[Alberta's Child]

If there have been mass complaints about the lousy education Japanese schools provide, the complaints must have been made in Japanese, which I do not read, for I've completely missed them.

I have a relative who is one of the most highly-respected members of his profession (in a scientific field), and he's studied foreign education programs extensively over the years as part of his work. His views on the Japanese education model are quite scathing. It's not too ridiculous to suggest that he would have sent his kids to school in Baghdad before he ever let them attend a Japanese school.

[GSlob]

"It's not too ridiculous to suggest that he would have sent his kids to school in Baghdad before he ever let them attend a Japanese school."
Strange relatives you have, I must say. Well, one does not get to choose one's kin, except the relatives by marriage. I have extensively dealt with the products of Japanese education [from upper layers], and can compare them with our homegrown Ivy Leaguers. In my field the Japanese-educated professors [like Yoshito Kishi at Harvard] are at or near the top, and given the choice of the undergraduates to TA, I would take Tokyo University undergrads over Princeton ones any day. Which means that even before getting into a university, they [in Japan] get a pretty solid preparation in a secondary school, including homework - which is more than I could say of the princetonians.