Japan & higher education Essay

Many parents in Japan firmly believe that higher education will ensure better positions, higher incomes, and superior life-styles for their children. Some even go into debt, spending over 60 million yen ($480,000, U. S. ) to put a child through the best private schools and universities. Do they reap the expected dividends? â€Å"In reality . . . the belief no longer holds true,† says the Mainichi Daily News. â€Å"There are not enough privileged positions to accept them,† and many have had to accept corporate positions formerly filled by high school graduates. While average lifetime earnings were higher for university graduates—206. 55 million yen ($1,650,000, U. S. ) as opposed to 192. 93 million yen ($1,540,000, U. S. ) for high school graduate office workers—â€Å"Japanese parents may realize some day that the gaps are too small to merit a serious burden on their household economy,† says the paper. Most of the parents around the world, or even mature individuals at that see education as a stepping stone towards a better future for all. Moreover, attaining a higher level of learning is believed to ensure the said individuals of better lives in the future as they are given the exact challenges that they are to face in the actual market that they are to serve after they have attended their scholastic appointments. This is the reason why the objectives of higher education is further focused in the way that the curriculum of the education actually pursues the concerns and the entities of the national progress of the countries around the world. It is through this that the systems of higher education in terms of aiding the society with the knowledge that they are due of receiving from the institutions. To prove this fact the following statements have been made by the â€Å"article on the changes on tertiary education†: â€Å"General objectives of higher education are sustainable national development optimizing and the production of new knowledge. † (http://www. see-educoop. net/education_in/pdf/bela_knjiga-09-cro-enl-t02. pdf) From this particular statement, it is noticeably obvious that the aims of higher education are focused on implying a much better possibility for national progress. This is also the primary reason why the enhancement of the process is strongly initiated through its integration within the systems of technological advancements such as synchronous learning and other online based learning systems as per offered to several adult learners who have lesser time that could be spent on going to school and taking up formal physical classes. The said innovative design of education actually makes it possible for a huge number of higher education learners to grasp their lessons through online classes that are held virtually through the internet connections that the institutions have towards their students. How is this process primarily applied? Virtual schools as well as virtual training programs work in a way that a person or a student in that matter who is a member of a virtual; program is given his or her own security number, which serves as a security access to the virtual class. Then, the virtual lessons could already be presented to that member in a virtual class setting. The instruction in such classes usually occurs between a panel or a group of instructors interacting with at a maximum number of 200 students around the globe simultaneously. (Robins, 2003, p 6) The students are aided with the knowledge they need to understand their lessons better with the use of online libraries, electronic sources and both visual and audio materials used for better explanation of the subject matter being tackled (Robins, 2003, p 8). â€Å"Virtual learning started in the year 1996, when Virtual High School had been first established in Canada. The said virtual school offered two complete courses on Biology and Canadian literature. The said school grew into becoming groups of interconnected classes and became among the pioneer providers of virtual education† (Carchidi, 2001, p 21). The challenge of offering online courses and assisting students online proved to be a challenge for these pioneers but they strived and thus were able to survive up until the present time. Today they are known to have been hosting at least a thousand students from all over the globe and assisting these people attain their goals of both gaining more knowledge and finishing a degree at their own convenience (Preston, 2004, p 22). Virtual learning is closely related to the systems used by home schooling only that this time instructors are able to completely communicate with their students through the Internet. Not to mention the high tech presentation of information through the integration of technological presentations along with the presentation of the subject matter, and the convenience brought about by the internet connection to the students and the easier understanding brought about by the innovations in this form of education really brings major changes in the modern learning process. Today, this form of learning had also been integrated in public schools in the United States. This had been designed to assist especially students who have a hard time learning their subjects through simple classroom presentations. In this case, a student is asked to sit in front of the computer and be connected to an instructor through the Internet and is thus assisted using media presentations. Other high-tech materials used for the said educational system are Adobe products and articles, Jasc Products, as well as Macromedia. (Preston, 2004, p 24) Aside from this, other institutions also include Corel Products as a cheaper version of the ones mentioned earlier. In this way, learning becomes easier, not to mention that the student could access these institutional provisions completely free of charge. When it comes to the pricing and location of the virtual classes, at times these classes are free or if not, the parents or the students at that needs to pay a minimal amount of money to obtain certain services. Grading and student evaluation processes are still done by the instructors with the help of electronic systems within the computer programs. In this way, the students are given assistance in the areas of learning they specially need help with. Yes, in this way, education is provided with the highest level of effectiveness. Along with this, seeing that online learning had been exceptionally effective for students, several business companies began to see the benefits of the said learning program (Rothwell, 2006, p 2). In this regard, several companies around the globe opted to avail the benefits of online training, having been able to learn through the Internet without spending so much for the venue, the materials and other food expenses compared to that of traditional training methods. Surely, business companies mostly benefit from this way of training. Indeed, although virtual training gives the most beneficial way of learning for both the companies and the employees as well, it could not be denied that these changes taken by business organizations post several challenges for the company itself. In this regard, it is not only the employees who need to be trained but the administrators as well. This issue then opens the questions regarding the challenges given by adult learning difficulties as well as usage of technology for learning shall be a matter of concern for the organization. The main challenges of online learning programs is the fact that training people using technology requires a lot of skills on the part of the facilitators and the instructors. In this regard, several writers placed some patterns, which new facilitators could use to be able to come up with effective and efficient learning programs provided through the Internet.