The "distraction" of technology
A good friend of mine currently residing in Europe asked a few important questions pertaining to culture shock for students from Japan going overseas, and the differences in use of technology between Japan and other places.
Firstly, I have to say that I can only really comment based on my experience from the school I am at now and two other private (boys only and a co-ed) schools in Osaka that I dealt with with my school in Australia.
The school that I taught (& went to) in Australia, was the top academic school in the state and one of the top in Australia, so they were a lot more focused on academic achievement than anything I have experienced here. Although, I have to say that that school was also better at developing the all-round individual and building on their strengths by giving them plenty of opportunities. I have yet to see anything close to that here in Japan and the reason I always receive is due to funding. I have many strong opinions on this though. I do not believe many of the schools here are willing to do deeper research into other education systems around the world and if they do, it is only reported on and not learned from and trialled. I have yet to see any responsible risk taking from schools for matters that may benefit the students' future - e.g. e-learning.
The international school uses laptops. The student is tuning out though and checking/writing email to friends during class (according to her report card). Out of curiousity, how did you deal with this?
The benefits of tablets/laptops far outweigh the negatives. I am a passionate advocate for intelligent implementation of tablets/PCs into high school education. I have seen schools rush to implement them and fail to prepare staff and students for the sudden change in pedagogy and learning - this has been a definite failure and tarnishes the reputation of those that do a good job of it. When implemented well, i.e. used only on the occasion that it will enhance their learning and organisation of materials, it brings out different skills that are often hidden in students, like creativity, and gives the quieter students an opportunity to have their voice heard. It is a beautiful and rich learning environment that I enjoyed every minute of. I really yearn for it here in my current work. That being said, there are new management issues that the teacher must address, especially the element of distraction. The boundaries have to be set early and regularly reinforced along the way. You cannot entirely prevent the students from accessing the internet during "down" times. You will never win this battle. You may have temporary compliance, but they will revert to secretly clicking away later. What you can do, is train them in etiquette for using technology (including phones) in the company of others. You can reinforce that people to people communication still requires eye contact and focused attention to the conversation. I personally think that the importance of the courtesy you give a speaker has, and never will change despite the increasing convenience of technology. Teachers must reinforce this with an understanding tone and model the exact behaviour.
Could you share your ideas on what sort of culture shock a student coming from Japan to an international school (American curriculum) might be facing?
To answer your questions directly, one of the biggest culture shocks she may be facing is related to independence. Students in Japan (JHS and HS) do not move from their homeroom. They all have roughly the same schedule and therefore same teachers. And, the teacher comes to them. This was the opposite in Australia. Students had their own specific schedule and were expected to move freely around the campus to their next class. The students in their homeroom might only be in half of their chosen subjects. What's more, the students had an external locker to store everything where most of the socialising (and bullying) occurred. So I would expect this would take a bit of getting used to on her part. In Japan, they only have their own little pigeon hole inside the classroom, and they usually either stay in the classroom to eat or go to the school cafeteria.
Academically speaking, there is a lot more emphasis on memorization here in Japan. It has its place, but it is definitely over-emphasised and affects many other aspects of their academic capacity. Nearly everything is done on paper here too. Paper, paper paper. I can't stand it to tell the truth. In Australia, students are required to display their application of skills a lot more. This could be in the form of assignments (none in Japan) or presentations. The curriculum demands a lot more development of complex reasoning processes, such as inductive and deductive reasoning, critical analysis, and invention. Students are required to research and cite their work. Shamefully, these skills are still severely lacking here in Japan. There are some that are trying their best to spark it, but the complex network of the Japanese education system prevents a lot of change. I wrote about that in one of my blog entries (The English language learning situation in Japanese high schools). Change needs to happen from the top (universities).
There is hope though. After all, I have my own children in the system. So, there must be something good I can see in a Japanese school education.
