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Picture 11 Does the secondary school need a library? (Russia)

Picture 12 Does the secondary school need a library? (Japan)

he libraries are still important at the age of the developed information technologies (see picture 11). It is an inseparable part of every educational institution. Furthermore, according to modern educational methods a student should find all the information he needs by himself while the teacher coordinates him. 68% of Japanese students agreed that libraries play a very important part in the learning process (see picture 12). However, some Russian and Japanese students mentioned that the libraries should play an important role, but in reality they do not.

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Picture 13 Do you study only for “marks”? (Russia)

Picture 14 Did you study only for “marks”? (Japan)

Picture 15 Is it hard to start new academic year?

he majority of students responded that they study for knowledge (see pictures 14, 15). However, a lot of graduates commented their answer like they should study for knowledge, but sometimes they cannot do it properly because it is very important to get a good mark or they need to get a good certificate and they could not choose one of those answers. Some students try to get good marks but sometimes they do not show the true level of students’ knowledge. The answers we got persuaded us that the assessment system should be reformed too. When we asked the Japanese this question their opinions divided into two parts – 56% for knowledge and personal interest and 44% for marks, who also mentioned that it is not good to study for marks.

More than half of the students, teachers and parents answered that it is hard to start a new academic year after three-month holidays (see picture 13). Children forget the majority of the knowledge they got during the previous year. Nearly one month and sometimes more is dedicated to the revision of the forgotten material. Sometimes students have to learn it again as a new material. The only way to change this situation is to use new educational methods, which would enable to cut down the revision to 1-2 weeks and create more hours for a new material.

Our next question was: “What do you go to school for?” This question for Russians turned out to be the most complicated:

• 18% per cent could not give the answer;

• 7% mentioned a certain aim (they have already chosen their profession, want to become good specialists or be useful for their country);

• 59% do not have certain aims – they want to finish the school, get a higher education and get a well-paid job,

• 7% want to get a good certificate,

• 9% study at secondary school to get secondary education (it was difficult to understand, but we suppose these answers should be taken to the first category, because they show that children do not understand why they are studying).

Such answers let us see that children do not know how to set their aims and they cannot understand the importance of the secondary school. The schools should carry out one more task, which was not mentioned – it should help the children choose what they are going to be and help to choose the right way in getting further education (vocational college or university). No attention is paid to this problem.

School campus.

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Picture 16 Does the size of the school matter?

e conducted an online survey in order to find out the school campus should consist of. The results are in the diagrams below.

Our first question was about the school building (see picture 16). The answers were a) the big building with big amount of students and b) small building with small number of students. The majority of respondents liked the first answer. However, we cannot agree with this point of view. Of course it is fun to be in company of students, but it is very hard for teachers to work with big classes. Moreover, small school needs fewer resources than the big one.

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Picture 17 Is it important for a building to be modern and neat?

ne of the respondents commented his choice: “It is important for the hall and classrooms to combine modern and classical styles.” As we understood it means that the school must be comfortably equipped and designed, neither too bright nor grey and boring (see picture 17). The building itself shows the school’s reputation and its popularity. The majority of the respondents believe that the building plays a great role.

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Picture 18 Does the interior have an influence on the learning process?

he next question was: “Does the design and interior play a role?” (See picture 18). We asked if the exhibitions of children’s creativity should be organized. The results are shown in the diagram below. The respondents believe that it is important. So do we. Such exhibitions have a good effect on students and their outlook.

Yes, it does! (Picture 18) Some of the respondents mentioned that “ability to work rises in comfortable conditions” and “I will not be able to learn in the collapsing building”. Our commentaries are unnecessary.

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Picture 20 Who should look after the school territory?

Picture 19 Should the schoolyard be greened and improved?

his question is a bit the same like the last one, but it is about the outdoor territory. We believe that a schoolyard is as an important part of school as its other components (see pictures 19, 20). It is a great idea to put some trees and plants in the school yard. The green colour in psychology is associated with creativity, peace, loyalty and awakening. The greenery around the school would have a positive influence on teachers and students. Nearly 90% agrees with this opinion. We also asked the students, who should look after the school yard. More than half of the students suppose that it should be done by a special staff. However, we cannot agree with this point of view. To our minds both the students and the staff should look after the school territory. We should make an accent on Japanese schools: there are no staffs like guards, cleaners or gardeners. Students do the cleaning in the classrooms by themselves. The greenery outside the building is looked after by the gardening club. We believe that it would be very nice practices for Russian students do the cleaning by themselves, but they are sometimes too lazy. That is why we think that all these functions should be done both by students and staff. If the students keep their school clean and tidy, they will also be accustomed to neatness. The duties that used to be in our schools a few years ago should be re-established.

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Picture 21 What should the stadium consist of?

oo main components of the sports ground are running tracks and play-grounds (see picture 21). Thus all the components that we mentioned (swimming pool, running tracks, horizontal bars and playground) are all important. Some respondents also would like to have skiing tracks and a skating rink in the winter variant.

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Picture 22 Are the student`s lockers needed?

lmost all respondents mentioned that they would like to have lockers at school (see picture 22). First we saw the lockers in American films, and later found out that Japanese students have lockers too. There are small lockers for school shoes on the ground floor of the school and personal lockers in students’ classrooms. It would be great for Russian schools to set some lockers on the ground floor, where the students would be able to leave their clothes, street shoes or some personal things. We should not forget that some student books are rather big and heavy.

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Picture 23 Who should be responsible for a classroom?

Picture 24 Does the technical equipment matter?

ost of the respondents would prefer the modern system when teachers are responsible for their classrooms which means that children have to go to from one classroom to another for different lessons (see picture 23). We are of the same opinion. Passing from one classroom to another disciplines the students and develops their navigation skills.

A bit more than a half of the respondents think that the technical equipment in school is important (see picture 24). We can often hear our governments talking about the latest technical equipment at school. We believe that at least there should be a computer connected to the Internet, a printer, a projector and a projection screen in every classroom.