2009, 'the year of the idiot student'

[Taro Toporific]

Japan going down the drain
by Michael Hoffman for the Japan Times
Can things get much worse for Japan? In 2006, its population will peak, prelude to a sharp decline. In 2007, an unprecedented 3 million workers will retire, shrinking tax revenues and swelling pension rolls. In 2009 the crisis will be educational: the dwindling number of university applicants will match the number of places available. Standards will plunge; no one will be turned away....2009, [Shukan Shincho (June 30)] magazine fears, will see the nation's universities brought to their knees. It will be "the year of the idiot student."....more...

[Maths Dude]

Dont you think that is a bit of 'scare mongering'? A simple solution is just to shut down some universities. ALthough I dont think those university english language teacher drones will like that very much.

[Tsuru]

Yes, just shut down some universities, make the levels drop even further. That will surely help.

Why don't we just shut down Japan altogether and start over?

On a different note: every year is the year of the idiot student.

[Maths Dude]

If there are 700,000 students available and you shut down, say, half of the universities, then there would be a lot more competition. Therefore only decent students will get in. Problem solved.

Here in Australia one of the major problems for the 'quality' of education is the influx of international students. Basically, the universities have dropped their standards so these people will pass. IF we didnt let them in some universities would have to shut up shop.

One Korean dude I met said he really wanted a degree from a western country so he could marry a top notch Korean lass. Dunno if thats true or though

[Longo]

My wife works for one of the small arms of the Ministry of Education as a researcher and while it is the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Soccer Balls and they continually trip over their own feet, One of their purported attempts at stopping the decline is to enroll distance learners via the internet. This fits nicely into their utopian plan of finding a new source of funds to promote further wasteful spending without having any more foreigners enter the country, who tend to leave the schools and disappear to go on massive crime sprees.

[Tsuru]

If there are 700,000 students available and you shut down, say, half of the universities, then there would be a lot more competition. Therefore only decent students will get in. Problem solved.

Not quite.

The first few years your output will decrease in quantity _as well_ as quality... not to mention the reduced amount of research positions available, the jobless professors forced to work for a normal company, lost potential, I could go on and on. Though tempting, this is the first step in perpetuating the downward spiral in such a situation.

You don't just shut a university down. You might downsize them and/or use a numerus fixus, but shutting a university down would only produce negative results in the end without any chance of improvement.

[dimwit]

Not quite.

The first few years your output will decrease in quantity _as well_ as quality... not to mention the reduced amount of research positions available, the jobless professors forced to work for a normal company, lost potential, I could go on and on. Though tempting, this is the first step in perpetuating the downward spiral in such a situation.

You don't just shut a university down. You might downsize them and/or use a numerus fixus, but shutting a university down would only produce negative results in the end without any chance of improvement.

I don't follow your arguement at all. Why would quality decrease? Universities in Japan are all about getting into, as entrance insures graduation. Entrance examinations are the only form of screen you have. With places for all, Jim-Bob and his pet hammer and incredible inbred Myxtaveszz sisters are on there way to field of higher education. Presently undergraduate studies here are more like high school in curriculum (PE classes, languages unrelated to you field of study) that the degree of specialization one achieves on graduation is equavalent to that of a second year university student in North America. Hence few arts and science students take their studies seriously.

A large number of the private universities are glorified training or finishing schools (a good example can be see in Hagi International University)that offer no graduate school, do no meaningful research and are inhabited by underqualified staff (locally, I can only think of two English teachers at the local universities who have PhD's, dozens have MAs or BAs).

My guess is that a number of the more pointless universities will merge while the national or prefecture universities will generally continue doing to research. All are and will increasingly try to attract foreign students to fill in the gaps.