European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 16, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Teacher Junichi Sueyoshi and his fifth Grade class watch a Pupil explain How he solved math problem. Japan gets first class teaching first class result swords on education by the associated press following Are some thoughts on education from Japan and Germany. A Quot usually i m done at 5 o clock. But sometimes i m Here until 9 or 10. It s not a punch in punch out kind of . A Junichi Sueyoshi fifth Grade teacher at Tokyo s Jingu Mae school a Quot How you do in school has nothing to do with of you re smart or not they just Don t try hard. Enough. If you try hard enough you can succeed. A a Maiko Nakamura 12, sixth Grade student at Jingu Mae school a Quot i Don t think having saturdays off from school will be Good for everyone in Japan. Children will just play on their computers at Home and that s not what i want them to do.�?�. A Shigemi Kanai the head of Jingu Mae school parents group a Quot today s student seems to have less concentration than when i started teaching 15 years ago. There Are Basic skills lacking especially in math. I think video games Etc have something to do with  a Albert Macht technical math teacher at a Frankfurt electronics vocational school a Quot most of my Peers went on to University but i like the dual system apprenticeship because of the practical experience. Even if i go on to further education i la have better chances later because of a this.�?�. A a a a. A Andreas Schnatz 19, a Siemens electronics apprentice a Quot it s very demanding training for my son but rewarding. Unskilled workers Are at a disadvantage. Everybody has to be flexible today and vocational training helps to develop this  a a Horst Guenter a Veigman father of a Frankfurt apprentice our Prosperity is tied to it Quot said Klaus Wilhelm ring a vocational education specialist for the Hessen  it is a fixture in flux an. Old institution swept up in new trends. Quot for one thing ambitious German parents Are pushing their children More and More into gymnasiums and Many gymnasium graduates Are not being admitted into Germany s relatively Small University system. They turn  to apprenticeships these uncommitted 19-year-Olds, who View the dual system As a temporary Quot parking place Quot Are crowding out youths from the lower rung Haupt Schyjer Many of them asian and East european immigrants in Germany s cities. Quot Many of my friends could t get into an apprenticeship. They re looking for jobs. It s not easy for them Quot said Norada Samadi 19, an afghan born electronics apprentice. At the same time the program is facing Money problems. Only 10 percent of German companies finance apprenticeships which Slid in number from 2.2 million in .1985 to. 1.7 million in 1992. Germany s current recession is cutting further into training funds. Quot there s some discussion now about changing the dual system to All government funding Quot said Siemens. Zimmer Quot especially since some smaller companies simply can t afford  whether in Germany or America As Zimmer noted Quot it always ends up As a question of who  by Charles j. Hanley the associated press t hey Bounce out of their seats and squeal with Delight pint sized bodies Pipsqueak voices. They clamber onto desktops they stomp they wave. Orie 6-year-old, overcome with glee Keels Over backward in his chair. / in the dih of first Grade at Jingu Mae school in Tokyo you won t find the Quot regimented Quot japanese schoolchildren of Western myth. But one reality stands Clear the teacher knows her business. A. Split into two teams the tiny players Are heaving a giant die and moving their teams red and Blue markers Al orig a huge game Board number by number. At 28, Blue overtakes red. The frenzy  s a lesson in counting and these first graders Are counting up a storm. Japanese education has its shortcomings All important High school Entrance exams put great pressure on children. Too Many attend after hours Quot cram schools Quot pushed by parents who View the Good elementary education As not Good enough in the japanese context. The University system is weak. Japanese educators Are looking for ways to improve the schools a for one thing taking Steps to reduce the number of half Day saturdays when children attend school. But everyone who studies the japanese classroom agrees on the Central reality up front the teaching is Superb. A a. ,. Quot in the elementary schools i really believe they have come up with incredibly effective approaches to teaching kids Quot said Harold w. Stevenson a University of Michigan scholar who in two decades of research has Analysed Why japanese children outperform american children on International tests. V How do they do it classroom technique is a key but other factors also contribute from a standardized curriculum to the children s readiness to learn. Developmental psychologist Hiroshi Azuma closely studied japanese and american preschoolers and found a telling difference. In Japan he said a closer longer lasting dependence on the Mother leads children to View encouraged to be Independent earlier a trait that leads them to expect either individual attention at school or extraordinary efforts by teachers to hold a class s interest. Quot in elementary school at least you can expect better results in Japan with the same Cost of teachers Quot Azuma explained. A. Environment helps too. At Home for example japanese parents Are much More Likely than americans to provide their child a desk for schoolwork. At school. Japanese children have several recesses a Day refreshing them for upcoming lessons. In . Schools kids Are Lucky to get one recess. Educators Are most impressed however by what happens within those 45-minute lessons in Japan s primary schools a focus upstairs in the Jingu Mae school fifth Grade math teacher Junichi Sueyoshi has posted six children s solutions to a challenging problem on a blackboard. He has the pupils discussing the merits of each. This single problem takes up the entire lesson. They focus on one problem and examine a variety of issues. What we do wrong is that we try to do 10 in one period Quot Marshall Smith the . Education undersecretary said in a Washington interview japanese children Are Given Quot time to think Quot educators say and teachers Don t lecture or recite but get pupils heavily involved questioning and critiquing each other. A curriculum Japan s National curriculum prescribing lessons uniformly Quot from hokkaido to Okinawa Quot focuses teachers energies More on technique than Content they lip each other to effective approaches and props like the Quot counting game Quot television programs show How master teachers handle certain lessons. A Quot with  curriculum they can Brush up on methods so the Quality of teaching will be kept As a High level Quot said Shiger Yoshikawa an education ministry curriculum specialist. Standardization also guarantees to a fifth Grade teacher in Nagoya that a student transferring from. Osaka was taught the expected things in fourth Grade. In America what s usually guaranteed Are gaps and. Duplications. A teaching for All meticulous comparative studies by Stevenson and his colleagues published in a 1992 Book the learning Cap found that the japanese a adults As models to be copied. It predisposes them to pay attention to teachers. In America children Are continued on Page monday May 16, 1994 the stars and stripes 21