The high-pressure entrance exam traditions should be changed
(From The Japan Times Jan. 25 issue)

入試改革の必要性

This coldest time of the year brings the most difficult time of the year for students and parents — entrance exam season. The two-day unified college entrance exams for national and municipal universities ended Jan. 18. Over a half a million young people took the unified exams, with even more taking private university exams in the following weeks.

While some innovations in this massive social undertaking have been introduced, the system remains largely unchanged. That is unfortunate since the entrance exam is at the heart of many ongoing education problems.

To take just one, last year had the highest sick leave rate ever for elementary, junior high and high school teachers. Nearly 8,000 teachers took leave, with over 60 percent citing psychological problems as the reason. Stress, overwork and parental complaints are the main culprits, but they stem from the overall pressure to get as many students as possible to simply pass entrance exams, regardless of what they actually learn.

That pressure is likely to increase as economic conditions worsen, putting even greater pressure on parents, teachers and students. Even though the total number of students is decreasing, which should theoretically ease acceptance rates overall, the competition has steadily increased at top universities. Every fall, ever more parents rush to submit applications for their children at "other best" schools, followed by various tests and interviews, and the vicious cycle continues.

Instead of letting the same old testing pressures continue to drive the education system, changes are needed. This economic recession might be a good chance, or the last chance, to rethink the high-pressure status quo and its negative effects. De-emphasizing entrance exams will allow education at all levels to refocus on more substantial and active learning. Reconsidering the very basis of all education can help develop the critical thinking and creative potential needed in the post-recession age.

The entrance exam has long been one of the most decisive and powerful experiences in young people's emotional and psychological lives. Now is the time to question and reconfigure those long-cherished exam traditions in order to institute a better system all around. Sometimes it takes a crisis to educate people.

学生と親に最も厳しい入試の季節となった。今年は約50万人が大学入試センター試験を受験、さらに多くが私大の一般入試を受けている。

入試が教育の諸問題の中心にあることを考えれば、その制度に変化がないのは残念だ。

昨年の小中高教師の病気休暇は過去最高の8000人で、6割以上が心理的要因を挙げている。ストレス、過労、保護者からの苦情が主な原因だが、入試合格率を上げる圧力がそこに根ざす。

不況は、ストレスの多い現状とその悪影響を見直す良い機会となるかもしれない。本質的で積極的な学びに目を向けることで、批判的な考え方や想像力を伸ばすことができる。今こそ、若者の心に多大な影響をもたらす入試を見直し、よりよい制度を設けるときだ。人が考えを改めるには危機が必要なときもある。