That’s my impression of IT here. Baffling when they seem to bring out a new robot every year! School computers are often about 10 years old and using XP still. Kids rarely use computers for writing essays etc.

I have a theory that if Apple or Microsoft were Japanese, schools would be replacing their computers every 3-4 years and the government would be promoting IT education a lot more!

Japan’s computer literacy is horrendous. It was the thing that shocked me most when I arrived, and continues to shock me. While I agree with you that the kids should be learning more in school, most computer skills can be self taught these days, either through experimentation, using help, or accessing online resources. I think there is a bit of an attitude here that you have to “be taught” everything. I’m 40, so I learned most of the things I do on a computer these days by myself. People over the age of about 25 here tend to think that if they didn’t learn it at at school, they can’t do it.

I agree they are probably quite far behind but on the bright side, first year kids seem infinitely more computer savvy than they did 10 years ago. in one class I had back then, I did a survey and only 3 students out of 27 had a computer at home, none had ever used PowerPoint before, and none had heard of a blog. Nowadays they all have a home computer, nearly all have used PowerPoint and they all know blogs. While far from coding, it is a significant improvement.

I definitely agree that there isn’t enough being done pre-university to prepare Japanese students for modern (i.e. 21st learning). Of your list, Ben, I would emphasize touch-typing first and foremost. When I first entered university to do a bachelor’s degree 20 odd years ago, I remember the struggle I had with producing papers. That process of first writing it out by hand and then transferring it to a word processing document on computer was a real hassle not to mention and inefficient usage of time. I’m so glad I taught myself the basics of touch-typing (thanks to an old 70s typing text I found in a second hand shop). Being able to think and touch type on the fly without losing my train of thought made all the difference. Even though my students are quick to learn new skills using the computer and software, it’s the touch typing that I so dearly wished they would teach in schools. So if I had to make any suggestions to your list I would push touch typing up to number 1.

The next step is to identify what can be dropped from the already crowded high school curriculum to make room for computer related skills.

I’m guessing that the curriculum is so tight, most teachers don’t want to do anything that may slow things down. I’m not saying their right, just guessing on what teachers may be thinking based upon my own earlier career as a teacher.

Here’s my solution (pie in the sky but…). Class sizes are too big and I would shudder at the thought of introducing 36-40 kids to computer and computer skills. There are always computer problems and as the teacher you would spend so much time working those problems out that there would be little time for teaching.

So, reduce class sizes to 22-25 students so the teachers work load decreases. Then they will have more time to do what you suggest.

This is the wish of the education ministry but sadly the finance ministry would like to cut costs and ensure classes go up to the 40 student mark. Of course, that’s fine for them because their kids all go to private schools.

IT education in Japan is akin to how it was in the 70s when I was at high school. Special classes for it with no crossover to other subjects.

As an employer of Japanese people, I find that most lack computer skills, English skills and critical thinking skills. Proficiency in all three is not perhaps necessary, but a basic level of ability is highly desirable.

My students gave presentations. The final powerpoint slide was supposed to be a link to a YouTube video. Most students didn’t have “live” links, just text, so they couldn’t click them. The first kid did this workaround:
1) Exit the presentation, copy the URL.
2) Open a web browser. Paste the URL into the search field. Yes, the search field.
3) Look at the results page on Bing.
4) Paste the URL into the browser address bar. Finally.
The thing is, EVERY kid that followed him did the EXACT SAME 4 STEPS! What?!? What did they dream the middle steps were all about???

I think that Japanese IT education is behind for a similar reason to the fact that non-game software, theoretical science, foreign language education, and the insurance and finance industry is behind, whereas the manufacturing industry is ahead: The Japanese identify with their bodies and not their self narratives so things that they can see are animate whereas there is no such thing as “the living word,” (Hegel, Husserl, Gadamer, Christianity) nor the self as the centre of narrative gravity (Dennet). We (logocentric) Westerners have a tendency to think of Animism as a primitive and incorrect belief but at the same time we are sort of ism-animists in that we feel that isms or words are ourselves and alive. This creates a massive cultural difference in the extent to which Japanese and Westerns are ego involved with language and manufactured items, to the extent that each are felt to be an extension of self, dead lumps, or living. I came here because I wondered the name of the computer at the top (a Commodore PET).