Re: Standardized testing wanes in Japan as it rises in USA

[Art Burke <aburke@VANSD.ORG>]

I've always had some doubts about international comparisons for many of the same reasons.  Art

>>> gbracey@EROLS.COM 12/03/02 03:29PM >>>
This article becomes more interesting in the context of something Paul George said to me some years ago.  Paul at the University of Florida has spent a number of year observing Japanese schools.  Worried about what American visitors were seeing in Japan I asked him about access to less than stellar schools.  He said, by way of example, that the 27 high schools in Osaka were ranked 1-27.  You could get in the top schools easily, but would face much more difficulty in accessing, say, 12 or 13.  Not even Japanese researchers could get into #26 or #27.

JB

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: William Cala 
  To: ARN-L@lists.cua.edu 
  Sent: Tuesday, December 03, 2002 5:38 PM
  Subject: Standardized testing wanes in Japan as it rises in USA


  ThisWhat most of us know, but is good to see from another's "front row seat."


             
             
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                    Page 23A 


                    Standardized testing wanes in Japan as it rises in USA 
                    By Tina Cross 


                    Many Americans, and I admit that I was one, believe that Japan's educational system is superior to ours based on two facts: the courtesy extended to teachers and the students' consistently outstanding test scores. Just last week, a UNICEF study found that Japanese students are second only to South Korea's when it comes to testing in core education areas such as reading, math and science. 

                    But the three weeks I spent in Japan this fall as a Fulbright scholar showed me the downside of pursuing high test scores at the expense of other important areas, such as creativity and originality. Those who believe standardized testing is the answer to our educational problems should take a hard look at Japan. 

                    On the surface, students in Japanese public schools are models of respect. But the students who bow so politely as class begins may be asleep five minutes later. I saw this pattern repeatedly: During class, some students routinely sleep, check and send cellphone messages and carry on loud discussions, ignoring their teacher. 

                    Graduates explained that most students spend long hours after school in ''cram schools,'' private programs typically lasting until 10 p.m. weekdays and all day Saturday that prepare them for crucial entrance exams. Cram schools leave many students exhausted and bored in class because they have already learned the material. 

                    Education in Japan is only mandatory through the equivalent of our ninth grade. To get into a high school or university, a student has to pass a stiff entrance exam. But there are no exit exams. Once a student gets into a school, graduating seems to be no big problem. 

                    Widespread worries 

                    Every principal, teacher, board of education member and parent to whom I spoke expressed deep concern with the Japanese educational system. By and large, they pointed out three problems: 

                    * Stress. Students seem to burn out very young from the stress of having to pass entrance tests to get into the ''correct'' junior high, high school or university. 

                    * Lack of creativity. Art teachers told me that if a group is given an art assignment, each student inevitably creates a similar project, following traditional style. 

                    * Mediocrity. While its students shine on standardized tests, Japan's system turns out consistently average graduates, with few examples of individual brilliance. 

                    Tsutomu Kimura, president of the National Institute for Academic Degrees, said Japan's educators are starting to focus more on the importance of creative thinking and free time for students. The best education, he says, would emphasize creativity and originality as well as test scores. 

                    Japan's experience ignored 

                    The Japanese realize their emphasis solely on testing is simply not working and are modifying their educational system -- just as we are catapulting ourselves into the disastrous practices they are abandoning. The Bush administration is putting too much emphasis on standardized testing. I cannot count the times I have listened to teachers who are upset because they are having to ''teach the test'' for their students to meet district, state or national requirements. Instead, they should be teaching students what they need to succeed in the long term: useful basic information and how to use that information -- in other words, how to think. If students can think, they can do anything. 

                    The current graduation exam in science in Georgia requires students to know such things as how to successfully complete a monohybrid cross. When was the last time your job required you to perform that task? I would much rather have a student who could rapidly and accurately find the instructions to make that cross and follow them than one who could do the cross in his or her sleep. 

                    I certainly am not against all standardized testing. We must ensure that our students can read, write, analyze and evaluate information. I also see the point of entrance exams that guarantee that a student is capable of doing the work at a specialized school. But I am convinced that the extreme emphasis on testing we are moving toward will create a generation of mediocre U.S. students. 


                    Tina Cross is a member of the 1999 All-USA Teacher First Team and a science teacher at Carver High School in Columbus, Ga. Her opinions are her own and not the position of the Muscogee County School District. 

                   
                   
             
                   
                   
                   
             
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