EDUCATION: JAPAN SPENDS LESS BUT CREATES BETTER STUDENTS 

(Editor's note: In the beginning computers could only communicate in capital letters. This is one of 20 columns from Dr. Tomorrow's original series, included here to indicate change as well as describe it. Those columns also hold another story, that change is swift and offers both disaster and opportunity.)

MONIES SPENT ON PUBLIC EDUCATION ACROSS NORTH AMERICA HAVE GENERALLY RISEN DURING THE LAST TWO DECADES -- AT A GREATER RATE THAN MOST OTHER SERVICES OR PERSONAL INCOME. BUT SATISFACTION LEVEL HAS DECLINED. PERHAPS A FACTUAL LOOK AT SOME OTHER EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS MAY OFFER A CLUE TO THE WISDOM ON WHETHER TO SPEND MORE OR LESS ON OUR OWN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.

THE CONSENSUS, BETWEEN THOSE BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE CANADIAN AND AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS, IS THAT JAPAN IS DOING BETTER -- BOTH WITH STUDENTS WHO GRADUATE AND THOSE WHO DROP OUT. IT IS ALSO GENERALLY AGREED THAT NORTH AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES DO NOT MATCH THE LEVELS NOW REACHED BY JAPANESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS.

IF OUR STUDENTS CAN'T BE EQUAL NOW, THEY ARE UNLIKELY TO BE EQUAL LATER IN LIFE.

IN JAPAN, STUDENTS ATTEND SCHOOL FROM 8:30 A.M. TO 4:00 P.M. -- 240 DAYS A YEAR COMPARED TO OUR 180 DAYS. EVERY DAY, ELEMENTARY STUDENTS GET FROM 90 MINUTES TO TWO HOURS OF HOMEWORK. IN HIGH SCHOOL THIS CLIMBS TO TWO-AND-A-HALF HOURS A DAY. AND MANY GO TO EVENING "JUKU" OR CRAM SCHOOLS FOR ANOTHER TWO HOURS FOR TWO TO THREE DAYS A WEEK. THESE CRAM SCHOOLS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO BRING THOSE FALLING BEHIND UP TO THE STANDARD, BUT ARE THERE TO ENCOURAGE SUPERIOR ACHIEVEMENT. THEY ARE LOOKING NOT FOR EQUALITY BUT FOR THE ELITE.

JAPANESE SCHOOLS HAVE NO GRAFITTI ON HALL AND CLASSROOM WALLS NOR IN THE WASHROOMS. WHY? JAPANESE SCHOOLS DO NOT HAVE JANITORS. THE CLEANING IS DONE BY STUDENTS, UNDER THEIR TEACHERS' SUPERVISION. NOT MUCH SENSE IN APPLYING GRAFITTI IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SELECTED TO WASH IT OFF! WHILE THEY ARE CLEANING, THE STUDENTS ARE DEVELOPING A SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY ABOUT CLEANLINESS, DISCIPLINE AND ECONOMY. THE SCHOOL PAYROLL IS MINIMIZED. CONTROL BY THE JANITORS' UNION DOESN'T EXIST.

WHEN THESE CHILDREN GO ON TO UNIVERSITIES -- AND JAPAN HAS MORE THAN 420 OF THEM: MORE THAN IN ALL OF WESTERN EUROPE (THE NEXT 16 WILL ALL BE OPERATED BY PRIVATE CORPORATIONS) -- THEY WILL HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE "PRESSURE COOKER" OF THEIR LIVES. FOR THOSE NORTH AMERICANS WHO SAY THIS IS UNHEALTHY, I WOULD POINT OUT THAT THESE ARE THE SURVIVORS.

AND IF WE EXPECT TO COMPETE WITH THE JAPANESE, WE BETTER LEARN HOW THE NEW GAME IS PLAYED.

A RECENT REPORT BY THE U.S. CONFERENCE BOARD INDICATES CURRENT GROWTH RATES FOR INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES:

JAPAN 22% U.K. 8% TAIWAN 17% U.S. 8% AUSTRALIA 12% WEST GERMANY 6% FRANCE 9% ITALY 4% CANADA 3%

SO HOW CAN WE COMPETE? PERHAPS BY SPENDING ON EDUCATION WHAT THE JAPANESE DO?

HERE ARE THE LATEST FIGURES AVAILABLE INDICATING RELATIVE PERCENTAGE OF GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT SPENT ON EDUCATION BY:

CANADA 7.8% UNITED KINGDOM 6.2% UNITED STATES 6.0% JAPAN 5.3%

MORAL: MAYBE SPENDING UP TO 50 PERCENT MORE.

(Editor's note: This was Column One in Dr. Tomorrow's first electronic book. If anything, it is even more viable today than when it was written in 1984. The percentages, if anything, have widened even further.)

* * *

< previous | chapter index | next >
back to Main Chapter Listing
back to Home Page