Education and School

How do you think Japanese education compares with the education in other countries?
How do literacy rates compare? What percentage of the population goes to college? graduates?
What is the purpose of education?
Who makes decisions about education? What kinds of decisions?
What is the role of the Ministry of Education? the PTA? Are there other groups which are involved in decisions about education?
What do you know about the history of education?
What different kinds of education are there?
Are there different kinds of intelligence? knowledge?
What do you think the difference between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge might be?
Have you ever watched educational TV? When? What programs? What did you study?
Have you ever taken a correspondence course?

How do elementary school, junior high, high school, and college differ? Are the subjects that you study different? the way you study? the atmosphere?
How many students were there in your schools? in your grade? in your classes?
What subjects are difficult? easy? interesting? boring?
Have you learned anything useful in school? What?

Have you ever thought about quitting school? Why? What happened?
Do you know of any students who stopped attending elementary school? junior high? high school?
When should students be able to leave school?

Study Habits and Exams
Do you pay close attention in class? speak up? ask questions?
Do you always attend class? do your homework?
How much time did you spend studying outside of class in elementary school? in junior high? in high school? Where?
How long can you concentrate on your studies before you need a break?
How did you study for quizzes and exams in high school? in junior high? What is the best way to study?
Have you memorized anything for school? What? How? Was it useful? How long did you remember it?

How many schools have you applied to? When?
What documents did you have to submit with your application?
Did you take any exams? have an interview?
How long did you study for the exams? How did you study? Did you find out your score? Was there a passing score? What was it?
Did you prepare for the interviews? How?

Have you ever gone to a cram school? prep school? had a tutor teach you at home?
What subjects? What level?
Have your parents helped you to study? How? Until what age?
Do you want your own children to be smart?
Will you help your children with their studies? How?
How well-educated do you want your spouse to be?

Teachers
Would you like to be a teacher? Teaching who? What?
If you were teaching Japanese to a foreigner, what would you do?
Has any teacher ever inspired you or influenced your life? How?
Have you ever felt angry with a teacher? Why?
What makes a teacher effective?
What kind of teacher do you prefer? male or female? young or old?
Did your teachers ask students questions? as a group? individually?
Did you work in small groups in class? Doing what?
Did your elementary school teachers give you homework? junior high teachers? high school teachers?

School Rules
What do you think of high school students that smoke? junior high school students?
Have you ever broken any school rules? What? What happened?
Have you ever been punished in school? For what? How were you punished?
Were there many rules in elementary school? junior high? high school?
Were some rules good? Were some bad? Give examples.

Studying Abroad
Have you ever thought about studying abroad? Where?
What would you study?
How can you apply to schools abroad?
What would you need to prepare?

English
How long have you studied English? When do you think you'll be finished?
Have you ever studied at an English conversation school?
When should students begin learning English?
How important is grammar? vocabulary? pronunciation?
Do you use an English-English dictionary?
Do you speak English to your classmates? in class? outside of class?
What do you do if you forget a word while you are talking?
What would you like to do to improve in your English? What is your plan to do that?
What problems do you think you have with grammar? vocabulary? pronunciation?
How will you overcome them?

Is it important to learn foreign culture along with the language? What? Why?

Aichi Gakuin
Why did you decide to come to a junior college?
Do you like your classes?
What teachers do you like best? dislike the most?
When and how do you prepare for classes? Do you review?
Will you continue to study after you graduate? Where? About what?
Does education continue after graduation? How?
What elective classes do you take?