4-5 Comprehension of Classroom Instruction (Q. 11)

[Comprehending Classroom Instruction]

		100%	75%	50%	25%	less 10%
Nihombashi H	98	0	21	41	24	15
Seitoku Girl’s H	248	2	23	46	21	9
Tokyo Denki U	140	1	25	43	23	8
Japan Total	540	1	24	44	21	10
Northwestern H	76	20	64	12	3	1
Iowa City H	47	40	47	6	4	2
Macon St U	267	20	64	12	4	0
US Total	418	22	61	12	4	1

We take it for granted that all classroom instruction needs to be fully understood by the students, and that teachers are supposed to make every possible effort to ensure that their lessons are understandable to the students. However, the reality in Japan is that the school curriculum is geared for the students to cope better with the entrance examination, and many times how well the students are able to digest the curriculum is a totally different story. Even at the college level, these problems are far from being solved. Our college students are not receiving what they are supposed to be learning under the present system, and they are not digesting the college curriculum either.
This survey clearly reveals Japanese and American educational merits and defects. The curriculum prepared by our schools looks so good. Our students are supposed to be learning many difficult subjects. But we hardly question if the learners are comprehending what they have been provided with. The Japanese students are left behind from the whole scene. In this research, only one quarter of Japanese students respond that they can comprehend three quarters of classroom instruction. Pitifully, three out of four students admit they understand less than half of their classroom instruction. This disastrous situation cannot be overlooked.
In Japan, many subscribe to the myth that classroom instruction is meant to be difficult; therefore, students are expected to endure the lesson, sitting quietly even if they do not comprehend what they are listening to. Instead of making an effort to understand the lesson, they devote their time to rote memorization simply to make better scores. This is not a living knowledge that will last, rather the information is immediately forgotten after the exams. Such infertile efforts are continuously being made, and they remain the backbone of our school milieu.
The data reflecting American students demonstrate completely different results. It is such a contrast to see 83% of the students say they comprehend more than three fourths of the classroom instruction in the US. Forty percent of the students at I High School located in a campus town respond that they can understand one hundred percent of the lessons. The Japanese reality is that fewer than 1% of the students respond they can fully understand the classroom instructions.

[What percentage of classroom instruction do you think you usually comprehend?]

The previous study included a question to teachers, asking "How much do you think your students understand your lesson?" In the US, more than 80% of the teachers responded that their students comprehend more than 80% of their lesson, while less than half of the Japanese teachers admitted that their students understand more than 50% of their lesson. In the US, teachers make an assumption that their lessons are to be understood, but this is not necessarily the case in Japan. School, curriculum, and classroom instruction are viewed differently by the two countries, and the view has created unique school cultures.
Accordingly, the difference in teaching stance and tokenism in the curriculum has brought about decisive distinctions in what education can do to students. How can we tackle educational issues when the kind of school education we can offer is a program that can be comprehended and digested by 10% of the students? It is time when we seriously consider how school should function to meet societal needs.