It is kind of ironic that I logged in to post on my blog based on something that I saw on the news tonight and I saw that this week's topic had been changed. The clip that just aired on the CBS evening news was about Japanese schools and how they differ from our schools. Their were two big differences that I noticed.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/29/eveningnews/main6912732.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionContent.1

1. The Japanese schools honor their teachers and the hard work they do (and not just monetarily). Teachers are highly qualified and receive ample amounts of training and professional development. This includes being encouraged to video tape your class and share with colleagues to improve your instruction, time to co-plan with other teachers (I teacher said he spent 60% of his day with students and 40% of his day with other teachers), and additional training if you are not meeting teaching standards.

2. Respect. I think this probably extend beyond the classroom to society as a whole, but students are forced to respect their teachers, peers, and themselves. Everyone pitches in with daily tasks, they wait for all people to be served before eating, and they value their teachers advice.

I am not one to watch the evening news and be intrigued by something. I dislike that the clip failed to mentioned anything about creativity of education and how the school is teaching developmentally appropriate academic, social, phsyical, and emotional skills. It does not say anything about the length of the school day, overall structure of grade level vs. skill level, or what classes are being taught. None the less, it's interesting and I probably will dig further and look into some of those other areas I just mentioned.