Largely unregulated, capable of adaptive moves,
subject to innovation, the USA is potentially a better network
for educational possibilities.
What caused the criticism in these pages of evaluation is the
indecisiveness that the USA shows-the program for school reform
for the year 2000 is an example of this attitude-and the
difficulty it has in realizing the price of the compromise it
keeps supporting. Once Japanese businesses started buying
American campuses, the price of the compromise became clear.
Universities in the USA were saved from bankruptcy. Japanese
schools, whose structured programs and lack of understanding of
the new pragmatics made for headlines, were able to evade their
own rigid system of education, reputed for being late in
acknowledging the dynamics of change. Abruptly, the
Americanization of world education-study driven by
multiple-choice tests with a dualistic structure-was
short-changed by a Japanization movement. But in the closer
look suggested above, it is evident that the Japanese are
extricating themselves from drastic literacy requirements that
end up hampering necessary accommodations in the traditional
Japanese system of values. Although caution is called for,
especially in approaching a subject foreign to our direct
experience and understanding, the trend expressed is telling in
its many consequences.
What about alternatives?
A legitimate question to be expected from any sensible reader
refers to alternatives.
Pages:
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451