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May 05, 2024
 

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Walt Gardner
For Walt Gardner's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 14, 2015
Education key in getting young people to vote
If Japan wants its young people to vote, it needs to educate them about their civic rights and responsibilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 29, 2015
A place for humanities in the global economy
The humanities remain a constant source of knowledge and skills with intrinsic value that transcends time and place.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 24, 2015
Newspapers play a critical role in education
Attempting to shield students from the realities of life that newspapers cover on a daily basis is an exercise in futility.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 23, 2015
University grad job survey severely flawed
It's heartening to know that the employment rate for university grads is up, but without a proper breakdown of the data, the situation may not be as bright as it appears.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 15, 2015
Schools can do little without addressing poverty
Household income inequality has a bigger impact on students' academic performance than the quality of schools.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 23, 2015
Supplementary aids place teachers on thin ice
Teachers in Japan, as in the U.S., may find themselves without legal cover if they choose to use supplementary classroom materials that they've picked out themselves.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 11, 2015
Teacher-student interaction needs boundaries
Instead of banning teachers from having private online communication with students, schools should to provide teachers with a set of clear guidelines followed by ongoing training.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 12, 2015
Preparing students for the global economy
It's not uncommon for teachers in Japan to teach a subject well enough but for their stale techniques to teach students to hate the subject for life. That's why it's so important for Japan to move away from its obsession with testing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 1, 2015
Japanese and U.S. law schools at a crossroads
Law schools in Japan and the U.S. find themselves trapped between a rock and a hard place as the number of applicants continues to shrink in the face of a bleak legal job market.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 8, 2015
College entrance exams fail to make the grade
Before Japan's Central Council for Education undertakes the formidable task of revising Japan's university entrance exam, it needs to understand why such exams, both here and in the U.S., fail to make the grade.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 20, 2014
A better way to spend yen on schools
Japan's Finance Ministry wants to increase the number of students in each class to save ¥8.6 billion in personnel costs. This will result in 3,325 schools being shuttered and up to 4,000 teachers cashiered. A good idea perhaps, but why not prioritize spending on students who need the most attention?
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 14, 2014
View private operation of schools with caution
Education reformers take for granted that strategies borrowed from business will improve schools. But the evidence is hardly convincing.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 2, 2014
Moot prospects for law schools in U.S., Japan
Once considered a lucrative career, the practice of law is undergoing far-reaching changes that call into question the future of all except top-tier law schools in the U.S. and Japan.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2014
Shaming students' teachers shows little class
The Finns, known for having the world's best schools, would be aghast at the thought of revealing the names of teachers alongside their students' annual achievement test scores — a future possibility in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 31, 2014
Understanding chronic student absenteeism
No matter how chronic absenteeism is defined, it is crucial that school districts in both Japan and the U.S. intervene early to stem a threat to the future of the younger generation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 3, 2014
Japan has a word to add about teaching math
Before critics conclude that Americans suffer from an incurable case of innumeracy, they might want to ask if the long-standing poor performance of U.S. students in international math test competition, compared with Japanese students, is the result of the way the subject is taught in American schools.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 7, 2014
High test scores, low expectations
Young people in Japan, like their counterparts in the U.S., know that high scores on tests have little to do with their job prospects. So why do a higher percentage of American students still report being hopeful about their prospects for a good life?
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 31, 2014
Bullying weakens Japanese, U.S. schools
Bullying of LGBT students is reaching epidemic proportions in schools in Japan and the United States even as greater tolerance is demonstrated for students of different races, cultures and abilities.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2014
Design tests to measure priority outcomes
The discovery of fraud in the adminstration of the high-stakes TOEFL and TOEIC tests is disturbing, but the larger issue — which has been given short shrift — is that these tests are designed to emphasize written English rather than spoken English.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 9, 2014
Japan should treat test scores with discretion
Although the education ministry's decision to allow local boards of education in Japan to make public the results of achievement tests for individual schools appeals to those who are frustrated by what they perceive as a lowering of standards, the tests are far too unstable to be considered reliable or fair.
With eye on China, defense chiefs agree to bolster interoperability
From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Australian defense chief Richard Marles, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara and Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro hold a joint news conference in Honolulu on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Debate on constitutional revision at a standstill despite Kishida's pledges
With less than two months left before the conclusion of the current session of parliament, any possibility that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can deliver constitutional reform before the end of his term as Liberal Democratic Party president in late September, as he has promised, appears remote.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
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