Decline of Scholastic ability of Japanese students

Decline of Scholastic ability of Japanese students

In Japan recently, university teachers have pointed out that students' academic skills have been declining. This is partly because entrance exams have become easier to pass as universities try to keep enrollments up while the number of high school graduates drops amid the falling birth rates. Some universities are even obliged to offer high school level classes to students so that they can catch up. In addition, according to a research, which compare the percentage of correct answer of tests for high school students in 1995 and1999, the percentage declines in math, science and social science. Teachers are worried about the effect of the Education Ministry's new mandatory curriculum plan in which the volume of knowledge that students are required to retain will be cut down by 30% from next April at elementary school and junior highschool.I think problem is the way of teaching in highschool or a general education curricula of university. Many teachers probably can't foster the student's academic interest. Some people attribute this to the Education ministry's policy to have reduced the volume of knowledge that students are required to retain. But this may not be only cause.The problem at present is what is the national standard of education. The present standard aims to foster students' basic academic skills and to minimize the number of students who can't keep up with their curricula. So that it is natural that the standard remains at relatively low level. Requests from university side aiming to foster high-class researches or technicians is too much.And highschool and general education curricula of university need to build up classes which bring out students' academic interest and encourage students to find out problems and solve them on their own. Besides minimum carricula, it is necessary to build up special classes for excellent students. We need to reform our present education system to the system which can foster students academic interest.And it is another problem that teachers are not highly motivated to give good lessons. It is necessary to build up a system to evaluate good teachers and to give incentives for not only research but also education. Evaluation of teacher's salary or promotion by students should be introduced.And the tendency that study times ofJapanese students has decreased recently is another reason. According to a research, the ration of students who don't study out of school is 8% in China, 13% in US and 42% in Japan.Japanese students' image was that they were pressed to examination hell and afford to do nothing except for study in cram school. But now in international levelthey are classified in the group of less study.So what is a scholastic ability? I think it is the ability to cope with an unexpected situation or problems based on their own experience. And literacy and ability of calculation is the basis for understanding complicate problems, considering them logically, solve and explain them.In order to develop students' ability of them, we need to education system in which high level curricula for elite students and relaxed curricula for ordinary students need to coexist.