#10 Grade skipping

On November 26th, we discussed the theme "To introduce grade skipping in elementary school and Junior high school in Japan". The panels were Airi, Fumika, Misaki, Chika and Hiroya. They were in four positions. Taro is 5th elementary school student. He can solve Mathematics easily in elementary school. He always feels bored. So he agree with introducing grade skipping. Ms.Hayashi is elementary school teacher. She works for 20 years. She is neutral. If Japan introduces the system, school expense would decrease. However, because of it, students would lack communication. Ms.koizumi is the Minister of Education. She disagrees with the system because Japan has compulsory education system. Also, she said that we should treat students equally, and to introduce grade skipping system is difficult. Lee is Chinese and he skipped some grades and left out of the group before. However, he agrees with to introduce the system.
Ms. Koizumi said that to introduce grade skipping system in Japan, we would have communication problems. It is difficult to communicate with the people who are not same age. Mr. Lee does not have special friend and he spent his time studying. Because of it he gets some awards. Ms. Hayashi suggested communication test for the students. She said that she did the test like terminal test. However, it is waste of time that all students take the test. So, Mr. Lee made suggestion that the only students who want to skip their grade take the test.
According to the discussion, I thought that grade skipping is not necessary in Japan. My friends taught me that there are a few people who skip their grade. So, if Japan introduce the system, probably a few people use the system. Also, because of grade skipping system, all school has to change their school system. So, I think that grade skipping is not necessary.

#7 daylight saving system

On November 18th, we discussed the theme “To introduce daylight saving system in Japan”. The panels were Saori, Sakiko, Ryoji, Sachi and I. This discussion was done by four position people. Moderator was Ryoji. Igarashi (Sakiko) works at government. Kawasaki (Saori) is a mother. Nikaido (Sachi) is a manager at a company. Amasawa (me) is an elementary school teacher.
At first, moderator told about daylight saving system. It is done by Europe and American countries. The countries which introduce the system now is America, Canada and so on. This system is done from spring to fall to use our free time effectively. Ms. Igarashi and Ms. Amasawa agreed with to introduce daylight saving system, but Ms. Kamazuka did not agree. Nikaido was in neutrality position.
Mr. Nikaido said that to introduce daylight saving system would cut their company’s cost, and it is good for company. Daylight saving system was done in Hokkaido for 3 years as a experiment. Ms. Igarashi said the data about the result of Hokkaido. According to the data, because of the system, the number of traffic accidents was decreased. Ms. Kamazuka said that it is bad for children health. If we introduce4 the system, many children would confuse. However, Ms. Amasawa said the advantages of the system. She said that by introducing the system, students can go home before dark. Also, the students who do club activities can do their activities without worrying about the length of the day. There were some advantages and disadvantages; the worst point is the cost to introduce the system. If we introduce the system, it cost about 100 billion yen.
So, I think that daylight saving system is not necessary in Japan.

#6 medical expense for free

On November 12th, we discussed the theme "Making medical expense for free". The panels were Nanase, Chinatsu, Mikako, Aya, and Mami.There were four different positions people in this discussion. First is Yone. She is an old woman. She has chronic illness and goes to the hospital 2times a week. She lives with her husband. She is for the system. Second is Tomozo. He runs cigarette store and he is in neutral position. Third is Kyoko. Her husband works at a famous company, so she is a rich wife. She agrees with the system. She thinks that it is good for poor people. Last is Miyu. She has 2 children and they go to school. Her husband works at a normal company.She thinks that the system is not good for her family because they rarely go to hospital.They suggested raising cigarette tax, alcohol tax, and consumption tax. Tomozo said that it is not fair. If the system were introduced, some people would stop buying cigarette and alcohol. So, it gives big damage for Tomozo. So he suggested that to raise only consumption tax. But, Yone and Kyoko thought it is not enough.Miyu disagree with the idea and suggested to raise income tax. However, now, Kyoko's husband pay his 40 percent of income as income tax.And then, we discussed what tax we raise.First, we said that medical expense was not necessary. Small children and elderly people often go to hospital, but other people rarely go there, so there are no sense.However,if the system introduced, I think income tax is the best.

#5 reduce electricity cost

On November 5th, we discussed the topic that we must reduce the electricity cost in PUK. The panels were Shiori, Miyo, Kazue, Azusa, and Jeff.
The electricity cost in this university is increasing year by year. Keiko Kiyota, who works in PUK showed the graph about the amount of electricity consumption in PUK. Keiko said that the cost was very expensive and we had to reduce the cost. So, she offered that we set the temperature 28℃ in summer, and set 18℃ in winter. Then, Ryoichi Shinohara who is a professor in PUK said that 28℃ in summer and 18℃ in winter is not good, and we had to find alternative system. Mariko Uemura who is a student this university said that cutting cost is important, but we paid enough money for this university.
After that, Takashi Sakaguchi offered to set the air condition’s temperature 26℃ in summer and 20℃ in winter. However, Keiko said we needed another way to reduce electricity consumption. And then, Mr. Shinohara offered solar panel.
We discussed the way to reduce electricity cost. I think solar panel is too expensive. So, we have to find another way. In this discussion, Kiyota suggest to raise school expense. But, I disagree with it. We pay money for this university every year and the cost is not cheap. As a result, Ayumi (Sachi?) suggest that to set electric fan in our classroom ceiling. I think that this is one of the ways to reduce the cost. I have an opinion about the way to reduce the cost. In this university, there are many dim bulbs in classrooms. So, if we reduce the number of them, we can reduce the cost.