The closest thing to homeschooling in Japan
 

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201204/CN2012040901001538.html

On an island in an inland sea, elementary school opens with a lone student

On April 9th, on the island of Heigun in the inland sea about 20 kilometers south of the city of Yanagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the opening ceremonies for the start of school took place on the only elementary school on the island, reopening for the first time in 9 years...of course, with the only child on the island, six-year old Nobuko Matsukawa.

After seeing off it's final graduate, the school closed in 2003. On this island with a population of 423 with over 80% of the population over age 65, Nobuko is the only child under 20 on the island. A resident expressed the hope that "if the school reopens, maybe more young people will come"

Nobuko's father, 62-year old 潤 (can't tell how to read it...can be read many ways...Atsushi, Hiroshi, Junji, etc.) moved to the island from Yokohama five years prior. Concerned about sending his young daughter on the 100 minute one way trip to the mainland for schooling, the city built a small building on the grounds where the old school stood. Preparations for the opening were done by the principal and one additional teaching staff.

Morning of April 9th, Yanagii City, Yamaguchi Prefecture: Nobuko Matsukawa with her mother Michie, starting school with a smile at Heigun East City Elementary School (yes, apparently there used to also be a Heigun West City Elementary School...)

http://img.47news.jp/PN/201204/PN201...-.-.CI0003.jpg

EDIT: A different article says that there are two other smaller children on the island, and that there were 399 children attending this school in 1958.

Had a friend who sent their kids to elementary school in a rural area about 15 years ago. 400 students were there then. 15 now.

They actually tore down the old school and built her a new one. I'm surprised that all of the old people had no issue with using their tax money in this manner (as well as paying for two people to teach one student)

I might've considered moving to an island if I could get a private school out of the deal.

I'm sure it all came out of the national coffers. The locals probably didn't pay a penny ...ooops yen.

It claims to be a 市立 school. Doesn't that mean that the city pays for it?

The closest thing to homeschooling -- unless you're a family of foreign nationals, in which case your kids aren't subject to compulsory education...

I believe that elementary and junior high schools (other than private ones) are the responsibility of municipal governments, but they can borrow easy money from the central government to finance them.

To my knowledge there are at least five different kinds of schools...公立　市立　国立　私立 and インター. I admit to being confused on all of the differences to this day. :confused:

Well actually foreigners are subject to compulsory education, but the authorities just turn a blind eye to it. The international schools are not "real" schools (legally they are the same things as cooking schools or ikebana schools) and attendance does does not meet the compulsory education requirement.

I think you have two issues confused here. Japanese people are legally not supposed to send their kids to international schools because the international schools do not fulfill compulsory education requirements. But there is no compulsory education requirement for non-Japanese in Japan, as the constitution is drafted such that only Japanese nationals are subject to the requirement.

Wikipedia on 義務教育:

Interesting. I had always assumed this was an issue with all students at international schools, but according to the wikipedia article both the guardian (parent) and the child have to be Japanese in order for the rule to apply. So I guess it just impacts Japanese and dual-national children. Also I had assumed it was a statutory requirement not a constitutional one.

Thanks for info!

Dual citizens can also be made exempt from compulsory education requirements, according to the Ministry of Education and a Bunch of Other Things:

My kids go to international schools which are heads and shoulders above anything the Japanese can provide in terms of an elementary, middle, or high school experience. (couched to allow for the very good math scores of the Japanese school robot product).

Totally legal too.

A reminder that we're talking about gimu kyoiku here, not gimu keiken, or whatever is equivalent to the "school experience" you speak of.

Personally, in this day and age, I think it more important to learn stuff than attend a senior prom. Character can be developed outside of the school system.

Well, having done school on both sides of the pond, I can't say that kids on either side necessarily learn more. And I am personally leaning against sending my kids to international school out of the fear that they will think the overpaid expat circles are somehow "normal..." but now we are getting wayyy OT.

Indeed. The only problem with this type of school funding is that the villagers will eventually run out of someone else's money. (Apologies to Margaret Thatcher, milk snatcher).

I once visited a rural school which had two classrooms for each year group - each with a capacity of 40 kids. Once upon a time, it was pretty full. However, by the mid 1990s it had been reduced to about 20 kids total. This particular village (population 2,000) continued to host 3 nursery schools, 3 elementary schools, 1 junior high school, a school bus, and one school meals kitchen. Each school had an apartment block to accommodate the teachers, since it was in a "remote" location. (However, the construction of several expensive tunnels meant that it was actually only 30 minutes drive from the nearest city).

When I expressed the opinion that it might be more responsible to consolidate these facilities and bus kids to school, I was told that such a heinous plan would spell death for the community (which also boasted 2 swimming pools, 1 newly dug spa, at least 3 community centres and 3 all-weather gateball courses for the elderly). Did the 2,000 residents pay for all that from their own taxes? I think not ...

Somehow the largesse didn't convince young couples that they had a future in the village. All young people moved out as soon as they got married - even the ones who were employed at the 40-person strong yakuba (town hall). Rather than living on the farms they'd grown up on, they all wanted to move to a crummy apartment in the next city and commute in.

The village has now been subsumed into two or three neighbouring towns.

Proms, etc. are not what I speak of at all. I speak of learning individuality, learning to think, learning to create, learning trust yourself, learning to gain an understanding of responsibility. Together with these things the three R's are there. Japanese schools fail miserably in almost all respects.

Joe, as a young parent you will learn in time that the school experience is only what you allow it to be. I take on board what you said, as it is very similar to my own thinking before my kids were in elementary school and beyond. Allowing the school to take over the role of parenting as is done by the vast majority of Japanese people is not the western way at all. If you follow your American values of education starts at home, you will be fine regardless of how "90210" these paces can indeed be.

I think this is the key problem with the educational systems in both the US and Japan. School is good for some purposes but not as a substitute for parenting.

And again, I don't think it must be the school's responsibility to do all that stuff beyond the three R's (though with the after school club opportunities offered, Japanese schools do an adequate job of supplementing those as well). I think that if the parents spend enough quality time with the child, those other qualities that you speak of will be nurtured as well.

The wholesale farming of responsibilities that the family should be looking out for to institutions is, IMHO, a big part of why America has passed the point of no return in its decline.

I'm the OP, and I approve this topic drift! :p

I had a pair of friends who were from the middle of nowhere. One was from Tottori and the other was from Miyoshizaka in Hiroshima. Both of these people promptly turned 18 and got out. Both of them also had their parents get sick and went back to take care of them, something they did not want to do.

I've seen them a few times since then and they basically tell me how horrible it is, how there's nothing to do, and how there are tons of abandoned buildings.

What follows will follow...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEMWtyAKRhQ

FWIW - I had two kids who went K-9 in international schools. For them it was a very good experience. Friends have sent their kids to Japanese schools. From what I hear, through about 4th grade it was very good social and educational environment. After that the whole juku thing kicked in and the kids were not too happy.

I agree, but I think schools can play a very important role in the socialization process.

I think we agree that the family should be talking on much of the growth that goes beyond the 3 R’s.

That said, the club activities here do not come even remotely close to helping kids learn the things I noted. Kids here do not grow up being taught individuality at all. They learn to think as “We Japanese”. They learn to trust people above or senior to them and to not rely on their own instincts. The young executive is unique here, not the norm. They have no developed sense on own responsibility but rather focus on the group or the unit’s responsibility.

It I the exceptions to the rule here that are the standouts in society and industry. I would suggest that most every one of those standouts acts more western than Japanese. 

One of the things about America that has made it so great so quickly is that its citizens are constantly reminded of self and not group. This can be argued to be a bad thing in some instances, and I would like agree with the person making that point, but in my opinion still the balance of good vs. bad to be achieved through individuality is clearly in the favor of the former.

Whether one agree that it is best to be more group focused or more individual focused will play a large part in the decision of what school system to use.

America in decline? No. I could not agree less. I thing it is going through puberty maybe and will emerge a more socially responsible adult, but decline, not at all.

I look to my heritage and note that for thousands of years my family has been very focused on family and education. Long before Japan or America. My point here is that schools are only as good as the family allows them to be based on how they handle the rest of the roughly 18 hours a day.

I'm not even going to try to refute that, because I don't have three days to sit at a keyboard typing. Rather, I'd be most interested in the reason for your optimism that an increasingly obese and entitled populace will overcome the challenges it faces in the very near future. (Yes, I'm aware that the situation is even worse in Japan.)

The only solution that I can come up with is that America imposes its will via war, and that's not something that I'd be particularly proud of.

Quite simple to understand really. I believe the situations America faces now are solvable through basic policy and economics. I believe the nature of our society is such that we will take the necessary steps as required. We do not have the bury our heads in the sand policy of Japan and Europe.

Very well. I shall take the lazy way out and agree to disagree.

I think it depends on which school you go to. Kids who are on the rokudai track, and who shoot for the appropriate feeder middle and high schools, seem destined to endure that life of misery. OTOH my wife never spent a day in a juku but ended up going to college, getting hired at a well-known Japanese real estate company and venturing off on a couple of more interesting jobs from there. There were no juku kids at the Japanese high school which I went to, either, though pretty much all of them ended up somewhere in the working class. I'm not sure that I would wish the Japanese labor market on my kids anyway, but that's a different story.

And don't forget that religion is more important than science in this country. Buy your sermons on DVD! Or, for the full experience, on Blu-ray!

There is reason to be concerned here. Technology can pick up at any time and leave, particularly the software industry as it has no real need to stay here -- especially when we are increasingly alienated and our officials pursue a brand of politic and government policies that is stuck in the 18th century (or perhaps, late 19th century Germany -- trick the masses into voting for you by promising to do absolutely nothing).

That, and economic decline is not necessarily a bad thing (at least for humanity as a whole). It's a good time to reflect, and think a bit differently instead of beating the same old Keynesian and Adam Smith dead horses.

The topic, as I recall, is "The closest thing to homeschooling in Japan" - about a small village having a school for, at this point in time, one child. The topic has drifted into parenting philosophy and now to politics, religion and other issues best suited for OMNI or OMNI P/R, to the point posters are being misquoted (fairly egregious behavior, according to the FlyerTalk TOS / Rules) and members are filing "AMPs" to request moderator intervention.

If the topic is exhausted, please move on. If you wish to discuss OMNI P/R material please do so there, not here.

Thank you,

JDiver, Senior Moderator