DOWN HOME: May all children be 'well-rounded'
___The newspaper carried some shocking news last week. Seems the Japanese are deciding to slack off on their educational requirements. There goes the global academic neighborhood.
___For as long as we've had a Knox kid in school (we're almost to the midway point of our 13th year), I've pointed to the Japanese as the Grade A standard of educational discipline, focus, tenacity and achievement.
___The Japanese take school about as seriously as a burglar alarm at 2:30 in the morning. Their children go to school 27 hours a
day, nine days a week, 13 months a year. And in their spare time, they do their homework and practice the violin.
___Consequently, they've earned a reputation for world-class whizzardry in math, science and baroque music.
___This is a good thing, especially for a daddy who values education. I've held nameless Japanese students up as role models for years.
___In the evening, as we'd gather around the dinner table, I'd inquire how Lindsay and Molly fared that day.
___"How was school?" I'd query.
___"Fine," they'd respond.
___"What did you learn today?" I'd ask.
___"Nothin'," they'd reply.
___"Well, maybe we should become missionaries to Japan," I'd suggest. "Do you suppose those Japanese children come home from school and tell their daddy-sans they didn't learn anything that day? That's why half the stuff Americans own has names like 'Sony,' 'Sanyo,' 'Toyota,' 'Suzuki' and 'Yamaha.' If American kids don't learn stuff every day, they better at least learn to say, 'Yes, sir' and 'Yes, ma'am' in Japanese, 'cause that's who they'll be working for someday."
___This barrage wouldn't faze Lindsay and Molly, of course.
___"Yeah, but what about the suicide rate of Japanese children?" they'd retort. "It's the highest in the world, because the pressure of school's so great on the kids there."
___They always threw that fact back at me.
___They had a point. And the Japanese apparently get the point. So, now they're thinking about cutting back to something we'd call a "normal" school year and class hours. Before you know it, they'll be playing football and trading their cellos for trombones.
___Which reminds me of my own daddy's advice. "Son," he'd say, "I want you to do your best and make good grades. But more than that, I want you to be well-rounded."
___"Well-rounded" meant working hard on academics, but also participating in sports and music. And for sure, it meant church and devotions and Bible study and prayer.
___Come to think of it, I'd rather have well-rounded children than world-class math whizzes who don't know a friend from a fraction.
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