Yutori Education - Responses

Responses

  • The drop in scholastic ability is natural because the society is more affluent. Students in OECD nations are comfortable and less motivated.
  • How should we define "scholastic ability?"
  • Has scholastic ability really dropped?
  • It is very difficult to judge scholastic ability objectively, so the results of tests don't necessarily indicate an overall drop in scholastic ability.
  • Yutori education may reduce average scholastic ability, but it can develop the talents of a small number of gifted children.
  • The criticisms lack adequate evidence.
  • It is reported that achievement tests by the IEA and PISA both indicate Japanese students ability has continued to fall, but these two tests are different in what they intend to measure.
  • The IEA mainly checks students' ability to recall facts while PISA checks their "ability to survive" and "ability to think". PISA's tests have been done only twice, and in the second test, countries participating increased. Moreover in Japan, integrated studies were introduced in 2002, and PISA's test was done in 2003, so Japanese examinees had been under the new curriculum for only one year in junior high school. It is too early to determine whether integrated studies are successful.

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