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Old 11-21-2011, 12:03 PM   #47
kewms
Join Date: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,318
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Re: A Primer on Aikido, Aiki and IS

Quote:
Dan Harden wrote: View Post
I've been asked to explain what I mean by the Japanese having a poor teaching model for this. One friend of mine cautioned me that it appears racist.
We have too many Japanese and too many foreigners who spent decades in Japan who say the same thing for it to be racist. There are very well known Japanese teachers who admit it. This is the result of cultural norms. As one fellow-who got his under grad and grad degrees in Japan some decades ago- once opined "In six years of higher education do you know how many questions were asked in a Japanese classroom? Zero!"
I've read of similar experiences elsewhere in Asia, where Western teachers in China, Hong Kong, etc. had enormous difficulty getting students to ask questions or really to participate in their classes at all. Are the Chinese any better at teaching these skills?

Katherine
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