Entrance exam season blues
(From The Japan Times Feb. 10 issue)

入学試験について考える

Entrance exam season is here again. All over the country, students hoping to enter universities are showing their ID cards, sitting down at desks and answering question after question. The hope and anxiety of many young people and their families, not to mention that of their teachers and principals, is palpable throughout the country. The exam results determine the direction of people's entire lives.

That said, the exam system has been changing, and generally in positive directions. Significant steps taken in recent years are beginning to reform this pivotal educational dilemma. As the total number of students has dropped ― and many simply refuse to suffer through a system they find meaningless ― universities have had to respond with changes of their own.

Already, most schools offer more than one route into their classrooms. Students can now choose between AO (admissions office) exams, school recommendations, and self-recommendations with essays and interviews. The exam schedules have been loosened as well, making it somewhat easier to try again after failing one exam. Individual departments have obtained more leeway to create distinctive types of exam. The domineering system of the past has become somewhat flexible and slightly more human.

However, the power of the entrance exams to determine educational priorities has not diminished. High schools and cram schools still teach with tests in mind, and probably always will. As a result, the exam has the power to spur improvements in education faster than any government initiative.

When the exams change, high schools and cram schools have to immediately modify their methods to best help students prepare. By creating exams based not on rote memorization but instead on higher order thinking, problem-solving skills and written expression, they can powerfully affect how, and why, students cram for their exams.

This may not reduce the overall level of anxiety, but at least it will encourage longer-lasting values than test-taking tricks.

入学試験のシーズンだが、入試のシステムは、一般に良い方向に変わってきている。大学志願者が減少し、生徒が無意味な受験勉強を避けたがる現状で、大学は入試システムを変更せざるを得なくなった。一般入試を受けない大学志願者は、AO入試、学校長の推薦、または自己推薦（論文と面接も含む）の道を選ぶことができる。また、柔軟な入試のスケジュールの導入で、一度入試に失敗しても再挑戦ができるようになった。各学部は、独自の入試を実施することもできる。

しかし今も、入試は教育の優先度に大きく影響している。高校も、学習塾も入試を念頭において授業を行っており、それは変わることはあるまい。

入試システムが変われば、高校や学習塾は、入試準備を進める方法を改めねばならない。丸暗記でなく、思考力、問題解決力、文章表現力に重点を置くようになれば、受験勉強の改革になる。

そうすることによって、学生は受験技術よりも永続する能力を養うことができるだろう。