I Have a Question

Why do people insist the Japanese have the best school system? I grew up in the 80s and everybody talked abt how we had it too easy and we should be like the Japanese who went to school at least 8 hrs a day and then went home and did hours and hours of homework every night. It sounds like a very cruel system to me and from what I hear the adults don't even work 40 hrs a wk. So why expect kids to work over 50 hours on schoolwork? It sounds like they are punishing kids just for being kids. I could imagine the American adults who want to have the harsh Japanese system never had to work that hard as children nor would they willing to now. End of rant

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33person · 26-30, M

It's not about punishment. It's about dedicating time to learning. Homework is not about making students do work. It's not the same as doing work for a company. It's kind of like saying, "Why is it that when I spend more time on taking care of my house, my house looks better?" It's about them engaging in learning activities. I personally flat-out agree with the Japanese system you outlined above.

Cloud7593 · 46-50, F

@33person Did you yourself stay in school for 8 hrs a day then go home and do hours of homework every night? I bet not. It's easy to demand that when you don't have to do it yourself.

33person · 26-30, M

@Cloud7593 I am not demanding it. I am only saying it would work. Would there be cons to it? Definitely. It wouldn't come at no cost.
I did have some teachers who gave hours of homework, though, and it was generally an effective way of learning.

Cloud7593 · 46-50, F

My math teacher in 9th grade gave hours of homework and no it wasn't effective, because by the time you got done with it you didn't care whether it was right or not. It was just overload.

33person · 26-30, M

@Cloud7593 It isn't JUST about the amount. It has to be designed well. For example, not all the problems should be from the new section. Perhaps a few from the new section, a few from yesterday's section, some old review problems, and one or two challenge problems, rather than 40 all form the same day's lesson.