The superiority of Japanese primary education
Japan is recognized as one of the countries in the world with a high degree of educational equity. Its educational philosophy rarely has an overly strong utilitarian color. To a greater extent, it is closer to the original Confucian idea of ??"education without distinction", which emphasizes the universality of education and does not differentiate it based on the status of the educated. Let’s take a look at what are the advantages of Japanese primary education?
Public primary schools strive to balance both hardware and software
Public primary schools are the most common in Japan Primary schools account for 99% of the total number of primary schools in the country. It implements compulsory education, and students enroll in schools nearby, and the law does not allow students to go to school across districts. Students do not need to take a selection test for admission, and they can enroll if they are of the right age. Japan's 1955 "Law on Compulsory Education Schools' National Treasury-Borrowed Facilities Fees" stipulates that the upper limit of distance to school for primary school students is four kilometers, and the upper limit for junior high school students is six kilometers. The same is true for rural areas. Across Japan, there is an elementary school within a ten-minute walk in any direction from home. Japanese children do not need to get up early or stay late to go to school.
In order to prevent various phenomena that may lead to unfair distribution of educational resources, the Japanese government has also implemented many protective policies: teachers and principals of public schools are national civil servants and must pass national examinations and be employed by the state. Salaries are paid directly, which avoids differences in teacher salaries due to uneven economic levels in various regions; on the basis of "same salary", all teachers and principals in Japan implement a rotation system within a certain region, and teachers will be rotated every six years To teach in a new school, the principal changes positions across regions every five years, and the area is not limited to cities and rural areas. This ensures that within the range where students are enrolled nearby, the teacher quality of all public schools is similar. Since there is no There is no fixed "famous teacher", and there is no fixed "famous school". Because educational resources are relatively balanced, there is no need to choose key schools far away from home, thus avoiding the school-choice trend and making it possible to enroll nearby.
In terms of school hardware facilities, public elementary schools in Japan are also similar. It can even be said that they are relatively average across the country. Japan's "Basic Law on Education" clearly stipulates that local governments are mainly responsible for the construction and maintenance of school infrastructure, and the national treasury bears part of the cost. Each local government will make great efforts to build local primary and secondary school facilities, because if the primary and secondary school facilities are not strong enough? , many families with children will not choose to live locally, causing the local economy to be depressed. Therefore, whether in bustling metropolises such as Tokyo and Osaka, or in remote rural areas of Hokkaido, the facilities of public schools are almost the same. Even a primary school with less than a hundred students will have complete hardware facilities such as a music room, competition swimming pool, football field, and comprehensive gymnasium. The teaching buildings are also constructed in accordance with the highest safety standards. Whenever disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis occur, primary and secondary schools in disaster areas will become the main evacuation sites. Compared with schools, the office buildings of Japanese governments at all levels are much simpler.
In addition, when it comes to issues such as the formulation of teaching plans and the adjustment of national education funds, the Japanese government also adopts the principle of "take the low rather than the high" and try to maintain a balance of resources among public schools. Moreover, under the compulsory education system, all public schools implement a tuition and miscellaneous fee exemption system. What parents need to bear mainly is student uniform fees and daily lunch fees (parents pay part of it, the government pays part, and those with low incomes can apply for free). All Japanese elementary schools provide lunch at noon. Each school has a dedicated nutritionist and caterer. At the end of each month, the school also asks children to bring their parents a lunch list for each day for the next month. It is worth mentioning that Japanese public elementary schools ensure that each student has a bottle of 250 ml milk every day.
Is the class teacher an all-around teacher?
Japanese elementary schools implement a class teacher system, which means that each class has a teacher who is fully responsible for all the work of the class, including all teaching and life management. As well as chores related to the class, etc. It can be said that Japanese primary school teachers are versatile and can do everything. In addition to cultural classes, they must be good at physical education, music, art, handicrafts, and calligraphy. This is related to the selection system of Japanese teachers.
In Japan, because teaching is a relatively stable profession with a high social status, there are quite a few people who want to engage in this profession. Therefore, the competition for recruitment examinations is extremely fierce, and the recruitment system for Japanese elementary school teachers is even more fierce. strict. First, those working in elementary schools need to be certified as teachers. The so-called teacher qualifications are determined by one's educational experience, usually a graduate from a college or above. Teacher qualifications are valid for ten years and include four types: qualifications that can teach all courses, qualifications that can only teach some courses, qualifications that are responsible for health care work in schools, and nutritionist qualifications that are responsible for school meals. Mere qualifications are not enough. To become a teacher, it is more important to pass the teacher recruitment examination. The examination content is quite complex, including written examinations, such as basic cultural knowledge and education law-related knowledge, as well as skills-focused sports such as swimming and piano, music and handicrafts, as well as interviews, etc. Teachers who pass all content exams can serve as primary school teachers and teach all subjects. There are also those who only pass some subjects, such as physical education, music, etc. In many upper grades of elementary schools, in addition to their head teachers, they are also assigned a dedicated music teacher or physical education teacher to improve the musical and physical skills of the upper grades. According to Japanese statistics, among those who obtain teacher qualification certificates, less than 10% can actually step onto the podium.
There are no parents to pick up and drop off children
There is another characteristic of Japanese elementary schools: when the children go to and from school, there is no shadow of a parent at the school gate, only the children. Teams of children walked in and out of the campus, and these children had no idea of ??being picked up or dropped off by their parents.
In Japan, each elementary school district will have a dedicated "schoolchild advocate". Their task is to stand at intersections with heavy traffic and complicated traffic outside the school to guide students to safety during commuting time every day. pass. In addition to the "School Child Advocates", there is also a non-governmental organization "PTA" (Parent-Teacher Association) to protect children's traffic safety. This organization is voluntary, purely fulfilling its obligations and does not receive any compensation. Its members are composed of parents and professional teachers. Everyone takes turns to serve as safety officers on a regular basis, escorting children on traffic thoroughfares when they go to and from school. In addition, Japanese society The public security situation has always been good, so busy parents of students have never considered picking up and dropping off their children. When going to and from school, primary school students in Japan will meet up with their classmates who live nearby according to statistics when they go to school. Especially when children in higher grades see children in lower grades, they will hold hands and walk to and from school together. In addition, Japanese primary school students have an alarm hung on their schoolbags. When they encounter bad people or dangerous situations, they will sound the alarm, and roadside shops or pedestrians will immediately provide help.
National and private primary schools that insist on characteristics
In addition to the vast majority of public primary schools, Japan also has a small number of state primary schools and private primary schools, which has become another feature of Japanese primary education.
National elementary schools are a special type of public education institution in Japan. They are generally affiliated schools of universities, especially educational universities. Different from public primary schools, which use textbook content-based education methods, national primary schools are affiliated institutions of universities and shoulder the important task of educational research. They are the testing ground and practice site for various advanced educational methods and content. Therefore, the teaching methods of national primary schools are different. The content is also different, with obvious school characteristics and teacher characteristics. It is said that there are many teachers who have never used school textbooks in class in a year. Generally speaking, students in national primary schools have the opportunity to be exposed to and challenge a lot of difficult and in-depth knowledge, which is something that ordinary public primary schools cannot match. Admission to national primary schools often adopts an examination selection system. The threshold is very high and the competition is very fierce. Some national primary schools even have so many applicants that even if they pass the exam, they need to draw lots among the qualified ones. Only those who are drawn can finally obtain admission qualifications. . For example, Ocha University Elementary School in Tokyo had 2,961 applicants in 2011, but only 55 were admitted.
In addition, there are about 206 private elementary schools in Japan recognized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. These private schools include girls' schools, cultural and sports schools, language schools, etc., as well as prestigious aristocratic schools with a long history.
Private elementary schools also need to pass a selection examination. The difficulty of admission depends on the school. Generally speaking, the difficulty is lower than that of national elementary schools.
Private elementary school tuition fees also vary depending on the school and region. It is said that the most expensive private elementary school in Japan is located in Fukuoka Prefecture, with annual tuition fees as high as 2.16 million yen (approximately 120,000 yuan). There are no residency requirements for admission to private elementary schools, and the class hours vary from school to school. However, they generally pay more attention to teaching, and there are dozens more class hours per year on average compared to public elementary schools. In addition to study time, different private primary schools also have different educational activities and focuses due to different educational philosophies, and have distinctive independent school-running characteristics.
Balanced education means low rather than high
Currently in Japan, most children receive education in public elementary schools in primary school, and only about 1% of children choose private elementary schools. or state primary school. When entering junior high school, the proportion of students choosing private schools will be higher, reaching 7%.
?Private kindergarten?Public elementary school?Private/national junior high school?Private/national high school?Prestigious university? This is a common path choice for ordinary Japanese parents to hope that their children will succeed. However, if students in public primary schools want to pass the entrance examinations of private and state middle schools, it is not enough to rely on school education alone. Therefore, the most common way is to participate in cram schools, as in China. Cram schools are called private schools in Japan. They are generally run by private universities or other social institutions and have nothing to do with ordinary primary and secondary schools. Many well-known brand private schools have chain institutions all over Japan and are advertised on TV media or on buses. There are also very many. Tuition fees for cram schools in Japan are generally high, and the cost of children attending cram schools has become a major financial burden for many families. Since Japan is also a society that values ??academic qualifications, in order to allow their children to attend prestigious universities and find a good job in the future, many Japanese parents save money, work hard to save money, and start sending their children to cram schools in elementary school. , and this cannot but be said to be a helpless choice for Japan’s current public balanced education system.
Generally speaking, the balanced education implemented in Japan in the compulsory education stage of primary and secondary schools is successful in promoting educational equity and popularizing compulsory education, and has made an indelible contribution to the development and take-off of Japan’s economy. However, in practice, Japanese primary and secondary schools, especially public schools, have strong egalitarian ideas, which neither let students fall behind nor encourage excellence. Because it is compulsory education, what public schools pursue is not the top results of a few good students, but the collective progress of all students. Therefore, teachers should be low-level rather than high-level in class. For students who study well, they simply cannot get enough from the classroom. Especially at the beginning of the 21st century, Japan began to learn from the West and comprehensively implemented "relaxation" in basic education, continuing to reduce the burden on students and teachers. As a result, after just ten years, "relaxation" in education has increased. The negative consequences of "balanced education" have gradually emerged, and the learning ability of Japanese teenagers has begun to decline, causing concern from all walks of life.
To this end, Japanese educational institutions have to start taking some adjustment measures to strengthen the teaching difficulty of compulsory education in primary and secondary schools. It can be said that the current primary and secondary education in Japan is still in a new stage of adjustment. ;