The problematic future of English education in Sri Lanka and what it means for Japan

In the online version of the Daily News, is the article, "Prof. F. R. Jayasuriya: Pioneer of a silent revolution." Professor Jayasuriya was an economist and education visionary in Sri Lanka, and is quoted as saying

“ Students who go to non- English speaking countries such as China, Japan, Germany and France have become very conversant in those languages within a matter of few months. But what is happening in Sri Lanka is that we are in a mighty hurry to make our students very fluent in English from the Kindergarten.

As a result students don’t learn the actual subjects properly and they only learn English. And some don’t even learn that! Many organizations, especially those in the private sector, use fluency in English as the main criteria for recruitment of personnel.

Interviews are conducted in English and hence a large number of locals from rural areas are shut out of employment despite having obtained good gradings at O/L and A/L examinations”.

Japan is not in the midst of deliberations on changing their national language to English, but it is interesting that the age from which children start learning English in a formal setting is becoming younger and younger without discussion of the efficacy of language education at higher levels. "Should English be taught at elementary school," is the issue bandied about, but there is not connection made between English education at the primary level and how it should proceed to avoid the problems that exist in secondary levels. Objectives are sketchy at best, and there is no system for accountability for the system's success or failure.

Japan isn't making decisions about issues as monumental as changing their national language, or even their language of education, but there are overlapping concerns.

Adachi Kiyoaki, 1952-2009: Being part of the teaching community means sad times, too

Today I attended the funeral of the Dean of the Policy Administration Faculty , Adachi Kiyoaki. He was a scholar of Western Economic History. He was about eight years older than me, but still died way too young.

My thoughts and concerns today were of course with family of Dean Adachi. Their loss must be huge, and their concerns and worries about the future must be bigger. The majority of the people who attended the funeral were students, staff and teachers, from the university. I was impressed that being part of the teaching community means that we have responsibilities not just to our students, but to each other which go beyond saying "hi" in the hallways. We have the responsiblity to support each other the best we can, and say "goodbye" when the time comes.

Thanks for the learning opportunities, Dean Adachi.

$1,300 semi-annual auto inspection

Today I have to run down to pick up the car from the dealership. There was nothing wrong with it, but I'll still pay $1,300 for inspection. There are some pluses and minuses for keeping a car here, and I calculate the expenses of doing both over and over, but my conclusion is that for the time being, I will keep two of them.

I own two cars, one "regular" car, about 1300cc, and one "kei" pick up truck, about 660cc. The family car is the larger, and will carry up to 7 people uncomfortably. The kei truck is for farming and for me to drive to school in. It will seat two uncomfortably. Every time I have to have them inspected, which is every two years now for each car, I swear I'll give one up, but after crunching the numbers, I end up keeping both, and here is why. After gasoline, insurance, inspection, tires, oil and the other bits and pieces that need to be replaced over the years, it is still cheaper than taking public transportation from where we live. I buy my son a monthly pass on the train so that he can go to school, and that costs ¥10,000 or about $100. He gets a special deal because he's a student, so that the pass is about one quarter the cost of regular fare. If the adults got a monthly pass it would be about half the regular fare. Operating one car for one month with all of the extras added in, including the original cost of the car, assuming we keep the car for about 5 years, comes to about ¥10,000 per month, even when gasoline was expensive. That means that we get by with a car for about half of what it would cost us to buy a monthly rail pass. Automobiles are more expensive in urban areas. We do not have to pay for a parking space, because we can put in on the property we own. We don't drive on toll roads, and our taxes aren't very expensive for a car here. I have gotten two tickets, on for speeding and one for not stopping at a stop sign. My wife has gotten ticketed about the same number of times for the same things. I put those down as taxes, as absolutely no one obeys those rules, so it comes down to the more you drive, the more likely it is that you will be caught for a minor offense. My truck lends itself to obeying speed limits as I can hardly coax it to move over 50kph. The highest speed limit on roads that I drive is 50kph, but people pass me or tailgate me so regularly that it makes me think that there must be people out there paying lots more taxes than me.

The dealerships really do a great job. They fix the car when we take it in for a problem. I remember my parents spending half their lives in spats with mechanics, because they couldn't get anyone to fix their cars. When the dealer that I work with came to pick up my car to take in to inspect, he left a loaner to use while it was in the shop.

I don't like owning a car here, and I try to keep my use of the thing to a minimum by taking my bicycle or scooter, but in the long run, having two makes more sense than not having them. I will buy a smaller car to replace the large one in the future, but it will only seat 4 people. Right now we need more seats, so we'll stick with this one for a couple more years.

Rant: Big Three Auto Manufacturers and their Employees Create Huge Social Problems, and the Politicians take the PAC Money and Put on the Blinders

When will this idiocy stop? The big three auto manufacturers have made supremely bad errors in judgement about the future of their companies, rolling out huge cars that had no future at all while the Japanese, who took a minute to look at the future, had turned their sights to smaller, more efficient models. Then they turn around and fire tens of thousands of workers in order to make their stocks more attractive, like management is actually doing something for their stockholders, creating huge social problems. Then they turn around and beg the government for our tax money, which they get. For what? The timing was precious. Beg for money. Get money. Double dip by creating huge social problems by firing workers and closing plants after you get money. Great idea!

Hey, this is just un American. Why do they get a bailout? They are part of the problem. They have dragged their feet about protecting the environment and reducing the nation's energy demands. Humvees? What is that? There are probably a couple of hundred among the thousands who have become unemployed who could build a better automobile. Let them have a go at it, and stop pumping tax money into these dinosaurs. Help the little guys who actually stand a chance of doing something right. This is shades of the Soviet Union, government supported auto manufacturers. This isn't free enterprise. These companies get rewarded by us for producing crap. Why not just produce something good, and then everybody will want it. Let the CEO's who supervised the short sighted production of unsustainable products stand in soup lines and sleep under bridges, and give capable people with good ideas the money.

And then the workers... what have you been thinking? So blinded by bling that you can't read a newspaper and see what is happening in the world? The automobiles you were/are being asked to build don't stand a snowball's chance. Instead of the short sighted push for higher wages, why didn't you/don't you stand up for better, more competitive products and a better social environment for you and your children?

Then there are the politicians who are now thrashing around, blaming anybody but themselves for the situation and doing everything they can to preserve their cash cows.

When is this idiocy going to end? There must be a better way to do business for everybody involved. This happens over and over, and people stand there slackjawed that it happened again, and the government makes some more rules, and it's supposed to be alright, but anybody can see it coming again.

Change the system. Stop playing the game. The emperor is not wearing any clothes. "Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.''

Getting ready for another Tuesday night class

Getting ready for my Tuesday night Community College classes, and am reminded how important these classes are to those who are taking them. This year I started accepting dialog journals from the students where I comment, make suggestions about their learning, and ask questions. One student who writes more than average often comments about her day, and it's obvious that she has loads of things she has to do, like taking care of two aging parents who need frequent hospitalization, visits to the hospital, and constant care, but she takes time every Tuesday to come to class and learn some English, because it's important to her. She could be doing anything, like soaking in a hot bath, watching a television program, or unwinding in some other way, but she comes to my English class.

We're going to have the best class ever tonight.

Tuesday night classes

Out themes for tonight's classes are "Have you ever" for the beginner class, and "Foundation Day" for the advanced class.

I was not aware until today that Foundation Day in Japan is in celebration of the enthronement of Emperor Jinmu, the first Japanese emperor, and was originally called Kigen-setsu. After the war the focus on the emperor changed, but the date stayed the same, because a draft version of the new constitution was aproved by MacArthur on that day.

Proofs due today

Today the proofs for this year's university publication were due. I wrote a paper on trends in Japanese population since World War II. Pretty interesting in light of current media coverage of the declining population.

What are you going to do with your cash handout?

Come on, tell me what you are going to do with your cash handout if you live in Japan, or what you would do with it if you don't.

For those who don't know yet, the Liberal Democratic Party somehow got a bill passed through the parliament that will put something like ¥12,000, or about $120 in the hands of each person in the country via the government. This ultra-efficient pay off is supposed to be an economic boost.

The payout, which could also be seen as a huge bribe seeing as how elections are looming, is so misguided as to be the product of unstable minds, because the minds that come up with this circus are also promising to raise sales taxes in a couple of years. Give it out now and take it back in a couple of years.

I'm going to give my own personal handout to Peace Winds Japan. They could use the money. Not that I couldn't, but I don't want to be tainted by money with the government's bad mojo all over it.

Japan approves cash handout