Look at this video of A Vision of (American) Students Today:
______
And compare it to A Vision of Japanese University Students:
The life of Japanese college students compared to that of American ones
5 Jan
26 Responses to “The life of Japanese college students compared to that of American ones”
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Tokyo Five 
Hi again! This is Heather Von St. James, you posted my story a while back on your blog. I hope things are going well! The reason I’m reaching back out is because there has been a video made about my story and my mission to spread hope to others. If you’re interested, I think it would be a great follow-up for your readers who saw the original post from me. My mission here is truly to spread hope to those who need it, and this video could not be a better testament to my goal. I believe I am a perfect example that with hope, the odds don’t matter. I hope you will watch and (please!) share if you enjoy it! You can find the video here: http://www.mesothelioma.com/heather
Thank you so much, and please let me know what you think of the video!
Heather
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Thank you for telling me about this video.
Your story is amazing! It’s wonderful that you recovered.
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I just sat in on my first Japanese university class, a class on the “sociology of music” at Hosei University. It was noisier than a busy restaurant 99% of the time. When it was quieter it was because the professor was showing some interesting video clips. Of the 200 students, probably 100 were talking the entire time, some actually on their cell phones guiding friends to their seats. The level of respect for the professor was shockingly low. Maybe it was just that class, a group of pre-lawyers taking something in the humanities, but even in an American classroom of some “frou-frou” topic that’s supposed to be an easy class, students will pass notes or whisper to each other or text, not actually talk so loudly it’s hard to hear the professor even with a microphone! There are more differences than there appear to be.
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Are you a regular student there now? Or was that a special “one-time” class?
I ask because it doesn’t sound like a “regular” class…especially since you said there were 200 students in the one class!
My oldest daughter is now a college student…and she told me that classes at her school are nothing like you described.
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No, I’m a grad student affiliated with an American university currently doing dissertation research here in Japan. The professor who teaches the class, a colleague/supporter of mine, is a visiting professor at Hosei for the year, so perhaps the class is some kind of special case, as you say. I’m relieved to know that what I witnessed wasn’t the norm, but still disturbed that the students could get away with it! I’ve got a longer reaction in my own blog: http://blog.alexandra-roedder.net, if you’re interested. I’m planning to upload part of the audio recording I did of the lecture, too.
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I read your blog…it’s very interesting. You’ve been in Japan for a few months now, haven’t you? How long will you stay in Japan?
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I’m glad you found it interesting! I’m in Japan until the end of June, then I return to the US to complete my dissertation and (hopefully) find a job teaching at a university.
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So you’ll leave Japan before the weather gets too hot and humid! 😉
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> we are PIGS OF INFORMATION.
Yea, It’s means being overfed information. I know it’s a practical way to teach things but
just giving is not enough. Coz when I look around my friends, though they know lots of things through class or TV, they don’t have their original idea nor they can’t use the information to say something new.
> how would you improve Japan’s education system
So, I should say that we have to have much more opportunity to explain what and how we think in school like discussion class. we have to wipe out the air like” I don’t wanna make mistakes” “what if i made mistakes…wht a shame !” ” if i was not like everyone else, i gonna be picked out …” etc…
caused these rooted culture ,education and not being got used to speaking before lots of forks, our leaders are treated lightly at the international meeting and our voices are far from the world i think.
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I think teaching to think creatively is easier to do in a small class “tutoring” type of situation. Probably not so easy in a large class with many students.
But, if you want to, why don’t you express your opinion in your class? Or ask the teacher many questions? Maybe other students would follow your lead?
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Interesting videos indeed. The big idea for youngsters around the world is somewhat the same. It’s not very much different here either. The things that differ are only culture, lifestyle, economy, etc.
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Yeah, I guess kids basically have similar attitudes even when their cultures are very different.
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Hi, I m one of the girls in the vision.Thanks to posting our video 🙂
and is the video help to know something about Japan?
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>is the video help to know something about Japan?
Yes, I didn’t know so many young people have “online friends”.
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Interesting videos. The only thing I would add is they are pointing out a problem that we all know about. I think most of us understand that schools are failing all over the first world. The questions are why and how to fix it? I’d love to see these kids tackle those questions and give their ideas for solution.
This may be relevant: http://comment.rsablogs.org.uk/2010/10/14/rsa-animate-changing-education-paradigms/
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>they are pointing out a problem that we all know about….that schools are failing
I didn’t get the impression that the students in these videos were trying to imply that the education system is a failure…but that they were simply showing how their generation see the world.
But, either way, the video you linked to is interesting too.
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Hi.
The entire class that made the video in Japan is now here and we have read the comments on this blog. The class has agreed to answer any questions anyone might have about the video or join any discussion that may emerge..
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>I didn’t get the impression that the students in these videos were trying to imply that the education system is a failure…
Hi, I’m one of students on this video by Marcus. At first I really thank you for reposing this video and spreading our thought to the world. And let me reply to your above comment.
In my opinion, our education system is kinda failure ed little out of date coz in the almost all of class we don’t have chance to say and hear what students feel like discussion ,you know. we are expected to be “obesity of information and wisdom”, and “to be happy with information which gonna never be used after graduation”
This is unhealthy. we cant see what is really needed.
we are PIGS OF INFORMATION.
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>we have read the comments on this blog.
Thank you.
>The class has agreed to answer any questions anyone might have about the video or join any discussion that may emerge.
Great! I hope many people ask some questions!
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>In my opinion, our education system is kinda failure
Do you think so? I think my children have learned much more from schools in Japan than I learned in the U.S. school system.
>we are PIGS OF INFORMATION.
I’ve never heard that expression before! 😉
Do you mean that you feel you’re simply being “overfed” information? Or something like that?
That’s the only practical way to teach a school full of students, I’d say.
Certainly in your life you won’t use all of the information that you learn in school…but that’s not the only reason for studying it—you also learn “how to learn” and how to see things from others’ perspectives.
Anyways…how would you improve Japan’s education system?
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Hey man. Yeah, apologies for just linking to you without leaving a comment or anything; I was a little pressed for time (as you can see by how short the post on my blog is) and couldn’t really think of anything meaningful to say other than I thought these were interesting.
Good find with these videos.
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>apologies for just linking to you without leaving a comment
No need to apologize! You don’t have to comment…I just hope you do.
And I appreciate the link.
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Hmm, not as different as I thought they’d be (except the part about not borrowing money for college, that’s unimaginable and impossible for most in the US). But I think US vs Japanese high school videos would be very, very different.
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Just like every aspect of Japanese and American cultures and life…some things are the same anywhere in the world amongst members of the same generation.
But other things are quite different.
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Hi! I wanted to thank you for posting our video on your blog. I think the students will be quite excited to see how bloggers have re-posted the video. I’ll have them check your page in the coming weeks!
Thanks again,
Marcus
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They are interesting videos and a good idea.
I look forward to reading comments on my blog from your students.
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