Kenya Kenya 2 Kenya 3 The Dem. My Japanese husband was working all the time so he could not teach Tommy even when he was in elementary school. So, right from the beginning, we were just looked upon as losers in the public school system,'' she says. But not all is lost for Tommy and many others who do not seem to fit into conventional learning institutions.
Tests are the basis for judging a child's intelligence.
Children who cannot cope are just ignored by the teachers,'' says Elizabeth. Tommy is now enrolled in a private ''free school'' which provides a more liberal learning environment, but at the same time follows a curriculum that is approved by education authorities. Twenty years ago, a child like Tommy, would either have had to give up on a higher education or just force himself to accept the public school system by studying harder. Today Japanese children have a choice and that's a good reform,'' says Prof Naohiro Higuchi, a curriculum specialist at Rissho University. Last year saw the debut of the Japan Free School Association, an organisation set up to coordinate the rapidly growing number of ''free'' schools, so called because of their non-rigid standards.