Discussion Class

Discussion Class Topics

- Friday the 22nd of August -

(12pm)

- The new China baby policy -

Recently, the Chinese government announced plans to offer new parents $1500 in order to encourage people to have more babies.
This is an interesting change of direction from a country that not long ago had a 1 child only policy in order to reduce the population size. Now they are actively looking to boost the population.

Is this new policy a good idea? Would something like this work in Japan? Do cash payments actually encourage people to have more babies?

Link 1

Link 2

Let's discuss this!

- Friday the 22nd of August -

(8pm)

- Japan's election results: Nothing ever changes? -

In the lead up to the recent elections in Japan, the media went into a frenzy claiming that it was super important and that things would change based on the results of this election. Now, a few weeks/a month later, what has actually changed? Of course, some politicians have changed, but in terms of policy and daily life, what has changed? Are you optimistic about the election results? What about the direction that politics is heading in Japan?

Link 1

Link 2

Let's discuss this!

- Sunday the 24th of August -

(11am)

- Should Japanese college admissions become more holistic? -

In Japan many colleges accept students based on how well they do on the entrance examination. Sometimes this exam is localized to the school, and sometimes it is a national exam. This is in juxtaposition to the US where they take a so-called "holistic approach". By holistic they mean that the schools look at other aspects besides standardized test scores such as extracurricular actives and personal essays when determining admission. This leads to a lot of randomness in whether someone can get into a certain school, but many claim that it allows people the opportunity to show merits which are not reflected in their GPA.

What do you think? Could the Japanese system learn anything from this more holistic approach, or would switching make things unfair? Is there a middle path? Should it depend on the college?

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Let's discuss this!