More important than how schools look is how educators look at the children who enter the schools each day and how educators see their roles in those children's lives.
Kids lead increasingly rigid lives.
And every step of the way they are told what to do by adults. The U. of I. educator calls for a holistic approach that allows students to develop deeper relationships with teachers and balances academic studies with sports and club activities. Japan's public elementary schools are an example of this approach. In fact, the opposite is true. There is a huge emphasis on physical education, especially in elementary schools.