After finishing my job hunting activities in June finally, I am now preparing for mid-term poster presentation of my masters course and research visit in Vietnam at the end of September. Along side the research, I am continuously meeting old friends and dedicate most of personal time to IDA, university club. I have been tired of noises in twitter recently and trying to get back my chance to write more daily essays.
Today, I would like to write about the purpose of education― What is the ultimate goal of teaching?
Good Academic Score?
The simplest answer to the question would be to make students get higher academic scores in each subjects. This view I think is dominant in Japan and other Asian countries such as Singapore and Taiwan where the Confucian culture is common. According to the view, the higher scores a student get, the more successful he/she can be in future. This is true in Japan; If a student can get good score, they can pass national exam such as public servants and have better chance to enter popular firms. There exist two problems, however, behind the view.
First, higher academic score does not always leads to higher performance in their current job. In Japan, much of the assessment of the classes are still written exams and do not capture the overall progress of their true abilities. As a society, this makes labor market ineffective. Thus we need to adjust our way of assessment according to the needs of society. For example, assessment of group work, as is often the case in western university, are better way to incorporate the ability in team settings.
Second, students may stop studying after the graduation. Quite a few university students do not study much in Japan. Passing fierce competition in entrance exams, all they do is part-time job and play around. Also, lifetime employment in national bureaucrats and big companies in Japan has produce lazy employees (though the tendency is changing rapidly due to dynamic change in market structure).
For these reasons, I do not think the education putting much emphasis on academic score is the most effective one. So, what would be the alternative?
Nurturing the Motivation!
In my opinion, the purpose of education is to let students love the subject. I believe it is important because once students liked the subject, they will study by themselves even after they graduate from their school. For my case, I loved studying geography and chemistry thanks to the teachers who gave me intriguing classes with full of trivial tips. It might be historical background, the struggle of early scientist and inventors and the linkage to the society today. Anyway, I owe much to the teachers that I am today.
In fact, OECD's PISA* added a criteria "engaging with written texts" in reading section of 2009 survey. It reflects some need for assessing the motivation aspects of the students.
Thank you for reading and tell me your opinion about the purpose of teaching!
*PISA=Programme for International Student Assessment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugz_1Clpsdk
