HOMEWORK - Education

1. DO YOU THINK JAPAN SHOULD GIVE MORE STUDENTS OPINIONS TO STUDY MORE LANGUAGES (OTHER THAN ENGLISH) IN JUNIOR AND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL?

i do not think so. studying more language should confuse students. there are lots of students who get confused about the difference between English and Japanese. if we give more students opinions to study more languages in junior and senior high school, it would just impose a heavy burden on them. what we add more language classes despite lots of Japanese cannot speak English must have no future.


2. DO YOU AGREE WITH THE WRITER MINAE MIZUMURA ("THE FALL OF JAPANESE IN THE AGE OF ENGLISH") WHEN SHE SAYS THAT, "THE DOMINANCE OF ENGLISH, ESPECIALLY WITH THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNET, THREATENS TO REDUCE ALL OTHER NATIONAL LANGUAGES TO MERE "LOCAL" LANGUAGES THAT ARE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY BY SCHOLARS. THE EDUCATION SYSTEM, SHE ARGUES, DOESN'T SPEND ENOUGH TIME TEACHING JAPANESE." WHY? GIVE AT LEAST REASONS TO SUPPORT YOUR ANSWER.

i agree with her.

ⅰ it is true that the dominance of English is being important more than Japanese by scholars. actually introducing English education into elementary school is going to be start, and lots of children take lessons in conversational English. that says that both the government and parents of children think English should be more important in the age to come.

ⅱ the advance of Internet have given people lot of information about other cultures and they get interested in them especially culture of English-speaking world. then they could yearn for that and be losing interest in their own country, Japan. actually traditional Japanese culture is dying out with the advent of foreign one.

ⅲ in the business sense, people who can speak English especially who have a experience in studying abroad can be given better treatment, and people who cannot speak English cannot promote in some company. i think that is one of the reasons all students in HJU have to take TOEIC classes.

though i agree with the author's opinion "the fall of Japanese in the age of English", i do not worry about this situation. cause people interested in foreign culture will realise how Japanese culture and language is nice during studying and learning other, and a lot of adults seem to realise that what they cannot use their mother language, Japanese correctly is ashamed. then most of them are starting to study correct Japanese again. so i think we could study and use both English: as communication and business skill and Japanese: very proud as the situation demands.