To Prospective Parents
Children from non-Japanese cultural and linguistic backgrounds often struggle to follow classroom instructions. This challenge emerges as early as in the middle years of primary school, leading to widening academic gaps in subsequent grades. The primary cause of this phenomenon lies in Japanese language: classroom instructions and textbooks require advanced reading and writing skills to comprehend that many of these students have not yet acquired. The subject-specific terminologies and expressions further complicate the matter. Moreover, parents are often unaware of their children's academic struggles. Below, we present key observations in FAQ format and outline how Yama-Dori School addresses these challenges.
I. The Common Misconceptions About Japanese and Education
FAQ 1: Our children are fluent in Japanese, right?
Many parents think their children, particularly those born and grew up here, can speak Japanese fluently. This is, in essence, correct; however, they face difficulties at school understanding the Japanese and the textbooks used because the educational Japanese contains grammar and vocabulary that are not used in everyday conversations with friends. To fully understand the instructions and the subject matters taught in classes, they need continuous exposure to the materials, particularly in reading and writing practice. Without these conscious and continuous efforts, children begin falling behind as early as in the middle of primary school. Japanese children overcome these difficulties because they use Japanese at home and school throughout the day, and they can expect parental support. In addition, many of them even attend cram schools. In contrast, those children of foreign roots use Japanese only outside of their homes, and they live in the cultures of their parents and use the parents’ mother tongue at home. These conditions limit exposure to the Japanese language.
FAQ 2: Our children graduated from junior high school. Do they know and understand the subject matters they were taught?
Unfortunately, Japanese schools let children graduate even without attending for a day. Thus, a school diploma does not necessarily guarantee that the child has learned subjects well enough.
FAQ 3: Our children graduated from junior high school. Can they attend high school?
Technically, yes, but graduating from junior high school does not give your child a free pass to attend high school. The main obstacles come in two deeply related forms. First, as mentioned in FAQ 1, many children of foreign roots lack an in-depth understanding of “educational” Japanese, and second, they need to pass an entrance examination. Even if they find a school to attend, it would be difficult to graduate without overcoming the language barrier.
FAQ 4: Doesn’t the Japanese government have a plan to help those children of foreign roots?
As far as we can tell, the government either has no policy on this issue or even if they do, it is very small in scale. Once children graduate from junior high school, the official support from the government, both local and national, effectively terminates. (This is true even for Japanese children.) Although the Ministry of Education may implement some policies that help foreign children, it will take years, if not decades, to materialize.
FAQ 5: Can our children attend college?
In theory, yes, but in reality, the number of such students is extremely small due to the given situations described above.
FAQ 6: Our children will take our businesses over, so how does Japanese education help them?
Without adjusting to Japanese society and acquiring necessary cultural and linguistic skills, it would be very difficult to secure their independent life. As well known, one’s educational achievement strongly correlates to one’s socioeconomic success in the future. If one generation inherits a deficit, it will be passed down to the next, thereby creating a downward negative spiral.
Remember, Japan has never experienced a large number of immigrants flock into the society in the past one thousand years or more. Thus, the Japanese have no idea how to welcome the new commers and help them becoming the equal and productive members of the society.
2. What Yama-Dori School does
We are acutely aware of the problems that children encounter every day at school. Of course, we cannot solve all the problems there are, but we can provide educational supports for three main areas: (i) understanding the subject matters in classes, (ii) acquiring language skills, and (iii) developing critical thinking.
Subjects: We find out where students get lost and why. We go deeper into the source of their struggles and help them figure out how to find a way out. We do not, however, rely on root memorization or the blind applications of formulae just to get the “correct” answers. Instead, we think through together so that they can develop more systematic reasoning skills.
Language: A large portion of vocabulary words in the textbooks either originates in Chinese or is created by the Japanese using the Chinese characters. In junior high school, the portion of such words reaches up to 60 to 70 per cent. Therefore, it is critical that students understand the Chinese characters, or kanji, well enough to understand not only the classroom instructions but also what is said in the textbooks. Furthermore, all the textbooks in use in Japanese schools are designed for the native Japanese children. Therefore, a lot of culture specific facts and assumptions are used unconsciously, and they make understanding the subject matters even more difficult.
Unfortunately, there is no easy and quick way to fix these problems. At Yama-Dori, we synthesize cultural studies and language use so that children can develop knowledge base that helps them navigate the society throughout their lives here in Japan.
Critical Thinking: We use internationally recognized curriculums such as Cambridge Steps that are more compatible with the curriculums used in schools all over the world. These curriculums emphasize developing critical thinking, which the Japanese education largely ignore. This is unfortunate because thinking critically is one of the most important skills that prepare children to take challenges that the globalized world would give. Recall that the motto of Yama-Dori education is Find Your Own Words, and we encompass Education that Fosters Independent Minds. They are possible only with skills of critical thinking.
3. On Tuition
Some say that our tuition is too high. Here are some reasons for why we believe it is not.
Our teachers have only two to three students at a time so that they can not only have in-depth conversations with the students but also pay close attention to find out what aptitude they have. In addition, our teachers have years of experience of conducting research in universities, so what they teaching originates from much deeper knowledge and understanding of the subject matters. Compare Yama-Dori with a typical cram school so-called juku. They adopt a large-scale production model in factories to education for efficiency, and their automation makes the quality and experience of the teachers unimportant. Their aim is to raise the numbers of the standard deviation high enough so that children can pass entrance examinations for high schools or colleges/universities they want to attend. Everything is standardized, and there is no breathing room for creativity or critical thinking to flourish. We are the opposite, and there is no school like ours in Hokuriku, if not in Japan.
