According to the results of the National Achievement Tests 2018 publicized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) on Monday, July 30, Japan’s elementary and junior high school students have strong basic academic skills but struggle to solve complex questions. The problem is what those "complex questions" are like.
In one Japanese test, for example, participant pupils were supposed to pick up 2 pieces of information from the text to write a "correct" answer. The 2 pieces of information are scattered in the text, divided off by irrelevant paragraphs. The "complex" question is, I have to say, designed so that about 50% of participant pupils are to be tricked into writing an "incorrect" answer with only one piece of information. Students are said to continue to have difficulty solving complex problems using their basic knowledge of Japanese. Of course, it is very important for students not to fall for a fraud in their future. However, is that what MEXT wants to teach children in the National Achievement Tests?
