Yomiuri: Students - English useful, but not for me
Seventy percent of middle school students think English ability would be useful for obtaining a job in the future, but only 11 percent want to get a job that requires English, according to an education ministry institute survey...Eighty-five percent said they think, "It is important to study English" or "It is rather important"...Only 11 percent responded they strongly hope to get a job that requires English skills, down six percentage points from the previous survey. In contrast, 43 percent answered, "I don't want to get a job that requires English skills," up from 36 percent in the previous survey. Kenji Miyauchi, head of the research and development section at the institute's Curriculum Research Center, said, "[Students] are keenly aware of the importance of English in this age of globalization, but at the same time, they don't seem to want to study English or they think it's troublesome to do so"...more...