TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/052289/05228900.012

Text File | 1990-09-17 | 4KB | 72 lines

EDUCATION, Page 92

Rising Sun over Sweetwater

A new Japanese school in Tennessee aims to span two cultures


    Sweetwater, Tenn., is so small (pop. 5,300), Southern and
sedate that local teenagers consider it sport to ogle the traffic
on Friday nights. Last week, however, residents had something
unusual to engage their attention: Tennessee Meiji Gakuin, the
first fully accredited Japanese high school in the U.S.

    T.M.G. officials hope that the newly opened school will provide
a way for Japanese families assigned to the U.S. to get their
children an education similar to that offered in Japan. Until now,
Japanese executives have either left their children behind or
supplemented studies in American schools with special Saturday
classes run by the Japanese government and local Japanese
companies.

    Neither alternative has been satisfactory. American schools,
for instance, are often a year or two behind their Japanese
counterparts in critical subjects such as math and science. This
handicaps U.S.-based Japanese students when the time comes to
compete for spots at Kyoto University and other elite institutions
back home.

    Last summer Toyko's Meiji Gakuin University found a solution.
For $2.4 million it bought Tennessee Military Institute, a defunct
boarding school in Sweetwater, and spent $2 million restoring the
property. The site was no accident: a large number of the 7,696
Japanese-affiliated firms in the U.S. are east of the Mississippi
River, and almost 60 are in Tennessee.

    Although only 24 students showed up for T.M.G.'s orientation
session last week, a near capacity enrollment of about 200 in
grades 10 through 12 is expected by 1991. For an annual price tag
of $17,000 (for boarders), Japanese parents can rest assured that
their children will get a typical 35-hour-a-week Japanese high
school curriculum, including five classes each of English, math and
Japanese and four of science and social studies. American students
are welcome, but most of the classes will be taught in Japanese.
Language was still a bit of a problem for T.M.G. tenth-grader
Junich Hasebe, 15, who nonetheless seemed eager to learn about his
host country. "I like America very much," he said in halting
English. "Large country."

    T.M.G. students may be allowed to pierce their ears and wear
trendy hairstyles -- acts of individual expression forbidden in
Japan's lockstep education system. But former Tennessee Governor
Lamar Alexander hopes the Japanese will teach Americans something
too. Speaking at the school's opening ceremonies, he bemoaned U.S.
students' poor test scores and low high school graduation rates.
"The Japanese have been careful to learn from us," he said.
"Perhaps we can learn something from T.M.G."

    Some Sweetwater residents are wary of the newcomers. "A lot of
people still go back to World War II," explains Otha McGaughey,
who left her job at a local restaurant to work as T.M.G.'s
food-service manager. But most seem open to learning about another
culture. Says hosiery-mill owner Jackson Jones: "Both sides are
trying hard to put their best foot forward."

    At the school's inauguration, T.M.G. chancellor Nobumichi
Hiraide fostered goodwill by flawlessly crooning the Tennessee
Waltz. This fall the school hopes to open a cultural-enrichment
center where Sweetwater citizens can view sumi-e (Japanese ink
paintings) alongside examples of American art.

    The future appears bright for schools like T.M.G. In 1990 Keio
University of Tokyo plans to open Keio Gijuki New York Gakuin, a
school for grades 9 through 12, on the campus of Manhattanville
College, north of New York City. The setting will be more
cosmopolitan than bucolic Sweetwater. But for students accustomed
to the bustle of Tokyo, that should pose no problem.