English Education for Elementary School Students : Issues Viewed from Parent Hopes , Cram School Attendance Aug , 2005

Studies are underway on the propriety of making English-language education compulsory at the elementary school level in Japan. According to the results of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 70.7 percent of elementary school student parents polled replied that such education should be required.1 Among the reasons cited for this view is the belief that becoming familiar with English from an early age will reduce struggling with the language later on, as well as rendering it easier to learn the pronunciation, vocabulary and other aspects of English. Opposed to making English mandatory, meanwhile were 21.5 percent of the parent samples, who noted that they wanted their children to master the contents of other subjects and learn Japanese in the correct way, expressed concerns about overburdening students and other contrary opinions. At public elementary schools, over 70 percent of students are experiencing English activities within their interdisciplinary learning hours.2 Including other time frameworks as well, we find that 88 percent of elementary schools now offer English activities.3 However, the class time involved for English is only between 7 to 12 hours a year4, meaning that if further studies are desired the choices include attending private schools, designated experimental schools, certified schools in special zones for structural reform and other options. Other than that, children will need to attend cram schools or study English at home. Because of this, the learning of English by elementary school students highly depends on the attitudes of their parents toward the need to study English, the household economic conditions, the ability to teach English in the home and other factors.5 What types of parents favor English education at the elementary school level, and who send their children to English cram schools? I examine if there is any difference in traits among parents with different ideas for English-language education for elementary school children, using the data from a February 2004 survey of the parents of first and fifth grade students attending Ota Municipal Elementary School in Gunma Prefecture.6 In this study, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) was used to measure the value of elementary school English education on a monetary base. The CVM is a method in which questionnaire surveys are used to ask for evaluations of conditions that do not actually exist, and measure those effects. In the survey, we assume that all of the existing public elementary and …