By Haruka Kuroda

The scholastic abilities of Japanese University students have been decreasing in recent years. The reasons for this are said to be the decreasing depth of subjects studied and the reduction in the number of school days at primary schools and junior high schools. Another cause is the introduction of the five-day school week. Japanese people call this situation "education at ease." In fact, many university students who are in college now are of this generation.

Mr. Kazuo Nishimura, a professor at Kyoto University researched the scholastic abilities of students mainly from the economics faculty. This research focused on whether they could answer some arithmetic questions at the elementary school level. Students who chose mathematics in their entrance examination could answer 88.3 percent correctly. On the other hand, students who didn't choose mathematics could answer only 78.3 percent.　This result is extremely low even though it is an easy test.

The reason for the low scores is that most Japanese universities don't include mathematics as an examination subject. In the departments of science and engineering, professors can't teach such a fundamental subject like physics to students of the same grade because their abilities in the subject are too different. This is because the way science subjects are taught at high schools varies so greatly that students' scholastic abilities are inconsistent.

Many universities now make their freshmen take exams, for example, in Japanese, mathematics and English, to see what the scholastic abilities of the students are. They also make students who don't have enough basic abilities in certain subjects review the contents at the high school level.

On September 10th, 2007, the University Subcommittee of the Central Educational Affairs Council released a report stating that all universities should guarantee their students' ability when graduating by evaluating them strictly with a keen awareness of the present situation. Moreover, The 3rd subcommittee meeting of the government's Education Revival Committee decided to discuss the introduction of a university equivalency examination on September 20th. Mr. Mineo Nakajima pointed out the current situation of Japanese universities saying, “It's true if students only attend classes they can get credits easily without understanding the subjects."

The Japanese Government is also considering the introduction of a university equivalency examination called “University Graduate Ability.” The contents of the "University Graduate Ability" exam consist of the four fields of "Knowledge," "Skills," "Attitude," and "Creative thinking power," along with thirteen other items.

In the field of "Knowledge," students should acquire basic knowledge of their special subjects, other cultures, nature and social matters in the world. In the field of "Skills," students must be able to read and write Japanese and the other languages and use information on the Internet. These languages are essential to live in modern society. In the field of "Attitude," students should behave observing rules and continue to study by themselves after graduation. As for the field of "Creative thinking power," students must use "Knowledge," "Skills" and "Attitude" together to solve problems.

Japanese universities are fast approaching the day when anyone can enter university. All universities are trying to make various attempts to attract students because the number of children is declining. Some universities, however, cannot fill their quota of students. Gradually, universities in such a situation will increase.

People are considering the re-examination of Japanese compulsory education. However, it is doubtful that students can really improve their scholastic abilities enough to meet societies standards. University students are required to be conscious of their faults and of other's desires. They also should make efforts to solve problems through their own efforts. We must all make efforts not only in college, but from birth. Japanese people can acquire the ability to live as a useful member of society if that ability is nurtured from a young age.