Paper Summary:

This paper takes a critical and evaluative look at the use of computers in public junior high schools in Japan. It shows that Japan is harnessing technology and the Internet to help give its younger population a competitive advantage in what is set to become the 'information age'. The paper uses the case study of a British English language teacher, Lyle De Souza, who pioneered the use of advanced technologies to help learning in general and the teaching of English as a foreign language (TEFL) in particular.

From the Paper:

"Much is made in the media in both the West and Japan of the uniformity of the Japanese education system. To Japanese traditionalists, uniformity is the solid rock of Japan's post-war economic success. It is the 'glue' that forms the cohesiveness of Japanese society--where standards of behavior are learned to be later obeyed. Modern day reformists and detractors have argued that such a system discourages individualism and creativity. They argue that--at any given time on any day--schools the length and breadth of Japan are likely to be teaching exactly the same things from exactly the same textbooks using exactly the same teaching methods. This would be fine assuming the teaching methods were effective but sometimes in Japan (particularly in English language teaching ) they are not and, even if they are aware of the shortcomings, Japanese teachers are reluctant to challenge the system."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Equality And Freedom In Education : A Comparative Study / edited by Brian Holmes. London; Boston: G. Allen & Unwin, 1985.
• "Japan's Modern Educational System: A History of the First Hundred Years" in The Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, White Paper Database. 2000. <http://wwwwp.mext.go.jp/eng100n/index.html#toc1.1.2>
• Cummings, William K. Education and equality in Japan / William K. Cummings. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1980.
• De Souza, Lyle. "Computers in Japan" in Chuo Kagawa. Kagawa Board of Education, 1998.
• Horio, Teruhisa. Educational Thought And Ideology In Modern Japan : State Authority And Intellectual Freedom / Teruhisa Horio ; edited and translated by Steven Platzer. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1988.

Visitors who viewed this Term Paper also liked these:

• Essay # 85029 : "Bullying in the American School System"
• Analytical Essay # 139824 : "Child Development and the Decline in Self-Esteem"
• Analytical Essay # 5670 : "The Door in the Wall"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: