In the March 8 letter "Student individuality gone to seed," the writer made some very disturbing comments. A student at an international school, she says, after two days of visiting a Japanese school, she felt that Japanese education was "dull." She goes on to say that Japanese education/culture doesn't produce students with individuality.
The author seems to have a negative view of Japan because it is different from her Western education. This is a sad narrow-minded statement for an "international" school student. I teach in a public junior high school in Japan (in addition to other schools), and all my students are unique individuals and more open-minded than the writer of the letter seems to be. It is very disappointing that a student would try to define a whole country just by visiting one classroom.
I can remember my "Western" education, and a lot of it was spent copying teachers' notes and listening to lectures, especially in university. Probably in Harvard classrooms, the students sit and listen to the professors; I doubt they speak up and object to what the professor states as fact. I would suggest that the author look deeper into things and see past the differences if she wants to be a sound individual.