Education system : Japan vs other countries

[ex-gaijin]

What really surprised me when used to talk to my co-workers was the lack of general knowledge. They used to come up with "What is the national (?) in Europe?", "Che Guevara? Is he a character of a new Manga?", "Is Paris an Italian City?"

I was a bit surprised about this but even wen I inquired about their own culture, literature and history...I used to get the same sort of answers. They were even more sureprised bacause a "gaijin" knew about Kabuki, Noh and Samurai...

I wasn`t a language teacher in Japan but sometimes I did enjoy teaching languages, just as a hobby. It a nice way to get to know more about the locals.

I remember once, I was explaining "where do/does + subject + live". I asked my two students "where does the kangaroo live?"...one of them said in Japanese "wakaranai"...so I repeated the question slowly. The other one replied the same again "wakaranai"....
I started being a bit confused...
I asked in Japanese what the problem was, but they didn`t answer.
I explained the whole structure again, and asked the same question.

The first answer was "the kangaroo lives in Africa". Well, I started laughing my head off...saying in japanese: sorry your grammar is fine but you just said something really outrageous. The other guy soon broke into the conversation saying: "no no it`s wrong, the kangaroo lives on the mountains somewhere".

Well, I couldn`t believe myself. Two business men, with a degree, who travelled the whole world that didn`t know anything about kangaroos living in Australia.
When I told them the correct answer, they both replied in Japanese "ehh honma?"....

In a European school you learn these things on your first day of school, when you are 5 or 6. If you ask the same question, in any European country, to any kind of people with or without dgree, everyone knows the answer.

In other occasions I asked other people, co-workers, friends, acquaintances, about the education system in Japan. It seemed quite clear to me that the only subject they study everyday is koku-go. No Geography, no History, nothing whatsoever...just Japanese!

The result is: they grow up in a fairy tale, and when they go abroad they realize how the real world is.

[Ayame2112]

I'm sorry if I am taking the conversation back, but I was reading and found that I have found different experiances with the Japanese Education system.

Chiaki, my friend, has recently graduated High School. She would wake up each morning at 5 to eat, dress and then catch the 6 am train. Her class started at 8 am and she would go until 2. After she would have clubs or cleaning. She would then go to Juku. Her english is very good with only a few verb problems. (Considering our President has verb problems with his native tongue I'm sure it can be forgiven) She did have a hard time with Kanji and told me her mother would often make remarks such as, "Are you even Japanese? You ace English yet fail Japanese."
As for the lack of rounded education. You see the same problem with Americans. There are teens who don't know who Napoleon is other than "some short french dude." There are plenty of ignorant people, but then there are brilliant people. I believe it depends on the school, the children, and the neighborhoods.

I would have written a better post, but I'm supposed to writing a College essay on the Japanese Education system so I can't stay here long.

[Dr. J. M.]

Is there any specialization in the Japanese school system?

I guess in France students can choose between three different paths in their bac (sciences, economics/social sciences and literature, iirc.), in GB there are specializations in their GCSE and A-Levels and in Germany there is the Abitur.

[DougLewis]

I have always liked to think that general knowledge is education. General knowledge is useful for the student, perhaps not for future employers or even the politico.

I feel sometimes that the purpose of education has now become just a feeder system for work place and commercial interest components.

If I am correct, then that is a sad turn of events in terms of individual enjoyment of and for the learning experience.

Hopefully I am wrong.