A
Many people, I’m sure, are familiar with the Fulbright
scholarship program, established by Senator Fulbright in 1946 to foster mutual
understanding between countries by establishing teacher exchange and
scholarship opportunities. What you
may not realize is that there are many subdivisions of the Fulbright program,
all administered by the
The three weeks in Japan flew by in a whirlwind of workshops,
presentations, cultural experiences, visits to schools, a host family stay and
sightseeing. I found Japan, the part of
it I saw, to be a mixture of old and new, with the countryside paricularly
lovely. I managed to see Mt. Fuji
several times, which was a personal goal.
The people I found to be thoughtful, honest, and very polite, but also
very interested in knowing why I was in Japan.
I enjoyed my homestay visit immensely and hope to maintain contact with
the Okamoto family who generously shared their home and life with me.
The schools I visited (elementary, junior high, senior high) were an
eye-opener for me. I expected very
traditional, perhaps even old-fashioned classroom teaching methods, of which I
saw very little. I did see very large
classes (36-40) even at the elementary level, but with almost no discipline
issues, the teachers were able to use a variety of methods to teach their
curriculum (small group, discussion, hands-on, etc.). The school libraries were
well maintained and staffed, although their collections primarily contained
books. I saw very little in the way of
advanced use of technology which surprised me given Japan’s reputation as a
technological giant. Parental involvement in schools is kept to
participation in their Parent-Teacher Association, however all parents belong
to and participate in the PTA activities and functions. The pride in their schools is evident, and
students take amazing ownership of their schools. There are no school janitors in Japan,
students (even at the elementary level) clean their school every day after
lunch! Students are allowed far more
freedom from adult supervision during the school day than I personally was
comfortable with, however, since there is such huge ownership and pride in
their school, almost all of what students did without adult supervision was a
lot of physical “roughhousing” with each other. The staff at the schools had no problems
with this behavior as they felt it allowed children to let off steam between
classes and get refocused for the next subject.
Both the teacher and parent in me really struggled not to interfere when
I observed some of these physical behaviors!
There was an unbelievable difference between their roughhousing between
classes and their focused concentration and respect for their teacher and
learning during classtime.
Students in Japan have always tested the highest for science and
mathematics in the world, due to their emphasis on these subjects and their
emphasis on very structured instruction and testing. When Japan’s economic bubble burst in the
early 1990’s, the country went into a long period of economic recession from
which they are just beginning to emerge. The Japanese people began to recognize
that their system of rigid, test-driven curriculum, although it created
students with amazingly high test scores, was creating a work-force that had
real problems with creative thinking, individual problem solving and what the
Japanese refer to as a “zest for living”, and they felt that this lack of
creative problem solving was part of why their recession has lasted as long as
it has. The Japanese educational system
is now under reform, which began in 1999, as they struggle to maintain the high
standards of education, but add elements that will foster more creative problem
solving by their students. Part of the
FMF program was time during each school visit to talk (with a translator) with
the teaching staff at each school. The
Japanese teachers were very interested in learning more about our concept of
“integrated curriculum” and how it is implemented in our schools as they feel that
this is an important way to encourage problem solving. The
conversations between the American and Japanese educators were very insightful
in revealing common concerns and issues that we all struggle with as educators.
To be considered for the award (which is competitive), I had to describe
both what my concerns as an educator are for today’s students, and what I could
do for and bring back to my school district within the parameters of my job as
a Director of Elementary Library Services.
My concerns were those I’m sure that I share with other educators and
parents: how to foster an understanding and acceptance of the many different
cultures of our world, particularly in children who live in New Hampshire which
doesn’t have much cultural diversity within its population. Some
of the things that I outlined that I could do for the school district were to:
assess the seven elementary school libraries for what materials on Japan and
Japanese culture they already own and create bibliographies of recommended
titles for purchase for the library collections, offer workshops for staff on
using culturally diverse materials in their classrooms, create an elementary
classroom resource kit on Japan for staff to use, do presentations on Japan to
students, talk to many different groups about my experience, write articles,
and make materials available on a web page.
I have been working ever since my return on many of these pieces. A web site has been created: www.mrsd.org/~library/japan.htm which contains many resources; please take a
minute to visit it. If you have any
questions or want more information please feel free to contact me at 352-6955
x422 or by email at clesser@mrsd.org
I also want to thank the administration and school board of the Monadnock
Regional School District who supported my doing this program; the students of
the district will be the beneficiaries as they learn of the wonderful cultural
diversity of our world and particularly of Japan.