Overhauling the curriculum to better prepare students for the future is commendable, but only if the changes are grounded in reality. That's a lesson Japan and the United States still have not learned.
The education ministry's recent rollout of what teachers should teach is the latest example. The ministry for one thing quite properly places great emphasis on the ability of students to be proficient in English. Exposing students to English beginning in the third and fourth grades is a step in the right direction. Research shows that the sooner children begin to learn a foreign language, the better the chances are that they will become fluent in it.
But the latest survey by the education ministry found that third-year students in junior high school posted mixed results on the Eiken English proficiency test. It's unclear what caused the lackluster outcomes, but the scarcity of native-speaking English teachers is a strong possibility.