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soliloquies

so・lil・o・quy/- n. [C,U] a speech in a play in which a character talks to himself or herself, so that the audience know the character's thoughts.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

japanese university

How crappy are Japanese universities? Well, it's not like I've attended all the universities that exist in this island nation, but I'm supposed to be in the most prestigious private university in Japan which, in Japanese education system, has got the most difficult entrance exams. Nevertheless, students here don't differ much from any other universities with ... let's say, less "academic factor".

Students go in and out of classrooms without rethinking how rude their action is, students are sleeping everywhere, no one actually does their assignments until last minute, sloppy works are handed in and the worst part is ... it's not an environment where you can persuit you own academic goal; you are going to need a concrete mind that will reject any mind-altering influences you get from other less motivated people in order to study what you really want to. Or, you can be a loner and make no friends, which will get rid of those influences once and for all.

The point I'm trying to make here is the whole fault that lies within Japanese education system. People go in academic universities, passing ridiculously difficult entrance exams, studying for over a year in most cases. On the other hand, it's quite easy to graduate Japanese universities ... as long as you pass enough classes, you get your right to graduate, unlike American-European universities that demand you nice paper with perfect attendance. Here, no professor takes attendence frequently enough to assess grades, based on attendance.

American universities for instance, are in a way, easier to get in. As long as you do well in you SATs and have the writing ability to persuade the university officials on your essay, you are accepted. Of course, there are some racial/gender problems that exists in reality, but basically ... that's it. In Japan, most of the crappy rubbish you cram in your head during you preparation for your entrance exam is useless.

What you actually learn in university is supposed to be and probably is the most important element, the purpose of going to universities. For some reason, the fact that you've graduated famous university is the part that counts in Japan. As long as you graduate an university with high deviation value, you are accepted as socially, valuable person. Corporations don't check your grades.

Why are we paying $10,000 per year, $20 per class for this meaningless crap? Everyone probably have this sense of contradiction whirling through their minds and everyone understand that this is a problem the Japanese society's been debating on for decades, but no one's actually making any actions to fix it ... this is the reason why this nation is taking a path that is leading us to a "not-so-bright future".

P.S. I've heard that Korean and Taiwanese education systems are supposedly sumilar ... even worse, in a way with harsh competition. Now's your chance to undergo reforms before your universities are filled with two types of students ; idiots without their wills to study or ones filled with contradictions, like me.

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