami zones (Japan Times):

Around 1,000 high school students and youths from the United States will visit the Tohoku region in three groups from Sunday to carry out volunteer work in four disaster-hit prefectures at the invitation of the Japan Foundation. Each group will stay in the country for a fortnight and engage in various exchanges with locals in Iwate, Miyagi, Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures, according to the foundation, which specializes in cultural exchanges. Participants in the program will come from 40 schools across the United States, including areas affected by natural disasters in the past, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The last group will arrive in late July.

Below you’ll find our usual roundup of the goings on in the educational scene here in Japan as well as globally. First up, a look at what’s happening on the local scene:

34% of univ. presidents say classes boring (Yomiuri, Jul. 5, 2012)

According to a MEXT survey sent to 684 presidents of public and private universities nationwide, more than 30 percent (34.4 percent) of university presidents felt that class content is boring and does not match student interests. of the respondents found their classes boring because of content that does not interest students. Many of these respondents said the puny amount of hours studied by students and their minimal achievements at university needed to be addressed urgently. They also recommended that debate-oriented or goal-orientated classes be introduced to improve class content. 74.6 percent of respondents said students were performing insufficient hours of study outside class, and 55.8 percent said students lack sufficient problem-solving abilities. More than 60 percent of the respondents said their university cited the shortage of support staff and the lack of coordination among lecturers, with course contents depending on the discretion of individual teachers. Read more here... (note link will expire soon)

70% of univs give credits for work experience (Yomiuri, Jul.5)…

“but only 2 percent of students have actually acquired the credits, according to an annual survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun.

Many universities also have certified credits for volunteer and study abroad programs, and have otherwise made efforts to provide a variety of experiences to students.

According to the survey, 476 universities, or 74 percent of the respondents, have certified credits for job experiences. About 90 percent of national universities and 75 percent of private universities granted such credits, while only 55 percent of prefectural and municipal universities did so.

Large universities have been more willing to certify credits for such activities. Ninety-five percent of universities with more than 5,000 students granted credits for job experiences, 73 percent of them for studying abroad and 41 percent for volunteer projects.

About 45,085 students, or 2 percent, obtained job experience credits, while only 9,439 students obtained volunteer credits. In light of the obligation to foster vocational independence and to support areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, each university has encouraged students to participate in such activities. The survey results indicate many students are unaware of these goals and obligations.”…

‘Super Science High Schools’ nurture future Einsteins (Yomiuri, Jul 5)

“The ministry launched the Super Science High School program in fiscal 2002. The schools work on developing a curriculum that goes beyond educational guidelines by cooperating with universities and research organizations….

Super science students work on high-level experiments, including the Liesegang phenomenon–where regular stripe patterns or rings are seen in precipitation reactions–and killer yeast, which is able to secrete toxin proteins that are lethal to receptive cells. They often cannot complete their experiments during class and, when preparing for academic conferences or presentations, they voluntarily stay after class to continue their experiments.

Super science students are eligible to study in the United States, and every summer students travel to that country to study.” Read more here …

Anesthesiologist Fabricates 172 Papers (The Scientist, July 3, 2012)
A researcher in Japan faked patient data on nearly 200 studies over the past 2 decades, according to an investigating committee.

Yoshitaka Fujii, a Japanese anesthesiologist, may have just set a new record in scientific misconduct. After an investigating committee organized by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists concluded that he never saw the patients he claimed to see, or administered the medicine he claimed to treat them with, a total of 172 papers regarding those patients are up for retraction—a record number by a single author, according to ScienceInsider. Read more here…

Next in the lineup is Gregory Clark’s roadmap for reforming Japanese universities

Reforming Japan’s universities (Japan Times)
Media reports say Japan’s education bureaucrats are considering allowing students with “stellar” academic records to graduate from high school before they turn 18. In other words, the required three-year stint at high school might be cut to two.

In most countries, allowing university entry before age 18 would be seen as something quite normal, or even as desirable for bright math or science students. But not in Japan, at least to date.

Allowing bright students to enter university before age 18 has long been seen as rather dangerous. What would happen to group harmony in the high schools where everyone is supposed to move up together? And how about the individual concerned being seen as the nail that sticks out and facing severe discrimination?

In the late 1990s I found myself involved with an attempt by Chiba University to allow entry for bright 17-year-olds in math and science. A very conservative Education Ministry had finally given reluctant permission, but only as a test case and with strict conditions. The university first had to set up complex procedures to select the students. Those chosen had to be given special “care” after entry.

In 1997, after a nationwide search, we found 11 candidates from which three were selected. The fuss and bother was so great that the university president who had initiated the scheme was voted out of office. Yet, one of our select entrants was later accepted for Ph.D. physics research at MIT. He told a newspaper interviewer: If not for the Chiba University initiative, he probably would have ended up on the Tokyo University elite bureaucrat conveyer belt.

In 2000 I found myself on another committee, this time to reform university education as part of former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi’s National Peoples Conference on Education Reform (Kyoiku kaikaku Kokumin kaigi). Some of us tried to get permission for early university entry accepted as national policy and not just as an exception to the rule. But once again the education bureaucrats intervened, insisting that an education law made 18 the minimum age for university entry. There was a dramatic moment when Foreign Minister (and later education minister), Nobutaka Machimura, faced down the bureaucrats and barked: “Well, change the law.” And change they did, a year later, to allow entry at age 17.

But once again there was the demand for special selection and “care.” Only a handful of universities have so far responded. Meanwhile, Japan wonders why it falls behind in the genius stakes.

During a long career in Japanese education, I have seen many other examples of the conservatism and bureaucratic rigidity that stifles individual talent in this otherwise worthy nation. I once found myself on an education ministry committee set up to recommend stricter grading standards for university students (it was no secret that many universities would graduate almost anyone who would pay the necessary fees). After going through the list of possibilities — greater use of GPA averages, stricter final graduation exams and so on — we were blandly told by the bureaucrats that any university that refused to graduate a student could be sued. Why? Because when it received the usual large fee for entry it was implicitly entering a contract to educate and graduate, no matter how bad the student was.

This time it was left to Orix Chairman Yoshihiko Miyauchi to blow the whistle: “Well, why are we wasting time here if graduation is guaranteed regardless of what standards we set?” The bureaucrats mumbled something about hoping university educators would need to realize their moral responsibility to improve standards, and left it at that.

For a long time, I had thought things might change if employers looked more at graduation results rather than the name of the graduating university when hiring people, only to be told by a captain of industry on one of the several business committees set up in the mid-’90s to consider education reform (the businessmen were said to be suffering from the low quality of graduates): “My company does not look at graduation results. We do not need swots (gariben). We want students with a good record of club and sports activities.” The final recommendation from that committee was that firms should allow fathers at least one night free to go home early and have dinner with their children.

What to do? Ultimately it is a matter of creating the right study incentives. For some years now I have been involved in helping set up a new university trying to establish such incentives. Fortunately it has been able to ride the current boom in “international education” — in our case all teaching is in English and one year of overseas study is compulsory — to the point where it now ranks with the top Japanese universities in terms of student quality and entrance difficulty.

But Japan should look further than these short-term fixes. I see good postgraduate education as the key. As job hopping increases, employers will want increasingly to employ mature people with professional qualifications rather than taking immature university graduates and trying to mold them with in-house training and company indoctrination. As in the United States they will look to the top postgraduate schools to provide their future managers.

Once that happens many things change. To get into the top postgraduate schools good undergraduate results become important. Those results are not created by artificial entrance exams into so-called elite universities at age 18, as in Japan at the moment. They can only come from three-four years of hard undergraduate study. Automatically the incentive problem at undergraduate level is solved.

As for so-called international education, that should be focused only on those who genuinely want it. Here again, the U.S. and some other Western nations provide the model with their systems of double degrees or majors and minors. Students would choose both a discipline — economics, law, etc. — and a language for three-four years of concentrated study. And the language would not have to be English. Hopefully some will choose some of the other languages — Chinese especially — crucial for Japan’s future.

Shukatsu system shuts out opportunities for students who study overseas, see NY Times article

Nine important wetland sites listed (Japan Times)
Nine new sites in Japan, including Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture, have been listed under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, bringing the total of Japanese sites designated by what is commonly known as the Ramsar Convention to 46, covering a combined area of 137,968 hectares.

The nine sites include Miyajima (the UNESCO world heritage site of Itsukushima Shrine), is the only habitat of Miyajima dragonflies in Japan.

One of the new sites is the Watarase reservoir, which straddles a vast area covering parts of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma and Saitama prefectures, as well as the lower reaches of the Maruyama River and adjacent rice paddies in Hyogo Prefecture.

The Watarase reservoir is a haven for migratory birds and is known for naturally grown reeds. It also serves as a buffer against flooding during violent typhoons or heavy rainfall.

42% back university admissions shift (Japan Times)

A recent poll shows that 42.1 percent of respondents support the idea of shifting the admission time at the nation’s universities from spring to autumn, while 23.2 percent were against the idea. … [1,289 people were interviewed]

About the advantages of introducing autumn enrollment, 49.3 percent said that it would make it easier for both Japanese and overseas students to study at each other’s campuses, followed by 36.5 percent saying it would make students more internationally competitive.

Survey: 58.8% university students welcome foreign classmates; 7.4% oppose (Asahi, Jul 7)

Almost 60 percent of university students in Japan would welcome foreign students to their universities, although that warm feeling begins to fade among upperclassmen, according to a survey.

Masahiro Yokota, professor of education at Meiji University’s School of Global Japanese Studies, had his seminar students conduct a survey on students at 15 universities (four national, 11 private) from May to October last year. Of them, 1,996 students (914 men and 1,082 women) gave valid responses.

Regarding foreign students, 58.8 percent of the respondents said, “I want to accept them very much,” or “I want to accept them to some degree.”

On the other hand, 7.4 percent replied, “I do not want to accept them at all,” or “I do not want to accept them very much.”

Many of the positive respondents said, “I will have more opportunities to learn foreign languages,” and “They (foreign students) will become incentives for me to establish global business networks.”

Those not welcoming foreign students said, “Troubles will increase among different cultures,” and “They would make it more difficult for Japanese students to land jobs.”

The questionnaire asked the respondents to show their levels of positiveness to the acceptance of foreign students in the figures of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most accepting. The average figure among freshmen was the highest at 3.81 points. The figure declined to 3.72 points among sophomores, and further to 3.59 points among juniors. However, it rose slightly to 3.65 points among seniors.

“Upperclassmen have to make preparations for landing jobs. They lose interest in foreign students as their academic years advance to junior and senior years,” Yokota said of the downward trend of the numbers

60,000 high school students to take English exam (Japan Times, Jun 28)
The education ministry will hold English examinations between late June and early August at 218 high schools nationwide to test students’ ability to express themselves and their pronunciation, officials said Wednesday.

The curious case of the eroding eikaiwa salary (Japan Times, Jul 3)
Now fraught with job insecurity and low pay, there was a time when the work was steady and salaries were high for those who taught English in Japan.

Spouse rule axed for overseas teachers (Kyodo, May 27)
“Step aims to ease staff shortage at Japanese public schools abroad
Kyodo
The education ministry has scrapped a rule stipulating that teachers transferring to Japanese public schools overseas must be accompanied by their spouses, sources revealed Saturday.

The change, implemented in April, is aimed at increasing the number of applicants amid a severe teacher shortage at such schools, the sources said.

The rule was originally intended to ensure teachers had sufficient support while abroad.

The number of elementary and junior high school students at Japanese public schools in Asian countries is rapidly increasing as Japanese businesses expand overseas, and the trend is expected to continue.

In contrast, the number of Japanese students living in Europe and the U.S. has declined amid the global economic downturn.

The ministry is supposed to dispatch 80 percent of the teachers working at such schools and pay their salaries, while the number of teachers at each school is based on student enrollment.

But fewer teachers are applying, mirroring the declining number of educators in Japan due to the shrinking birthrate. The rule on spouses compounded the problem. …” Read the rest of the article here…

Princess Mako to study in Britain from September (Mainichi, June 1, 2012)
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Princess Mako, a granddaughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, is preparing to study at a British university from September to May next year, Imperial Household Agency sources said Friday.

The 20-year-old eldest daughter of Prince Akishino and Princess Kiko, who is a junior at International Christian University in Tokyo and has an interest in the restoration and conservation of artworks, is likely to study fine arts during her first full-fledged study abroad, they said.

ICU has an exchange program with various British universities from which the princess is expected to choose, they said. Under the program, credits acquired at the British university will be recognized as part of the credit requirements for graduation from ICU.

While studying at ICU’s college of liberal arts, the princess has been actively involved in official duties as an adult member of Japan’s imperial family, such as attending an imperial banquet and ceremony to greet the general public at New Year.

The princess stayed in Ireland for about a month for language study when she was a freshman at ICU. Her father, Prince Akishino, studied at the University of Oxford.

Ministry surveying past school truants (Yomiuri, Jun 25)
The number of primary and middle school students who refuse to attend class has exceeded 100,000 for 14 consecutive years, prompting the education ministry to begin a survey of 20-year-olds who refused to go to middle school five years ago.

High school students may get 2-yr graduation option (The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jun 3)

The education ministry aims to introduce a system to allow top-performing high school students to graduate in two years and enroll in universities earlier.

Under the system designed for students planning to attend university, the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry aims to foster graduates who can perform well internationally.

If realized, the system will be more convenient for enrollment in overseas universities, where the academic year begins in autumn.

Within Japan, the new system is expected to resolve the problem of gap terms that may present an obstacle to an academic year beginning in autumn at universities.

Though early admission to universities is possible under the current education system, the practice is rare because students who opt to enter university early cannot obtain their high school graduation certificates.

According to the ministry, the new system will be available to high school students whose academic marks exceed a certain level.

The ministry plans to introduce it by revising the School Education Law, which stipulates high schools’ course terms as three years.

The new system will enable eligible students to enroll in universities after graduating high school in a minimum of two years. Students could also enroll in autumn without facing a gap term if they stay in high school for two and a half years.

More details about the planned system will be discussed by concerned entities such as expert panels and the Central Council for Education.

The ministry will report the plan to a meeting of the National Policy Unit to be held soon.

For highly talented second-year high school students, early admission to universities in some fields became possible in 1997.

Since 2001, qualified students have been allowed to use the system for all fields of study.

But until this fiscal year, only about 100 students had taken advantage of the system.

This is because these students are viewed as having quit high school. Thus, if they drop out of university, their highest educational level will be as middle school graduates.

Education experts have also pointed out the current system’s benefits for individuals and universities are not clear.

Starting universities’ academic years in autumn is the norm in many parts of the world, including the United States, Europe and China.

Countries in which the academic year starts in April are a minority. Some education experts have said this timing has presented an obstacle for Japanese students who wish to go to foreign schools and foreign students who wish to enroll in Japanese universities.

Financial woes continue for Brazilian schools (Japan Times, June 1, 2012)
Brazilian schools in Japan continue to face financial difficulties as more Japanese-Brazilians, thrown out of work in the aftermath of the Lehman shock of 2008, take their families back to South America. With support from the government also falling, some of the schools are finding it hard to stay open. There were 110 Brazilian schools in Japan in 2008, but 40 have since shut down.

Austrian textbooks to also carry ‘East Sea’ as name for Sea of Japan (Japan Times, Jun 28)

VIENNA — Geography textbooks to be used at elementary and secondary schools in Austria from September will carry the name “East Sea” for the body of water officially recognized as the Sea of Japan in line with demands from Seoul, a major publishing house in the country said Wednesday.

Austrian textbook publisher Hoelzel said its policy of carrying the two names reflects instructions by an experts’ group of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, which decided in March to recommend that the country’s textbooks refer to both names.

The group said carrying the two names is a realistic option as the media in German-speaking countries have increasingly used both names in recent years.

Printing of the textbooks carrying the two names has already started, the publisher said.

South Korea has long demanded the waters be called the East Sea on grounds that the term Sea of Japan only became popular globally during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

But Japan claims the Sea of Japan has been the international term since the 19th century, even before the peninsula came under Japanese colonial rule, and wants only that name used.

The Foreign Ministry said in Tokyo that textbooks in several other countries, including Brazil and Australia, use both names for the sea area.

In April, the International Hydrographic Organization, a Monaco-based body consisting of 80 member states that aims to achieve uniformity in nautical charts, documents and the name of waters and straits, rejected Seoul’s demand that its publication Limits of Oceans and Seas include “the East Sea” side by side with “the Sea of Japan.”

Inadequate probes of foreign students’ financial status blamed for ballooning subsidies (Mainichi, Jun 28)

Sloppy screenings of the financial status of foreign students studying in Japan have likely led to excessive amounts of subsidies forked out to private universities hosting them, a government investigation has found.

The Board of Audit of Japan, which conducted the survey, has demanded the Promotion and Mutual Aid Corporation for Private Schools of Japan to improve the situation before allowing universities to apply for tuition fee reductions and the exemption program for financially-strapped foreign students.

According to the survey, 23 private universities and junior colleges across the country either reduced or exempted school fees for foreign students under a subsidy program operated by the corporation in fiscal 2010, without screening the students’ financial status. The schools — including Kokushikan University, Osaka Sangyo University and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University — received a total of some 250 million yen in subsidies from the corporation.

The subsidy program was launched in fiscal 2010 with the aim of supporting the globalization of private universities and junior colleges. Under the program, the government subsidizes part of the expenses necessary for schools to reduce or exempt tuition fees for foreign students who are in financial difficulty. A total of some 1.24 billion yen in subsidies was paid to 397 schools in fiscal 2010.

The Board of Audit singled out 27 schools that received higher amounts of subsidies than other schools and investigated their screening systems. As a result, 23 schools had failed to set up any clear guidelines for examining the economic conditions of foreign students, such as how much in allowances they receive from their relatives and others in their home countries. These schools either reduced or exempted school fees for almost all foreign students who applied for the program, receiving a total of some 250 million yen in subsidies unconditionally.

***

Elsewhere in the world, here’s a summary of the news about educational matters:

Neuroscientist retracts Parkinson’s research after false data is found (The Scientist.com June 29)
Mona Thiruchelvam retracted her research on Parkinson’s disease after her cell count data was found to be falsified. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity found that the former assistant professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey committed research misconduct. Her two studies focused on the effect of pesticides on neuronal mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s.

Misconduct Shakeup (The Scientist, July 3, 2012)
The ongoing saga that led to psychologist Dirk Smeesters’s resignation from the Erasmus University Rotterdam has the scientific community discussing new ways to detect data fraud

Printing in 3-D helps scientists see their research in a new way (Nature, July 4)
Research labs use many types of 3D printers to construct everything from fossil replicas to tissues of beating heart cells. Arthur Olson’s team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, produces models of molecules; some are shown here partway through the printing process. 3-D printing is helping scientists see new things in the subjects they study. A print of a protein at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., revealed a previously unseen “tunnel” of empty space running through it. Other researchers are using the technique to study Neanderthal bones.

Science & the Public: Measuring how well kids do science (Science News, Jun 19)
On June 19, the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the first national report card gauging the performance in hand-on and research-oriented interactive computer tasks by U.S. children. And the overall grades: Well, they show lots of room for improvement. Some 2,000 children took each test at each of three grade levels: 4th, 8th and 12th. “Across the 9 interactive computer tasks, we found that 42 percent of 4th graders, 41 percent of 8th graders and 27 percent of 12th graders gave correct answers on the steps they attempted. Students were likely to be successful on parts of the testing “that involved limited sets of data and making straightforward observations from those data,” but were poor at using those data to extrapolate a general trend or justify a conclusion with the evidence they had just collected. Read on…

Asian parents are spending billions of dollars on private tutors for their children, and the practice is growing despite doubts over its effectiveness, according to a study published Wednesday.
“Shadow education” is an expanding business not only in wealthy countries but also in some of the region’s poorer nations as parents try to give their children the best start in life, the Asian Development Bank said.
Nearly nine out of 10 South Korean elementary pupils have private tutoring, while the figure for primary school children in India’s West Bengal state is six out of 10.
“Proportions are lower in other countries, but throughout the region the shadow is spreading and intensifying,” the study said, calling for a review of education systems to make such extra teaching less attractive.
Extra academic work is aimed at helping slow learners and supporting high achievers, and is seen by many Asian parents as a constructive way for adolescents to spend their spare time.
However, it can also reduce time for sports and other activities important for well-rounded development, as well as cause social tensions since richer families are able to pay for better-quality tutoring, the study said.
It estimated that the costs of private tutoring in South Korea were equivalent to 80 percent of government spending on public education.
Japan spent $12 billion on extra teaching in 2010, while the figure for Singapore was US$680 million in 2008.
In Hong Kong, where 85 percent of senior secondary students receive tutoring, companies advertise the services of “star” tutors, on television, newspapers and the back of buses, the study said.
“Expenses are lower in other countries, but they are headed in the same direction,” it added.
But despite its popularity, particularly in East Asia, tutoring has had mixed results, said the study, conducted with the University of Hong Kong’s Comparative Education Research Centre.
“Much depends not only on the motivations and abilities of the students but also on the motivations and abilities of the tutors,” it said.
“In many countries, individuals can become tutors without training, and the effectiveness of some forms of tutoring is doubtful.”
The study called for state supervision and regulation of the industry, as well as a review of Asia’s educational systems.
“They should ask why it (tutoring) exists in the first place, and what can be done in the mainstream to make supplementary tutoring less desirable and necessary.”

Drastic measures as China students sit exams (AFP, Jun 7, 2012)

More than 9 million students sat China’s notoriously tough college entrance exams on Thursday, with “high-flyer” rooms, nannies and even intravenous drips among the tools being employed for success.
With just 6.85 million university spots on offer this year, competition for the top institutions is intense, and attempts to cheat are rife — 1,500 people have been arrested on suspicion of selling transmitters and hard-to-detect ear pieces.
Parents and students this year are also resorting to some outlandish but legal methods to ensure nothing goes wrong in the make-or-break two-day exam.
Students have reportedly been given pre-exam injections and intravenous drips designed to boost energy levels, while girls have resorted to hormone injections and birth control pills to delay menstruation.
“There are situations where girls take pills to delay their periods until after the exams,” a gynaecologist at Beijing’s Chaoyang Hospital, who declined to give his name, told AFP.
Some of the more affluent parents have rented houses close to the 7,300 exam venues across the country, while so-called “high-flyer rooms” are being offered in the northern port city of Tianjin, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper.

Boys find it tough in China’s schools (Today, 30 May)

Educators say that the academic rift between boys and girls in China is apparent, and statistics indicate it is quickly growing wider… teachers observe a difference in discipline and focus…

In the UK… the debate by education experts continues… Do we want the return of the O-level? (Telegraph, Jun 30)

Girls outperforming boys in “masculine” subjects (Telegraph, Jul 5)

Girls are outperforming boys in traditionally “masculine” subjects such as engineering and construction, despite repeated attempts to close the education gender gap, it emerged today

Top jobs ‘restricted to graduates with first-class degrees (Telegraph, 4 Jul 2012) Leading companies are preparing to screen out graduates who fail to gain first-class degrees as up to 150 university leavers compete for each job, it emerged today. | Related: Do graduates need a first-class degree to get a good job?

Up to a fifth of graduates ‘without work’ after university (Telegraph, 5 Jul)

A fifth of students are being left without a job six months after graduating from some British universities, according to official figures.

Top school scraps “dull” GCSEs in favour of new exams (Telegraph, 29 Jun )
One of Britain’s top private schools is devising its own qualifications in a series of key subjects amid claims that “dull” GCSEs no longer prepare teenagers for the demands of the sixth-form

“Sevenoaks School in Kent has become one of the first in the country to create a new generation of courses for 14- to 16-year-olds designed to act as a more stretching alternative to traditional exams.

This year, pupils became the first to sit the school’s own test in English literature – formally accredited by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service – with plans to generate further qualifications in art, music, drama and technology.
The school is also considering making the switch in history, geography and foreign languages.
Katy Ricks, the head, said the move was made because GCSEs failed to equip pupils with the creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and team working skills needed in the sixth-form, where the school already runs the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to A-levels.

It comes just a week after it emerged that Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, intends to scrap GCSEs nationally because of fears the exams have been systematically “dumbed down”.” Read the rest of the article here…

Academics call for degree shake-up to reduce 2:1 effect (Guardian, Jul 4)

Survey shows employers discard applications from students with less than an upper second

If you were worried about the opinion piece, Here’s why Google and Facebook might completely disappear in the next 5 years (MacDaily news, May 1, 2012), read the comeback from George Anders Google and Facebook Dead in 5 years? Fat Chance!

The new divide in the digital age (Jun 5, New York Times)

Technology may not help children from poorer families, who waste more time on media

NEW YORK – In the 1990s, the term “digital divide” emerged to describe technology’s haves and have-nots. It inspired many efforts to get the latest computing tools into the hands of all Americans, particularly low-income families.

Those efforts have indeed shrunk the divide. But they have created an unintended side effect, one that is surprising and troubling to researchers and policymakers, and that the government now wants to fix.

As access to devices has spread, children in poorer families are spending considerably more time than those from more well-off ones using their television and gadgets to watch shows and videos, play games and connect on social networking sites, studies show.

This growing time-wasting gap, policymakers and researchers say, is more a reflection of the ability of parents to monitor and limit how children use technology than of access to it.

“Access is not a panacea,” said Ms Danah Boyd, a senior researcher at Microsoft. “Not only does it not solve problems, it mirrors and magnifies existing problems we’ve been ignoring.”…

A study published in 2010 by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children and teenagers whose parents do not have a college degree spent 90 minutes more per day exposed to media than children from higher socioeconomic families.

In 1999, the difference was only 16 minutes.

The researchers also found that children of parents who do not have a college degree spend 11.5 hours each day exposed to media from a variety of sources – including television, computer and other gadgets.

That is an increase of four hours and 40 minutes per day since 1999.

Children of parents with more education – generally understood as a proxy for higher socioeconomic status – also largely used their devices for entertainment.

In families in which a parent has a college education or an advanced degree, the study found, children use 10 hours of multimedia a day, a 3.5-hour jump since 1999. (The time spent multi-tasking was double-counted. If a child spent an hour simultaneously watching TV and surfing the Internet, the researchers counted two hours.)

“Despite the educational potential of computers, the reality is that their use for education or meaningful content creation is minuscule compared to their use for pure entertainment,” said Ms Vicky Rideout, author of the decade-long study.

“Instead of closing the achievement gap, they’re widening the time-wasting gap.”

Policymakers and researchers say the challenges are heightened for parents and children with fewer resources – the very people who were supposed to be helped by closing the digital divide. “

Related IT news: Classroom Lectures Go Digital with Video-On-Demand (All Voices, June 24) about the value of TED Talks and other digital media learning resources (that we here on our EIJ forum already LOVE!)

Against all odds: From homeless to Harvard (Lawndale : NC : USA | Jun 10, 2012)

Loggins is a straight “A” senior as well as a methodical and meticulous janitor at the northern Cleveland County high school, in Lawndale, N.C., where she began the 2011-2012 academic year homeless, abandoned by her drug-abusing parents. …
This fall, Loggins will be putting away her mop and bucket and leaving the North Carolina foothills for the ivory covered towers of Harvard University, where she will begin the year as a freshman biology major.
Grants and an on-campus job will help Loggins pay for her tuition, books, room and board. She said she isn’t worried about taking the step from a 1,100-student school 15 miles north of Shelby, N.C., to an academic powerhouse in the shadows of Boston. Read more here…

A tree of life connects species (New York Times, 2012-06-17) via Chinadaily.com

In 1837, Charles Darwin opened a notebook and drew a simple tree. Each branch represented a species. Two decades later Darwin presented a detailed account of the tree of life in “On the Origin of Species.” And much of evolutionary biology since then has been dedicated to illuminating parts of the tree. Using DNA, fossils and other clues, scientists have worked out the relationships of many groups of organisms, making rough sketches of the entire tree of life. Scientists want to create a single tree of life out of thousands and are doing something new: they are drawing a tree of life that includes every known species – a tree with about two million branches. Scientists have developed computer programs that find the most likely relationship among species without considering every possible arrangement, and that can now analyze tens of thousands of species at a time. Read the article here.

Napoleon’s English homework sells for $415,000 (AFP, 12 Jun)

“The standard-sized sheet of paper is a homework exercise Napoleon sent to an English teacher for correction in 1816 and was sealed with the imperial eagle wax stamp.

It’s one of three such English-language letters by Napoleon in the world, according to the auction organisers, and was bought by Paris’s Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in a dramatic bidding war yesterday near the Chateau of Fontainebleau, one of Napoleon’s south of Paris.

The selling price suggests the document’s historic value, as rare proof that Napoleon, who famously dismissed England as a “nation of shopkeepers”, learned to speak the language of his opponents late in life.” … Read the rest here…

Report Predicts Huge Gap in Educated Workers (Telegraph, June 24, 2012)
There will be a shortage of up to 40 million university graduates by 2020, a McKinsey report suggests.

“By 2020, there will be about 38 million to 40 million too few college and university graduates to satisfy the demands of the global labor market, a report issued this month has found.

At the same time, there will be a surplus of up to 95 million low-skill workers globally, according to the study, conducted by the McKinsey Global Institute.

The report bases its estimates on the projection of a global work force of 3.5 billion by the year 2020, compared with 2.9 billion today.

“Unemployment for less skilled workers is currently running two to three times that of those skilled workers with university or post-graduate degrees,” said Richard Dobbs, one of the authors of the report. … The report suggested that the shortage of high-skill workers could be avoided by doubling the rate of post-secondary education attainment, retraining midcareer workers and encouraging the migration of educated workers.”

***

In this segment on kids’ health & safety issues…

High schoolers try to cleanse tsunami-hit farmland with water spinach (Jiji)

GIFU — High school students from Gifu Prefecture are set to carry out an experiment using water spinach to remove salt from tsunami-hit farmland in the Tohoku region.

Seven third-year students from Ena Agricultural High School will visit farms in Miyagi Prefecture, including one in Miyagino Ward, Sendai, for three days from Friday to plant seedlings.

They will return to the farms in late August to pick the spinach and analyze how much salt the plants have absorbed. A similar test last year showed 24.6 grams of salt was absorbed by around 3 kg of water spinach planted at the same farms.

Subsequent research has found that the plant grows up to 10 percent bigger in water with a salt density of 1.5 percent compared to fresh water. In this year’s test, the students will plant water spinach seedlings in 1.5 percent saltwater for two weeks.

Cesium found in urine of Fukushima children (Japan Times, July 2, 2012)

A small amount of radioactive cesium was found in urine samples from 141 infants and young children in Fukushima Prefecture, home to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, a research group said Saturday.
Three samples had over 10 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, including one with 17.5 becquerels. Up to 10 becquerels were detected in the other 138 samples, the Isotope Research Institute said.
The three children found to have the highest levels of cesium were on a steady diet of home-grown vegetables, it added.
The average amount of cesium in the 141 samples was 2.2 becquerels per kilogram. Cesium was not detected in 1,881 of the 2,022 infants and kids surveyed, the Yokohama-based institute said.
The 141 samples also contained an average of about 64 becquerels of radioactive potassium, which is found naturally in the environment….
The survey from last November to January covered infants and kids up to age 7. The institute said the survey was free and performed out of concern for those who may have suffered internal exposure to radioactive materials.

Sleep Deprivation Amps Up the Brain | The brain gets more active the longer it goes without sleep (June 21, 2012 Sci Am)
Anyone who has pulled an all-nighter knows it is possible to be tired without being sleepy. The body slows and concentration slips, even as thoughts spin toward a manic blur. It feels as though the sleep-deprived brain is actually becoming more active. And indeed it is, according to a recent study in the journal Cerebral Cortex.

Marcello Massimini, a neurophysiologist at the University of Milan in Italy, found that the brain becomes more sensitive as the day wears on. The experiment, he explains, is like poking a friend in the ribs to see how high he jumps. Massimini prodded brain cells in the frontal cortex with a jolt of electricity, delivered via noninvasive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Then he observed how the rest of the brain responded, comparing results from subjects who had been awake for two, eight, 12 or 32 hours. “I’m sure if you bump your friend when he’s sleep-deprived, he’s going to jump higher,” he says. The sleep-deprived brain, it turns out, also gets jumpy, responding to the electrical jolt with stronger, more immediate spikes of activity.

The results jibe with a widely held theory that while we are awake, our neurons are constantly forming new synapses, or connections to other neurons, which ramps up the activity in our brain. Many of these connections are irrelevant, but the only way to prune them is by shutting down for a while. The theory explains why it is difficult to cram new information into a sleepy brain. But it also helps to explain some unusual medical observations: epileptics are more likely to have seizures the longer they stay awake, and severely depressed patients with abnormally low brain activity sometimes improve after skipping sleep. “You keep them awake for one night, and, incredibly, they get better,” Massimini says.

Cooling system fixed at Fukushima plant’s No. 4 fuel pool (Japan Times, July 2, 2012)

The cooling system for the No. 4 reactor’s hazardous spent-fuel pool came back to life Sunday at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant after emergency repairs succeeded, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said.

The cooling system automatically shut down on Saturday for unknown reasons, allowing the water in the pool to reach 42.9 degrees Sunday. The pool must stay filled to prevent the used rods from burning up.

The cooling system resumed shortly after 3 p.m. The temperature in the pool, which is sitting perilously atop the reactor in a heavily damaged building, was 33.3 degrees when the cooling system failed Saturday morning.

The company believes a part in the cooling system’s emergency power unit caused the shutdown and plans to replace it “soon.”

The pool contains 1,535 fuel assemblies — including 204 unused ones — that could all burn up if the remainder of the building collapses and dumps the water out. The same cooling system also was suspended on June 4.

See related: Accurate radiation info needed

This past year has seen a great deal of stress, not just for adults, but also for children living in Japan, particularly for those affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis and tsunami. According to research, stress in children can manifest in:

“Stress is most often seen as an overt physical reaction: crying, sweating palms, running away, aggressive or defensive outbursts, rocking and self-comforting behaviors, headaches and stomachaches, nervous fine motor behaviors (e.g., hair twirling or pulling, chewing and sucking, biting of skin and fingernails), toileting accidents, and sleep disturbances (Stansbury & Harris, 2000; Fallin, Wallinga, & Coleman, 2001; Marion, 2003). Experts suggest that children may react globally through depression and avoidance; excessive shyness; hyper-vigilance; excessive worrying; “freezing up” in social situations; seemingly obsessive interest in objects, routines, food, and persistent concern about “what comes next”; and excessive clinging (Dacey & Fiore, 2000). “

This article “Stress and Young Children” takes you through the four distinct stages of the stress experience as well as the adaptations and coping mechanisms that children have, and suggests how adults should respond to these situations. [See also related: Children and Stress: Caring Strategies to Guide Children]

Radioactive river mud threatens lakes, Tokyo Bay (Asahi, IHT July 05, 2012)
Lakes across eastern Japan are being contaminated with radioactive cesium from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, and scientists are warning of a growing problem in Tokyo Bay.

Radioactive mud carried down rivers is slowly accumulating in the lakes, in some cases making fish and shellfish dangerous to eat.

In March, a maximum cesium concentration of 9,550 becquerels per kilogram was detected in mud on the bottom of the Bizengawa river, 1.65 kilometers from where it flows into Japan’s second-largest lake, Lake Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture.

A month later, the highest reading was 800 meters closer to the lake and had increased to 9,980 becquerels per kilogram.

Hiroshi Iijima, who heads the Asaza Fund nonprofit organization, which conducted the surveys, has asked the central and prefectural governments to put cesium-absorbing zeolites in the lake and set up a temporary dam to stop the mud flowing from the river.

Ibaraki Prefecture is known for producing the largest eel catch in Japan. In May, the central government suspended shipments of eels caught in Kasumigaura and other locations in Ibaraki Prefecture after cesium levels exceeding the government standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram for food were detected.

In fiscal 2011, cesium levels over 100 becquerels per kilogram were found in fish and shellfish caught in the lake in eight of 71 surveys. The frequency increased to 28 of 87 surveys in the current fiscal year.

The prefectural government on April 1 asked fishermen to refrain from shipping three other fish from two rivers and other locations due to high levels of cesium.

Since April, cesium levels over 100 becquerels per kilogram have also been found in fish and shellfish in Lake Numazawako, Lake Inawashiroko and Lake Akimotoko in Fukushima Prefecture, Hinuma marsh in Ibaraki Prefecture, Teganuma marsh in Chiba Prefecture and Lake Chuzenjiko in Tochigi Prefecture.

“Despite decontamination work, radioactivity could remain in lakes as long as cesium flows in,” an Environment Ministry official said. “While giving priority to decontamination efforts on land, we want to find out to what extent radioactive materials will move to fish through the rivers.”

Scientists say freshwater fish tend to retain ingested cesium longer than their saltwater counterparts. They do not discharge as much of the material due to low osmotic pressure between their bodies and surrounding waters.

The Environment Ministry found higher cesium concentrations in fish and water insects in lakes and rivers than sea life in a survey in Fukushima Prefecture from December to February.

The highest level was 2,600 becquerels per kilogram in a type of rhinogobius in Manogawa river north of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. The concentrations in most saltwater fish were below 100 becquerels.

Meanwhile, Yosuke Yamashiki, an associate professor of environmental engineering at Kyoto University, estimates that cesium concentrations at the bottom of Tokyo Bay will peak in 2014 and then remain roughly stable through 2021.

His modeling predicts that levels will rise to 300-500 becquerels per kilogram of sand at the bottom of the bay near the mouths of Edogawa and Arakawa rivers in March 2014. Those rivers flow through areas with relatively high radiation levels.

Hotspots with cesium levels of 4,000 becquerels per kilogram are possible, Yamashiki said.

“Even if no impact of radiation has yet to be found on fish and shellfish, we cannot tell what will happen in the future,” he said. “We need to begin to prevent contamination immediately by reducing the amount of sand flowing into the bay.”

Sand containing cesium tends to accumulate in Tokyo Bay because it has a relatively narrow opening to the Pacific Ocean.

Yamashiki simulated sand and mud movements in Tokyo Bay and rivers flowing into the bay since March 2011 and used cesium concentrations in soil measured by the government to produce his estimates.

Experts discuss evacuation plan in the event of Mt Fuji eruption (Japan Today, Jun. 10, 2012 – 06:45

TOKYO — A meeting of disaster prevention experts have recommended drawing up a plan to evacuate those who would be affected by an eruption of Mount Fuji.

Specialists from Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures held a conference on Friday at which they agreed to draw up a plan for sheltering people who may be affected by a potential eruption of the 3,776-meter-high mountain and to perform a test run of the procedure by 2014, TBS reported.

The plan is to include evacuation methods and routes for residents and tourists in the event of an eruption. Each team is to reflect on the efficacy of current arrangements and report back to the council at the next meeting, which is scheduled to take place in late April 2013 in Yamanashi Prefecture, TBS said.

Also in attendance at the conference were volcano experts who spoke on the subjects of Mount Fuji’s history, the reliability of volcanic eruption predictions and the likely characteristics of an eruption.

Prof Toshitsugu Fujii of the University of Tokyo Earthquake Research Institute said last year’s March 11 earthquake transformed the Earth’s crust in the region and another earthquake is expected to hit in the South Seas, TBS reported. He was quoted as saying there is a high probability that this tectonic activity will cause Mount Fuji to become more active.

A survey carried out by the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute in May found a 30-km fault running from Gotemba in Shizuoka Prefecture beneath Mount Fuji. Research results indicated it is likely to be active.

If the fault sets off an earthquake, researchers say the slopes would most likely collapse, causing massive landslides and mudflows.

An earthquake in 1707 caused Mount Fuji to erupt and killed an estimated 20,000 people.

Bullies forced ‘suicide practice’ on Otsu junior high student who killed self: survey (Mainichi, Jul 4)
Bullies at a municipal junior high school here routinely forced a 13-year-old student who leapt to his death in October last year to do “suicide practice,” according to a student survey conducted by the school.

According to sources close to the matter, 15 students reported in the questionnaire that the victim had been forced to “practice” killing himself. The city board of education did not disclose the finding at its November 2011 news conference on the suicide case.
The parents of the deceased boy filed a lawsuit with the Otsu District Court in February against three students and their guardians as well as the Otsu Municipal Government, demanding some 77.2 million yen in damages. During the first round of oral proceedings in May this year, the Otsu Municipal Government admitted that the boy had been bullied, but also insisted, “We cannot determine that he committed suicide because of the bullying.” The attorney for the plaintiffs is expected to submit a brief based on the school survey results for the second round of oral proceedings, set for July 17.

U.S. blueberries exceed pesticide level (Kyodo, June 9, 2012 )
The health ministry has ordered importers of blueberries from the United States to inspect the produce after detecting pesticide around 29 to 32 times above the quarantine standard.

Some of the blueberries have been distributed to the market, but the pesticide, methoxyfenozide, is not harmful to human health because of its low toxicity, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Thursday.

The ministry is checking the extent of distribution.

Two Tokyo-based food companies imported around 290 and 580 kg of the blueberries, and some that arrived May 26 were found to contain 0.29 to 0.32 parts per million of methoxyfenozide during inspections at Narita International Airport.

1st children’s hospice to open in Osaka (Jun.10)

“OSAKA– The nation’s first hospice for seriously ill children will open this autumn in Osaka, a facility that will give young patients a place to study and play while undergoing treatment and also offer support to their parents.

The hospice at the Yodogawa Christian Hospital in Higashiyodogawa Ward is modeled on similar facilities in the United States and Europe where children and their families can spend time together.

According to the hospital, the hospice will have 12 private rooms each about 30 square meters, the same size as rooms generally shared by four patients. Patients’ family members and pets can also stay with them.

The hospice will have an area where children can take classes, and a space with outdoor playground equipment.

The hospital is considering staffing the hospice with certified nursery school teachers and children’s activity specialists.

Hospices are usually for terminally ill patients to spend their last days peacefully. The Osaka facility is mainly meant for short-term stays of several days, although it can accommodate children requiring longer stays. Users will only pay regular treatment fees and hospital expenses.

According to a 2007 estimate by the Japan Pediatric Society, about 7,350 children are categorized as “seriously ill” and need respirators and other assistance to live. These children are usually not admitted to ordinary hospitals if their conditions are stable, and it is believed that half of them are cared for at home. The hospice will admit these children for palliative treatment…

Similar facilities are popping up across the country to help parents taking care of seriously ill children at home.

A group of pediatricians at the Osaka City General Hospital in Miyakojima Ward, Osaka, has incorporated the Kodomo no Hospice Project. And in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ocean View Forest, a facility to accommodate seriously ill children, will open next spring.” … read more here (link will expire soon)

Students sick from cooking class (NewsOnJapan.com, Jun 21)

A total of 23 students at Hirano elementary school in Osaka city were hospitalized after complaining of nausea after cooking practice.
The 5th year elementary students were taken to hospital but none of their symptoms were severe.
It was reported that the students were comparing the difference between boiled and raw cabbage by tasting them with salt and mayonnaise.

4 students suffer burns after botched chemical experiment
Four boys suffered burns to their faces and hands after a fire started while they were conducting a chemical experiment on the banks of the Arakawa River at Hinodecho in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Saturday. (Japan Today, Jun 4)

Common antibiotic boosts death risk: study (AFP) – May 16, 2012

Study: Spanking Increases Odds of Mental Illness (Opposing views, Jul 3)

“A recent study, led by Canadian researchers, says that people who were hit or spanked as children face higher odds of mental ailments as adults, including mood and anxiety disorders and problems with alcohol and drug abuse.

People who were spanked or hit as kids were between two and seven percent more likely to encounter mental issues later, said the research in the journal Pediatrics, based on a retrospective survey of more than 600 US adults.

While 32 nations around the world have banned corporal punishment of kids, the United States and Canada have not.

Researchers stressed that the study could not establish that spanking had actually caused these disorders in certain adults, only that there was a link between memories of such punishment and a higher number of mental problems.”… Read full-length article at MyHealthNewsDaily.

Study: Sharing doesn’t come naturally to children’s brains (Scientific American.com, 7/5)
An underdeveloped prefrontal cortex makes sharing difficult for young children. Sharing is a skill that children must be taught, even if they understand the concept. Researchers found that children between ages 6 and 14 lack the impulse control to master sharing. “Just because the brain is that way doesn’t mean it can’t be changed. Education and setting a good example can have an enormous impact,” said researcher Nikolaus Steinbeis.

Only 50% of schools were ready for tsunami (The Yomiuri Shimbun, May 30, 2012)

Only 50.3 percent of schools in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures that were expected to be or were hit hard by last year’s tsunami had evacuation plans in their crisis management manuals, according to an education ministry survey. (Yomiuri)

The survey also found that many students died in the tsunami because they were sent home just after the earthquake struck.

Of the 149 schools hit or expected to be hit by tsunami, only 75 had evacuation plans in place, according to the survey.

Among the 149 schools, 131 were inundated by tsunami. Sixty-nine schools that were inundated were not designated as at risk of tsunami on hazard maps, according to the survey. Among 71 schools in the at-risk areas, 53 were flooded, but 27 did not conduct tsunami drills, the survey said.

While we’re on the health watch too, you gotta love this one… a food blog started by a primary schooler has helped galvanize a health movement. Read about it in Girl, 9, Gives School Lunch Failing Grade (NY Times, June 16, 2012)

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Cool websites to check out:

Mathletics website - a good interactive math educational programme/online (pay to use) site used by schools or individuals (can purchase a separate annual licence)

Japan Volcano website

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Last but not least, here our Book Nook blurb:

For the kids:

The Flight of the Griffin The Best Fantasy of 2012.
Join a race against time on a quest to stop the world tipping into Chaos as Demons and an evil hunter give chase! Reviewed at Goodreads.com

Still hot off the publisher’s press is the 6th instalment of the very popular The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series, “The Enchantress“, read Goodreads.com’s review here.

Of educational value:

“Nihon Bijutsu Zenshu,” or “Japanese art: the complete works,”…the release of the 1st books in a massive, 20-volume series covering the entire history of Japanese art

Travels with a Tangerine: A Journey in the Footnotes of Ibn Battutah by Tim Mackintosh-Smith Picador: 2003, reissued 2012. Read Robin Weiss’ review here or Goodreads.com’s review.

I’d like to end off by posting these links for ideas on how to spend summer: Visit the Mori museum for its Ancient Egypt exhibition; Celebrate Summer and 13 ways to enjoy yourself without spending a lot of money from a personal finance blog called MoneyNing by Scott Bradley.. If you are in town and are looking for activities for kids, either check out our Summer Camps listing from the menu bar on the left, or we recommend Liane Wakabayashi’s Children’s Creative Arts Camp in Shinjuku 7/23-8/9: Three weeks of painting, drawing, photography, crafts, Lego and more for elementary and junior high age kids. Sessions run Mon-Thurs 1:00-3:30 pm. Maximum six kids per session. Scholarships also available upon request to edn-in-jpn members so please call Liane (tel: 090-4122-6626) to find out more. See http://www.genesiscards.com for details or call her directly). Also, if you’re lucky enough to be in the area, try catching the Tanabata Star Festival event at the Stone Hakuseikikan Museum in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture with its display of “Milky Way” luminous stones…on until July 8.

And that’s it from me … for now, folks.

Digitally yours,

Aileen Kawagoe

Q&A: Why are Japanese uwabaki white?

June 30, 2012 in 1 | 6 comments

Standard school issue – uwabakis

From time to time, I really enjoy the challenge of detective work on some obscure educational trivia… Like today’s Question of the Day from one of our EIJ forum members:

Q: I would love to read the tips [on maintenance of school shoes / uwabaki]. May I ask for the one to EIJ community blog?

I also would love to hear any reasonable explanation to why uwabaki made in white? Why not brown, plaid or checked…smth easier to keep clean?

A: There are a lot of school canvas shoe care tips at this Yahoo answer page, and although I have tried all of those, except the toothpaste one, I think the Asaichi TV programme‘s tips are better, and you’ll find them written up on our blog at this page.

As to the origin of uwabaki (also called barei shuzu), while I couldn’t find it anywhere on my 1st google(not even from the Japanese Wiki page), I would put my money (as an ex-Convent girl) on it …and bet that both the uwabaki and buruma (bloomers) originated as a package from … the British!

Although many have come to associate the uwabaki as typical Japanese footwear, Nipponia hints that the Japanese don’t consider the uwabaki footwear to be Japanese at all, but to be a foreign import:

“Modern Japan has taken on many Western habits, and shoes are now worn outside, to the almost complete exclusion of other footwear. But the custom of not wearing shoes in the home remains, and this has led to the use of uwabaki slippers in schools”.

The origin of the Uwabaki (and the Asian white canvas school shoes) was probably the early prototype of the British plimsoll or plimsole (British English)- which is a type of athletic shoe with a canvas upper and rubber sole, developed as beachwear or “sandshoe” as it also used to be known then, or alternatively also known as “pumps” with a little elasticated band (but not strap) in the 1830s by the Liverpool Rubber Company.

And eventually evolved into the “plimsolls(see above picture of school plimsolls without the stripe)” so-called from the 1870s, because it derived from the horizontal colored stripe that once ran along the upper part of the sole, which resembled the Plimsoll line on a ship’s hull. Like the line on ships, the stripe on the shoe was a kind of waterline (though it was clearly for just aesthetic purposes).

The interesting thing is that aside from the common attribution to the Brits for the creation of plimsolls, the Plimsoll company itself attributes the prototype Plimsoll to a made-for-the-Soviet-military-Hungarian-factory-shoe:

“The name aside, our take on Plimsoll was originally made in a factory just outside Budapest in Hungary, and is based on a shoe they have made there for over fifty years and was originally an exercise shoe for the soviet military. We have since moved production with the very same mold design to the far east for a clean looking version of the original. This gives our Plimsoll a vintage ‘old school’ feel.“–Plimsollshoes.com

In the UK, plimsolls were compulsory in school physical education lessons. In northern Scotland and Ireland, they are still sometimes called “sannies”(short for sandshoes – Wikipedia refers). Here’s an excerpt from the fascinating Brief History of the Plimsoll: The Grandfather of the Sport Shoe:

“The plimsoll marked the beginning of the modern sport shoe and its origins are linked to the 19th century railways in the UK and the new habit of working class city dwellers taking annual trips to the seaside. Visits to the seashores by daytrippers in working boots seemed out of character so many chose to wear the new lightweight canvas topped rubber soled shoes because they were cheap and ideal for the sand. These were called sand shoes. At first the cotton canvas topped shoe had a sole made from leather, jute or rope but the footwear was flimsy and wore out quickly. Then the New Liverpool Rubber Company developed a light shoe which combined a cotton canvas top to a rubber sole. Sand shies were still vulnerable to separate so a thin rubber band was wrapped around the whole shoe trapping the join between the canvas and rubber sole. This made the footwear far more robust and the new style was called a plimsoll after the white plimsoll lines on ships which was introduced in 1876. Plimsolls wore well, kept the feet cool in the summer and dried quickly after a paddle in the sea.”

Since British (esp. the Irish, Scottish or Welsh) missionaries have a long history in the setting up of schools all over Asia …and although plimsolls are no longer just white in the UK, you’ll find that India (and the rest of the Brit. Commonwealth), as well as most of Southeast Asian schools still commonly adhere to some version of the white canvas plimsoll shoe as a part of their common school uniform.

In Japan, uwabakis were introduced not only for schools, but for hospital nurses as well. I would hazard a guess that uwabakis were likely introduced around the same time as the school bloomers (burumaブルマー)… the latter were introduced in Japan as women’s clothing for physical education in 1903. The plimsoll may have been introduced even earlier. It is said that 19th-century “cartoons in journals lampooned sandal-shod(the first uwabakis sandals or “sandshoes”?) students” and the Minister of Education Mori Arinori was actually assassinated in 1889 for having betrayed Japan’s traditional culture (source: Japanese Sports: A History, pps.69-70). In the course of the Meiji modernization drive, the Meiji government invited scholars from Europe and America to teach in the newly established school system, which included introducing to the students sports and athletics. Athletic track-and-field events were introduced at undokai sports day at various schools, the earliest of these was thought to have been the Naval Academy in Tokyo in 1874 at the initiative of British naval officers, but athletics really only took off with the arrival of the Englishman, Frederick Strange in 1875 who taught at Ichiko, the nation’s most prestigious preparatory academy… the college that became Tokyo University(pps 73-76). Uwabaki, following the English-led athletics initiative, by this time probably became standard footwear for students in schools.

The ubiquitous school canvas shoe/plimsoll tradition is thus a legacy of the 19th century Industrial Revolution-cotton industry-days, when rubber and cotton materials were the most common products of the then-modern factory, and due to their ubiquity, plimsolls remain the cheapest options for school shoes today.

Another answer as to why school canvas shoes are traditionally white, (you can blame the Brits too), Derek at “Put This On” says …

“If you get a pair of plimsolls, I recommend white, as nothing looks better in the summer. Some may worry that white canvas shoes are hard to keep clean. Personally, I think they look best with a little dirt on them. However, if you do want to keep them a bit brighter, try spraying a 50/50 mix of water and lemon juice, gently scrubbing for a bit, and letting them sit for a full day. For more serious stains, mix a tablespoon of baking soda and touch of water, and then rub the sticky paste onto the stain. Don’t worry too much about them though. They’re casual shoes and meant to be treated as such.”– Derek@PutThisOn

I suppose that the colour of the Japanese uwabaki has largely remained white (apart from being a form of sweet revenge by school administrators against all of us “monster parents” who have to do the washing) because…it helps to keep school costs down (coloured shoes are costlier), little feet grow quickly and change shoe size a few times a year).

Nevertheless, despite the practical considerations of Japanese parents, Japanese kids are rather prone to fashion fads, uwabaki manufacturers today have introduced a variety of coloured and reinforced-toeguard-and-soles in uwabakis in bright primary red/blue/green & yellow colours (see top of page pictured uwabakis, or this link or this power-shoes link). The colours are sometimes used to indicate the school grade.

Coloured uwabakis are actually already being sold, see the all-blue or all-pink uwabaki with anime “character” uwabaki below, but the coloured uwabaki ranks 25th in popularity (i.e. at the bottom).

It’s perhaps just a matter of time…and we will soon be seeing canvas shoes go the way of randoseru satchels that are now sold in the range of colours from the marvelous multi-coloured palette that kids can pick out from. You can also find truly creative “reformed” or “renovated” versions of the uwabaki at this page!

While some schools use the canvas uwabaki through upper senior high school, many middle and upper secondary schools now use gym sports shoes as uwabaki substitutes.

That, in short, is my take on the history of the humble school uwabaki.

Digitally yours,

Aileen Kawagoe

Tips #5 and #6 for Homeschool Educators – by Stan Lisle

June 26, 2012 in 1 | 1 comment

Tip 5: As much as possible, make it “real”, not abstract

Human intelligence is based, to a large extent, on our ability to make abstractions. Language is an abstraction. Math is an abstraction. Science is an abstraction. Philosophy is an abstraction. Obviously, the ability to make and understand abstractions is important.

But if you want to understand orange juice, you better understand the orange first. If you want to teach a baby the concept of motherhood, you probably don’t want to start with discussion on reproduction. You want to start with something the baby understands and is interested in: Mama. Then build on that.

All of us learned at a pretty early age that hot things can cause pain to us. But we probably learned that abstraction from a concrete, real example. I’m sure my wife and I explained the abstract concept to our son lots of times: “Don’t touch hot things!” But he learned it one evening while he was helping his mother cook dinner.

This reality is based in motivation. My son at the age of 5 wasn’t greatly motivated by a desire to benefit from his parent’s years of experience. However, he was motivated by his desire to not feel pain.

The Pythagorean Theorem is an amazing, powerful tool. But if you want to teach the Pythagorean Theorem to a young person, which approach do you thing will be more successful (image me illustrating these concepts on the blackboard as I talk):

1. Here is a triangle. What is the length of the hypotenuse? You can determine the length of the hypotenuse with this formula: the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. Here, let’s try it.

2. On a baseball diamond, it’s 90’ from home plate to first base. It’s also 90’ from first base to second base, How far is it directly from second base to home plate? A Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, showed us how to figure this out 2500 years ago: the square of the distance from home plate to 2nd base is equal to the sum of the square of the distance from home to first plus the square of the distance from first to second. Here, let’s try it.

Certainly, as we get older, our ability to quickly associate the abstraction to a concrete example that relates to our lives improves. As a Homeschool Educator, It is your responsibility to gauge where your student stands on that continuum, and adjust the way you introduce new concepts accordingly. It’s an art. But the glassy eyes probably mean something. And the level of enthusiasm also tells you a lot.

How do you come up with good concrete examples of an abstraction?

Think about what excites the student. Here are my typical starting points: sports; money; dating; games; family; electronics; their future.

Tip 6: Kids learn a lot more when they are working hard than when you are working hard

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. You can also lead a student to knowledge, but you can’t make him think. So your goal isn’t really to “teach”, it’s to get the student to learn.

I’m sure none of you have this problem, right? Sometimes I discover that I talk too much. Can you believe it? Both in a classroom, and with my son, it was easy to sometimes get up on a platform and give a lecture. I had lots of knowledge to offer my students, and I usually enjoyed offering it. And sometimes that’s OK. But often, I was doing more for myself than for my students. Often, they lost attention, and became unengaged. I was not only wasting time, I was helping to convince some students that education is boring.

The ultimate goal for any student is to become a self-directed learner. All those people at the top of the education world are self-directed learners. They are at the top, so there are not many who can show them the way forward. They need to move forward on their own. That’s true in business, as well. If you are at the top of your field, you are leading, not following, and that’s self-direction. So, instead of answering your student’s question, suggest where he might research the answer on his own. Instead of showing her how to solve a problem, point out a portion of her solution that she might want to think about.

See the entire series of Tips at the http://stan0403.edublogs.org/, or at www.MasterMath.info.

How to maintain your kids’ school shoes, tips for long-lasting, odor-free and pristine shiny shoes … at last!

June 26, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

Uwabaki (上履き)

A number of useful tips to be garnered from this morning’s NHK Asaichi TV programme:

To keep Uwabaki (上履き) or canvas shoes white as new, dip into baby powder and powder liberally and coat well with powder puff all over the new canvas shoes, paying attention to the seams, edges and cotton straps, which get dirty easily. The baby powder will plug the pores in the cotton so that soil and dirt will remain on the surface which can be brushed off easily. This keeps the canvas whites whiter and newer than if you use industrial canvas cleaners. Those notoriously difficult-to-maintain–in-a-white-state school canvas shoes Uwabaki (上履き) can finally be kept in pristine condition! Important: Prevention is better than cure, so this simple method only works if you apply it to brand-new shoes before they get dirty. Once the dirt gets into the warp and the weave of the cottons, there maybe no going back to whiter than white.
Use alum (みょうばん myouban in Japanese) to get rid of smells and especially to kill the germs in shoes. Use a spray-bottle containing a mixture of 6g of alum powder and 100 ml of water, and spray onto the insides of shoes. Alum has been used as a deodorant by various cultures, and notably by the Romans in antiquity(see Pliny the Elder’s “The Natural History, Chap 52″).
To maintain shoes such as rain-boots (“wellies”) in a dry, clean and smell-free condition, create your own teru teru bozu with a cotton square clean rag or remnant textile, stuff with alum powder, and tie into a teru-teru bozu form. Stuff the teru teru bozu, head first into the toe area of the shoe.

teru teru bozu

To maintain those high school black leather shoes for longer life and cleaner, shinier shoes, here’s the easy TOP SECRET tip. Use an ordinary clean cotton ragcloth, wet it well (but not dripping) and press into the surface of the shoe all over, then wipe off the grime and dirt. The dirt will all come off easily. Water will work better than any storebought shoe-cleaner. Then use your usual store-bought leather waxes or creams to protect and maintain the life of your leathers.
To keep your working leathers or other shoes (eg gym shoes) in shape when not in use, and to avoid sag and moisture-retention, crush a sheet of newspaper and roll up into small balls, wrap each ball in one sheet of tissue, then stuff into your shoe till full.
To be rid of mold growing on your shoes, scrub and wipe off the mold from the surface of the shoes. Then with a store-bought ethanol cleaning solution in spray-bottle, spray liberally all over the affected shoe surface, and wipe off with a clean cotton rag.
To avoid peeling and poorly fitted foam cushion insole pads, cut to accurately fit your shoe shape, and then spread a layer of dedicated-for-shoe-glue onto both the inside sole area of the shoe and a layer on the back of the shoe insole cushion pad. Important: Wait till the glue nearly dry (to the point that the glue does not stick to your fingers), then press the shoe insole cushion pad to the insole of the shoe into position. Press well with your thumb the entire area of the insole. This will prevent the problem of shifting and peeling shoe cushion pads.
To mend your worn out heels of your shoes, this is what you do. Cut a rectangular strip from any old clear plastic folder. Tape with duct-tape the strip of plastic to the heel of the shoe, squeeze from a tube of store-bought shoe repairer rubber mix (chip type) onto the heel area to be refurbished. Then with a tongue-depressor (used ice-cream stick), level off the shoe-repairer mix. Wait for it to set and dry for 24 hours. Your shoe will be as good as new.

Repairing the heel of your wornout shoes

How I love the ever-practical Asaichi TV programme!

The passage of Venus in front of the sun, and its astronomical history and mythical symbolism

June 5, 2012 in 1 | Leave a comment

Venus’ passage on 6/6/2012 via Daily Yomiuri

Today’s heads-up on the upcoming celestial event, fair weather permitting…

“The big event for June occurs over the next two days depending on where you are located on Earth. On June 5 and 6, a transit of Venus will occur where Venus will cross in front of the sun as seen from Earth. It will look like a small black dot slowly moving across the sun’s face. Hope for clear skies because the next Venus transit won’t be seen on Earth until December 2117.” – Astronomy Today’s SkyGuide

“….for a few hours on June 6, Venus will pass in front of the sun, another rare event Japan won’t see again until 2117….

“(Usually) you won’t get many chances to use eclipse glasses in your life. But because we get two occasions to use them within the coming weeks, it’s probably worthwhile buying a pair,” said an official at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

However, experts warn the glasses must be used properly to avoid eye damage. There were 15 cases reported of eye damage from the July 2009 eclipse. In the most serious case, one person was left with a black spot in his field of vision.

It’s important, experts say, to use glasses specifically designed for eclipses, and not to rely on sunglasses or makeshift devices like black plastic bags that may result in permanent eye damage or even blindness.

Many makers and traders sell eclipse glasses, but prices range widely from a few hundred yen to about ¥2,000, although low prices don’t necessarily correlate with poor safety, said Hidehiko Agata, a manager at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. The most important thing is to know how to use the glasses correctly.

“Even if you have safe eclipse glasses, you could damage your eyes if you use them in the wrong way,” Agata said. “Don’t look at the sun for a long time. Keep using eclipse glasses even if your eyes get used to the sun or even when the sun is behind a cloud.”– Tokyo to be treated to rare annular eclipse, Venus transit (May 4, 2012 Japan Times)

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Next, a great deal may be learnt about the event from the BBC news article reblogged in excerpt below:

Venus to put on Sun spectacular (4 June 2012, BBC News) By Jonathan Amos

As part of Horizon’s Transit of Venus programme, science presenter Liz Bonnin explains what the transit of Venus is and why it is such a rare event

The more than six-and-a-half-hour transit, which starts just after 22:00 GMT (23:00 BST) on Tuesday is a very rare astronomical phenomenon that will not be witnessed again until 2117.

Observers will position themselves in northwest America, the Pacific, and East Asia to catch the whole event.

But some part of the spectacle will be visible across a much broader swathe of Earth’s surface, weather permitting.

Skywatchers in UK, for example, will catch the end of the transit at sunrise on Wednesday.

Venus will appear as a tiny black disc against our star, but no-one should look for it without the proper equipment.

Transit of Venus, 8 June 2004

Venus appears as a tiny black disc against our star

Looking directly at the Sun with the naked eye, or worse still through an open telescope or binoculars, can result in serious injury and even blindness.

It is recommended people attend an organised viewing event where the transit will be projected on to a screen; or they can visit one of the many institutional internet sites planning to stream pictures.

Venus transits occur four times in approximately 243 years; more precisely, they appear in pairs of events separated by about eight years and these pairs are separated by about 105 or 121 years.

The reason for the long intervals lies in the fact that the orbits of Venus and Earth do not lie in the same plane and a transit can only occur if both planets and the Sun are situated exactly on one line.

This has happened only seven times in the telescopic age: in 1631, 1639, 1761, 1769, 1874, 1882 and 2004.

Once the latest transit has passed, the next pair will not occur until 2117 and 2125. Most people alive today will probably be dead by then.

Transit times

The phenomenon has particular historical significance. The 17th- and 18th-Century transits were used by the astronomers of the day to work out fundamental facts about the Solar System.

Employing a method of triangulation (parallax), they were able to calculate the distance between the Earth and the Sun – the so-called astronomical unit (AU) – which we know today to be about 149.6 million km (or 93 million miles).

This allowed scientists to get their first real handle on the scale of things beyond Earth.

The first person to predict a transit of Venus – the 6 December, 1631, event – was Johannes Kepler, but he died before it occurred.

Jeremiah Horrocks, the young English astronomer, was probably the first to record the phenomenon when he and his friend, William Crabtree, made separate observations of the passage on 24 November, 1639.

By the time the transits of 1761 and 1769 came around, they had become major scientific events. Expeditions were despatched all over the globe to get the data necessary to calculate the AU.

One such expedition was undertaken by Captain James Cook, whose epic voyage in the Endeavour took in the “new lands” of New Zealand and Australia.

Timing of the transit

Transit times

Times for the start of the transit will ary by a few minutes depending on one’s location
The timings given here are calculated for a viewing position at the Earth’s centre
Venus is seen to first touch (1) the edge of the Sun’s disc at 22:09 GMT (23:09 BST)
It is completely visible on the disc (2) by 22:27 GMT (23:27 BST). The transit lasts over six hours
Come Wednesday by 04:31 GMT (05:31 BST), Venus is touching the disc’s far side (3)

At 04:49 GMT (05:49 BST), Venus has left the disc (4). The next transit is on 11 December 2117

Modern instrumentation now gives us very precise numbers on planetary positions and masses, as well as the distance between the Earth and the Sun. But to the early astronomers, just getting good approximate values represented a huge challenge.

This is not to say the 2012 Venus transit will be regarded as just a pretty show with no interest for scientists.

Planetary transits have key significance today because they represent one of the best methods for finding worlds orbiting distant stars.

Nasa’s Kepler telescope, for example, is identifying thousands of candidates by looking for the tell-tale dips in light that accompany a planet moving in front of its host sun.

These planets are too far away to ever be visited by spacecraft, but scientists can learn something about them from the way the background star’s light is affected as it passes through the planetary atmosphere.

And observing a transiting Venus, which has a known atmospheric composition, provides a kind of benchmark to support these far-flung investigations.

But Venus itself will come in for scrutiny. Scientists will be using the event to probe the middle layers of the Venusian atmosphere – its mesosphere.

They will be looking for a very thin arc of light, called the aureole, which can only be seen when Venus appears to just touch the edge of the Sun’s disc.

The brightness and thickness of the aureole depends on the density and temperature of the atmospheric layers above Venus’s cloud tops.

Observations of the aureole will be combined with data from Europe’s Venus Express spacecraft in orbit around the planet to provide information on high-altitude winds.

The Venusian atmosphere experiences super-rotation. That is – the whole atmosphere circles the planet in four Earth days, on a body that turns around just once in 243 Earth days.

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The Japanese Understanding of Venus

The Japanese in ancient times were not as advanced as the Chinese, Indians or the Koreans in their knowledge of astronomy/astrology, and they imported heavily from those cultures (and possibly from other Silk Road and Central Asian exchanges) from around the 3rd c. onwards. However, from the earliest known celestial objects to the Japanese included Venus, along with the Big and Little Dippers, Pole Star and Orion. There is evidence that from 807AD, a seven day week with names related to the “planets” (i.e. including Venus) had found its way to Japan (see Steve Renshaw’s and Saori Ihara’s The Lunar Calendar in Japan).

However, since the practice of mortuary burial of the cult item of bronze mirrors with the elite dead began during the Yayoi period, and bronze mirrors took on a huge symbolism for the Japanese as evidenced by the phenomenal numbers of mirror artefacts excavated from Kofun tombs, the priestess Venus/Inanna/Isis-mirror symbolism of the West likely entered Japan much earlier than the 10th century. As the bronze mirror is also linked in local mythology with the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu, it is likely that the same associations of Venus goddess that are linked to the burial of mirrors with the worship of a solar goddess(found in Near Eastern and European Mirror of Isis-Ishtar-Inanna-Venus icons) had been transmitted from Western or Central Asia via Han China (the northern proto-European or Afanasevo culture or Scythian-Pazyryk-pre-Mauryan-Sarmatian culture are thought to have brought the bronze technology that were the proto-types of the Han mirrors at Anyang that became popular cult items with the Xiongnu, Koreans and Japanese). Coincidence or not, the pre-Mauryan and Scythian-Sarmatian rattle-mirrors look remarkably identical to the aerial design and structure of the iconic and distinctive Kofun Period key-hole tombs.

This next excerpt taken from the paper Stellar Iconology and Astronomical Folklore in Japan presented by the International Planetarium Society, shows the superstitious and oracular significance of the sighting of Venus in ancient Japan:

“Venus Occulted by the Moon

Strange as it may sound to the Western astrologers, both Venus and the general of army are classified into the element Kin (gold or metal) in the Chinese theory of yin-yang and five elements. Therefore On’myoji – ancient Japanese astrologers – predicted that there would be some change in the general or the army when they observed something unusual happening to Venus. If Venus was occulted by the Moon, for instance, the general had to stay in his house on On’myoji’s advice in order to avoid a misfortune or accident.

Abe-no-Yasuchika, a famous twelfth-century On’myoji, observed an occultation of Venus by the Moon on August 26th, 1155, and delineated it to suggest the death of Toba, the emperor’s father at the moment. This sounds strange and arouses our curiosity because On’myoji regarded Venus as the significator of the general, and Jupiter as the emperor. Why did Yasuchika predict the death of Toba? Kuniji Saito, an astronomer at the Tokyo Observatory, calculated the planetary positions and says the occultation started at 2:59 a.m. and Venus reappeared at 3:42 a.m. JST. If we erect a chart for the middle time of the occultation, like William Lilly did when judging eclipse charts, we can conjecture Yasuchika’s reasoning.

Venus is the ruler of the tenth house of the power. At that time, Go-Shirakawa had taken the throne in succession to Toba. However, Toba replaced emperors and also regents as the supreme political figures at the central government, full utilizing and expanding upon the private base of power for the imperial house – Toba exercised his power at will yet. So I suspect that Yasuchika considered Venus as the accidental significator of Toba and its occultation as his death. Actually Toba died in July 1156.

Chart 2 (Dec. 31, 739 Noon LMT 130E30 33N30)

Chart 2 confirms Hirotsugu’s observation – Venus is in the eighth house (south-west sky) and 4 degrees from Antares (Scorpio 22°03′) the main star of Shin. The emperor’s own men and the military in those days are represented by the eleventh house and its ruler. The ruler of the eleventh Saturn is in its detriment and retrograde in motion but it also symbolizes the emperor, as Saturn rules both tenth and eleventh. The Moon is translating the light of Mars, the natural significator of uprising, to Jupiter that On’myoji considered as the significator of the emperor. On the other hand, the accidental significator of the emperor Saturn is in mutual reception with the Sun, meaning an escape. If I were Hirotsugu, I would not predict the assassination of the emperor. These make me think that Hirotsugu mentioned the daylight Venus to justify his proposal. And it is interesting to note that Mercury conjuncts Altair (Capricorn 14°16′), as Ebertin says, “If Mercury and Moon are posited here, this will make people as bold as brass and foolhardy, in order to assert themselves.”

One of the reasons that On’myoji observed the sky was to compensate errors in their ephemeris. They were able to calculate the planetary positions precisely,

In 740 AD, Fujiwara-no-Hirotsugu impeached the brain trust of the Emperor for their poor administration, and proposed to discharge them. The central government rejected his proposal, then Hirotsugu rebelled against the Emperor and the central government. The rebel army was suppressed by the Emperor, and Hirotsugu was killed in the battle two months after his uprising. Although Hirotsugu could not get an important position in the government, he was well-educated and conversant with astrology. In his letter to the central government he says, “On December 31st, 739, Venus appeared in Shin (the lunar mansion including Antares), glaring in the south-west sky at the noon.” Therefore he thought the Emperor would be assassinated by the brain trust. In reality, however, it was Hirotsugu who rebelled against the Emperor

Being an inferior planet, Venus can never be more than 48 degrees from the Sun, and it is brightest, magnitude -4.8, when its elongation is 40 degrees. Its brightness is one thousandth that of a full moon, but it is 100 times brighter than first magnitude fixed stars like Spica and Regulus, and then Venus sometimes can be seen in the daytime. On’myoji called the phenomenon Taihaku-chu-ken (Venus-daytime-visible) and considered it as an omen of coup d’etat. It is because that the ancient Chinese and Japanese said a planet ‘competing in brightness’ with the Sun when it was seen in the daytime, and that they considered the Sun as the lord and the inferior planets as chamberlains, and besides Venus was the significator of the general. But Chinese texts say it is a fortunate sign if the Moon is seen at the same time: this is called san-kou (three lights) – their theory is rather complex”.”

Following the spread of Buddhism, Venus is associated with Seishi Bodhisattva who appears mostly in paintings and sculptures of the popular grouping known as the Amida Sanzon 阿弥陀三尊 (lit. = Amida Triad). In this Amida Triad, the Amida Buddha is seated in the center, attended by Seishi to the right (representing wisdom) and Kannon to the left (representing compassion). Even today, the Pure Land sects of Japan are among the nation’s largest and most popular. (Source: Seishi Bosatsu: Japanese Buddhist Statuary)

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Early studies and astronomical observations by ancient civilizations

Venus was known to ancient civilizations both as the “morning star” and as the “evening star”, because these two sightings of Venus were believed to be two separate objects.

Venus is described in Babylonian cuneiformic texts such as the Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, dated 1581 BC ( from 1600 BC.), which shows that the Babylonians understood the two were a single object. The Venus tablet which records the observations of Babylonian astrologers, refers to Venus as Nin-dar-an-na, or “bright queen of the sky”.

The Babylonians named the planet Ishtar (equivalent of the Sumerian Inanna), the personification of womanhood, and goddess of love. She had a dual role as a goddess of war, thereby representing a deity that presided over birth and death.

Somewhat less accurate in their astronomy, the Ancient Egyptians believed Venus to be two separate bodies and knew the morning star as Tioumoutiri and the evening star as Ouaiti. Hailing from the same tradition, similarly believing Venus to be two bodies, the Ancient Greeks called the morning star Φωσφόρος, Phosphoros (Latinized Phosphorus), the “Bringer of Light” or Ἐωσφόρος, Eosphoros (Latinized Eosphorus), the “Bringer of Dawn”. The evening star they called Hesperos (Latinized Hesperus) (Ἓσπερος, the “star of the evening”).

By Hellenistic times however, the ancient Greeks realized the two were the same planet, which they named after their goddess of love, Aphrodite (Phoenician Astarte).

The Greeks thought of the two as separate stars, Phosphorus and Hesperus, until the time of Pythagoras in the sixth century BC. The Romans designated the morning aspect of Venus as Lucifer, literally “Light-Bringer”, and the evening aspect as Vesper.

During the 4th century BC at the time of Aristotle existed a belief that a comet had once joined the solar system as a planet. This theory was later expanded upon by Velikovsky, who believed the story to be a reference to the appearance of Venus.

The Romans, who derived much of their religious pantheon from the Greek tradition and the Near East, named the planet Venus after their goddess of love. Pliny the Elder (Natural History, ii,37) identified the planet Venus with Isis.

Venus on seashell, from the Casa di Venus, Pompei. Before 79 AD.

The planet Venus in Persian/Iranian mythology, usually corresponds to the goddess Anahita. In some parts of Pahlavi literature the deities Aredvi Sura and Anahita are regarded as separate entities, the first one as a personification of the mythical river and the latter as a goddess of fertility which is associated with the planet Venus. As the goddess Aredvi Sura Anahita—and simply called Anahita as well—both deities are unified in other descriptions, e. g. in the Greater Bundahishn, and are represented by the planet. The Persian name of the planet today is “Nahid” which derives from Anahita and later in history from the Pahlavi language Anahid.

The transit of Venus was first observed in 1032 by the Persian astronomer Avicenna, who concluded Venus is closer to the Earth than the Sun, and who established Venus was, at least sometimes, below the Sun.

In the 12th century, the Andalusian astronomer Ibn Bajjah observed “two planets as black spots on the face of the Sun”, which were later identified as the transits of Venus and Mercury by the Maragha astronomer Qotb al-Din Shirazi in the 13th century.

When the Italian physicist Galileo Galilei first observed the planet in the early 17th century, he found it showed phases like the Moon, varying from crescent to gibbous to full and vice versa, and he proved that Venus orbits the Sun and not the Earth(as in the diagram below).

When Venus is furthest from the Sun in the sky, it shows a half-lit phase, and when it is closest to the Sun in the sky, it shows as a crescent or full phase. This could be possible only if Venus orbited the Sun, and this was among the first observations to clearly contradict the Ptolemaic geocentric model that the Solar System was concentric and centered on the Earth.

If the European astronomical understanding of Venus appears to have come rather late, the Newgrange passage tomb in Ireland, presents possible evidence that the ancients in Europe knew a lot more about Venus’ movements across the skies as astonishingly early as 5,000 years ago. According to Gillies MacBain,

“If Dowth is the first mound, watching the 18.6 year cycle of the eclipses – and Knowth is the second, watching the 19 years coincidence of sun and moon, what else is there to track? There is the 8 year cycle of the planet Venus. The planet Venus goes around the sun – as seen from the earth which is also moving – in 584 days. During this cycle it appears once as the morning star, and once as the evening star. By another astronomical coincidence, five of these Venus cycles make nearly the same number of days as there are in eight years, – in fact after eight years Venus comes back ahead of the sun, just 2.5 days early.

Now I want you to imagine a coming together of the winter sun, the new moon, and the planet Venus. The calendar maker has to decide what day to chose for day one. We chose January 1st and anno domini 1 (1 A.D.) as our starting points. But the winter solstice is a natural starting point for the sun; for the moon the new or darkened moon; and for Venus the inferior conjunction when it passes across the face of the sun and can be visible as a black dot under certain conditions.

I am saying that Newgrange may be designed to look out for a day which is day one of the suns year, day one of the moon’s nineteen year cycle and day one of the planet Venus’ eight year cycle. The lowest common denominator of the one year sun cycle, nineteen year moon coincidence and eight year Venus coincidence is 1 x 19 x 8 = 152. 152 fits Newgrange in the following way: Newgrange has 97 kerb stones. Make the entrance stone K1 and the highly decorated stone K52 represent the days of triple conjunction. There are 95 kerb stones remaining. Each kerb stone = one 584 day cycle of Venus. Thus each five stones = 8 years. Thus the stones make 19 x 8 years or 152 years. This represents a “great year” of sun, moon, and Venus.

To me this is the meaning of the regular phrase in mythology ‘three fifties plus two’. It is the sun/ moon/ Venus cycle. The theory that I am putting forward assumes a knowledge of the movements of the sun, moon, and Venus, on the part of the passage mound builders.

So the most conservative archaeologists now accept the alignment of Newgrange with the midwinter sun. All of the circumstantial evidence points to an association of the Boyne valley with the moon after which it is named (Boyne = cow. The moon was known as the white cow). And the third person of this neolithic trinity is the planet Venus.

At Newgrange the folk tradition of county Meath was that the morning star (Venus) shone into Newgrange once in every eight years. It takes Venus five cycles, as we saw, to come back into line with the solar year. That is why Venus is represented as a five pointed star. Of course, what we are celebrating is not just any old star, but the morning star which announces the dawn” — Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, by Gillies MacBain

The planet Venus was important to the Maya civilization, who developed a religious calendar based in part upon its motions, and held the motions of Venus to determine the propitious time for events such as war. They named it Noh Ek’, the Great Star, and Xux Ek’, the Wasp Star. The Maya were aware of the planet’s synodic period, and could compute it to within a hundredth part of a day.

The Governor’s Palace at Uxmal, the Mayan city in Yucatán, Mexico, is said to be aligned towards a southerly rising of Venus which occurs once every eight years. Not only does the palace point towards the rising of Venus, it is also covered in glyphs which stand for Venus and Mayan zodiacal constellations. — Archaeoastronomy

The Pre-Columbian Mayan Dresden Codex, which calculates Venus appearances. In Mayan myth, the Venus Dog Lord is the companion of the sun. (Corroborated by the astronomical fact and observations that Venus is always close to the sun in the sky, rising not long before sunrise as morning star or after sunset as evening star). In the Classical period (250-900 AD), Venus was associated with Hun Ahaw, who guided his twin Yax Balam, the sun, through the Underworld. Hun Ahaw later became Hunaphu in the Hero Twins myth cycle in the post-Conquest. These myths have been interpreted as observations or sightings of Venus from its heliacal risings as morning star, through beneath the night time horizon, to rise again as evening star. [See "The Chinkultic disk" for visuals.] — Read more at “Spirituality, the Mayan Calendar and You“

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Cultural Symbolism

As one of the brightest objects in the sky, Venus has been known since prehistoric times and as such has gained an entrenched position in human culture.

Beyond astronomical observations, Venus is iconic in the sense that it is the only planet in the Solar System that is named after a female figure. (Three dwarf planets – Ceres, Eris and Haumea – along with many of the first discovered asteroids and a number of moons (such as the Galilean moons) also have feminine names. Earth and its moon also have feminine names in many languages—Gaia/Terra, Selene/Luna—but the female mythological figures who personified them were named after them, not the other way around.)

If this astronomical symbol for Venus looks familiar, that’s because it is. It’s the same one as that used in biology for the female sex: a circle with a small cross beneath. Venus symbolizes femininity. In Western alchemy stood for the metal copper. Polished copper has been used for mirrors from antiquity, and the symbol for Venus has sometimes been understood to stand for the mirror of the goddess, hence, early the Japanese practice of burying their dead with mirrors between the Yayoi to Kofun periods may have been connected to the spread of beliefs in their solar goddess, Amaterasu. Since Amaterasu in the myth is trapped in the rock grotto and all the deities are concerned over the resulting loss of the sun, the sun goddess’ association with the Underworld is also clear.

Sources & References:

Kokubu, H. Shuseh Venus in Japanese Astrology Q.H.P.

Stellar Iconology and Astronomical Folklore in Japan by Takao Ibaraki International Planetarium Society (IPS) F.Ver_JpStar(E) July 14,1996 Conferences 1996 Osaka

VENUS & A MAGNETIC CHANGE compiled by Dee Finney

28 Moon Stations by Onmark productions

Venus mythology (Wikipedia)

Haynes, Kim On The Presence Of Non-Chinese At Anyang, Sino-Platonic Papers | No. 132, 4-2004 | Kim Haynes

Pre-Mauryan “Rattle-Mirrors” With Artistic Designs from Scythian Burial Mounds of the Altai Region in the Light of Sanskrit Sources

Noble, Vicki The Double Goddess: Women Sharing Power pps 124~144. On the shaman priestess cults of the Pazyryk culture with the assemblage of mirrors, combs, beads, headdresses, that spread by way of the Silk Road

How to read Japanese fiction and not be lost in translation…

May 27, 2012 in 1 | 1 comment

In thinking about a question posted by a member on our Education in Japan forum on whether there are any good reads in Japanese fiction, I thought I would introduce my own list for starters for some seriously great reading of Japanese fiction books that available in English translation.

Historical novels

My own favourite Japanese fictional writer in translation are the samurai tales by Eiji Yoshikawa. His books are historical fiction, but they seem so grounded in historical fact, written so believably and the action in his books roll off the pages like some epic movie. The translations read beautifully like the best of the historical novels that we love today. His Miyamoto Musashi “Musashi” series, Taiko and The Heike Story are his greats, I wish they would translate all his works.

Japanese detective fiction

Strangely, the Japanese detective fiction genre is becoming recognized as great writing today, see n and there have been translations in recent years. Read more about this trend in:
Exploring Japanese Detective Stories: A Primer
Wikipedia: Japanese Detective Fiction

Detective stories of old Edo is an example of a “great” this rich genre.

“Featuring uniquely Japanese characters and compelling plots, “The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi” written by Kido Okamoto (1872-1939) presents readers with a number of intriguing crimes committed in old Edo (now Tokyo). The novel was translated into English in in 2007 but was first serialized monthly in the popular magazine Bungei Kurabu (Literature Club) from 1917 to 1937 and become so popular that it remains in print today.

“Hanshichi” is that rare example of Japanese detective fiction that provides both a view of life in feudal Japan from the perspective of the period between the First and Second World Wars and an insight into the development of the fledging Japanese crime novel.From The Japan Times, “Prewar detective classic looks back at the mean streets of feudal Japan“”

Recently reviewed by Japan Times and serialized for the paper’s readers, you can also read a review of the book at goodreads.com “The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi: Detective Stories of Old Edo” here. From the Japan Time’s background writeup:

“Although widely read in Japan since its publishing in the years between 1917 and 1937, it wasn’t until 2007 that [The Curious Casebook of Inspector Hanshichi] was translated into English. The book was published by the University of Hawai’i Press . . . Hanshichi is that rare example of Japanese detective fiction that provides both a view of life in feudal Japan from the perspective of the period between the First and Second World Wars and an insight into the development of the fledging Japanese crime novel. Although it is a product of the early period of Japanese modernism . . . Hanshichi does not seek to challenge literary conventions. Instead it aims to entertain and thrill its readers with well-crafted prose, realistic dialogue, and compelling plots, enabling them to escape into a world both strange and familiar. Strange, in that the customs of mid-nineteenth century Japan must have seemed antiquated, even quaint, to readers of the late 1910s and early 1920s. Familiar, in that Hanshichi was not an imitation of Western fiction — as was much crime writing of the time — but boasted characters and settings uniquely Japanese…

When Hanshichi was launched in 1917, very few of Kido’s readers would have had firsthand knowledge of Edo (Tokyo) in the 1840s to 1860s, the period when the adventures are set. As the series progressed and more and more of the old city vanished (most notably after the Great Earthquake of 1923), decreasing numbers of his readers could have recalled what Tokyo had been like in the time before Japan’s overseas wars with China and Russia in 1894 and 1904, respectively. . . Hanshichi’s Edo is populated not only by fl esh-and-blood men and women but also by ghosts, spirits, and monsters of various descriptions, whose existence, while never actually proven, is frequently hinted at. They take the form of human specters, fox spirits, shape-changing cats, and other mischief makers such as the goblin-like tengu and watery kappa that lurk in rivers and on desolate moors, liminal spaces where the relative safety afforded by the city and the presence of other human beings gives way to the unfathomable and forbidding natural world. As the opening sentence of the very first adventure suggests, the Edo period was a time when the supernatural exerted a strong grip on the Japanese imagination. It was used to explain any strange and troubling event, and was as readily accepted by most samurai as by the less well-educated townspeople. Even Hanshichi, the wise and worldly expert on human nature, is never willing completely to rule out the supernatural as a plausible explanation. In recounting his adventures, he defers to his young interlocutor on all matters of modern science and empiricism, modestly professing that such things are beyond his ken. . . .”

If anybody wants “in” on the mad popularity of Sakamoto Ryoma TV dramas, ”Sakamoto Ryoma: The Life of a Renaissance Samurai” the novelized biography by Romulus Hillsborough is a must, though be warned, it is a huge book and a little heavy…read the excellent review and commentary at goodreads.com If you’re not up for the undertaking, you may still want to read “Sakamoto Ryoma: The Indispensable Nobody” Hillsborough’s own background piece on Sakamoto Ryoma.

*Night of the Milky Way” and “Ghost in the Tokaido Inn” by Kenji Miyazawa M.E. Sharpe (suitable for kids aged 9-12 years but enjoyable for adult readalouds too). Professor Strong’s translation of Kenji’s (as he is affectionately known to his fans) “Ginga tetsudo no yoru” is perhaps the best, most accessible English versions available. And there are many available. (Avoid the “Rock Press” Milky Way Railway ed.) Roger Pulvers’ recent translation and John Bester’s older translation are also good (Pulvers’ may only be accessible in Japan in Jpn/Eng bilingual format), but I think Strong’s version may be the best one yet: with easy to understand English, wonderful illustrations (that hint at the story contents, not explicate) — plus you get her copious notes, biography and an alternate version — all make this a nice copy to have in children’s library. I think it is well-suited for an adult to read to a child (the notes in the back can help the parent out of a jam if asked “what is a crow-lantern?” – Reviewed by Jon Holt. He recommends also Bester’s collection “Once and Forever” and collections of his shorter stories (Restaurant of Many Orders, etc.) which patch together his brilliance. Note there is an earlier translation of The Night of the Milky Way Train published by Stone Bridge Press is available from WeatherHill).

Also “Once and Forever” by Kenji Miyazawa, John Bester (tr) reviewed at goodreads.com and excerpted below:

“It is time that Kenji Miyazawa, long recognized as a writer of genius in his own country, enjoyed the same reputation abroad. Are his fables, in which acorns quarrel and flowers fret about losing their looks, written for children or adults? They are for both: for adventurous young minds, but also for older readers in whom the spark of curiosity, combined with a taste for fantasy and a love of language, is still alight.
This collection, appearing for the first time in paperback, brings together the best of his stories. They range from cautionary tales to small prose poems, from social satire to unmistakable tragedy. All share an intense delight in the natural world — a sense of oneness with other living creatures and with the vast universe around us.

Miyazawa is entirely original. No other Japanese writer, before or since, has told stories as fresh in detail but universal in scope as this man who lived and died, still young, in Japan’s far north”

“Black Rain” by Masuji Ibuse, translated by John Bester, review extract below from www.flashlightworthybooks.com

Black Rain is a very interesting novel because while it is about the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima, the author based the novel on interviews from Holocaust sufferers. The novel lays out in a very unemotional way just how the bomb destroyed lives. It does not blame anyone for the bombing… it just tells how a Japanese family is dealing with it. A very sobering and eye opening read

“Nip the Bud, Shoot the Kids” by Kenzaburo Oe review excerpt from Fiona Campbell

“Japanese literature 1945 was heavily influenced by the country’s defeat in the second world war, with many authors addressing social and political issues in their work. Oe grew up in wartime Japan. For his first novel, produced when he was just 23, he wrote about a group of boys evacuated to a remote village in the closing days of the war. This novel – frequently compared with William Golding’s Lord of the Flies – began a literary career that earned Oe the Nobel prize in 1994″

“The Wind-up Bird Chronicle” by Haruki Murakami (review below also by Fiona Campbell)

“This novel established Murakami as a leading figure in world literature. It also won the Yomiuri Prize, which was awarded to him by Kenzaburo Oe, formerly his harshest critic. Toru Okada, the book’s narrator, is a dreamy introvert luxuriating in unemployment, supported by his wife Kumiko. When the couple’s cat goes missing, Kumiko suggests that her husband’s time would be best spent looking for it. Then she herself disappears. As Toru searches for her, he meets a succession of strange characters – two psychic sisters, a disaffected teenage girl, a soldier who fought in the second world war. Like many of his previous novels, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle mixes American pop culture with a healthy dash of science fiction, philosophy, social commentary and detective fiction. Murakami also deals with some heavyweight subjects too, particularly the atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China during the second world war”

“I am a Cat” by Natsume Soseki (review below also by Fiona Campbell)

“I am a cat but as yet I have no name.” So opens one of the most unusual works in Japanese literature. The narrator is a cat who finds a home in the house of Mr Sneeze – a schoolteacher. In between bouts of sleep, the narrator observes his master and his friends as they struggle with daily life in the middle class society of 1920s Japan. Soseki originally submitted the first chapter to the literary journal Hototogisu as a short story but was persuaded to write further instalments. There are 11 in total. Each one stands alone, although the characters and themes carry throughout”

“The Tale of Genji” by Shikibu Murasaki, last but not least, needs no introduction for anybody living in Japan because it is a classic of Japanese literature besides being said to be the first novel ever written…but do read “how to choose English translation…” which picks Edward Seidensticker’s version as the most beautifully translated one.

If my list above tempts you to look for more … try this list of Popular Japanese Fiction books @ Goodreads.com, it’s good but many of the books will contain many themes and much content that will not be suitable for the young.

EDU WATCH: Two Japanese school students get to name an asteroid; UNESCO honors kids who created postquake newspaper; 17 yr old steals chemicals from school storeroom to make bomb …Health & Safety matters…Piranha alert!

May 3, 2012 in 1, Edu News | 1 comment

Hello to our readers regular and new, after an unusually long hiatus (it has been quieter on the education scene than usual, perhaps because of the turnover of the Financial Year), we return with our regular roundup of news about educational issues and matters. Below you will find news briefs, headlines and excerpts of recent reports, discussions taking place here in Japan as well as globally.

First up, the news lineup on education in Japan:

Efforts are being made by the government to internationalise higher education as well as to attract women to pursue studies in science and engineering in Japan… see

EDUCATION RENAISSANCE / Sparking interest in science among female students (Yomiuri, May 3) |

Dispatches from Japan: Thinking beyond international student mobililty(Guardian)
Globalisation has not only changed Japanese business, it’s also changing higher education policy. Hiroshi Ota looks at how Japan is preparing for the ‘ever-intensifying global talent war

Will Japan soon be celebrating victory in the ‘ever-intensifying global talent war?’ The Guardian looks at current initiatives on internationalisation of higher education in Japan …

In Japan, the internationalisation of higher education has traditionally focused on international student mobility, particularly inbound-flows such as the 100,000 International Students Plan and 300,000 International Students Plan.

Through these endeavours, the government has played a central role with strong initiatives, for instance, government scholarship programs, funds for tuition reductions and exemptions, subsidies for the construction of student accommodations, and relaxing immigration regulations, supporting host institutions of international students. However, both the country’s prolonged, demographic decline of 18-year-olds and a rapidly growing global economy have reshaped Japan’s rationale and approaches to international education.

New policies such as the “skilled migration approach” which promotes the post-graduation employment of international students in Japan (“brain gain” from overseas), have emerged, and lower-tiered, private institutions are partnering with commission-paid agents to aggressively recruit international students mainly from China (revenue-generating approach) to fill their classrooms. Both approaches are currently prevalent within international education in Japan, weakening the traditional, “co-operation and mutual understanding approach”.

Furthermore, international university rankings, which prospective international students often use as a guide to identify universities to which they should apply, have become part of internationalisation since they are now considered in the discussion of how Japanese universities can increase their international competitiveness so as to attract high-quality students from overseas.

Under these circumstances, internationalisation of higher education in Japan has encompassed many new cross-border movements and thereby broadened its original concept, rationalising and basing these new efforts on commercialisation and competition in order to cope with serious global issues within higher education, such as the decrease in public funding and an ever-intensifying global talent war. Recently, the term “international” is being replaced by “global” in Japanese higher education, for example from international education to global education, in line with advances in an era of globalisation. Accordingly, in order to meet the increasing demand for global-minded graduates (workforce) at rapidly globalising Japanese companies, the Japanese government has embarked on new initiatives of globalising higher education, such as supporting universities to expand their English-taught courses and study abroad programs.

Beyond student mobility, however, internationalisation has been less developed in Japan, especially in terms of curriculum reform. The government and universities have historically typified the approach of importing knowledge and technology from overseas, modifying them for Japan’s use with the main purpose of advancing the country’s modernisation (internationalisation for modernisation).

Since the vast majority of course content originally came from the West, this model has prevented Japanese universities from internationalising their curricula for a long time. However, as a new trend, there are a growing number of international liberal arts institutions offering international learning experiences, incorporating a high percentage of English-taught courses, a highly diversified student population and faculty, and a variety of study abroad programs. Beyond just adding so-called international programs to the traditional curricula, these institutions have thus made the internationalisation of education and learning the first priority within their missions and efforts.

Internationalisation has increased in importance in both education and research, taking a more mainstream role in Japanese higher education. Concurrently, however, as the country’s public debt has reached 200% of its GDP under a prolonged period of economic stagnation, there is a growing expectation of society, coupled with the concern of taxpayers, that universities be able to clarify both the added value of their international dimensions and the impact of internationalisation on their specific institutions.

Currently, one of the crucial challenges for Japanese universities is to develop an effective evaluation process of their internationalisation efforts. This challenge lies in balancing the needs between trusted quality control, which creates a bottom line in terms of accountability, transparency, and resource management, and quantitative expansion. In addition, such an approach requires a creative assessment structure and its related evaluation methods (for example peer review and benchmarking), which can account for and encourage overall internationalisation initiatives and adds a strategic dimension to further university internationalisation.

Lastly, the Japanese government is expected to continue to support the strategic initiatives of university internationalisation in order to provide a catalyst for the functional transformation of Japanese universities towards meeting the demands of the 21st century’s global knowledge-based society. For example, the government should provide not only competitive funds for pioneering internationalisation efforts and innovative, international collaborations of institutions in education, research, and administration, but also implement further deregulations combined with effective quality assurance programs in Japanese higher education as a whole. http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/apr/23/japan-international-student-mobility

Hiroshi Ota is a professor at the Center for Global Education and director of the Hitotsubashi University Global Education Program, Hitotsubashi University, Japan (h.ota@r.hit-u.ac.jp)

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Schoolboy steals chemicals to make bomb (TBS News, May 2)

A 17-year-old schoolboy has been arrested on suspicion of breaking into his school’s chemistry storage room and stealing Potassium Nitrate multiple times from February until this month, police said Tuesday.

“3 places were locked. He picked the lock, then entered, picked the cabinet locks, and took the highly poisonous substance and left. I think it is quite a shame,” said the principal of the Hidaka district school of Hokkaido.
In regards to the police investigation, the boy said things such as, “I used the stolen chemicals to make a bomb, and blew it up in the mountains,” acknowledging the accusations. It is reported that the police suspect the thefts were aided by 4 male students from the same school.

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UNESCO honors kids who created postquake newspaper (Apr 4, Japan Times)
Kyodo
PARIS — UNESCO on Monday honored the children who created a newspaper to encourage evacuees at a shelter in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, after it was hit by last year’s earthquake and tsunami.

Four of the 12 children who worked on creating the Fight Shimbun newspaper, a colorful handwritten wall newspaper with illustrations, were invited to the headquarters of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Paris to be honored by Francesco Bandarin, assistant director general for culture.

Bandarin described the children, including 8-year-old Risa Yoshida, as “a light for the future” and praised them for raising the spirits of evacuees struggling in harsh conditions.

“I would like to say thank you to the people who have helped us all this time,” said Yoshida, who served as the first editor-in-chief of the newspaper, expressing gratitude on behalf of the people of Tohoku for the support received from around the globe for victims of the disaster.

At the ceremony to honor the children, Satoko Oyama, 10, who later took over Yoshida’s role as editor-in-chief, said, “I’m so glad that many people have read Fight Shimbun.”

Oyama’s sister, 13-year-old Kanako, who served as a reporter for the newspaper, said, “We will do our best toward recovery and would like you to extend your support.”

During the event, the children handed to Bandarin reproductions of some of the issues of Fight Shimbun, which UNESCO will display at its headquarters.

Bandarin said people around the globe are still concerned about the victims of the disasters and they will always extend their support.

On March 18, 2011, just a week after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the city, Yoshida, together with her friend Oyama and two other elementary and junior high school students, launched the first edition of the Fight Shimbun. In Japan, urging someone to “fight!” is a way of encouraging them to do their best.

They published the newspaper almost every other day through issue number 50 on July 7, preparing articles under headlines such as “Now Electricity is Back!” as they covered events that brought delight to them and other evacuees at the shelter.

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If you have a child in a local school, try not to get caught out by the likely change in scheduling for this day:

Schools consider changing hours on annular eclipse day (Apr.30 The Yomiuri Shimbun)
Many primary and middle schools in the Tokyo metropolitan area plan to change the starting time for classes on May 21, when an annular eclipse will be observed for the first time in 173 years in the area.

An annular eclipse is a phenomenon that occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun, covering all but the outer borders and making the sun appear as a ring of light.

Some schools have decided to close for the day to allow students to observe the eclipse safely. The highlight of the astronomical phenomenon, when the sun will most resemble a ring, will occur around 7:30 a.m., the time students usually commute to school.

Schools were asked to help prevent students from being injured in traffic accidents while distractedly observing the eclipse and from damaging their eyes by watching the phenomenon without proper eye protection.

All of the 47 primary and middle schools in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, will move up the starting time of school on May 21 by at least one hour and hold a special viewing event to observe the eclipse. … read more

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Japan and the English Language / Interest growing in South Korea’s English program (Yomiuri, Apr.26) Excerpted below…

Japanese educators are becoming increasingly interested in the English-language teaching system adopted by South Korea.

Some Japanese schools, for example, send students to South Korea for English training. South Korea introduced English-language education for primary school students well ahead of Japan.

Ichihara Chuo High School in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, has carried out a four-day, three-night English-training program in South Korea since 2010. Participants are first-year students of its English-language course.

The venue for the training is “English Village,” a public facility that simulates the experience of living in an English-speaking part of the world.

The English Village project was initiated by the South Korean government in hopes of giving its people more exposure to English. Today, more than 20 English Village facilities are run by local governments in the country. These special villages encompass such places as branches of public offices, banks and restaurants. Participants in training programs there are required to speak English all the time.

The advanced level of South Korea’s English-language education has attracted a great deal of attention among the private high school’s educators and administrators…

The city of Paju in South Korea is located about an hour’s drive from Seoul and is home to Paju Camp, an English Village facility. The Paju facility in Gyeonggi Province is represented by Humanic Co., a Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo-based corporation that is responsible for arrangements for Japanese who wish to join a program there.

In recent years, Humanic has received a number of inquiries from Japanese schools, local governments, English-language school operators and others about the English Village scheme.

The popularity of the village stems from its ability to provide trainees with a total English immersion experience. Plus, English Village facilities can be accessed relatively easily and training there is less costly than in English-speaking countries, Humanic said.

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Private univs coy on fall enrollment (Apr 26, The Yomiuri Shimbun)

More than 70 percent of private universities and colleges are taking a wait-and-see approach to whether to change undergraduate enrollment from spring to autumn, according to a survey.

The Japan Association of Private Universities and Colleges, to which 20 percent of the nation’s private universities and colleges belong, conducted the survey in February, following a proposal by the University of Tokyo to switch enrollment for its undergraduate students from spring to autumn to bring it more in line with the international norm. The association’s 121 members include famous universities such as Waseda and Doshisha. Ninety-eight gave responses.

According to the survey, 20 institutions supported autumn enrollment, while eight opposed it. Compared with the small number of institutions with a clear position, 70, or 71 percent, said they could not say either way.

Only eight institutions said they had started discussing introducing autumn enrollment for all or some of their departments, and 16 said they did not plan to discuss the matter. Seventy universities said they would consider it in the future.

Among 23 major universities with more than 10,000 students, eight agreed with autumn enrollment because it will be necessary to make them more “international.” None of the universities opposed the change.

Most of these universities are in large cities.

Meanwhile, regional institutions or small and midsize universities tended to be cautious about changing their enrollment season, with some saying, “We need to study the pros and cons of autumn enrollment.”

The association plans to study problems autumn enrollment might generate for private universities and colleges and other issues.

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Pretty cool news next…

Kids get official nod for stellar find (Japan Times) Thursday, April 26, 2012
Jiji
An asteroid discovered in 2009 by two Japanese boys, a fifth-grader and a second-year junior high school student, has been registered with the International Astronomical Union recently.

The boys were given the right to name the asteroid by the Paris-based IAU, which regulates the naming of stars, the Japan Spaceguard Association said.

It is believed to be the first time an asteroid discovered by an elementary or junior high school student has been added to the IAU list, sources said.

On Nov. 22, 2009, Yuto Kanetaka and Yohei Motegi spotted the asteroid at a stargazing event in Ibara, Okayama Prefecture.

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Single-sex schools see dramatic decline (Yomiuri, Apr 23)
Reflecting the nation’s declining birthrate, the number of single-sex schools in the country has decreased dramatically, according to a 2011 poll by the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.

There were 464 schools attended by only male or female students nationwide, according to the survey. Single-gender schools account for less than 10 percent of all schools, and their number is half of what it was 20 years ago.

The decline is mainly due to a shift at many schools to coeducation to attract more students amid the low birthrate.

Despite the decrease, boys schools still rank high in terms of the number of successful applicants to top-notch universities, highlighting an advantage of single-sex education.

At the beginning of the Heisei era (1989 to present), the country had far more boys schools, known as “bankara” (rudeness) schools, and girls schools, poetically called “otome no sono” (maiden’s garden). In 1991, there were 1,002 single-sex high schools, accounting for 18.2 percent of the total.

However, this figure had fallen to below 10 percent in 2008. In 2011, there were 464 single-sex high schools nationwide–130 for boys and 334 for girls, accounting for 9.2 percent.

Formerly an all-male school, Meguro-Gakuin Junior and Senior High School in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, had begun suffering a decline. As the student population failed to recover, the school became coeducational in 2011.

“We had no choice but to become coeducational to boost the number of applicants and students,” Takemi Matsumoto, the school’s executive director, said.

The school had about 390 applicants in 2010. After becoming coed, this number shot up to about 660 in 2011. The number of applicants further increased to 766 in 2012.

Entrance exam fees are an important source of funding for private schools. Becoming coeducational means potentially doubling the number of students qualified to take an entrance exam.

“The number of both female and male students has increased. I think becoming coeducational led to the boost,” Matsumoto said.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun survey, at least four private high schools went coed this spring.

“As many parents today went to coeducational schools, they strongly prefer them, with the exception of some top-notch schools,” said an official at Ichishin Gakuin, based in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, which runs cram schools in the Kanto region.

On the other hand, single-sex schools, which are now a minority, have an advantage in terms of the advancement rate to prestigious universities.

Educational consultant Toshimi Nakai held a symposium on single-sex education in Tokyo last year.

“From late primary school to middle school, girls develop faster than boys both physically and mentally,” Nakai, 53, said. “So it’s inefficient for boys and girls to take the same classes together because their mental ages are different.

“Single-sex high schools always rank high in the list of successful applicants to the University of Tokyo,” Nakai added. “It also has been shown that in Britain and South Korea students in single-sex schools tend to perform better academically [than their counterparts in coed schools].”

According to a survey by Daigaku Tsushin, an information magazine on university entrance exams, the top seven high schools among successful University of Tokyo applicants in 2012 were boys schools–including Kaisei, Nada and Azabu high schools. All-girls school Oin Gakuen ranked eighth in the list.

Explaining the advantage of boys schools, Yukio Yanagisawa, principal of Kaisei Junior and Senior High Schools, in Tokyo, said, “Boys can concentrate more on their studies when they aren’t having to compete against female students, who develop faster in middle school.”

Year after year Kaisei high school tops the list of schools whose students who pass the University of Tokyo entrance exams.

“By looking at the example set by older students of the same sex, students can figure out what they want to be in the future at an early stage, which enables them to situate themselves and make efforts toward realizing their vision,” Yanagisawa explains.

“The need for single-sex schools has never been greater than in our time. We’ll continue to remain a boys school even if we become the last one,” he added.

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High school students less willing to study overseas (Japan Times, Apr 5)
Japanese high school students are less willing to study abroad than their counterparts in the United States, China and South Korea, according to survey results released Wednesday. The survey conducted by the Japan Youth Research Institute found that 46 percent of Japanese high school students hope to study abroad, compared with 82 percent in South Korea, 58 percent in China and 53 percent in the U.S.

Japanese high school students are less willing to study abroad than their counterparts in the United States, China and South Korea, according to survey results released Wednesday.

The survey conducted by the Japan Youth Research Institute found that 46 percent of Japanese high school students hope to study abroad, compared with 82 percent in South Korea, 58 percent in China and 53 percent in the U.S.

Asked why they don’t want to study abroad, 53 percent of the Japanese students said that Japan is comfortable to live in, while 43 percent of Chinese respondents and 26 percent of South Koreans said the same about their countries.

The Japanese students opting to stay in Japan also said they lack the confidence to live alone and that it would be a hassle to live overseas.

Asked why they want to study abroad, only 17 percent of the students in Japan said they are in search of a better educational environment, far less than 77 percent in China, 39 percent in South Korea and 36 percent in the United States.

An official at the institute said that the attitudes of Japanese students “could change” if Japanese colleges switch the start of the academic year to conform to educational institutions overseas.

Discussion is under way among leading universities on whether to move the start of their academic year from spring to fall.

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Nuke majors in decline at universities (Japan Times, Apr 17)
The number of students enrolled as nuclear energy majors at seven universities has fallen by 16 percent this year, a Kyodo News survey said Monday. Among universities offering undergraduate and graduate programs in the nuclear sciences, only 223 students had enrolled for the 2012 academic year, compared with 264 last year.

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1.8 million students take unified tests (Japan Times, Apr 18)
Around 1.8 million sixth-grade elementary and third-year junior high school students nationwide took unified achievement tests Tuesday after they were suspended last year in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The examinees were from 25,868 public and private schools.

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Subsidy eyed to promote study abroad / 40 universities could receive 5-year grants (Yomiuri)
The education ministry plans to establish a new financial support system for universities encouraging students to study abroad, it has been learned. The ministry aims to promote the idea of studying abroad to Japanese students, who are often regarded as being introverted, to foster human resources who will be motivated to actively participate in the nation’s domestic and international affairs.

Related: A cautionary tale told in an eye-opening JT blogpost about the hardships that can befall you when you fail to repay Japanese government scholarship loans or grants…

Beware of bureaucrats bearing student loans (Japan Times Yen for Living Blog, February 20th, 2012)

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Medicine museum opens in Tokyo (Japan Times, April 14, 2012)
A museum that opened recently in Tokyo’s Nihonbashi district is offering visitors the chance to learn more about medicine, for free. The Kusuri Museum, run by pharmaceutical firm Daiichi Sankyo Co., uses computer graphics and other visual displays to show visitors how medicines are derived from plants, bacteria and other compounds, work on 3-D puzzles to create medicines, and even play games in which medicines battle viruses and bacteria.

See photos of the museum at this page.

Observatory fills small Gifu town with pride (Chunichi Shimbun May 5)

News photo
An official opening ceremony Sunday was held to celebrate the completion of a small astronomical observatory on the grounds of Tara Elementary School in Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture.

Reaching for the stars: The Tara Astronomical Observatory is officially opened in the town of Kamiishizu, Gifu Prefecture, on Sunday. CHUNICHI SHIMBUN

The school’s PTA and local residents built the 3-meter-long, 3.6-meter-wide Tara Astronomical Observatory at their own initiative.

“I hope the town’s children will grow to love to it too,” one PTA member said.

The project was conceived after Yasunori Matogawa, professor emeritus at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and a member of the Hayabusa asteroid probe project, visited Kamiishizu in May 2010 and gave a lecture on astronomy.

Matogawa was also moved by the children’s enthusiastic response during his stargazing class and donated a telescope to Yoshihisa Otake, a former president of the school’s PTA who helped organize the event, telling him to “show these children the beauty of stars.”

Matogawa also declared the town, which is surrounded by mountains, well-suited for an observatory.

His enthusiasm motivated PTA members to set up the Tara Star Club and start designing the facility, while senior officials from local associations and community centers helped to establish the Tara Observatory Preparatory Committee.

Residents from the entire area became involved in the project and construction on the school grounds commenced last September, after approval was granted by municipal authorities in the city of Ogaki, which has administrative responsibility over the town.

PTA members, guardians of ex-students and the town’s residents gave up their weekends to build the observatory, using mainly local timber. They worked for free, utilizing participants’ expertise in the construction, carpentry, plating and stonework sectors.

The total project cost of about ¥2.4 million was covered by donations from local inhabitants, companies and store owners, as well as from former teachers and students of the school.

Though small in size, the observatory is a proper scientific facility, equipped with two telescopes — including one donated by astronomy enthusiasts in the prefecture — and a retractable roof. Read on…

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Attracting foreign talent to Japan’s universities (AsiaOne, Apr 12, 2012) |Yomiuri Shimbun Excerpts follow below…

According to data released by the Chinese government in February, Shenzhen topped the list of Chinese cities in terms of the number of applications for international patents for the eighth consecutive year in 2011. As economic globalization intensifies competition among not only countries, but also cities, an increasing rivalry has sprung up to win talented human resources….

Once criticized for their conformity, a number of Japanese universities are now pursuing innovative efforts to attract competent students and faculty members….

On Feb. 27, a special seminar was held in Bangalore, a southern Indian city known for its focus on information technology, to commemorate the launch of the University of Tokyo’s Indian office.

Until recently, universities in the United States and Britain were the overwhelmingly popular choice among Indian students wishing to participate in long-term study abroad programs.

Nilesh Vasa, a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said the number of IIT Madras students interested in studying in Japan began to increase five years ago as more Japanese companies expanded production in India.

The University of Tokyo opened an office in Bangalore so it would not miss the chance to draw Indian students to study at its facilities in Japan.

Sushant Kumar, a 21-year-old student, said he developed a strong interest in Japan’s advanced technology from how the nation has been recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake. He also has concerns, however, about studying in Japan, due to his vegetarianism.

“If problems involving foreign students’ special dietary needs are solved, this would largely eliminate obstacles to their desire to study in Japan,” said Vice President Yoshihito Watanabe of Nagoya University, who attended the seminar.

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Satisfying foreign students

Watanabe said efforts such as adjusting cafeteria menus at Japanese universities to suit foreign students’ tastes will be a key indicator of whether Japanese schools can draw a larger number of foreign researchers and students.

There are about 2,550 foreign students at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Oita Prefecture, accounting for 40 percent of the student body, making it one of the leading universities in Japan in terms of foreign enrollment.

The students come from 78 countries and territories, mainly from the Asia-Pacific region, though there are also students from Europe, the Middle East and other regions.

Lectures at the university are conducted in English, and student dormitories are adjacent to the campus to help students feel at ease in daily life. The university has also ensured that students are able to eat meals suited to their regular habits.

Vegetarian food is available at the university’s cafeteria, as is halal food for Muslim students who cannot eat pork or drink liquor. According to university officials, cooking equipment used for dishes with pork is not used for preparing halal food. Cafeteria management also check whether seasonings and condiments, such as soy sauce, contain distilled alcohol.

These efforts have helped the university succeed in satisfying its foreign students, leading to an increasing number of applicants from overseas, the officials said.

They also said the university has prioritized creating close relationships with high schools and administrative agencies in foreign countries through the good offices of university graduates and others.

The school has overseas offices in eight countries and regions, including Taiwan, and sets up booths at college fairs for students wishing to study abroad.

However, Yasuharu Abe, chief of the university’s student recruitment department, said, “We can’t compete with prestigious schools from the United States and Europe by simply setting up our booths at college fairs.

“To generate interest in our university among talented students, we must make efforts rarely seen at prestigious U.S. and European universities,” he added.

In addition to contending with overseas schools in the scramble for students, competition among Japanese universities has also intensified due to the chronically low birthrate.

The number of applicants for entrance exams at state-run and public universities dropped to about 495,000 this year, compared to about 620,000 when the National Center for University Entrance Exams began administering uniform preparatory tests in 1990.

Some universities have already been forced to suspend enrollment activities for new students.

Nearly 50 state-run and other publicly operated universities have merged in the past decade, mainly in areas outside major cities. The mergers were primarily aimed at ensuring the universities continue to play a key role in fostering human resources for their respective regions.

There also have been nationwide moves to form consortiums to jointly undertake tasks such as developing human resources and utilizing the characteristics of each region in research activities.

The Iwate High-Education Consortium, which comprises five universities in Iwate Prefecture, will transmit the schools’ liberal arts programs and other courses to three high schools in the coastal cities of Kuji, Ofunato and Kamaishi via a video-conferencing system from April.

Emphasize Japan’s strengths

Iwate Prefecture is faced with the task of boosting the prefecture’s university enrollment rates, which have been lower than the national average.

The five-university consortium is aimed at helping increase the enrollment rate of high school graduates in coastal area schools within the prefecture, to develop human resources conducive to facilitating reconstruction projects related to the March 11 disaster.

Iwate University Vice President Yoshihito Takahata stressed he wanted to see many high school students and graduates interested in the affairs of disaster-hit areas’ local communities.

In addition to these measures, the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda created the Council on Promotion of Human Resources for Globalization Development in February to promote the “development of human resources capable of playing a role on the global stage.” It will conduct studies about what should be done to secure competent, academically talented human resources to address global problems.

Prof. Narasaka of Nanyang Technological University said, “Japan pursues a high level of basic research activities, and we must hammer out a well-defined strategy to draw highly talented people from overseas that uses these basic research projects.”

Success in tackling this challenge will be of crucial significance as Japan carves out its future at the local and national level.

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TOEIC’s popularity on the rise (. (Yomiuri Apr. 26, 2012)

The Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) is becoming popular as English is an essential skill for employees as companies expand overseas. The number of applicants in Japan for the TOEIC test, which measures English language skills necessary for international business, in fiscal 2011 increased by about 30 percent to 2.27 million from the previous fiscal year.
The figure is close to the 2.3 million who applied to take the Test in Practical English Proficiency (Eiken) in fiscal 2011. Eiken is the most popular English proficiency test in Japan, and its Japanese name literally translates to “English skill test.”
It is possible that TOEIC will replace Eiken as Japan’s most popular English language test. TOEIC has become popular partly because companies have increased their international activities and students face difficult job markets.

TOEIC was developed by a U.S. nonprofit test organization and is administered in about 120 countries. In Japan, TOEIC was first available in fiscal 1979.

There is only one difficulty level for the TOEIC exam, and all test takers are evaluated on a scale of 10 to 990 points. Many TOEIC applicants are university students and working adults.

Eiken was introduced in fiscal 1963 and is Japan’s original English proficiency exam. Test takers sit for seven different exam difficulty levels–5, 4, 3, pre-2, 2, pre-1 and 1 with 1 being the most difficult. Many Eiken applicants are middle and high school students.

The Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC), the Tokyo-based organization that administers TOEIC tests in Japan, said the main reason behind the rising number of TOEIC applicants is that more companies are using TOEIC scores as a condition for in-house promotions or hiring requirements for new graduates as they increasingly expand their business overseas.

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A step in the right direction (Japan Times, Apr 15)

Junior high school students will be dancing up a storm under new guidelines from the education ministry that require dancing, along with martial arts, as compulsory subjects at schools this year. These new subjects will be required for all Japanese middle school students from this spring.

The changes do not come without controversy. After it was discovered that in 28 years through fiscal 2010, 114 students died and 275 others suffered serious physical injury from judo classes and activities, the introduction of martial arts classes was given scrutiny. Without adequate preparation and the proper training of physical education teachers who teach judo, learning martial arts cannot be done safely. Dance, too, takes preparation, though it is less likely to cause injuries to anything other than pride.
Learning about pride, though, is part of developing self-confidence and body awareness. The new guidelines recognize people have different ways of learning. Reading and listening are essential, but so are moving around and doing things. Not everything fits on a multiple choice exam form. The introduction of dance will give students with natural “kinetic” skills a chance to shine, and those without, a chance to develop.

Learning dance is also a good way to improve social and presentation skills. Working with others and performing in front of others are important life skills. Many older Japanese struggling with salsa lessons or ballroom dance contests surely wish they had been taught how to shake their hips and wiggle their shoulders to the beat, and company employees of all kinds surely wish they felt calm and self-assured when giving speeches or presentations, too.

Interestingly, most schools have chosen the most popular forms of dance: hip-hop, jazz dance or other “street” styles. That may be a concession to students’ obsession with commercial pop music groups, but it is also an awareness that contemporary dance is full of emotion and excitement. Dance involves more than just putting your feet in the right place or following set choreography: Dance is about expressing yourself.

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Lacking proper teachers, girls’ schools struggle with martial arts classes(Asahi)

Private junior high schools for girls are teaching the proper ways to bow and other forms of etiquette to prepare for the mandatory introduction of martial arts programs at junior high schools. The students are not yet attacking each other. But they are grappling with the question of why they are being forced to learn martial arts. “It’s in the curriculum guidelines, so there’s nothing we can do about it,” said a male instructor at a private junior high school in Aichi Prefecture. “But still, I don’t feel comfortable with martial arts at a girls’ school.”
The curriculum requirement originates in a 2006 revision of the Basic Education Law that stresses tradition and culture as well as local patriotism as educational goals. Under the education ministry’s curriculum guidelines revised in 2008, first- and second-year junior high school students will study martial arts, such as judo, kendo and sumo, to “develop offense and defense using basic techniques.” But since many schools lack teachers who can properly teach students such techniques; they are taking a hands-off approach in the name of safety.

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High school texts bulk up with 12% more pages (Yomiuri)
The average number of pages in high school textbooks to be used from next spring will increase by 11.9 percent compared to those being used now, according to the results of textbook screenings released by the education ministry. The increase results from the government’s new curriculum guidelines, which expand the amount of academic content students must learn while also eliminating a clause that restricted the teaching of higher-level material.

Related: School textbooks feature ‘hip’ topics (Yomiuri, Mar 29)

From pop idol groups to Internet slang, high school textbook makers have tried to stir the interest of students by using topics familiar to them. Casual topics will be used more often in English textbooks to be used from next spring compared with the teaching material in other subjects. Some English textbooks will feature expressions useful for e-mails and blogs.

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WWII-era poison gas suit rejected by court (Japan Times, Apr 17, 2012)

Kyodo
The Tokyo District Court rejected a lawsuit Monday filed by two Chinese who sued the government for injuries caused by a poisonous gas shell the Imperial Japanese Army left in China at the end of World War II.

Rejected: Zhou Tong (left) stands outside the Tokyo District Court on Monday after it threw out a damages suit he and another Chinese filed over injuries caused by a gas shell left behind by Japan after World War II. KYODO
While expressing regret over the injuries, the presiding judge, Hisaki Kobayashi, said that even though the Japanese government did not take specific steps to prevent the incident, it does not mean Japan’s response was unreasonable.

Kobayashi said the Chinese government did not recognize the urgency of dealing with abandoned shells in the area of Jilin Province where the incident occurred, and that the Japanese government would have been unable to recognize the danger by specifying the area where the shell was abandoned.

Zhou Tong, 19, and Liu Hao, 15, sued the Japanese government in January 2008, seeking ¥33 million each for injuries they suffered in July 2004 after touching liquid on the shell, which they found at a river in the province. They were hospitalized for nearly two months.

They charged that the Japanese government had recognized the possibility poison gas weapons were abandoned in the area and that it should have informed residents of the danger and conducted a survey to find them.

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If you don’t know what the new term “gap term” means, Astro Boy explains it here:

“It’s always referred to in connection with the University of Tokyo’s plans to shift its student enrollment to autumn within five years. ….Even if the university changes its enrollment period from spring to autumn, it will maintain the current timing of its entrance exams and announcement of successful applicants. This means there will be a half-year break between the entrance exams and admission to the university. The University of Tokyo coined “gap term” for the six-month period from April to September. “Gap” means a “break in continuity,” or hiatus, while “term” signifies a “period of time.” The gap term is meant to be a hiatus between the time when applicants pass their entrance exams and when they enroll. During the gap term, they are expected to engage in such activities as volunteer programs and studies abroad, in preparation for studying at the university fruitfully, the school says.”

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Next up, focusing the global spotlight on educational matters in other parts of the world:

The growth of the ‘Titan’ schools (Guardian)

23 Apr 2012: It has eight portable classrooms and, within a couple of years, 1,200 pupils. Fran Abrams visits England’s biggest primary – one of a growing breed, thanks to the national shortage of placest
Bob Garton, the headteacher of Gascoigne primary school in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham, has a slightly faraway look in his eye. “There used to be playing fields,” he says, “big enough for a proper football pitch.”

Standing at the first-floor window, we can see a graphic illustration of the school’s major problem laid out below us. Those fields are now completely covered by four mobile classrooms, a children’s centre and an early-years block. Where there used to be a playground, there’s now a dining hall for 500 pupils – far too small; it takes nearly two hours for the whole school to eat lunch. There are two more mobiles on the teachers’ car park, and, last year, the library had to be wedged into a windowless temporary building in an alley to make way for yet another extra class. This year, the music room has to go; next year, a few remaining flower beds will make way for four permanent classrooms.

Welcome to what is – according to the latest official statistics – England’s biggest primary school. In a couple of years’ time, when two extra classes finish working their way up through the school, there’ll be more than 1,200 pupils.

Gascoigne was always a big school. When Garton became head of the newly combined junior and infant schools in 1999, there were 700 pupils here – nearly three times the average number for a primary school. It must be hard for its staff to imagine how it could ever have been that small. It now feels like several schools on one site, each with its own fence and its own little playground. Most of the children are taught in single-storey blocks, built in the 1970s to replace an old Victorian school, and their corridors seem to go on for ever.

Growing pupil numbers are not the only issue with which Gascoigne primary has to grapple. There are 60 different languages spoken here … Read on…

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Harvard and M.I.T. Team Up to Offer Free Online Courses (May 2, 2012, NY Times)

In what is shaping up as an academic Battle of the Titans — one that offers vast new learning opportunities for students around the world — Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday announced a new nonprofit partnership, known as edX, to offer free online courses from both universities.

Harvard’s involvement follows M.I.T.’s announcement in December that it was starting an open online learning project, MITx. Its first course, Circuits and Electronics, began in March, enrolling about 120,000 students, some 10,000 of whom made it through the recent midterm exam. Those who complete the course will get a certificate of mastery and a grade, but no official credit. Similarly, edX courses will offer a certificate but not credit.

But Harvard and M.I.T. have a rival — they are not the only elite universities planning to offer free massively open online courses, or MOOCs, as they are known. This month, Stanford, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan announced their partnership with a new commercial company, Coursera, with $16 million in venture capital.

Academics eye global cooperation (Japan Times, Apr 30)
The presidents and vice presidents of 14 universities in 10 countries and areas around the world gathered in Tokyo on Sunday to discuss how to nurture globally minded citizens in today’s changing world.The academics and others agreed on the necessity of promoting the liberal arts and intercultural communications to produce students that can contribute to their communities and the increasingly globalized society.

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For Some Parents, Leaving a Private School Is Harder Than Getting In (Apr 29, NYT)

In February 2011, Nicole Smolowitz’s son was admitted to the Mandell School on the Upper West Side. She signed a contract and paid the $7,500 deposit.

By late April, the family’s financial situation had changed, and private school was no longer an option. Ms. Smolowitz called the school to say her son would not be able to attend. She did not expect to get her deposit back — but she was told she had to pay the remaining $26,250, as well.

“It’s April,” she said she told them. “I will find someone for you to take my child’s spot.” The school told her that was not how things were done. Then, in September, Mandell sued.

For most parents, getting their child into a private school is a moment of joy, or at least relief. But uncomfortable conversations take place at this time of year, as some parents reconsider.

Sometimes these conversations lead to an amicable parting. Other times, they lead to a bare-knuckled fight in court.

Since 2009, at least five private schools in New York City — Mandell, York Preparatory School, Friends Seminary, Léman Manhattan Preparatory School and the Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School — have sued parents for tuition.

The schools’ argument is simple: Parents sign a contract when they accept placement, saying they will send their child to the school the next year and pay the agreed-upon price … read on

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Private school pupil numbers rise | Survey reveals number of pupils being educated privately has risen for the first time since credit crunch (Guardian.co.uk, April 2012)

Pupil numbers at private schools have risen for the first time since the credit crunch, a survey has revealed. The figures show a north-south divide, with a 1.2% rise in London and the south-east masking a decline in the rest of the UK.

There were falls of 1.6% in the north of England and 1.9% in Wales, according to data gathered by the Independent Schools Council (ISC) from more than 1,200 UK private schools. Overall, the rise in the south-east contributed to a 0.1% national increase in private school pupil numbers to nearly 505,000 children.

An increased proportion of children at fee-paying schools are non-British, the survey finds, up 5.8% to more than 26,000. There has been a sharp increase in Russian pupils, from around 800 five years ago to more than 1,700 this year.

School fees rose by 4.5% last year, the survey shows. The average termly fee is now £3,903 at day schools and £8,780 at boarding schools. Around a third of pupils receive help with their fees.

Independent schools have consistently grown in size over the past 25 years, with the average school a third larger than in 1985, the survey finds. They have also become more diverse.

There is a slightly higher proportion of ethnic minority pupils in private schools than in state schools.

Just over a quarter of pupils in private schools are from ethnic minorities. When boarding schools are excluded, this proportion rises to 28.5%. The latest figures for state schools in England show 24.5% of pupils are from ethnic minorities.

The government has urged private schools to back the academies programme, under which state schools become independent of local authorities and are funded directly from Whitehall.

However, relatively few have responded to this call. Currently 19 schools sponsor academies while 14 are co-sponsors.

The survey reveals that fewer than 1,000 private schools had partnerships with state schools, including sporting ties, and links involving music and drama.

Among private school pupils going to university, 2.8% chose to leave the UK.

Some 27% of schools reported an increase in the number of pupils going to overseas universities, while only 8% reported a decrease. The US was the most popular destination, attracting 45% of ISC pupils who went to overseas universities, the next most popular was Hong Kong, attracting 12%.

The survey detects a slight shift away from single-sex education: 13% of the schools that were boys-only and 9% of the schools that were girls-only in 2007 had become co-educational by 2012.

The ISC chairman, Barnaby Lenon, a former head of Harrow school, said in a statement: “At a time of recession, when very many parents are struggling financially, it is clear that finding fees for their children’s education remains a priority for very large numbers.”

Related article: Private education: what price excellence? Telegraph, Apr 26 2012

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On Education: On Report Cards for City Schools, Invisible Line Between ‘A’ and ‘F’ (April 30, 2012)

Michael Winerip examines the slippery slope of the subjective school grading system …

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University Guide 2012: Cambridge tops the Guardian league table
Cambridge beats arch rival Oxford to take first place in the Guardian ranking of UK universities Jessica Shepherd
guardian.co.uk, Monday 16 May 2011
Cambridge has taken the top spot in this year’s Guardian University Guide league table, breaking its arch rival Oxford’s six-year stint as the UK’s leading institution.

Oxford has come second and St Andrews third, while the London School of Economics has climbed four places from last year to take fourth place.

University College London, Warwick, Lancaster, Durham, Loughborough and Imperial College make up the top 10.

The University Guide, published in full on the Guardian website on Tuesday, is based on data for full-time undergraduates at UK universities. The league table goes live on the website at midnight tonight.

Our analysis shows that universities with low rankings are almost as likely to be planning to charge maximum tuition fees of £9,000 in autumn 2012 as those with high rankings.

London Metropolitan University, which comes bottom of the Guardian tables, intends to charge between £4,500 and £9,000 for its degrees. Salford, Liverpool John Moores, Manchester Metropolitan and the University of East London – all of which rank in the bottom 20 – want to charge £9,000 for at least some of their courses.

The government’s access watchdog, the Office for Fair Access, is looking at the fees each university in England wants to charge and will announce in July whether it approves.

All the English universities in our top 20 intend to charge £9,000 fees, apart from London School of Economics, which has not yet decided.

The first university that proposes to charge less than £9,000 for all of its courses is Sunderland, which is ranked 48th.

There are a total of 120 institutions in the tables: 38 in the top half intend to charge £9,000 for at least some of their courses, while 18 in the bottom half propose to do the same.

Universities are ranked according to how much they spend per student; their student/staff ratio; the career prospects of their graduates; what grades applicants need; a value-added score that compares the academic achievements of first-years and their final degree results; and how content final-year students are with their courses, based on the annual National Student Survey.

Birmingham City University has fallen most since last year – 24 places, from 66th to 90th – while Middlesex is the biggest climber, reaching 75th place this year compared with 112th last year. Durham has risen from 17th place to eighth.

While the oldest universities dominate the top positions in the tables, the newest have improved their rankings since last year. Winchester has leapt from 96th place to 69th.

The tables, compiled by an independent consultancy firm, Intelligent Metrix, are weightedin favour of the National Student Survey. As part of the survey, final-year students are asked to score their universities for overall satisfaction, feedback and contact hours. Other league tables concentrate more on research ratings.

The Guardian publishes an overall ranking table, separate tables to show which universities are best – and worst – for each subject and another table for specialist institutions.

The more a university spends on each student, the more likely it is to have a high ranking and the more satisfied its students seem. However, our judges took into account that some universities do not teach expensive courses, such as engineering, and so their spending is lower.

There is huge variation in how much universities spend per student, with an average of £3,428 in 2009-10 (a fall from the £3,495 the year before). At Oxford, average spend per student fell to £11,232 in 2009-10 from £11,410 the year before. The university spends substantially more than other institutions. Cambridge spent £8,612 in 2009-10, a rise from £8,118 the year before.

St Mary’s University College in west London and Leeds Trinity University College spent among the lowest of all institutions per student.

The tables show that Cambridge has overtaken Oxford in philosophy, law, politics, theology, maths, classics, anthropology and modern languages. However, Oxford overtook Cambridge in psychology and also came top in chemistry, business and management, and art and design. Loughborough is best for sports science, while King’s College London is top for dentistry. University College London topped the table for English, while Trinity Laban Conservatoire excelled for drama and dance. Northumbria has shot up the table for modern languages, from 48th last year to third this year.

Universities with high rankings tend to have fewer dropouts, and fewer students per academic. The top 20 institutions have a drop-out rate after the first year of just 4%, compared with almost 12% for the bottom 20.

There are 14.2 students per academic among the top 20, but 21.5 among the bottom 20. The smallest institutions tend to be ranked closer to the bottom.

Professor David Tidmarsh, vice-chancellor of Birmingham City University, says he expects his university’s fall in position to be temporary: “It is caused by student number growth, which has now been curbed, and student satisfaction scores, which we expect to improve significantly as a consequence both of increased investment and of the way in which we are engaging students as partners in their learning experience.”

He says the university is investing £180m in new buildings, facilities and equipment.

Swansea Metropolitan, Wolverhampton and Liverpool Hope did not allow the Guardian to use their data.

Meanwhile, the government has cut the number of places universities can offer on teacher training courses. Cambridge University, which comes top of our table for education courses, will have 49 fewer places on its teacher training course this September, an 11% cut. Altogether, almost 4,000 fewer places will be available on teacher training programmes.

A spokesman from the Department for Education says pupil numbers are falling sharply in secondary schools and so the need for new teachers has gone down.

Not for love or for money — why do a PhD? Guardian 3 May

“…if you want to be really financially prosperous, then PhDs are not for you.

There are other reasons that motivate students to continue their education to PhD level. Harking back to a time when these diplomas were reserved for a minuscule segment of the population, the doctoral degree is a seen as a prestige marker, the recognition of one’s exceptional talents and the certificate of belonging to the intellectual elite. The non-material rewards that a PhD is supposed to bring, at least theoretically, are connected to social standing; PhDs can be used as a vehicle for upwards social mobility, and for the fulfilment of personal and family ambitions.

The prestige power of the PhD is however on the wane. “… Read on

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Universities must be research active – and that includes VCs (Guardian 3 May 2012)
Even those institutions that put learning and teaching first would be foolish to turn their backs on research, says University of Northampton

Universities are places where new knowledge is generated. It is what marks them out from other educational establishments and those that excel at it are de facto members of a global elite. Research of quality brings with it kudos, money and, most significantly for practitioners, job satisfaction.

All academic staff (and those with the desire on the support side) should be involved in generating new knowledge in addition to transmitting it…

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A-level reform in practice: lessons to be learned from Cambridge Pre-U Guardian 25 April 2012

Michael Gove’s suggestion that universities set A-levels was widely derided, but academics do have a part to play in preparing pupils for university, says Peter Wothers

Dr Peter Wothers: “The idea of involving universities in school exam reform is, in my view, a strong one.”
As the dust settles on the education secretary Michael Gove’s recent plan to reform A-levels, one of the unanswered questions is how universities should be involved. The Russell Group, for example, has already spoken out with concerns over how much time it will take up – and what does this mean for schools, who have just returned from the Easter break to a whole new world?

The idea of involving universities in school exam reform is, in my view, a strong one. Not only are they going to teach some of the students as they progress from A-level but, more importantly, they are in the best position to know what is relevant in their particular disciplines at any given moment. Although there are many courses now run by universities to help update teachers’ knowledge, it is often difficult for teachers to stay on top of the latest developments in their subjects, in addition to preparing and giving lessons (not to mention the great increase in paperwork they are expected to undertake).

The challenge comes in getting the level of involvement right and balancing any involvement from universities with continuing engagement from schools to create a collaboration between universities, schools and examination boards. This three-pronged approach was taken when drawing up the plans for the relatively new qualification, Cambridge Pre-U. The big challenge in developing this post-16 qualification was forging strong, productive, relationships with teachers.

In trying to introduce any new syllabus, or even a new topic into a syllabus, there is always reluctance from the side of the teachers until it is understood why this new approach is being taken and how it will improve their lessons and their students’ understanding. When I was first asked to look at an A-level syllabus, many years ago, and made recommendations, I was told that they could not be implemented since the topics would not be in the existing textbooks. Essentially, we could only remove things from the existing syllabus, not add to it.

Perhaps one of the most worrying changes in the science syllabuses is the gradual exclusion of maths. It is simply not possible to study the physical sciences at university without some understanding of mathematics. We are in danger of giving students the impression that it is not necessary to study maths for the sciences, which can lead to a nasty shock at university. What is needed is a thorough look at what is on the syllabus and why it is there. This is certainly something that the universities could have a valuable hand in.

An example from my own subject, chemistry. The analytical topic of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) had crept into the A-level syllabus. I remember encountering this during my A-levels some 25 years ago and being bewildered by it then. This is a subject that at University of Cambridge we have felt is better left to the second year to teach properly since it rapidly becomes so complicated. However, there are variations that are simpler to grasp, notably carbon-NMR. In designing Cambridge Pre-U, we included carbon NMR because it was easier to understand and was also more interesting to teach. This is because real-life molecules can actually be analysed using it, even by weaker students.

By working hand-in-hand with schools, the course we eventually produced – Cambridge Pre-U – gives the students a great understanding of their subject and certainly prepares them for continued study in their chosen areas. One of my colleagues at Cambridge has commented, only slightly tongue-in-cheek, that if the students all came here knowing the content of this course, we would not have to teach our first year. Of course, this is not true, nor is it what Cambridge Pre-U is about; it is about providing a sound educational course that is still accessible to all students of varying ability but one that gives them the skills to truly understand their chosen subjects and further develop these if they choose to go on to university. This can only be accomplished with the co-operation of all parties involved: teachers, universities and exam boards.

So that’s the lesson for Gove – definitely involve academics but remember we’re one of a number of voices and the real key is get everyone working together to develop qualifications that allow our students to be truly fit for the future. …

Dr Peter Wothers is a fellow and director of studies in Chemistry at St Catharine’s College. He was instrumental in developing the syllabus for the Chemistry Pre-University qualification.

See also interesting discussion: Imagining the University of the future … what will it look like?

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In Virginia Tech’s largest classroom Math Emporium, the computer is king and Computers solve math-class problem (Washington Post), this institution works like a digital Kumon method.

Emporium courses include pre-calculus, calculus, trigonometry and geometry, subjects taken mostly by freshmen to satisfy math requirements. The format seems to work best in subjects that stress skill development — such as solving problems over and over. Computer-led lessons show promise for remedial English instruction and perhaps foreign language… instructors are reduced to roving guides. Lessons are self-paced, and help is delivered “on demand” in a vast, windowless lab that is open 24 hours a day because computers never tire. A student in need of human aid plants a red cup atop a monitor.Four math instructors, none of them professors, lead seven courses with enrollments of 200 to 2,000. Students walk to class through a shopping mall, past a health club and a tanning salon, as ambient Muzak plays. Eight thousand students a year take introductory math in a space that once housed a discount department store. The Emporium model has been adopted by 100 schools.

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Free Internet lessons challenge textbook market for public schools(Washington Post)

Enterprising teachers have long scoured the Internet for ways to improve on their textbooks or local curricula. Now, though, lessons accessed via the Web are proliferating in the classroom as never before and are challenging the position of the powerful education-publishing industry in public schools.

Fueling the trend, most states in the past two years have embraced national standards for what students should learn in English and math classes. The new standards should make it easier to share curricula across state lines. In addition, budget pressures after the recession have led many schools to scale back or freeze purchases of textbooks and other teaching materials … read on

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In this final segment of our EDU WATCH, we focus on Health & Safety Issues:

Pirana alert … this is not a joke! Beware, don’t let your kids play in the Atsugi streams in Kanagawa for the time being …

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Kanagawa river yields three piranhas(Japan Times, May 03)
YOKOHAMA — Officials in Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, have declared a local stream off-limits to children after three piranhas were caught in a nearby river over the weekend.

The city on Tuesday warned residents, especially children, about the potential danger posed by the voracious meat eaters during the Golden Week holidays, after two were caught Saturday in the Zenmyo River by nearby residents and a third by a man in the area Monday. The fish were about 10 cm long.

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3 million middle-aged ‘parasite singles’ in Japan: gov’t statistics (Mainichi, 2 May)
There are about 3 million unmarried people aged between 35 and 44 in Japan who live with their parents, and 11.5 percent of the so-called middle-aged “parasite singles” don’t have jobs, according to data released by the Statistical Research and Training Institute at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Many of the people who were referred to as parasite singles when they were in their 20s and 30s in the 1990s are believed to have continued to remain unmarried and live with their parents. In those days, parasite singles were those who lived with their parents beyond their late 20s in order to enjoy a carefree and comfortable life.
The Statistical Research and Training Institute estimated the number of middle-aged parasite singles based on the labor force survey conducted in September 2010 by the internal affairs ministry. According to the estimates, there are 2.95 million people aged between 35 and 44 who are unmarried and live with their parents. They account for 16.1 percent of the total number of people in the same age bracket.
The number of middle-aged parasite singles has jumped from 1.12 million in 1990 (accounting for 5.7 percent of the total number in the same age bracket) and 1.59 million in 2000 (accounting for 10 percent of the total number in the same age bracket). Their employment status is also unstable, with their unemployment rate at 11.5 percent against 4.8 percent for the total number of people in the same age bracket. Their non-regular employment rate (with the length of a contract less than one year) stood at 11.2 percent.
Analysis made by experts, including Masahiro Yamada, professor at Chuo University, who coined the term parasite singles, shows that the average annual income for unmarried people aged 35 or older who live with their parents dropped to 1.38 million yen in 2004 from 2.04 million yen in 1994. The real picture of parasite singles that used to represent youths who were leading easy lives in those days has changed. Fumihiko Nishi, an advisor at the Statistical Research and Training Institute, said that they tended to live with their parents longer apparently because they could not afford to do otherwise financially.
There are also 10.64 million unmarried people aged between 20 and 34 who live with their parents. Professor Yamada said, “If the number of people who cannot care for themselves increases, the birthrate could decline further and the number of people who live on welfare could rise.”

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‘Can you compete under pressure?’ (BBC Lab, 2012) aims to be the biggest ever study of the psychology of pressure. By analysing the data from those who take part, the scientists who designed it aim to shine unprecedented light on what affects performance under pressure. In doing so, they’ll discover something new about pressure in sport and in everyday life.

Critical moments – what makes the difference between success and failure? When top sprinters line up for a major final, psychological rather than physical differences could decide who takes gold. In contests won or lost by hundredths of second, athletes need every advantage they can get. So being able to handle pressure and manage the accompanying emotions is critical.

We all experience moments where the stakes are high and there’s a pressure to succeed.
But it’s not just top athletes who face moments of intense pressure. We all experience moments where the stakes are high and there’s a pressure to succeed.
In fact, the same psychological factors influence us whether we are giving a speech, taking a driving test, or just lining up a key shot in a casual game of pool.
So the big question is; can the psychological skills used by top sportspeople be used to prepare us for other moments of intense pressure? And if so – which ones are most effective?
These are just two of the questions we are hoping to answer with the data generated by ‘Can you compete under pressure?

The BBC Lab experiment s intended to explore and undersand the connection between controlling emotions and the reaction to performing poorly or very well.

Because the ability to regulate emotions has been shown to be important in areas of life from family and work relationships, to how we deal with risk; the data from ‘Can you compete under pressure?’ should have application well beyond the world of sport.

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Being bilingual’ boosts brain power’ BBC, 1 May 2012) Learning a second language can boost brain power, scientists believe.

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A new earthquake-proof desk has been designed, read about it at Earthquake-proof school desk provides cover for natural disasters (Gizmag, Apr 25)

[Ed. note: This is a terrific life-saving innovation invaluable for countries like quakeprone Japan ...two designers have developed an "earthquake-proof" desk that can absorb the impact of up to a ton of weight and even provide emergency routes for rescue crews to reach trapped students...but I can't see local public schools using the product unless it becomes affordable, with school institutions, a lot has to do with cost.]

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60% of big municipalities test school meals’ cesium (Mar 29, Japan Times)

Kyodo
A recent nationwide survey of 74 major municipalities has found that 44 are testing school meals for radioactive cesium from the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The 44 municipal governments said they are conducting a variety of tests on school meals, while another six municipalities, including the city of Akita and Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, plan to start tests in the near future.

But the survey found wide divergences based on geographical proximity to the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Of 42 local governments in 17 eastern prefectures ordered to test produce for radioactive fallout before shipment, 34 were found to be conducting tests on school meals. In the remaining 32 municipalities in other parts of the country, only 10 were.

Deciding whether to test school lunches for contamination is left to the discretion of local governments.

Kyodo News conducted the poll between March 16 and 22 and quizzed municipal boards of education, including in prefectural capitals and Tokyo’s 23 wards.

Some of the 24 municipalities that do not test school lunches said food safety was confirmed via tests before goods hit the market and other data.

The survey also found that seven local governments have adopted lower cesium thresholds for food products than the 100 becquerels per kilogram the central government will introduce Sunday, including Sapporo at 4 becquerels, Yamagata at 10, Fukui and Tokyo’s Adachi and Sumida wards at 40, and Kyoto at 50.

[Ed. note: A good page to look up on current and updated data about radiation in food grown in contaminated zones is the Chuo U Professor's website TAKEDANET.com, see for eg. his latest update on Chiba Prefecture's food products]

Government adopts safety plan for children (Apr.28)

Jiji Press (Apr. 28, 2012)

The government on Friday adopted a basic policy on safety education at schools for the next five years, with the goal of minimizing harm to children in the event of natural disasters and other situations.

The move was prompted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region last year.

The basic policy urged schools to make time to teach children how to protect themselves in the event of a disaster. It also called for a study on the possibility of creating a new school subject focusing on safety education.

The basic policy underlined the necessity of safety education at schools, pointing out that students who had received thorough education on tsunami at their schools evacuated to safety on their own in the March 2011 disaster.

As the current safety education offered during gym classes is insufficient, a systematic method of training should be considered, it said.

In addition, it urged local governments to devise measures to minimize radiation exposure at schools in the event of nuclear accidents, following the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, which was damaged in the March 2011 disaster.

The plan also called on schools, parents and businesses to take measures to protect children from crimes related to Internet use.

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More Japanese shunning traditional diet, table manners ( Yomiuri, May. 3, 2012)

“Washoku, or traditional dietary culture, which includes how food is served and table manners, may be disappearing from Japanese tables,” said Nobuko Iwamura, an official at Asatsu-DK Inc., an advertising firm that has been conducting studies on Japanese eating habits since 1998.

The studies covered families raising children with mothers born in 1960 and after. Participants were asked to keep track of their meals by taking pictures or keeping a diary for one week.

Traditionally in Japan, family members sit together to eat a meal consisting of rice as a staple, three dishes and a bowl of soup. However, the studies revealed that reality is far from this ideal.

For example, some respondents ate only snacks or cookies for breakfast, while others said they prepared dinners consisting primarily of carbohydrates, such as sandwiches and fried yakisoba noodles served together.

In other cases, aluminum foil was used instead of dishes, and some children could not use chopsticks properly. Instead of eating together, family members ate what they wanted and at different times.

In an effort to preserve traditional Japanese food culture, some schools and local communities have started promoting dietary education and encouraging people to eat locally produced food.

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New flu bill clears Diet (Apr.28)

A bill on special measures concerning preparations for an outbreak of a highly virulent new strain of influenza passed the House of Councillors on Friday and became a law, thanks to the support of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, New Komeito and others.

Members of the Liberal Democratic Party, which approved the bill in the House of the Representatives, did not attend Friday’s upper house vote as the party is boycotting voting on bills submitted by the government because of its Diet affairs policy.

The aim of the law is to have permanent regulations in place to deal with a nationwide outbreak of a highly virulent strain of the flu, if such an outbreak is recognized as affecting people’s daily lives or the economy.

According to the law, when a serious outbreak is predicted, the prime minister would establish an

EDUCATION IN JAPAN COMMUNITY Blog

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Poseidon holding a trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia currently in the Louvre Photo: Wikipedia

How Sinterklaas morphed into Santa Claus (Extreme Llft sculpture by Ron Hendriks) Photo: St Nicholas Center Collection

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St Barnabas Church of England Primary School, Oxford Photo: Wikimedia

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