教育問題について話してみよう

Talking about educational issues
あなたは外国人の友人と日本の教育問題について話しています。
「日本はすでに良い教育制度をさらに伸ばそうとしているの?」と聞かれました。日本の教育制度の現状と目指すべき姿について議論してみましょう。
I heard that Japan is seriously thinking about improving its already good educational system.
 
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I heard that Japan is seriously thinking about improving its already good educational system.

The Ministry of Education has been trying to change educational system. That's for sure. However, I'm absolutely positive that university education is far worse now that it was 20 years ago. I graduated from two universities, one 20 years ago and the other 3 years ago. Thus, I had a first-hand experience to compare the two systems. The Ministry of Education may mean well, but they are just too incompetent to introduce new education system.

自然な表現

The Ministry of Education has been trying to change the educational system. That's for sure. However, I'm absolutely positive that university education is far worse now than it was 20 years ago. I graduated from two universities, one 20 years ago and the other 3 years ago. Thus, I had a first-hand experience comparing the two systems. The Ministry of Education may mean well, but they are just too incompetent to introduce a new education system.

1. Use the article "the" when referring to something specific or familiar.
2. Use the conjunction "than" to introduce the second element in a comparison.
3. The to-infinitive verb form does not match the rest of the sentence. Consider changing the verb form to its present participle form.
4. Alternatively, you can use the contraction "they're" which is short for "they are" in this context.
5. Use the article "a" when referring to something nonspecific or something that has not been mentioned before.
That's interesting. Can you give me some examples of what has changed for the worse in university education over the past 20 years? And what kind of changes do you think should be made to improve the system?

"Active learning" is encouraged in university education now. Namely, students are expected to get actively involved in the learning process instead of just listening to lectures passively. The idea is probably good. However, what professors and lecturers often do in reality is dividing students into several groups, and making each group give a 5-to-10-minute presentation on a textbook. Students usually don't have enough knowledge to understand the textbook. Therefore, their presentations tend to contain many misunderstandings, which are often left uncorrected because classroom time management is done poorly, and students end up not getting any feedback.

自然な表現

"Active learning" is encouraged in university education now. Namely, students are expected to get actively involved in the learning process instead of just listening to lectures passively. The idea is probably good. However, what professors and lecturers often do in reality is divide students into several groups   and make each group give a 5-to-10-minute presentation on a textbook. Students usually don't have enough knowledge to understand    textbooks. Therefore, their presentations tend to contain many misunderstandings, which are often left uncorrected because classroom time management is done poorly, and students end up not getting any feedback.

1. The present participle verb form "dividing" does not match the rest of the sentence. Consider changing the verb form to its base form.
2. The comma appears to be incorrectly used in this context. Consider removing it.
3. The present participle verb form "making" does not match the rest of the sentence. Consider changing the verb form to its base form.
4. The article "the" appears to be incorrectly used in this context. Consider removing it.
5. Use plural form when referring to things in general.
That sounds frustrating. It seems like the implementation of active learning could be improved to better benefit the students. Do you think there are any other changes that could be made to improve university education in Japan?

There is a simple and effective way of improving university education, which is subsidising good universities more. By doing so, good universities can hire more people, and classroom sizes can be smaller. Japan is the OECD country that spends the least on education. Active learning doesn't work when it's carried out in a class of 50 students. I don't see how one lecturer helps every 50 student to actively engage in their class.

自然な表現

There is a simple and effective way of improving university education, which is subsidising good universities more. By doing so, good universities can hire more people, and classroom sizes can be smaller. Japan is the OECD country that spends the least on education. Active learning doesn't work when it's carried out in a class of 50 students. I don't see how one lecturer can help every student in a class of 50 to actively engage in their class.

1. Alternatively, you can use the contraction "there's" which is short for "there is" in this context.
2. Use the modal verb "can" to express ability.
3. When used with a modal verb such as "should", "will", "must", etc, a verb must be in its base form. Consider using the base form of the verb in this context.
4. Consider using this expression to clearly express your point and to improve the fluency of the sentence.
I agree with you that smaller class sizes could lead to more effective active learning. It's interesting to hear about the lack of funding for education in Japan compared to other OECD countries. Do you think there is a way to increase funding for education in Japan, and if so, how?

Spend less on needless healthcare fields. I certainly don't say health care is unnecessary, but many redundant practices are going on in this country. For example, giving medication to a person whose systolic blood pressure is 140mmHg is completely unnecessary unless she is pregnant. Trillions of yen is wasted on tablets and pills subscribed for senior citizens. They don't even take those meds anyway. This medical system only benefits doctors in small clinics, who constitute one of the most powerful lobbying groups.

自然な表現

Spend less on needless healthcare fields. I certainly don't say health care is unnecessary, but many redundant practices are going on in this country. For example, giving medication to a person whose systolic blood pressure is 140mmHg is completely unnecessary unless she is pregnant. Trillions of yen are wasted on tablets and pills subscribed for senior citizens. They don't even take those meds anyway. This medical system only benefits doctors in small clinics, which constitute one of the most powerful lobbying groups.

1. Alternatively, you can use the contraction "she's" which is short for "she is" in this context.
2. The verb form "is" does not match the subject "Trillions". Consider changing the verb form for subject-verb agreement.
3. Use the pronoun "which" to add extra information to a previous clause, in writing usually after a comma.
That's an interesting perspective. It's true that healthcare can be a big expense, but it's also important to make sure that people have access to the care they need. It seems like there are a lot of complex issues at play when it comes to improving education and healthcare in Japan.

I think issues are simple. The government should spend taxpayers' money on what they actually need. There are just groups with vested interests who want to make simple issues intentionally complicated.

自然な表現

I think the issues are simple. The government should spend taxpayers' money on what they actually need. There are just groups with vested interests who want to make simple issues intentionally complicated.

1. Use the article "the" when referring to something specific or familiar.
2. Great job! Here's an alternative word you can use in this context. "really"
  • rote(機械的手順(の))
  • regimented(厳格に管理された)
  • reform(改革、革新)
  • restructure(再構築する、改革する、~の構造を改革する)
  • extracurricular((学校の)カリキュラム外の)
  • compulsory(義務的な、強制的な、必修の)
  • controversy(論争、論議)
  • literacy(読み書きの[識字]能力)
  • curriculum(カリキュラム、教育課程、履修過程)
  • international(国際的な、国家間の、海外の)
  • Can Japan afford to do without a major reform of its educational system?(日本は教育システムの改革に着手せずにやっていけますか?)
  • One of the more common criticisms of education in Japan is that it overemphasizes regimentation and rote memorization.(日本での教育に関するよくある批判のひとつは、厳格な組織化と丸暗記です。)
  • Some people are calling for schools to loosen their standards due to the increasing stress level among students.(生徒のストレスが増えるため、学校の基準を緩めるように学校に求める人もいる。)
  • Japan has one of the longest schools days in the world, which has its advantages and disadvantages.(日本は世界で最も学校の日数が長い国のひとつであり、それにはメリットとデメリットがあります。)
  • Despite its flaws, Japan's schools arguably produce the most disciplined students in the world.(その欠陥に関わらず、日本の学校はほぼ間違いなく世界で最も厳しくしつけられた学生を生み出している。)
  • The curriculum in Japan's schools are highly supervised and controlled by the government, which sometimes leads to controversy.(日本の学校のカリキュラムは、政府によって高度に監督・管理されており、それが時に論争を引き起こすこともあります。)
  • Japan has one of the world's best educated population with an almost zero illiteracy rate.(日本は非識字率がほとんどゼロという世界でも最高の教育水準を有する。)
  • Entrance exams play a far greater role in Japan than in most other countries.(入学試験は、他の国と比べて日本ではかなりの重要な役割を果たしている。)
  • There is a strong push to hire more native speakers as English teachers in Japan's schools.(日本の学校で英語講師としてもっとネイティブスピーカーを雇えという強い意見がある。)
  • Japan is taking concrete steps to improve English instruction in its schools.(日本は学校英語指導の向上のために建設的な手段を取っているところです。)

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