Professional Staff of Osaka YMCA
As I think back on the many truly extraordinary experiences I had during my five and a half weeks in Sweden, I am almost speechless. I would like to thank Mr. Kyozo Murata and everyone in the Tennoji Rotary Club, for recommending me as a team member, and I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to, the GSE committee members of D-2400 and D-2660, and each and every Rotarian and non-Rotarian who worked so hard to give us such a good study tour. There are no words which can adequately express how I feel about the ten host families who opened up their homes to me. They treated me as a member of the family and I was never once homesick for Japan or Japanese cooking.
Every day of our GSE tour was productive and worthwhile, and it was only after returning to Japan that I was finally able to think over and digest the many things I learned during my trip. I learned too many things in Sweden for me to mention them all in this report, but I would like to take this opportunity to share with you those things which impressed me the most.
Swedish people are said to be the most fluent non-native speakers of English in the world. As a matter of fact, if you look at their TOEFL scores (a test which is used to check the English ability of foreign students who wish to study at universities in the United States, Canada and other English-speaking countries), the Swedish are number one in the world along with the Dutch. It can be said that Sweden is, indeed, a bilingual nation.
During the study tour, everyone I met, including my homestay families, was "able to use English" as a means of communication except for some elderly people. How do the Swedish learn to speak English so well and what is the learning environment like?
I work in the language department of the YMCA, and it was my hope to be able to visit and observe as many different English language education facilities and methods as possible during my stay in Sweden. Almost seven days were scheduled specially in our itinerary, so my wish was more than granted as I was given the opportunity to visit schools in Kristianstad and Halmstad.
The education system in Sweden is basically the same as that in Japan. The Swedish government requires nine years of compulsory education which corresponds to Japans required six years of elementary school and three years of junior high school. As far as English language education is concerned, Swedish children begin studying English early -- in the third grade. I was able to sit in on an English class, and I was surprised to learn that they were using textbooks which were not much different than what I used when I was in junior high school. The teacher was Swedish and the classroom looked more or less like a Japanese classroom. One decisive difference, however, was that their English lessons always include a time for the students to "talk" with their classmates and immediately use the expressions and idioms they had just learned. It is only natural that listening and speaking practice be a part of English class when one is studying the language with a practical purpose in mind. I felt very bad about the fact that, in Japan, English education is mainly for the purpose of passing entrance exams to high school and university, and the emphasis is still on grammar and reading.
I do not think, though, that the only reason Swedish people are bilingual is due to the fact that the goal of their English classes is to learn oral communication. Whenever I asked my host family members and the Rotarians I met at Rotary Club meetings why the Swedish are bilingual, I always received the same answers.
First, they are able to watch MTV and other English TV programs all the time and they often listen to music from English-speaking countries. Whether they like it or not, they are constantly being bombarded by English. Second, the Swedish language is one of the Indo-European languages, so it is relatively easy to learn English since it, too, is one of these languages. Third, the people said that because Sweden has such a small population, if they want to communicate with people from other countries, they could not expect those people to learn Swedish. Instead, they had to learn foreign languages.
I always received answers such as these, and the amazing thing is that, despite the fact that almost every European country thinks the same way, none of them has attained the same level of English fluency as Sweden. After all is said and done, I wonder if it is due to the fact that Swedish people are motivated by the philosophy that "The study of something practical should be done in a completely practical way." This emphasis on practicality is a characteristic of all Swedish education and not just English language education.
I mentioned previously that the education systems of Japan and Sweden are very similar. Students enter high school when they are fifteen-years-old, but the content and aim of Japanese high schools and Swedish high schools are different. In Japanese high schools, most of the time is spent studying academic subjects, whereas in Sweden, academic and vocational education is given equal time. The vocational education offered at Swedish high schools varies from school to school, so most students choose a high school on the basis of which school offers classes on the skill they are interested in learning. I was able to visit a number of high schools, and some of the classes I saw being offered were cooking, nursing, computer science, electronic circuitry and furniture building. As a rule, Swedish children must think about their futures and make decisions about their education by the time they are fifteen because if they choose an occupation which requires specific skills, they need to know which school they will go to. Thinking back on my high school days, it would have been a very difficult decision for me at that time. In fact, some people are changing their minds about the kind of work they want to do after they have started working and they are going back to high school to learn the skills they will need in their new line of work. Every time I visited a Swedish high school, I couldn't help but notice that there is a tremendous gap between Japanese and Swedish high schools. In Sweden, the schools are concentrating on teaching their students the skills and knowledge they will need in the future.
Of all the different educational facilities I was able to see, I was most moved by what I saw at the many Folk High Schools I visited. This type of school is unheard of in Japan. I guess you could say it is kind of a combination of many different kinds of schools such as a Japanese vocational school, a credit-system high school for those preparing to go to university and an American community college (generally a college for people who live in a given area, of which there are many in the United States). The subjects offered at these schools are the same as those I mentioned earlier, with the subjects varying depending upon the school. Those studying at these schools are either first-time students who are there to learn a specific trade or they are students who had previously dropped out of high school and are now interested in earning the credits they need in order to enter university. These schools also function as places where those who have retired can come to study academic subjects at their own pace and continue their "lifelong education." These Folk High Schools are found not only in Sweden but throughout the Scandinavian countries. These schools are operated by various organizations and groups such as corporations, communes and churches.
I was able to visit many different educational facilities, from compulsory education schools to Folk High Schools and universities, and at each one I sensed that they were "teaching what is necessary in a way that effectively meets those needs."In particular, the universities in Sweden felt exactly like "research organizations." In contrast, to the majority of Japanese university students, university is, for better or for worse, simply a place where they serve out their assigned moratorium before entering a company and learning how to do their job there. I was particularly impressed by the fact that Swedish universities are very strict, and those who do not have a desire to study or who cannot keep up in class drop out.
I want to thank the many people in Sweden who made it possible for me to participate in vocational study which was directly related to my own line of work and which was very instructive and beneficial.
There is absolutely no comparison between the Swedes' political consciousness and that of the Japanese. Whenever the discussion came around to politics, we were filled with shame and embarrassment. When we said that the weather was an important factor in determining how many people vote on election day in Japan, people just laughed!
The political awareness of Sweden's citizens does not end at the national level, however. They also have a firmly entrenched consciousness of local self-government. In the past, the national government was in charge of the social welfare programs, but this responsibility has been passed on to regional government bodies. These bodies are called "communes," and just as in Japan, the people feel the closest to the public organizations in their cities, towns and villages. The difference lies in the way in which the citizens of our two countries view their local governments. Swedish people feel that they are supporting the government with their tax money and running their own communities, and the full- and part-time workers at these places are civil servants. Swedish citizens have an undying interest in, and unending opinions regarding, politics and politicians. I guess you could say that they have an open government in Sweden. It is even easy for the general public to see the minutes of government meetings.
Let me share an example. The libraries in each region and commune are the citizens' sources of a variety of information related to politics. In the lobby, you will find computers which can be used to find the books one is looking for. But that is not all they can be used for. Citizens can look up the profiles, policies, addresses and phone numbers of every city council member any time they want. If the citizens feel their city council members have said or done something irresponsible regarding some provisional policy, it is possible for them to call them directly and let them know what they think about it.
Approximately 30% of all Swedish workers are civil servants, and from what I was able to see, it seemed to me that Sweden had achieved the ideal democracy.
I was also able to visit a number of business operations, both large and small, during the study tour. Sweden has been blessed with abundant forests, and as a result its lumber and paper industries (and their export-related businesses) are thriving. In order to ensure that there are enough workers to keep the forestry industry going, the government and the forestry industry work together to operate schools which train forestry workers (everyone from managers to engineers). But it does not stop there. The government is also working together with universities to develop new products, and I was very surprised to see so many companies setting up research labs. Some of these companies are "operated" by communes, and it took me a little while to get understand that concept.
For several years, Sweden has been struggling with a deep-seated recession, and unemployment is now at 12%. Swedens generous welfare policy assures that these workers receive welfare assistance which is more than half of the salary they were receiving when they lost their jobs. Because of this, the idea of losing ones job does not have the sense of personal crisis which Japanese feel when they think about the possibility of losing their jobs. I even heard stories of unemployed people on welfare who buy a new Volvo every time a new model comes out!
I should mention here that when I say that I learned many things during the GSE program, it was not just during my visits to various facilities. I also learned many things from my host families, the people I met at Rotary meetings and through the exchanges I had with other people I met during my stay in Sweden. By chatting with people, I was able to learn many things about their values and way of thinking. I would like to summarize what I learned about their way of thinking.
"If everyone decides to do something after thoroughly discussing the matter, it is only natural that they then begin to faithfully put that decision into action."
"Each individual born into this world should have the same rights and chances to preserve his or her individualism."
I think that the impressions people have of Sweden's character-- a generous social welfare system, an industrially advanced nation, political neutrality, high taxes-- are the result of the Swedish people either directly or indirectly operating upon these basic philosophies I have just mentioned. I think Sweden's social welfare programs are nothing more than an expression and manifestation of their deep sense of the equality of all human beings.
I am very thankful for the privilege and honor of being given the chance, even though I am working person, to spend five and a half weeks in Sweden studying and living with many host families. The things I learned from the Swedish people and their environment will be a great asset to me in the future and also to everyone I meet and do things with. I want to say "Thank you" again to everyone who was so kind to me throughout the GSE program. This program was a great success because of my team leader, Dr. Nakazono, and my fellow team members, Ms. Kawamoto, Mr. Isayama and Mr. Yamada. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to my fellow team members by toasting them in Swedish. "Skoal!"
