Japanese Students' Digitally Enabled Futures Images: A Synergistic Approach to Developing Academic Competencies

TLDR: Mima et al. as mentioned in this paper pointed out that traditional Japanese education is designed for fact-based, exam-oriented learning using government approved textbooks to facilitate the one-way hierarchical flow of information from knower to non-knower.

Abstract: Conventional Japanese education is designed for fact-based, exam-oriented learning using government approved textbooks to facilitate the one-way hierarchical flow of information from knower to non-knower (Mima, 2003). “Confucian hierarchy runs deep...to the notion of teacher as knower of the right answer and the student a humble imitator of the master” (Drydan, 1998, p.101). This traditional pedagogy is making reform a slow process in an education system which “puts a lot of emphasis on acquiring knowledge through memorization and repetition” (Fujitani, Bhattacharya, & Akahori, 2003, p.34) subsequently accentuating an increasing gap between the subjects taught at school and the activities of real life (Mima, 2003). To be blunt, the public education system in Japan is failing in its basic education (Whittaker, 2001; Craft, 2004). abstract