่thou an english-language cram-school course in japan is expensive, hundreds of courses opened recently to prepare students who aim to study in english speaking countries.
the japanese education environment. that's why i want to go to Yele university, said one high-school student.
while many families across Asia send their children abroad for an English-language education, japan Lages behind India, china, and south Korea in sending students to us universities, according to the US institute of international education. "thhis new wave of students is worried thet Japenese-only education will leave them ill prepared in an increasingly globalised world," said one director of a cram school.
In an attempt to keep students in Japanese universities, some claim that there are many Japenese colleges that offer education as good as that of foreign universities, or better.
"Japenese universities are under pressure to strengthen education in English, an international language in the academic world," said Hideo Kageyama, professor of education at Ritsumekan universities in kyoto. "It's also difficult for Japenese universities to attract smart students from Asian countries such as china and India. Japan should discuss how to improve education whit the view of competing with other contries on the educational front," he added.
Cultural experts worry about the rush for a western education. Novelist Minae Mizumura, who recently published her essays "when the Japanese Language Goes Extinct," wrote that "An edcation in English without a national strategy is recipe for the decline of Japenese language."
"If everyone tries to speak English, the richness of japenese could be reduced to local language in which no intellectual conversation take place," she added.
However, Yukio Otsu, alimguistics professor at keio Univer, said "it's natural to choose a university in an English-speaking country if a top school of your specialized field happens to be there; and one's native language doesn't disappear that easily."