Gifted Education and One Case Solution through E-Learning in Japan
Japanese parents are genuinely concerned about their children's education, especially if the latter display exceptional abilities. Such parents also believe that the public education system insufficiently nurtures their gifted children's potential. Consequently, parents frequently enroll their children in private schools and afterschool programs at cram schools (juku), which feature accelerated, condensed curriculums. Juku have subsequently prospered, with approximately 37.8% of Japanese sixth grade students attending one (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, & Technology in Japan, 2008). Public schools have noted juku students' excellent examination results and begun hiring juku instructors (Kuroishi, 2009). Unfortunately, equally gifted, but poor, students cannot afford to enroll in these institutions (Mimiduka, 2009). Therefore, the authors propose implementing an e-learning system, granting students affordable access to supplemental learning opportunities. Herein, they discuss the state of Japanese gifted education before highlighting e-learning's effectiveness in this context based on practical educational research at a Tokyo elementary school.