Five-day school week targeted

[Dutch Baka]

Five-day school week targeted

A government panel on education is thinking of trying to abolish the five-day school week by letting public elementary, junior and senior high schools offer classes on Saturdays, according to the final draft of its second report obtained Saturday.

The draft also calls for introducing a system that would let parents and students choose which schools they want to attend and alter their budgets in line with their achievements to bring about distinctive education and attract students.

The new Saturday class and student choice options were drafted as part of the panel's review of the "education with latitude" policy that was adopted to allow students to develop more of their individual potential, but critics have blamed the policy for causing a decline in academic performance.

The Education Rebuilding Council will hold a joint meeting on Monday to put the finishing touches on the draft report. The report will then be submitted to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in early June.

The panel, which is discussing ways to revitalize Japanese education, also plans to propose a drastic reorganization of national universities and a reduction in the number of freshman they accept, given the intensifying international competition between schools and the nation's declining birthrates, according to the draft.

After the report is submitted, its contents are expected to be incorporated in the government's major policy agenda, which will be compiled by the end of next month.
In addition to these policies, the panel plans to propose using both government-censored textbooks and supplementary material to provide moral education in schools, given the panel's contrasting opinions on textbook choice for the subject.

It also eyes giving special budgetary consideration to "schools with difficulties in providing education" ― those facing a breakdown in classroom management.
The plan to allow Saturday classes will be proposed as one stepo for achieving a 10 percent increase in class hours put forth in the first report the panel submitted to the Abe in January.

The report will urge the government to take action with an eye to changing the School Education Law's enforcement rules, which currently designate Saturdays and Sundays as holidays for public elementary, junior and senior high schools, according to the draft.

The draft report also includes a plan to set up a "support team to help solve school problems" at local education boards ― a team the report envisages as including police officers, lawyers and clinical psychiatrists.
It also proposes mandating English education at elementary schools and expanding the use of foreign teachers in the classroom and promoting university enrollment in September instead of only April.
The report is expected to set its eyes on establishing an evaluation system for schools and education boards and on reviewing the current 6-3-3-4 school-year system for elementary, junior and senior high schools and universities.

The five-day school week system was introduced to elementary, junior and senior high schools in phases from September 1992, and was fully implemented in April 2002.

Its aim has been to allow children to develop more of their individual potential, but the system has often been criticized as inviting a decline in children's academic performance, although its effects remain unclear.
The government panel, headed by Nobel chemistry laureate Ryoji Noyori, was set up last October by Abe, who has placed top priority on revitalizing Japanese education.

Since its establishment, the panel has often been the target of criticism for its conservative bent. In early May, it was forced to withdraw a proposal that would call on parents to breast-feed and sing lullabies after concerns grew over its possible intrusion into the sphere of private life.

I wonder if they are aware of pressure these children have, and how that affect them. How about first doing something about Ijime, and taking care that fathers are more home. I am sure this is more important than having a 6 days to school week.

An option? and how many schools are actually going to do that! if one school does it, the other school doesn't want to be left behind because that would be bad for the children's academic performance.

Than the other things is, I thought that Saturday is always for school clubs, are they going to move that to Sundays (which I think already some school have), so it will become a 7 day school week. ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR DAMN MIND? :okashii::okashii::okashii:

Pressure, Ijime, hikikimori, suicide, killing. ( I know it's thinking ahead, but there sure is an increase in strange killings in Japan.

So any thoughts on this, how can Japan let their students get a higher academic level?

[maushan3]

What needs to be done is look at the ijime, hikikomori, killings, among other social ills affecting scholchildren before the 5-day schoolweek came to act starting from 1992 up until April in 2002 to see if the 6-day week is better or worse. This needs to be clearly and very carefully studied since children and teens at this age are going through a rough time. It definitely affects them, a lot.

Mauricio

[KirinMan]

There are numerous private schools that currently have a 6 day school week with the 2nd and 4th Saturday's off. One thing it does allow is more flexible scheduling of classes and during testing periods kids are allowed to go home after their tests are done, unlike the public schools which still have afternoon classes. It also give teachers more time for class preparation.

Ok that's the 6 day week, now with the 5 day week better time management and an emphasis on core curricullum would be more beneficial to the students, out of an average 28 hour class schedule per week 20 hours are dedicated to core subjects including art, tech. arts, home ec. and music. The "other" 8 hours per week are for electives, homeroom activities and 1 to 2 hours a week of morals education. Only 3 hours per week are available for the real "core" subjects of Math, Science, Japanese, English and Social Studies.

The proposals set forth are going to make it worse on the students, 7 hour class days, club activities etc etc...the kids would be better off living at their schools rather than home. The comittee needs more input into this discussion from teachers actually in the JHS and ES.
More later....

[Dutch Baka]

What is the schedule regarding ES, JHS and HS.

How many hours of English, Math, P.E. etc? I know that on average ES students have 7 lesson a year for English (3rd-6th grade)

[made of stone]

What is the schedule regarding ES, JHS and HS.

How many hours of English, Math, P.E. etc? I know that on average ES students have 7 lesson a year for English (3rd-6th grade)

7 lessons in one year D_B?

Shouldn't that really be one week (it's the only way those kids will become fluent!!)? :blush:

[Dutch Baka]

7 lessons in one year D_B?

Shouldn't that really be one week (it's the only way those kids will become fluent!!)? :blush:

I give 7 lessons to grade 3 up to grade 6 a year. Why do you think I teach at 10-12 different ES's a year?

[Goldiegirl]

When do kids get to be kids. Isn't childhood not only a time for learning but play. Kids need to play. Play is an important part of development. Children are not miniature adults, they are growing; their growing bodies and minds need to rest. I think 6 days is too much. I wouldn't take a job where I had to work 6 days a week...but then again that's just me!

[Mikawa Ossan]

As I remember the 6-day school week, it was really more like 5 1/2 days a week. Saturday only had classes in the morning.

I actually support bringing back the 6-day school week. So much are expected of the schools that they simply can not do it all in 5 days in my humble opinion.

[Goldiegirl]

How much are children expected to do? I am sorry but I can't see it. I think it is another cop out. Adults work 40 hours a week, so that doesn't mean children should too. Childhood is fleeting, but a brief moment in our lives, I am sure that there is more to learn in this world that what is taught in a school. Sad that we live in a world that treats children the same as adults.

[KirinMan]

What is the schedule regarding ES, JHS and HS.
How many hours of English, Math, P.E. etc? I know that on average ES students have 7 lesson a year for English (3rd-6th grade)
Boy I forgot the number of overall hours for ES in the core subjects but depending on the school some have as few as you have written for English. English is not a core subject but taught under the "Sogo Gakkshu" or "Kokusai Rikkai" time slot. Each school, and prefecture is different so saying an average of 7 hours per year could be misunderstood.

Some classes have English 2 times a week or roughly 70 hours of instruction time per school year and others a few as 1 or 2 hours per year. The Japanese teachers in most cases are not the ones teaching these classes so they need an ALT/AET/NET to come in and teach. There is also an NPO set up that utilizes Japanese people that know and understand English to teach to ES kids. Not a great set up but better than nothing right now.

Please refer to my previous post about JHS and classroom hours per week.:-)

Shouldn't that really be one week (it's the only way those kids will become fluent!!)?
Should be but won't, plus there is the problem of the children now a days not being able to read and write Kanji, so guess which one comes first?
Not everyone here thinks that kids need English anyway. Different subject altogether.

As I remember the 6-day school week, it was really more like 5 1/2 days a week. Saturday only had classes in the morning..

Sure it was only 1/2 days on Sat but in the JHS and HS there were 3 to 4 hours of classes and the teachers and staff didnt leave school for many until 4,5, or 6 in the evening. For them it was a full day, I know too, I was there as well. Not a lot of fun either, particularly if one had club activities to watch over.

The 5 day week started in 92' with the kids getting the 2nd and 4th Sat of the month off. If you remember those days you've been here a while:p
There are a ton of problems with the possible reintroduction of the 6 day week. As people here may or may not know teachers salaries have been cut, bonuses have dropped and their current workload increased.

First off the government is going to have to figure out compensation for teachers working on Sat. Once you take something away and then want it back costs money. Plus schools operating budgets are going to have to be increased, schools are under extreme pressures as it is to keep overhead costs down. Electricity, water maintenance costs etc are going to take a big hit and more districts are going to go further into the red just because of increasing the weekly schedule by one day or 4 or 5 days in a month.

Many not may be aware of it but there are schools with budgets so tight that the teachers have to purchase their own school supplies, pens, pencils, paper clips etc because the school can not afford them. Let's not begin to talk about not being able to use the A/C in summer, here in Okinawa no less, when the temps get up into the low to mid 90's with 90 to 100% humidity. Or the classrooms with no fans because the electricity to run them costs too much. Or they can't use the pool because the water and filteration systems cost too much. Or the schools that actually have concrete falling from them because they dont have the money to cover maintenance costs. The list goes on and on.

In theory the idea of the 6 day week sounds good but please remember the increase in the amount of work and subjects that teachers have since the 5 day week started. Kids are in school now on the average from roughly 8AM to nearly 5PM for JHS and from about 8AM to 4 or so for ES kids. This is for a five ir six hour class day.

Increasing that to 7 hours a day plus increasing the week until Saturday is really going to make kids hate schools and studying even more. I know of pleant of adults that work a hell of a lot less than that during their regular work week.

People also please remember the overall time that kids are in schools here, not just classes. Thinks about it for a second, 8 to 5 five days a week? That's 45 hour week at school increasing that to include Saturdays? Over 50 hours a week NOT including any extra curricular activities.

To me it sounds nothing less than insane.

[KirinMan]

Sad that we live in a world that treats children the same as adults.

Welcome to "education" 101 in Japan. :(

[KirinMan]

Than the other things is, I thought that Saturday is always for school clubs, are they going to move that to Sundays (which I think already some school have), so it will become a 7 day school week. ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR DAMN MIND?

More here, Saturdays are off, however many of the sports clubs meet on Sat and Sun to practice or have practice games. Outside of soccer, and once again each prefecture is different, do not have league games, all sports are geared towards tournaments, in JHS there are usually 3 or 4 "major" tournament times during the school year.

All after school sports activities would also be dramatically cut, if this plan is put into effect, as many will attest to Japanese sports emphasize quantity over quality when it comes to practice time. The kids that participate mostly enjoy so, but I know of quite a few kids that actually hate the sports that they are playing and only continue to do so for their teammates sake. They feel like they do not have the option to quit. Another story there as well.

Yes they are out of their mind. The teachers on the ground or in the schools themselves feel overwhelmed at the amount of work they have to do. The worst is the JHS teachers who also have club activities, they usually are unable to start preparing for their next days classes until 7, 8 or 9 PM and many take their work home with them. You may be surprised at the increasing numbers of teacher that are having serious medical problems because of the work load they have.

The kids life revolves around the school as it is, afternoon classes are tedious and tiring enough without having to add an extra hour to the school day. Giving the kids more options is not a solution either. What is needed is more time dedicated to core subjects and getting rid of the electives and sogo gakkshu.

Increasing the class rooms hours by 10% or 2.8 hours per week is idiotic at best, without a revision of how and what is taught.

Want to see more drop outs from school, more kids "rebelling" or getting into trouble, put this plan into effect.

[KirinMan]

OK now here is my "personal" opinion. Going to a six day school week wouldnt be so bad if, and here is the big "if" teachers, no longer have to participate in extra curricular activities such as sports. Leave the coaching and what not up to the parents or coaches from outside the schools. Let the teachers do their main job which is "teach".

Next give the teachers time away from the school's, just because they are GS employees they cant be treated like the person that works at the city office, the stresses involved in "raising" the kids is different than the person at the city office helping the old lady or man looking to get a copy of their jumin hyo.

Next institute a pass/fail grade line where the kids must get a certain grade or have a minimum grade expectation or the kid WILL NOT be promoted to the next grade. The system here puts too many kids through even though they have next to zero core knowledge.

I know of kids that have passed through JHS without spending more than 10 total schools days in 3 friggin' years in the school. They GRADUATED the damn kids. Make the kids responsible for learning, and damn well give help to the ones that can not make the grade. Hold kids back that do not study and get the parents to take responsiblity for their kids, dont blame the schools for their kids assinine behavior. Make kids responsible for their actions or inactions.

Also get rid of deadwood, have absolutely no people skills, sound like witches or warlocks, fingernail's scrapping the board so called teachers. The idiots that were smart enough to pass the "test" but have no right to be in the classroom. Believe me "they" exist in greater numbers than many people realize, they just get passed around every 3 to 5 years and are literally "tolerated" by the schools they go to. Scary people to say the least.

I know of teachers that give new meaning to the reason why some species of animals eat their young.

Give more support, guidance and help to the good teachers, there are more than a few out there too. They are dedicated as any teacher anywhere and they really care for their students. Dont overwork them to death and give them a better chance at success. In other words dont make them hate the system that they are in.

Support them, so they can support the kids.Create a mentoring program, and an official in system tutoring program. Get the hell rid of juku's and abolish high school entrance exams. Make HS mandatory or a part of the mandatory education system, plus teach the kids that participating in class is a better way of learning, rather than just exemplfying that learning by memory is the way to go.

Among an even longer list of good and bad things that I have observed here.
There is a lot of good in the schools as they are, and there are a lot of great kids and teachers, they just need more support, not longer classroom hours.

Whew....sorry for the "rant"......:relief:

[caster51]

my 6 days school memory is so fun and natukashii though I like 5 days school week.:relief:
Becasuse Saturday was a half day school.
we can do anything after school with classmates.
during babule day, even company was 6 days at work biweekly.
a half day working of saturday, that was the most interesting time at Ginza

[GodEmperorLeto]

Kids aren't allowed to be kids except at the wrong times. In the classroom, at least for junior-high-schoolers and high-schoolers, kids should be treated as adults (i.e. given adult respect, but also held to an adult standard) which will actually build their self-esteem. What most schools do (at least in the U.S.) is treat kids like children in the classroom (i.e. know-nothings, demeaning, or generating a false sense of self-esteem by giving them the "everyone is a special snowflake" routine) while piling adult-level responsability on their desks. At the same time, the penalties for not achieving that responsability are rather self-imposed (or imposed by parents), creating stressed-out kids.

I've read a lot of John Taylor Gatto, and I really think that, in general, the education system is full of huge problems and inconsistancies. Japanese kids probably wouldn't need cram schools if they simply studied and got good grades in their regular schools. But instead, the system encourages a lack of focus in actual school, made up later and at the last minute so they can do well on a college entrance exam.

They also do not have things like summer vacation, but smaller vacations interspersed throughout the school year. Personally, I lived for summer vacation, especially in middle school, when I spent a lot of time having adventures with my closest friends, and in high school, when I would jam with my rock band and go to competitions. The summer break is also a great delineator between grades, as well as schools. It gave you three months to prepare yourself for high school (if coming from junior high), or for college (after high school graduation), as well as an opportunity for a very big last hurrah.

The six-day week to me seems like a band-aid to what Japanese education bureaucrats might see as a drop in national academic performance. In the United States, the revamping of the GRE and SAT is an example of just such a band-aid. Here, the priesthood of educators (teachers, NEA reps, education professors in colleges) are to blame, and are the ones who try to shift that blame the most. In Japan, though, I'm not sure where the problem lies. Nevertheless, changes like this are never made if everything is going fine.

[KirinMan]

In Japan, though, I'm not sure where the problem lies. Nevertheless, changes like this are never made if everything is going fine.

The problems lay in so many different places that it is next to impossible to point out one exact reason. However if one were forced to choose in my opinion I would say first off the family or breakdown in the family unit and parents inability to control thier kids as the starting point. Parents are loosing out to their kids on so many different fronts.

The biggest reason for that is in my humble opinion many parents are replacing love with money, time with money, scolding or disciplining their kids with money.

Too much is revolving around "things" and not enough face to face interaction.

But then again dont tell that to the parents, they dont want to hear this, they will tell you it is the schools, and the teachers that are to blame for not taking care of little Taro. It ends up being a circle of finger pointing and seemingly noone willing to not take the blame but take responsibility and work from within to make effective changes.

Society needs to, again my opinion here, get more involved with the education process. Business and Corporate leaders should get involved more in helping out. Community groups and interested parties should go and see the situations teachers and families are faced with and work together, not a top down approach but get more input from the bottom first before effecting any change.

The government has to make changes that allow parents to spend better quality time with their kids. Something about this post I am writing sounds so familiar with another country that I know.:( .

Many people that have been here a while could testify to this but it seems to me the government here many times takes a knee jerk response to problems in society and go from one end of the spectrum to the other when attempting to make viable changes.

[made of stone]

I give 7 lessons to grade 3 up to grade 6 a year. Why do you think I teach at 10-12 different ES's a year?

Well, I had no idea that that was what you did, fair play to you fella, you're working hard!

I worked at Elementary schools for a year*, but didn't really understand the system...are some of them private schools in Japan, (presumably they can be)?

I taught each group for an hour a week, but it was an after-school 'club' of sorts, not within normal school hours. (This was in addition to their normal school English classes).

I also taught at kindergarten, each class of 25 or so got half an hour of made of stone per week. Anything less than that and it isn't worth it, in my experience; the kids can't remember even simple words from session to session, it all becomes impossibly hard for them.

Should be but won't, plus there is the problem of the children now a days not being able to read and write Kanji, so guess which one comes first?
Not everyone here thinks that kids need English anyway. Different subject altogether.

I just was trying to make the point that 7 hours per year is absolutely useless - sheer tokenism. I do understand why it happens, but it's fairly useless imo - they'd be better off revising other stuff they'd learnt.

[KirinMan]

I just was trying to make the point that 7 hours per year is absolutely useless - sheer tokenism. I do understand why it happens, but it's fairly useless imo - they'd be better off revising other stuff they'd learnt.
I understand that, and sure it would be better, yet there are so many different areas that are fighting for more time that English, mostly because it is not an "official" subject in the majority of ES schools here, gets put on a side burner.
Hence the proposition that the school day get increased to 7 hours. Mostly to accomodate the English education but to also increase other areas as well.

I dont have the facts in front of me but I remember reading somewhere that the money spent on English Education in the Japanese public school system is staggering. If a business spent the same amount of money with the same output or getting the same final product in relationship to what kids dont accomplish here I'd be willing to bet that the corporate heads would be in jail for embezzlement.

Money and increasing classroom time are not the only problems, utilizing the time more effectively would be a greater start. But to accomplish literal fluency in English starts with getting rid of two humongus walls, the college/university entrance exam and the HS entrance exam. Until those are done away with or replaced with something more practical we all are going to continue to talk to one another until we are blue in the face because nothing will really change.

[caster51]

The education of Japan is not inferior at all compared with another.
However. The interests of mathematics, physics, and the chemistry, etc. are lost, and the levels are lower than ours
that is the Japanese problem in education.
Japan is a country of the making things using skilled hands, manufacturing or founding of a nation of technology.

recentry
kids do not have the ability of basic mathematics.

It might be appearance of the sense of crisis of Japan.
Especially, it is the science course.
I think kids need more time of ability to think in math

[GodEmperorLeto]

The biggest reason for that is in my humble opinion many parents are replacing love with money, time with money, scolding or disciplining their kids with money.

...

But then again dont tell that to the parents, they dont want to hear this, they will tell you it is the schools, and the teachers that are to blame for not taking care of little Taro. It ends up being a circle of finger pointing and seemingly noone willing to not take the blame but take responsibility and work from within to make effective changes.

...

The government has to make changes that allow parents to spend better quality time with their kids. Something about this post I am writing sounds so familiar with another country that I know.

A-frickin-men, brother.

This situation is not solely endemic to Japan, but is a key problem in the American educational system, too. However, in America, I'd lay blame at the feet of the "Me-Generation", the self-interested parents who let Freddy Cruger and MTV raise their children back in the 1980s. They got this ball rolling pretty bad. In Japan, I think it is the salaryman syndrome; in other words, working long hours, after-hours obligations to live the salaryman lifestyle, all of these things are eroding the Japanese family, and failing to ground the children.

Personally, I don't believe the state can raise children. Hillary Clinton's quote that, "It takes a village to raise a child" is wrong. It takes a family. The "village" has been trying to raise children in Japan and the United States for the past twenty or thirty years, and if you ask me, I think they've both failed miserably.

Hence the proposition that the school day get increased to 7 hours. Mostly to accomodate the English education but to also increase other areas as well.
This I find surprising. I spent 8 hours at school each day, of which 6 1/2 were spent in a classroom of some sort (not subtracting 45 minutes for lunch, that is). We had nine 45-minute periods. If the Japanese aren't getting even that much, I'm surprised.

This sort of thing always makes me snicker. Especially because of the old Time Magazine articles back in the late 80s and early 90s about how the U.S. educational system was light-years behind everybody else in the world. Perhaps that was because we didn't have cram schools. </sarcasm>

Money and increasing classroom time are not the only problems, utilizing the time more effectively would be a greater start.
The Japanese government seems to be approaching the same tactic as many Americans (especially Democrats, but also some Republicans) have; that is, if there is a social problem, if we throw money at it, it'll go away/get better.

This is most definitely not the case.

kids do not have the ability of basic mathematics.
Oh, boy. You are not alone here. It astounds me how much adults in America need calculators to do simple math problems, because math was taught so badly in our schools.

Check out this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI. I've linked these elsewhere.

Also, check this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymvSFunUjx0) out.

If you see this sort of thing happening in Japan... well, I can't offer anything more than my sincerest condolences.


I've linked these before

[kiedistidus]

once again its proven no matter what part of the world there from politics are full of ****. isnt it true japan has the teenage suicide rate in the world????

[Pepe]

once again its proven no matter what part of the world there from politics are full of ****. isnt it true japan has the teenage suicide rate in the world????

Nope, thats us, little ol' New Zealand. We also have the worlds highest teen pregnancy rate. And second highest overall suicide rate after Norway (or was it Sweden? I forget).

As to the 6 day schooling debate, if it is run like it used to in Germany then I can only applaud the idea. We used to finish earlier so that we would have the same number of hours of schooling as kids do now, but split over 6 days. Actually reduces the amount of stress put upon pupils because you didn't spend 6 hours in a classroom.

I used to be able to get home and finish my homework and get back out to play with my friends or go to some after schol activity. Basically there were more hours in the day for doing stuff, instead of having to wait until the weekend to spend time with friends. Another bonus was that if my mum had to work on Saturdays, she didn't have to worry about finding a babysitter for me because I was at school for half the day.

[KirinMan]

As to the 6 day schooling debate, if it is run like it used to in Germany then I can only applaud the idea. We used to finish earlier so that we would have the same number of hours of schooling as kids do now, but split over 6 days

Actually from the information that I have heard so far this won't be the case. The average school day may be increased by one hour plus increasing the week to include classes on Saturday. If the Saturday classes come back the school day will run from 8:18 AM until 4th hour which means the day will end after 1:00PM.

It is not going to give the kids any extra time away from the classroom or school, in the reverse it is going to increase the total classroom time by some estimates as much as about 25%. One hour per day and 4 on Saturday.

Of course each school's schedule is different yet currently many schools have 5 hours of classes 2 days a week and 6 on 3 days a week for a total of 28 hours per week under the current scheduling.

One of the "plans" or "suggestions" that I heard about is one that would possibly change the weekly schedule to 6 hours a day 2 days a week and 7 hours 3 days a week plus the 4 on Saturday for a total of 37 hours per week of class time. This idea is insane if you ask me.

Another "idea" I heard talked about is not increasing the week to include Saturdays and just increase the current schedule by one hour per day, or five hours per week. That is insane as well in my opinion.

[EmperorHirohito]

I think the question of kids being in school for more than 5 days a week doesnt just apply to Japan. There are rumours in Britian that schools could be open six days a week as childrens education is falling compared to 20 years ago. More and more are finishing high school with very poor reading and writing and spelling skills. It appears as if spelling and proper punctuation is now longer so important, but what is important is that the school does well in the so called Performance League Tables and are better than other schools in the area.

As a parent having a child in high school, a six day school week would be something that I wouldn't have a problem with.