2013.7.29—The topic for today’s lecture was education, and it was delivered by Showa’s own Professor Sim.
The lecture first began by detailing the structure of the Japanese education system. Then the focus switched to gender — charts illustrated Japan’s drastic gender equality gap compared with other countries, particularly when it comes to leadership positions. For example, schools with female principals are very rare, as are PTAs run by women in spite of the fact that the members are mostly female. In light of this, students were then asked to break into groups and discuss what the role of women’s universities is, as well as whether they solve or contribute to gender disparity. Students appreciated the great level of detail and evidence in Professor Sim’s presentation, which included many graphs and statistics to illustrate his points.
The afternoon activity was a school visit to Showa Junior and Senior High School, which is located on campus. Students were given a tour of the school by students, participated in calligraphy, and watched a video that students made about their school.
Afterwards, students relaxed and ate snacks together, teaching each other games, origami, and other fun things.
