University of Tokyo's 2-Dimensional Semester Shift

University of Tokyo and 30 other institutions plan to change their academic calendar in five years in order to conform with more global educational interests. This change was called a "major overhaul" in one article.

It is a 2-dimensional change along a time line, in a country where "new curriculum" consists of a reshuffling of classes in a schedule grid. Though substantial improvements in education over a broad spectrum would be useful in attracting attention to Japan's academic quality, the subterfuge that a change on a schedule of classes is meaningful again takes center stage.

As is often the case in these reschedulings, the need for people to learn English arises.

“The issue up to now has been the lack of an education [system] that can facilitate Japanese students to speak their mind in English. The internet is based on English proficiency and this is where Japanese education must raise its profile,” he (Researcher, Masakazu Goto) said.

Mr. Goto says that Japanese students who can speak their mind in English are valuable, but a change in the schedule of university classes is unlikely to make an impact. He also says that the Internet is based on English proficiency, and while a majority of shared information on the Internet is in English, the sharing is predominantly done through reading and writing.

A comprehensive change over the whole of society in order to help people develop their language skills is the only way to promote English ability or any other academic endeavor. In a country where many book stores carry not a single English title among their wares, a time change is unlikely to have a significant impact.

Words and letters may not be all they're cracked up to be

Today I want to tell a story. This story had an impact on the way that I organize my lessons, the way that I view my role as a teacher, and the importance of remembering or memorizing dialogs for language learning.

This story comes to us from Plato's Phaedrus. In the story Socrates tells the story of Theuth, an Egyptian god who  discovered numbers, calculation, geometry, and writing. One day Theuth was talking to the king of Egypt, Thamus, and said that he had a special gift. There is a thing that if the people learn it, they will improve their memories and become wiser. The king replied that Theuth's perception of writing was skewed, and that he did not understand it properly. Instead of remembering and understanding things, students would rely on writing as a way of being reminded. Students will be exposed to many ideas, but will not think about them properly, and while appearing to be wise, will know nothing.

I came to two conclusions after reading this story.

1. In a general sense, presenting material in a written form and not expecting students to remember it detracts from their ability to improve their intelligence. It has been shown that simple memory ability can predict intelligence, and that ability can be improved through practice.

 2. Written words interfere with my students' acquisition of English. This may sound like a rediscovery of the audio lingual method, and it may be, but without most of the behaviorist theory. In classes that I teach, I use my own teaching materials. I have been handing out the materials before an activity, and when it involves the use of a dialog, the students have it before they listen to me and/or my partner teacher repeat the dialog.

As a result of reading this story, I started to think about what was happening with my students. This, I guess, is the sequence they experience.

1. Materials received. Begin to read content.
2. Follow teacher's direction to look at the dialog (which they have read, if only silently, already).
3. Listen to the teacher(s) read the dialog while looking at the words on paper.
4. Follow the teacher's direction to read and repeat
5. Move on to related activities

They have read the dialog and heard what was said then by the teachers through their own filers first, and move on before having time to incorporate what is said.

To test this presumption about students' perceptions, I altered my presentation method. Since my students are at a beginner level, I chose a dialog that was applicable to the content we were going to cover anyway, so as to remain within the bounds of the syllabus, but shorter than the one originally planned.

This was the progression I used for both classes.
1. Instructed students not to write anything.
2. Introduced pre-listening questions
3. Reviewed answers to pre-listening questions
4. Asked students to repeat the dialog section by section after me, imitating my speech whether they "understood" it or not.
5. I then split the class into groups to recite parts of the dialog, which they were now beginning to memorize.
6. Finally, I asked them to use a pencil and do a dictation of the dialog, after which I gave each of them a paper version of the dialog to check their written dialog against.
7 I explained the content in Japanese (their L1) and then read it again with the paper.
8. We then practiced the dialog with the paper.

Judging by their reactions, the students experienced a heightened awareness of pronunciation and meaning in the dialog without having a print version available at the beginning. Since they were only listening to me and then repeating the dialog, they were less likely to read it in a Japanese pronunciation as they are encouraged to do in some of their high school classes.

They were more realized and playful than times when they were given a written version of the dialog first.

After reading the tale of Theuth and Thamus, I became convinced that letters can be counterproductive, especially if the one goal of the class is to remember and make language part of the learners' intellectual too kit. Simply reading aloud promotes the reuse and reinforcement of fossilized language habits.
(Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thoth.svg)

Using Newspaper Inserts to Teach Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

I teach a seminar class where we are learning debate, and last week we staged a debate about whether nurses from other countries should be admitted into the country. It went well, except that the students had a difficult time of attacking their opponents' arguments directly, so I was trying to think of how to give them experience in attacking an opinion or set of opinions.

I decided to give them something less emotionally charged than arguments from their classmates. My original plan was to buy some Japanese magazines so that the students could choose the ads that they were interested in. I abandoned that idea after I found it very difficult to choose suitable magazine content. 

Instead, I chose some inserts from the newspaper, all in Japanese, all touting easily identifiable products or services. 

I gave them a brief lesson on Aristotle's Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, and then let each group of 3 students choose one of the inserts to descent.  

There were several different advertisements to choose from. The easiest ones to use seemed to be those selling nutritional supplements, pachinko, restaurants, and electric appliances. My students were not interested in the pachinko advertisements. 

After finishing with the Japanese advertisements, I gave them magazines written in English so that they could search for an ad about which they could discern the Ethos, Logos, and Pathos, based mostly on the images rather than having to rely on the meaning of words. 

This activity worked well, and the students got some practice taking apart arguments using language, and those using predominantly images. Next we will have to try to examine verbal arguments from others in the same way. 

Another seal gets a certificate of residence (住民票）

A town in Saitama, Japan issued a Certificate of Residence (COR) to a seal that has found its way into a river and is living there.

I find this offensive, because as a tax-paying, volunteering, child-raising upstanding resident of my town, I will not be issued a COR because I am a foreigner.

That just about makes me more angry than I have been in a very long time. This cretinous government can't be trusted to make ethical decisions about any human rights issue. Remember that next time you consider doing business with any Japanese entity.

http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00209724.html

FNNニュース: 埼玉・志木市の荒川に...

埼玉・志木市の荒川に現れたアザラシの「あらちゃん」に市が特別住民票交付:埼玉・志木市の荒川に現れ、話題となっているアザラシの「あらちゃん」

This isn't the first time someone has done this, and for any variety of animals. And this isn't the most egregious offense of late. The documents they issued to the UN about human rights in Japan is worthless, and doesn't even cover the issues that most interest the UN, like child abductions or discrimination laws.

This link is to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Human Rights Commitments and Pledges

Open Letter to the Reptilian Overlords RE: Education

{EAV_BLOG_VER:8690fb60c619c383}
Dear Reptilian Overlords,

This letter is in reference to how education is supposed to work. It has come to my attention that you have abrogated our agreement. You have broken our contract. You may have done this willfully or without awareness, but you have failed to keep your end of the bargain as regards education. Allow me to remind you about how this is supposed to work.

People, young and old, but mostly young, spend great portions of their lives in learning sufficient amounts of information to be accredited graduates from the educational system. They may exit the system at various levels, but usually at the high school, college, or graduate levels.

This education is funded through taxes, individual earnings, family contributions, and private and public organizations. The cost increases as the level of education proceeds. The cost also varies according the content of the education and the institution that offers the graduate accreditation.

The following is where the most egregious abrogation of our agreements occurs, so please pay special attention. When a person has been conferred with the essential documents of graduation, that person will then seek gainful employment based on that education. At present they are not able to find this employment. Please see this graphic.

This graphic shows that 44.4% of graduates from undergraduate colleges under the age of 25 are not working or working in jobs that do not require a college education.

Immediate redress of this situation is in your best interests as well as ours. If this situation is not addressed, education will be seen for the general farce that most of it is. The situation is this, and I will use my own personal experience in American public education as an example. I was subject to far too many hours of tedium, expected to learn irrelevant minutiae while being prevented from exploring valuable real learning, and graduated with a graduate degree in foreign languages that I grudgingly admit has been of hardly any use to me at all in my profession as a foreign language teacher. The only value I believe I received from this experience are the human connections I made while in the school.

If this situation continues, you will be the ones who lose, because the flimsy veil of legitimacy will have been removed, and the low quality waste of time will be revealed for what it is.

Dolphins in Taiji

In Taiji, Japan at this time of year, there is a harvest of the dolphin population. A few are collected and sent of to aquariums around the world. More are slaughtered for their meat. At other times during the year, Japanese ships head out to hunt whales, whose meat finds its way to grocery shelves around Japan in both fresh and canned form. This harvest is said to be for scientific purposes.

This post is not an argument for or against the controversial killing of living things, but rather a proposal for action that removes the necessity for struggle and the squandering of life in pursuit of personal gain. 

People who oppose these slaughters are many and vocal. Protesters stand outside Japanese embassies and around the area where the dolphins are killed in Taiji. Some post appeals in various places against the killing.

This post is not an argument for or against the controversial killing of living things, but an examination of the irrational arguments on both sides. Those who would prevent harm coming to dolphins and whales argue that the animals posses significant intelligence and emotional faculties. Those who support the killing, actively or passively, posses a variety of beliefs, completely unexamined and irrational.

The opposition makes appeals to the general public to stop the killing, hoping that, 1.) they will put some kind of pressure on politicians, 2.) will send financial support to groups who may be able to exert political pressure or monkey wrench hunts, 3.) will influence buying habits of sympathetic people, becoming an economic force that can sway businesses to exert some kind of political pressure to stop the practices.

Each of these options rely, in the end, on some kind of political action. 1.) and 3.) directly imply some kind of political action, and 3.) necessitates political action in that government will be asked to reimburse losses to businesses as a result of direct action, increasing the tax burden on the population.

These actions will be totally ineffectual without significant comprehensive change, as governments care not a whit about their populations in general (I offer the example of the Fukushima nuclear power plants as an example) much less sea creatures. Their task is to protect their existence by maintaining the status quo through violence if necessary.

I see a parallel between this issue and the annual slaughter of baby harp seals in Canada. The struggle to end this harvest, largest slaughter of marine mammals in the world, has continued since I became aware of environmental issues in the 1970's.

Governments and those who support whaling and dolphin harvests argue that Japanese people have always eaten whale/dolphin meat and that since it is a traditional food source, then it is appropriate for them to continue the hunts.

This argument is a red herring. There is no relationship to animals traditionally eaten or banned. In A.D. 675, Emperor Temmu prohibited people from eating the meat of horses, monkeys, dogs, chickens and cows. I assume that since the ruler prohibited people from eating them that it must have been a practice at the time to consume these animals for food.

I have never heard a Japanese person say that they have eaten dog, nor have I seen a place where dog meat was on sale, though people who travel abroad may consume dog meat in other countries where eating do is not taboo. The hunting of monkeys in Japan is strictly forbidden, even though they do serious damage to crops and periodically attack humans. I do not believe they eat them. However, Japanese people regularly eat all of the other animals, both raw and cooked. Eating habits can change instantly or slowly over time. "Tradition" excuses nothing.

I would prefer to see this needless suffering end, and so I propose two solutions, but this will require some difficult changes. First, I propose that the struggle to stop/ban/prohibit the hunting and killing of dolphins should end. It is not metaphysically useful to continue expending energy that reinforces an undesirable situation.

It was Neville Goddard, a New Thought lecturer of the mid 20th century, who recommended that we “assume the feeling of the wish fulfilled” if we want our dreams to become real. Feeling good is feeling God—our good feelings align us with Spirit.

— Dr. Wayne Dyer

"To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease."

— Eckhart Tolle

My second proposal is to stop consuming. Stop consuming as much as possible. This grotesque squandering of life is all connected with the desire to posses things at the expense of others and our earth. If you are reading this, you have access to the Internet, which makes you one of the 3-5% of the world's population who does. You can do with less. I can do with less.


dolphin photo provided by http://www.morguefile.com/archive/display/148624

Eat Right, Learn Right

You want to learn better? Then eat right!

The verdict is in. What we put into our bodies affects all of our physical and intellectual selves.

Eat
1. Whole foods: Whole grains lead to better memory power.
2. Fruit and vegetables: Fruit and vegetables can improve your memory.
3. With others: Eating with others has a raft of physical and emotional benefits.

Don't eat
1. Refined sugar: Talk about something that will harm your ability to remember stuff...
2. Too much: Obesity impairs people's ability to think.

Posted via email from Daniel's posterous

Startled Awake: tanka

Startled wide awake
Chickens crowing their praise to morning
Each day waking thus
Though each time is different
Birth into a brand new world

Public speaking: Comparison speech preparation with "would you rather..." gambits

In today's seminar class, this semester's theme being public speaking, we began a new section on comparison speeches. The goal is for everyone to make a speech comparing two things that are important to him or her.

Since today's class was a preparation class, we did impromptu speeches on topics that began with the question, "Would you rather..." I translated a list of these gambits that are listed here into English and used them with some modifications to make them applicable to my students. For example, "Would you rather have a one-year supply of chocolate or a lifetime supply of potatoes," I changed potatoes to rice.

The students enjoyed it, and are now ready to prepare topics for comparison.

When Less Might Be More: Improptu vs. Planned Conversation

Recorded student conversations today. They had been working on conversations for several weeks, and they have finally put themselves in front of a video camera and spoken to each other.

The objectives were to :
1.) build student confidence in their ability to speak English;
2.) activate vocabulary and grammar ability so that students can speak about themselves, their interests and those of one other;
3.) encourage collaborative language learning.

The suggested theme was, "Tell me about yourself." Students were asked to choose a partner. The teachers gave them a suggested pattern for the conversation: (Greeting, Small talk, Topics, Farewell), gambits for initiating a conversation (for example offering your name and then a statement about the state of your current condition, and leave taking strategies.

After the pair was finished with their conversation, they had an interview with the teacher, where they were asked to share information about their experience with the recording, ideas about the class in general, and then to talk about their English Log 2.0's.

The exit inverviews were all very similar, with most students saying that they were nervous. A few said that they enjoyed it.

My conclusion after this experience, though, is that rather than prepare for this kind of event for some weeks, the objectives stated above may be better achieved by providing less time for perparation and more time in conversation.

In the next cycle, I will provide less time for preparation, and focus their attention more on communicating.

Advanced English Class: A Better Way curriculum

My first experience with a class of near-native English speakers was about 24 years ago. It was similar to the group that I have now, a group of professionals who use English for their work, who want a place to exercise their linguistic muscles, but who want to do little else with it in terms of serious development.

The question I ask week after week is, "What do I do," and "What do they want"? I am little better off in answering either of those questions now than I was 24 years ago.

Then last week there was a problem. One of the participants became frustrated with one of the others' pedantic questions and comments and blew up at him. It didn't come to blows, but it emphasized to me that everyone is there for slightly different reasons, and that not all of their needs are being met.

This is a group class, so I am now struggling to find a way to insure that all of their needs are met. My overall conclusion is that they should have more autonomy than they do now to choose and discuss topics that are of interest to them.

These are how I plan to structure future classes, starting tonight.

• I will give them the task of deciding what topics are covered for the 6-week period. (I have done that in previous sessions, but with limited success, mostly because the proposed topics did not include learning-specific options. For example I gave them lists that included topics such as music or food, but which did not include options such as TOEIC preparation, or learning strategies.)
• I will include learning-specific options in the list, including TOEIC preparation, learning strategies, public speaking, and Internet options for learning. 
• Finally I plan to give them their own time for asking questions to me or other learners about the topic at hand. Depending on the number of students, I could imagine giving each learner 5 minutes to ask, comment on, or just express themselves on topics that interest them.

Advanced learners attend classes for a variety of reasons, and the teacher's role in these settings is to provide the space for each one to express her/his needs and fulfill them for him/herself.

Social Contribution Ads on Japanese Television

After the earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan, television has focused a good deal of time on the events in the areas damaged in the event and the Fukushima nuclear power plants that have been leaking radioactive material.

There has also been an obvious increase in the number of public service announcements from the Japan Advertising Council. This agency was started in 1971, during the economic boom in Japan, by Keizo Saji, the then president of Suntory, a beverage (alcohol and soft drinks) manufacturer.

These spots focus on manners, child rearing, and other topics that contribute to society.

The reason that there are so many of these commercials now is because it would be inappropriate to show other commercials that promote the consumption of goods that are unavailable to so many people as a result of the natural disasters.

The Metephysical Laws of Learning: Introduction

Talk of schools, educational philosophies, plans and policies proliferate. Learners move through school systems as if by Brownian motion. Teachers, their education, careers, and methods equally reflect some kind of stochastic process.

What can be proven to be useful for all learners over time? What are universals that anyone, learner or teacher, can employ to improve their fulfillment?

This could be just another airy-fairy rant, but I will try to make it as practical and empirically grounded as possible, it's just that in my teaching and learning experiences, I have found few tools that any person could employ universally to improve their learning. There are too many variables, and while dedicated professionals create more, adapting tools at their disposal, none of them will work for everyone.

One example of that is something I learned about just today came in a tweet by @oksan_ocakturk. She mentioned two online tools that have great potential for learners, MailVu and Vocaroo. She found a great presentation on the tools by Russell Stannard. MailVu is a service where people can create and send video messages by email. Mr. Stannard suggests that students can use this to send presentations to their teachers. Mr. Stannard suggests similar activities with Vocaroo, but without the video element.

Those are terrific services and have applications for a huge variety of learning. I would like to use these for my classes, but will probably opt for lower tech solutions, because...
 1.) nearly all of my students use cell phones extensively, but I'm not sure that they have access to computers for using these sites. The university has computers for their use, but they would have no privacy, and would not feel comfortable making English presentations on those machines.
2.) if they made presentations and sent them to me, there may be privacy issues, such as they may include their private email addresses. I do not want that kind of information.
3.) it would be nearly impossible to use school computers during English class time; classrooms do not have Internet connectivity, and it would be easier to set up a video camera in the corner of the room for students to use for making presentations.

 So what tools are available and useful for any learner or teacher anywhere? My conclusion is that familiarity with and employment of Hermetic Principles will empower people in any learning situation. I will outline the 7 Hermetic Principles here, and discuss each one in turn in posts that follow.

"The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these,
    understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose
    touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open."--The Kybalion.

The 7 Hermetic Principles as described in The Kybalion are
1. The Principle of Mentalism.
    2. The Principle of Correspondence.
    3. The Principle of Vibration.
    4. The Principle of Polarity.
    5. The Principle of Rhythm.
    6. The Principle of Cause and Effect.
    7. The Principle of Gender.

The Kybalion was first published in 1908 by three anonymous writers, and is now in the public domain. The writers report that the content is based on ancient Hermeticism.

High court sides with Tokyo on anthem | The Japan Times Online

Another example of Japanese courts coming down on the side of the government when it is clear that elected officials have infringed on someone's human rights.

It is unclear whether this applies to public and private schools, but my guess is that it would be difficult to enforce at private schools.

"The Tokyo Metropolitan Government and board of education did not violate the Constitution by requiring school teachers and other staff to stand when the Hinomaru flag is raised and the national anthem sung during school events."

High court sides with Tokyo on anthem | The Japan Times Online

Kelley Williams-Bolar: Jailed for Sending Kids to "White" School District

Education Roundup: More Segregation, Science Fails, and the State of the Union

Ohio Case: The 'Rosa Parks Moment' For Education?

by Jeff St. Clair

How words get the message across : Nature News

This article uses results from a variety of research on words and language to point out that longer words carry more meaning, with some caveats. It also shows how language changes in order to make language more useful and efficient over time.

How words get the message across : Nature News: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Technorati blog claim post

Going through the process of claiming this blog on Technorati. Interesting process.

 DBDZGHS2VNYN

Report Shows College Students Learn Little During First Two Years-- Misplaced Criticism

"Nearly half of the nation's undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don't make academics a priority."

This article, also published in USA Today, takes the tiresome tack that young people play too much and teachers spend too much time on self-indulgent activities to do what they should be doing, "learning," as defined by another standardized test.

Students enter university after 12 years of government school, and if they are really lucky they have parents who have helped them and encouraged them to follow their passion, a real desire to learn and achieve in their chosen field, and a direction chosen for when they graduate.

The unlucky ones have been drugged into a stupor throughout their 12 years in government schools because they appeared to be fit targets for a new psychoactive drug that would pacify them. They were counseled by buffoons into believing that trying hard won't get them into the school of their choice, and/or they were told that their passion wasn't going to get them a good job, and if they didn't study X, they would be street sweepers.

Institutions profit from the advertising of non-academic activities, and students receive reduced prices on travel and entertainment opportunities made available on and off campus.

Entertainment establishments developed near college campuses were established to capitalize on students, and many would soon go out of business if students turned to monkish study habits, nothing any chamber of commerce wants.

But when election time comes, those people that profit from the campuses turn around and vote for legislators who promise to cut education funding or regulations that have the same effect.

Funding for all education is being cut everywhere, making teachers focus more of their energies on earning grants to fund their departments. How are grants earned? Through research. Even though the investment returns on education are significant according to a Joint Economic Committee Study in January, 2000, "Investment in Education: Private and Public Returns," public funding is being reduced dramatically.

There is a strong consensus among economists that formal education is an important determinant of individual earnings as well as economic growth. The importance of formal education has been magnified by recent economic trends underlying U.S. labor market demand for skilled workers. The following is a review of the importance of education to both the individuals acquiring education and of the benefits received by society resulting from increased educational attainment.

That means that college teachers are fighting for the very existence of their institutions through their research efforts.

My suggestion to people who think colleges are on the wrong track is to quit watching college sports and drinking beer on the weekends and start thinking how you can help out a struggling student or offer your skills in helping out at a local college or university.
$80,000 For Beer Pong? Report Shows College Students Learn Little During... - StumbleUpon: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Japan's Center Exam: What does it really test?

At 9:30, as determined by clocks synchronized by satellite, 558,984 test takers all over Japan opened their test booklets and began to read their Civics exam, their first subject of the 2011 unified entrance tests sponsored by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations.

These exams are given only once each year and are a testimony to the logistical precision and social conformity that Japan is famous for. But what else, what non-academic features, are tested?

Students who are competing for places at universities around the country start to arrive at their assigned exam centers at around 8:30. There are 828 participating two and four-year colleges taking part this year. Each room and seat is numbered, and registered students each receive an identity card with their numbers on them.

Proctors read from scripts provided by the National Center for University Entrance Examinations, and manage the classrooms where the exams are given. they read instructions and cautionary marks, distribute and collect test booklets and answer sheets, maintain environmental controls like light and heat, and attend to problems that may arise.

In 2006 the National Center for University Entrance Examinations instituted a listening exam for the EFL exam. This required the organization to develop a delivery system that was fair, effective, and affordable. They decided on individual electronic, digital audio players with headphones, something like a very low tech i=Pod with the audio portion recorded on IC data cards.

During this section of the exam, students receive the test booklet, answer sheet, and their audio player. This year the students were given written instructions on operating heir players in addition to audio instructions which were prerecorded on their data cards.

But what is the test actually evaluating? Does it test a student's knowledge of the disciplines ostensibly being tested? For example, does a History test assess a student's knowledge of History? The Education Ministry censors all textbooks used in Japan. History texts are written and prepared by publisher and writers, and then vetted through the Ministry. The exams may be returned to an author for revision, or rejected outright. The Center Exam reflects this scrutiny, and so is a test of discrete facts students are to have learned in 12 years of Ministry schools.

The test is also an examination of financial liquidity. The exam itself costs ¥12,000 if they are taking two or fewer subjects. For those taking three or more subjects, the fee is ¥18,000. It costs money for transportation to the test site. Many parents send their children to cram schools to prepare for this test. In Japan high schools cost money, because secondary education is not mandatory, so someone, usually parents, must pay for high school education. This is an exceptional burden, because those young people rely on their caregivers for support when they could be supporting themselves.

It is a personal management test. The test must be registered and paid for in a timely fashion. Students must arrange transportation to and from the test center in of the most climatically challenging months of the year. Snowfall in January is the greatest, causing transportation delays and accidents every year.

Students must maintain their physical and mental conditions. January is the coldest month of the year, insuring that colds and flu are common. The exam is only offered once a year, so maintaining a healthy body at test time could mean the difference between the college of one's choice and a less desirable outcome.

It's a test of emotional well being. The pressure is on. This day is the product of 12 years of government education. In from one test, lasting 60 minutes, to ten tests totaling 11 hours over two days, students pour out the contents of their academic minds to create patterns of black dot on computer-graded answer sheets that will determine their academic future and thus the directions of their lives. For some the pressure is too great.

Finally, it is a test of their unquestioning faith in the state, the education system, the economic system, their parents, teachers, technology, social infrastructure and never, never in themselves, because in Japan personal achievement never is. It is always someone else's doing. Success is never their doing, but failure always is. If these students measure up to someone else's standards over the weekend, it is because of the hard work of others. If they fail, they alone shoulder the burden. Everybody else did their best.

Over those two days hundreds of thousands of young people will gather at test centers around the country in order to show what 12 years, 10488 hours ( my estimate based on UNESCO statics), of government schools has taught them. The content of the academic portion of the evaluated test, however, has little do do with what is actually being evaluated.

Keio Univ. to stop using standardized entrance exam : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they decided to stop using this exam at Keio.

However, from the 2006 academic year, Keio stopped using the English exam portion of the center test for its medical department, and the same test will be abolished for the other two departments from the next academic year, which will leave Keio free from any part of the National Center Test.

This is the reason that a cram school teacher gave.

A member of a cram school staff said, "The National Center Test only reveals slight differences in abilities among examinees who apply for top-notch universities."

If this is true, then my guess is that a similar phenomena occurs at the lower end of the scale, too. If a test taker marked the same answer for each question in the test, it is likely that the student would get somewhere around a 25%. (There a three questions with more than six possible answers in this year's test. The rest had four.) The closer a test taker comes to making a perfect score or a 25%, the less discriminative value it would have.

Keio Univ. to stop using standardized entrance exam : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri): "- Sent using Google Toolbar"