gummi candies

Although it has artificial color and looks kind of unhealthy, gummi candy is really good:p This crave for gummi candy started with Haribo Mini Gold-Bears. Swedish Fish was equally good. Gumi bear and Worms has no sour stuff on it and perhaps the most healthy of all. Today, my conquest is Trolli.

Basically, I am trying different kinds of gummi candies. Each pack is a little too much to finish in a day or two. It is a great deal because you pay only less than a dollar and it lasts for some time. I realize I prefer ones with less sugar and little sour stuff. It is easy to compare nutrition facts are sugar, cabohydrate, sodium and calories. Hmm, I know I should be eating dried fruits or something, but I can't help it.

English

English is my second language. I’ve spent total of two years and four months so far in US and I have been trying to improve my language skill daily.

They almost always say “you have different accent from people around here.” Indeed, English is my second language with all my formal education in Japan except for high school diploma and MBA.

Some assume that I grew up in Canada or Australia, but it is totally WRONG! I can not answer question about neither one of countries as I have never been there.

Lately, my American friends tell me that I should correct my accent so that I sound like one of them. I learned English from a lady from North Carolina when I was a child and I was an exchange student in California for a year when I was in high school. Additionally, my teachers were all British while I was in school. Now, I find it not an easy task to assimilate to East Coast English.

When I explain my English educational background, people nod and say “I see. But you are almost there.” Thanks to graduate school work, my writing and reading has improved dramatically, but correction of accent is a little difficut as my brain is not flexible any more. But I am working on it.

Poor Orange Cone

I was wondering why there are so many orange cones everywhere in Downtown Baltimore. It turns out that there is a project called “Operation Orange Cone.” Basically, the city is trying to resurface roads. It is a cute logo and it looks harmless, however people kick it down as orange cone prevents drivers from parking. Poor Mr. Orange Cone:p

Academic Achievement

Recent news in Japan allege declining trend of academic achievement in elementary to middle school students compared to other nations. Most analysis conclude “education with latitude” as the root cause. Japanese education attempted to let students relax and set them free from cramming approach.

Trigger of this discussion is disappointing Japan’s result at 6th place in an international assessment; Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), carried out by OECD. The result suggests Japanese students ability to apply fundamental mathematics to science. BTW, USA is around #20.

Reading the full report, population sampling method and population segment needs more description to illustrate validity of study. (Perhaps the report intentionally worked around with it due to insufficient data.) Statistical analysis tells a wrong story sometimes if it is not used correctly; A simple example is TOEFL. Japanese students have considerably low TOEFL score globally as virtually everyone take TOEFL in Japan, where students from less developed nations take TOEFL for purpose. Therefore, a hypothesis that Japanese students have lower English ability, is subject to rejection. I can confidently say that my former classmates in Japan have equal or higher English application ability compared to fellow international students at Johns Hopkins.

However, PISA’s assessment tells some significant story setting aside some insufficient methodologies. Why lower the standard of achievement and discourage competition at school? - It makes no sense.

Personally, I am in the age group which had to go to school on Saturdays, but now Japanese students enjoy full 2 day weekends just like in America. I liked Saturdays because that was the day when I can go hang out with friends after school. Especially when I was in high school, I enjoyed going to record shops and go to book store to read books which I could not afford with allowances. Saturday was a day to cultivate intellectual curiosity. I don’t know how my Saturday was if it was off every week. Perhaps I played sports more. It is starting to sound like it is better to go to school on Saturday. But it is not my intention.

What is the magnitude of “education with latitude” that continued for a decade? My impression is that this policy just widens educational divide; meaning children from wealthier family can attend cram school on Saturdays and children from poor family just stay home and play. Of course, distribution of score will widen. From high end, high score students don’t waste time in low quality education in public school and focus on cram school material to score even higher. From low end, low score students don’t get enough opportunity to improve their score.

Perhaps we should all learn from Finland, the country always on #1 in the ranking. Project Finland.