Modern Japan suffers from a mismatch between the needs of its economy and the skills of students produced by its education system. While Japan's economy boomed, employers feverishly recruited college graduates, especially those from prestigious universities, and new hires enjoyed the prospect of lifetime employment. Today, the bubble has burst on Japan's economy and recent college graduates find themselves scrambling for jobs in a labor market that is oversupplied. The six-year slump in Japan's economy means that companies can no longer spare the funds for training new workers. Consequently, managers express a need for college graduates who are not only well-versed in information technology, global markets, and modern finance, but creative self-starters as well. In response to this need, Japan's Ministry of Education has initiated sweeping reforms.
Ironically, many American educators persist in using Japan's education system as a model for domestic reform. Granted,
the academic achievement of Japanese students is unparalleled in certain areas, most notably math and science. In these subjects, Japanese students outperform almost all their counterparts in foreign nations, and their testing success is often used as a benchmark for other countries: "Here is a concrete measure that gets public attention. It is the measure selected by the [U.S.] state governors in their call to educational arms" (Rohlen, 1995, p. 105). Although not measured as international test results, Japanese students also achieve high standards in music, reading, and art.
An intangible measure of Japan's success is the spirit of cooperation fostered in its schools. Since today's corporate employee must possess the skills necessary to work effectively in small groups, the cooperation taught in school is an important job skill. In the classroom, talking and helping are not discouraged as students perform their work. With class sizes ranging bet...