Rise and shine! Breakfast included rice and seaweed. Come on, I went with the rice. We were off to visit the celebrated Kagoshima University (KU) where we toured the campus and it's historical museum. The University began in 1773 and has grown into one of Japan's largest and most prestigious universities. It is comprised of eight faculties and ten graduate schools with approximately 10,000 undergraduate students and 2,000 graduate students. There are approximately 2,300 faculty and staff members at the university. Interestingly, there are more male than female undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at KU. It is interesting to note that the academic year runs from April 1 to March 31. First semester is April 1 to September 30 and second semester is October 1-March 31.
University President Yoshida Hiroli and other dignitaries met with our delegation. Happily, we had an informal discussion with undergraduate and graduate students as well as college professors. The topic of discussion was educational trends and the teaching profession in general. It was intriguing to learn that Kagoshima University is seeking new ways to encourage practicing teachers to earn a graduate degree in education as well as ways to improve the employment rate of graduating teachers which is only 30 percent.
Following a scrumptious buffet styled lunch (rice again) at our host hotel we made a courtesy visit to Kagoshima Town Hall to hear greetings from the Deputy Mayor of Kagoshima and the Superintendent of Kagoshima City Board of Education. A few interesting facts we learned were that the crime rate is low and the cost of living is much lower than in Tokyo. It was fascinating to learn that teachers are assigned to schools for 5 to 7 year teaching terms and then they are arbitrarily transferred to another school in the Kagoshima prefecture/state. Teachers have no input into their geographical assignments. Every teacher must teach on one of the islands’ schools as well. I learned that only 30 percent of teachers in Japan are female. At the conclusion of the meeting, each official personally gave all 20 educators a business card and wished us a pleasant stay in Kagoshima. As we strolled to our bus, we passed the mailman on a bright red scooter type motorcycle. He wore a uniform, helmet and carried a mailbag. He was traveling very fast. I thought to myself, “I hope my postcards make it home!”
University President Yoshida Hiroli and other dignitaries met with our delegation. Happily, we had an informal discussion with undergraduate and graduate students as well as college professors. The topic of discussion was educational trends and the teaching profession in general. It was intriguing to learn that Kagoshima University is seeking new ways to encourage practicing teachers to earn a graduate degree in education as well as ways to improve the employment rate of graduating teachers which is only 30 percent.
Following a scrumptious buffet styled lunch (rice again) at our host hotel we made a courtesy visit to Kagoshima Town Hall to hear greetings from the Deputy Mayor of Kagoshima and the Superintendent of Kagoshima City Board of Education. A few interesting facts we learned were that the crime rate is low and the cost of living is much lower than in Tokyo. It was fascinating to learn that teachers are assigned to schools for 5 to 7 year teaching terms and then they are arbitrarily transferred to another school in the Kagoshima prefecture/state. Teachers have no input into their geographical assignments. Every teacher must teach on one of the islands’ schools as well. I learned that only 30 percent of teachers in Japan are female. At the conclusion of the meeting, each official personally gave all 20 educators a business card and wished us a pleasant stay in Kagoshima. As we strolled to our bus, we passed the mailman on a bright red scooter type motorcycle. He wore a uniform, helmet and carried a mailbag. He was traveling very fast. I thought to myself, “I hope my postcards make it home!”
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