All the time I was growing up, there were three big fears propagated through the ether:

1)      The commies were going to blow us all up.

2)      The commies were going to come in and take over and take away our Bibles.

3)      The Japanese were going to buy us and make us learn Japanese and eat squid (which isn’t as bad as it sounds, actually).

The first two, I’ve talked a fair amount about.  That last one, not so much.  But maybe some of you remember how the Japanese were kicking our butts at Math and Science and somehow they all seemed to learn how to speak English, and they were buying up everything in sight, and the stuff they built seemed to work better and last longer than the stuff we built.

Just about everything we did, we had to first talk about how the Japanese did it better and how we could catch up to them.

I know this guy who’s in Japan teaching English.  Meet Trevor.  He used to be Adventure Boy’s tuba tutor before he left us to go to Japan.  He’s a darned fine teacher, and I’m sure those English students are fortunate to have him work with them.  He might have some hints as to why the Japanese seem to do better than us at Math, anyway.

Lessee, is it because they talk about Jesus in the classroom?  No.  Is it because they say the pledge of allegiance every day?  No, that’s not it.  Is it because they have a small, efficient National Government that is only for defense of the country, and doesn’t waste money on national education standards and issues?  Nope again.

I don’t know for sure, but these things could be factors:

1)      They have a society where failure is an unacceptable option. To the extent that many people resort to suicide as a way of dealing with the shame and stigma of failure.  In our society, you can fail at everything you do, and still become president for two consecutive terms.

2)      They only let the best students get into highschool, and the competition is very fierce, and the cost of failure (as I think we’ve mentioned) is very high.  Our high schools educate everyone who is simply willing to show up.

3)      They have a society that simply requires a high level of conformity and rigidity.  "Otaku" are bullied and browbeaten into conforming or killing themselves to escape the shame.  Our public schools require that student’s individual needs and challenges be addressed so that we can get the best performance possible out of each and every person, and require schools to deal with bullying.

4)      Many of their best high schools (according to this article, as many as 500 schools) cheat by skimping on other areas of instruction, awarding credits and grades for classes that are not even offered in order to spend more time on the areas that are evaluated in College entrance exams (Math, Japanese, and English).  Our schools have not yet developed “teaching to the test and neglecting everything else” to the fullest.  But I suppose that the Japanese schools are better at that because they are competitive.  “Free Market” forces are in full swing, and the parents can take their money and their student’s enrollment to whatever school best plays a manipulative and deceptive game to the best advantage.

     So, all you people out there who want vouchers from the government and actually think that will get you some power in the market-place; you are probably right – IF:

1)      The rich still couldn’t out-bid you even with your paltry voucher scheme, effectively securing the very best schools and the future of their de-facto aristocracy for their children.

2)      Your kid doesn’t crack under the pressure to remain competitive in the best school he or she DOES manage to get into on his/her merits, and kill him/her self.

3)      The competitive, for profit school that you send your kid to doesn’t get caught committing some fraud upon you (hey, in a libertarian utopia, its buyer beware, sweet-cheeks – the government has no power to protect you from fraud).

Now, I’m a competitive person, and I realize that a certain level of competition can bring out the best efforts of most people.  But I think we’ve seen, time and time again how high-stakes, free-market, all-or-nothing competition brings out cheating, destructive and immoral behavior.

Personally, I vote for trying to find a system where all students have an equal opportunity to show their admittedly unequal abilities and motivation.  Where the playing field, not the students, are leveled so that ability and motivation to perform are what’s measured – rather than the ability to manipulate the game.