Kumon1

The Society for Japanese Studies

The Kumon Approach to Teaching and LearningAuthor(s): Nancy UkaiSource: Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter, 1994), pp. 87-113Published by: The Society for Japanese StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/132785 .Accessed: 13/04/2014 12:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The Society for Japanese Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toJournal of Japanese Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 146.155.94.33 on Sun, 13 Apr 2014 12:05:48 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

NANCY UKAI

The Kumon Approach to Teaching and Learning

Memorization is the beginning of intelligence. Kumon Toru'

In the early summer of 1954, eight-year-old Kumon Takeshi, a second grader in Moriguchi City, Osaka, came home from school with a poor grade on his arithmetic test. His mother was concerned, but his father, Kumon Toru, a high school math teacher, was not. "In my opinion, his health . . . was the most important thing during the elementary school years; I planned to put him on a structured course of study after he entered middle school."2 But prodded by his wife, Mr. Kumon began thinking about how to help his son. He reviewed Takeshi's mathematics textbook and was bewildered by the way concepts were introduced and then dropped. He turned to commercial drill books but they only offered repetition of unimportant material. Dissatisfied with what he had found available, Mr. Kumon began crafting a home study program. He wrote out worksheets of minutely sequenced computation problems, adjusted to Ta- keshi's ability level and assigned one each day. Happily, Takeshi's grades improved, but when they quit the regimen, his scores slipped again. The family returned to using the worksheets, but found that if Takeshi skipped a few days of work, he was loath to restart the schedule. Through trial and error, a useful system eventually emerged: a worksheet was done daily under Mrs. Kumon's supervision. Mr. Kumon corrected it that night and prepared the next day's problems, gradually increasing their difficulty.

I would like to thank Thomas P. Rohlen, Craig Sherman, the anonymous referees for the Journal of Japanese Studies, and my family.

1. Interview with Kumon Toru (chairman, Kumon Institute of Education), Osaka, Japan, July 18, 1991.

2. Kumon Toru, Yatte miy6, kodomo no chiteki kanosei o tsuikyushite (Tokyo: Seikosha, 1991), p. 186.

87 Journal of Japanese Studies, 20:1 ? 1994 Society for Japanese Studies


Journal of Japanese Studies

Four years later, Takeshi had completed 1,000 worksheets and was solving problems in differential and integral calculus. When Mr. Kumon gave his son a few university entrance exam problems, Takeshi, by now a sixth- grader, was able to solve most of them.

Today, "Kumon-shiki," or the Kumon method, is the most widely used supplemental system for studying mathematics in Japan. The self-paced curriculum has been expanded to over 5,000 timed worksheets, taking the learner sequentially and incrementally from prewriting skills and dot- counting exercises to college-level physics problems. The method was developed to teach mathematics and is best understood through this curriculum, the focus of this article, but also should be seen as a method with broader applications. Approximately 70 per cent of Japanese children who study Kumon math also enroll in Kumon's course for Japanese language and a smaller proportion study English using Kumon. The method is mostly used by young children: 7 per cent of all Japanese elementary schoolchildren study by Kumon twice a week at after-school tutorial centers. Their numbers, and the longevity of the method, have made the Ku- mon Institute of Education into Japan's largest private educational enter- prise in terms of enrollment.

The Kumon method is controversial and occupies a special niche in the rich, variegated world of Japanese education. Japanese critics dislike the rote-style progression through skill levels. Its most prominent critic is the Japanese Ministry of Education (Monbush6), which emphasizes the development of critical thinking skills in mathematics-while Kumon stresses computation-and which establishes curricular standards for each grade that Kumon then aims to have its students surpass. The individualized nature of the method runs counter to group-oriented methods, and Kumon is famous for nurturing "genius" children who solve calculus problems at age five in a society renowned for its uniformity. Japanese mothers seem to either love the method or hate it. Nevertheless, several features of Ja- pan's educational culture have worked in favor of its development: cultural acceptance of repetition, memorization, and mastery as valuable and es- sential aspects of learning; the importance of mathematics in education-success in mathematics is vital to performing well on entrance examinations and in school and thus a high value is placed on ways to study the subject; the structure of women's employment in Japan, which has provided the Kumon company with thousands of active teachers who, denied access to the mainstream economy and not licensed to teach in the public education system, nevertheless have played a crucial role in the method's development and successful execution. Many have found a personal calling and even spiritual meaning in their jobs as teachers, lending an air of near- religious zeal to corporate gatherings and publications. The structure of women's employment in Japan also means that hundreds of thousands of

88


Ukai: Kumon Approach

"education mothers" are available for and dedicated to carefully supervis- ing their children's completion of Kumon worksheets at home.

Were the Kumon method used only in Japan, it might be viewed merely as an interesting educational oddity that has lessons but not direct applications for people outside Japan. In fact, Kumon math is used by 350,000 children in 27 countries,3 with 70,000 in the United States. As might be expected, usage of the method has developed along different lines in the United States. The most profound innovation is the use of Kumon in American public and private schools as a supplement to the regular curriculum. This adaptation has shifted the focus of the program from home to school; from ambitious Kumon franchisee to overburdened public or private school teacher; from a narrowly exam-focused society to one that is not. Kumon also is used in the United States as an after-school program, and here as well adoption of the method has produced unexpected outcomes.

This article will describe the Kumon philosophy and how the method is used in Japan and will examine the interplay of factors that make Kumon effective in Japan and such an intriguing experiment in the United States. Although the technical aspects of the curriculum are the same, different contexts lead to different outcomes, revealing much about the state of the two societies and the assumptions that each holds on how learning should take place.

My own interest in the Kumon method originated from personal experience, as an American "Kumon mother" whose young children were enrolled in a newly opened Kumon learning center in Irving, Texas. After observing my first-grade son's relatively pleasant progress through several hundred pages of curriculum, and, of greater personal interest, his new- found confidence in his abilities as a "mathematician," I began to pursue research by reading Mr. Kumon's books, discussing the method with local parents and children, traveling to area schools with Kumon managers, and randomly calling out-of-state teachers and principals to gather data on test scores and their schools' experiences. I also traveled to Japan, where I interviewed Mr. Kumon and other Kumon representatives, parents, and instructors in Osaka and Tokyo.

The Kumon Method

The Kumon method represents a clear example of what Western educational psychologists term "guided learning" theory. In contrast to "active" learning theories that stress cognition through the manipulation of

3. According to October 1993 figures, the largest enrollments overseas are in South Korea (147,000), the United States, Taiwan (58,000), Brazil (27,000), and Australia (18,000).

89



materials, the exploration of ideas, and unstructured discovery, "guided," "reception," or "expository" learning draws on a behaviorist approach. As described by such educational psychologists as Robert M. Gagne and David Ausubel, the ultimate instructional objective is placed at the top of what will eventually become a complex pyramid of tasks. Lying beneath the goal is a progression of prerequisite tasks, starting with the most simple, which must be mastered before continuing to the next level of difficulty. The guided method stresses learning as a systematic process of adding on to that which the learner already knows. Explains Gagne, "knowing strategies . . . is not all that is required for thinking; it is not even a substantial part of what is needed. To be an effective problem solver, the individual must somehow have acquired masses of organized intellectual skills." 4

The goal of Kumon is precisely that: for elementary schoolchildren to master the extensive corpus of manipulative skills that lead ultimately to solving problems in differential calculus. Mr. Kumon's original goal for his son was to help him master this level of mathematics since eventually he would study it in high school.

When [Mr. Kumon] thought about his son's education, he knew that eventually Takeshi would have to learn differential equations in high school, since that would lead him into university-level math. Then he figured that before differential equations comes trigonometry, and before that comes geometry. Before geometry comes algebra, and preceding that is division, multiplication, subtraction, and addition.5

After witnessing Takeshi's achievement, which at the time he considered amazing, Mr. Kumon came to believe that small children were capable of solving calculus problems if introduced to the material in tiny steps at their own speed. He set that objective at the apex of his curriculum pyramid and worked down. This highly sequential presentation is key to the Kumon method and is a key factor in the theory of guided learning, especially as it is applied to mathematics. As Ausubel and Robinson explain:

Mathematics learning exhibits such a high order of sequential dependence that unless the student masters each step in the development of the subject, further progress is impossible.6

4. In Lee Shulman, "Psychology and Mathematics Education," in Edward G. Begle, ed., Mathematics Education: The Sixty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (Chicago: NSSE, 1970), p. 35.

5. Interview with Ozaki Kazuyori (manager, overseas division, Kumon Institute of Edu- cation), Osaka, July 18, 1991.

6. David P. Ausubel and Floyd G. Robinson, School Learning: An Introduction to Edu- cational Psychology (New York: Holt, Reinhart, Winston, 1969), p. 143.

90



To its sequential presentation, the Kumon method adds the principle of automaticity, or "overlearning," which is the measure of whether material has been mastered. Children must practice computation until finding solu- tions becomes automatic. They progress to a higher level of work only after they show the ability to complete sheets accurately within prescribed time and mistake limits. If either of the limits is exceeded, additional drill- ing is assigned.

The method is put into practice as follows: 1. The newly enrolled child takes a 20-minute diagnostic test. After

the score is evaluated, the child is placed at an extremely low skill level in order to enhance his or her early performance and thereby build confidence and motivation.

2. The child is presented with a new plastic Kumon box that contains several stapled packets of 3 to 10 small-sized worksheets. One packet is to be completed each day, requiring 15-30 minutes' study.

3. Twice a week, the child attends a Kumon classroom (kyoshitsu). The completed homework is turned in and that day's packet is done at the classroom.

4. The child receives back previous worksheets and corrects the mistakes until a perfect score is returned. The process of correcting one's own mistakes is seen as an important opportunity for self-teaching.

5. The instructor charts the child's progress in a detailed record book and, according to the most recent results, assigns more difficult work or repetition of previous pages.

6. Kumon is practiced every day of the year.

The vehicle for learning the mathematics curriculum is approximately 5,000 five-by-seven-inch worksheets whose most striking feature are their long, regular rows of computation problems printed in dark grey ink. The 5,000 sheets are divided into 28 levels, with most containing 200 "small steps" or pages. Each level corresponds to the material and concepts covered in a Japanese grade, as shown in Table 1.

The upper section of every worksheet has a uniform appearance, as shown in Figure 1: at the top left is a letter that identifies the curriculum level and a number that indicates the page within the level. Chil- dren who do Kumon glance at this corner when they receive new homework to see what level they're at. At the top right is a rectangular box with spaces for entering the beginning and ending times, date, and name. There is a noticeable absence (in worksheets above preschool level) of words, pictures, and tables. The purpose is to focus the learner's attention on numbers.

Kumon problems are sequenced to an astonishingly minute degree, giving the worksheets the appearance of eye-pleasing order and regularity

91



Table 1 Kumon Mathematics Curriculum by Level

Japanese Curriculum Grade

Level Level Material and Concepts Covered

Preschool 7a Number games; recognize, recite numbers 1-10 Level 6a Zero; ability to recognize, recite numbers 1-30

5a Line drawing, mazes 4a Number tracing, dot counting 3a Number charts, beginning addition 2a Simple addition by mental calculation

Elementary A 1 Addition, subtraction (mental) B 2 Vertical addition (carrying), subtraction C 3 Multiplication tables, multiplication, division D 4 Multiplication, division, fractions E 5 Fractions (reduction, four operations) F 6 Four operations, decimals, word problems

Middle G 7 Positive and negative numbers, algebraic expressions

H 8 Linear equations, linear functions I 9 Polynomials, factorization, square roots,

quadratic equations

High J 10 Higher factorization, quadratic equations K 11 Various functions (quadratic, fractional,

irrational, exponential, logarithmic, trigonometric)

L Plane geometry M Progression, differential/integral calculus N Vectors/linear transformations 0 12 Applications of differential calculus

College P Indefinite integral calculus, application Integral calculus, differential equations

Q-V College-level physics, mathematics

if one is sympathetic to the Kumon method, or mind-numbing repetition if one is not. The reasons are two-fold: (1) so that the child is not pressured, since the degree of difficulty increases so gradually; and (2) to help the child discern number patterns.

For example, a child working at Level 3A on preaddition skills will be given many pages containing problems such as 1 + 1, 3 + 1, 2 + 1, 5 + 1, 4 + 1, and so on. Having firmly mastered that, she will continue practicing "adding 1" until 99 + 1. Then "adding 2," "adding 3," etc. is practiced.

Concepts are not explicitly taught. Rather, through repetition, learners experience insight. For example, the means of solving such problems as 48 + 6 or 132 + 12 will be patently clear, without verbal or written ex- planation, to a child who has completed several hundred multiplication

92



Figure 1 Sample of a Kumon Worksheet, Level E, page 21a (Fifth Grade)

a E21 a Time lO:O_0 t , Date AL)O- "??ON Name a JI

- Dmitri ? 3. Addition of Fractions I (6 pts. each)

E 21 E21b

(9) + = 5 5 S C Ex. I i 2

3 3 3 2 3 5 7 7

.3 +4 = 7 = I 7 7 7 5 4= 9 1 2 7 7 7 7

( 2+ -_= 5 5 5

( 2) __ + ( 5 5 5

5 5 - -]

2 4 6 (4) 2+ = 7 7

2 7

777 77 7 7 7 77

7 7

(10) 5+ - - 7 7

(I I)

(12)

(13)

4 6 _ o 7 7 1 J

4+59 a

(14) 7 7=

(7)

(8) + -= I

(15) 6 +5 - 7 7

, + = 5 5 __ (16) =.

Copyright 1990.7 by The Kumon Institute of Education. Used with permission. This two-sided worksheet contains 16 problems and is assigned a Standard Completion Time of 3-5 minutes. The company expects an average student to work through three to five pages a day, completing about 140 pages per month, of which 70 are new work and the remainder are repetition. (As worksheet content grows more difficult, the proportion of repetition increases.) According to company advancement models, by the end of one year, the student will have completed 1,390 worksheets and be working five months ahead of the school curriculum.

problems and to whom 6 x 8 and 11 x 12 are operations that have been "overlearned." (My interest in Kumon was frequently stimulated by my son, who occasionally exclaimed "I get it!" as he worked problems.) As children become better calculators and as their body of knowledge grows, some discover shortcuts or different strategies for operations, injecting

93



"creativity" and intuition into what seems to be merely a mechanical op- eration. A Japanese instructor recalled that her most able student said that his favorite part of doing Kumon was finding as many ways as possible to do a problem.

At higher curriculum levels, problems are grouped to show numerical patterns. A problem such as 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = _ is introduced, followed by 5 x 2= _. At Level F, 18 - 9 is presented in the follow- ing way:

11. 1.8 + 0.9 12. 1.8 - 0.09 13. 0.18 - 0.09 14. 0.18 - 0.9 = 15. 18 + 0.9 - 16. 18 ? 0.09 =

A thinking child may notice a pattern in the answers-2, 20, 1/5, 2, 20, 200. But even those who do not pay attention to the patterns will, in Ku- mon's view, have benefited from practicing computation.

The volume of repetition that is necessary before progressing to more difficult work depends on the individual. Children who quickly and accurately complete the two-digit division worksheets, for example, will move with little or no redundancy to three-digit division while others may repeat the two-digit section several, even dozens of times, before moving forward. Even the fastest-progressing students, however, work each 200-page level the equivalent of at least three times,7 according to the company. Completion of worksheets should require less than 30 minutes a day, but if this schedule is adhered to, the pages add up rapidly. I was surprised to learn that my daughter, who started doing animal mazes when she was three-and-a-half years old, completed 2,885 pages in two years, to finish three levels. My son had solved 3,370 worksheets to complete five levels. A researcher has noted the case of Kat6 Yukinori, who was enrolled in Kumon when he was four years and nine months old. Five years later, he was solving problems involving vectors at Level O, having completed 800 sheets per level, with backsteps and redundancies in certain areas, for a total of 13,570 worksheets! And he was only "12th best" in Japan for third graders (as judged by how far he had progressed in the materials.)8

Not surprisingly, Kumon asserts that repetition is fun. Young children

7. Craig Sherman, "Japan's Latest Export: Can Kumon Help Improve U.S. Mathematics Education?" (senior thesis, Princeton University, April 15, 1991), p. 101.

8. Ibid., p. 61. Sherman's analysis of the Kumon method is filled with many delightful observations and anecdotes gleaned from his month-long experience as a participant-observer in the company in July 1990.

94



enjoy doing the same thing repeatedly; singing a TV jingle or drawing the same picture over and over is satisfying and a crucial part of the learning process. Maria Montessori has observed:

To have learned something is for the child only a point of departure. When he has learned the meaning of an exercise, then he begins to enjoy repeat- ing it. ... He enjoys executing that act because by means of it he is developing his psychic abilities.9

If the child is solving problems at "just the right" (chodo ii) level, the act of calculating is effortless and rhythmic. Concentration is intense and in some cases, the pencil appears to literally fly down the page as the child mumbles meditatively or even laughs with glee.

Repeatedly doing calculations can become a much-hated task, however, when the concept is not understood or the skill level too high. Chil- dren who previously zipped through worksheets may rip them up, scribble in frustration, refuse to work, cry, etc. when assigned difficult work.

At this point, sensitive guidance becomes crucial to successful usage of the worksheets. Expert teachers may assign extremely easy work, with a few harder sheets mixed in, to remind children what they are capable of; assign fewer pages per day; ask for closer parental guidance; or, in rarer cases, suggest to the company that possible flaws in the sequencing of problems be repaired. Holding the child's interest during these "hump" periods is the ultimate test not only of the quality of the worksheets but also of the teacher's understanding of the method and skill in applying it. The job of instructors, which will be discussed below in more detail, is not to "interfere" with the child's learning, which will come through internal- izing calculation skills, but to offer praise, hints, and individualized feed- back on work. Teachers are called shid6sha (instructor), literally someone who gives guidance, rather than the traditional sensei (teacher) which car- ries greater instructional authority.

The company also employs psychological strategies, many imbedded into the worksheet structure, to keep children motivated. For example, each 200-page level is designed so that difficult "uphill" sections, which introduce new concepts, are followed by "downhill" slopes of repetition. Complicated problems that involve several intermediary steps will be followed by a simple one that can be computed mentally.

New students are started at a level as much as two years, or 400 pages, below their actual ability as determined by the diagnostic test. Starting so low helps develop concentration, speed, and motivation since the learner

9. Maria Montessori, The Montessori Method (New York: Schocken Books Inc., 1964), p. 357.

95



can rapidly complete tasks that already have been mastered. Moreover, company studies show that children who begin using easy material advance over the long run more quickly than those who do not. A Japanese trainer explains:

In training for the high jump, a person who can clear 200 centimeters will have trained for a long time at jumping over 150 cm. If he starts training at 200 cm, he may strain a muscle or hurt himself. Kumon is the same.'0

In a minuscule but highly celebrated percentage of cases, children aged five and under gradually progress to solving algebra, geometry, and calculus worksheets. According to the company's regularly published Ad- vanced Students List (Shindo Ichiranhyo), 600 children aged three years old and under were completing algebra-level worksheets out of a total enrollment of 811,909 in spring 1991. Many adults find it difficult to believe that toddlers can achieve such proficiency, but professional mathematicians say it is not unthinkable, merely unusual since most societies believe that children's time is better spent doing other things. (Nor, perhaps, has there existed a popularized method that consistently produced this outcome.) As a Japanese mathematics professor observes, "For a baby, learning all the rules to speak a language is much more difficult than learning algebra, but language is more important for the child's survival." 1

Kumon's in-house magazines are filled with disproportionate examples of three- and four-year-olds who are doing algebra, which are meant to instruct and inspire. One such case is that of Shiono Hitomi, whose mother received Kumon song cards, Chinese character (kanji) flashcards, and puzzles when Hitomi was born. Hitomi recognized the kanji for "ninjin" (carrot) when she was nine months old, spurring her mother to enroll her in Kumon math and Japanese language courses two months later and in the English course when she turned two. Hitomi, now three years old, is doing algebra and solving sixth-grade level worksheets in English and seventh- grade level in Japanese language. She does Kumon worksheets for two hours every day with her mother, can complete the Kumon 1-100 mag- netic number board in 10 minutes, and reads 200 books per month.12

Is copying and drill productive use of a child's time? Critics liken Ku- mon to continuously practicing scales without studying music theory: the ability to successfully use an algorithm does not mean that one understands "why." Kumon officials respond that calculating is a mental skill that has

10. Interview with Mori Hiroaki (educational director, Kumon Mathematex), Irving, Texas, May 1991.

11. Interview with Fujita Hiroshi (mathematics professor, Meiji University), Tokyo, July 27, 1991.

12. "Kyoshitsu arubamu: Anna seito, konna seito, Eigo E, Kokugo G, hoteishiki nisaiji de gakushu," Yamabiko, No. 125 (Nov. 1990), pp. 32-35.

96



instructive value in itself and that memorization and drill precede deeper forms of understanding.

When people hear a small child play Chopin, they'll say, "it's beautiful, but does he understand what he's playing?" I believe that there are many levels of understanding, and the understanding he brings to it at five years old is valid, and when he is 25, he will have an even deeper appreciation.13

Controversy over the Kumon method tends to center, understandably, on the central role of computation14 and the volume of repetition. In the tendency to focus on educational theory, however, other less obvious factors that can profoundly diminish or enhance the power of the curriculum may be overlooked, such as the learner's environment and the role played by the instructor and the family. Indeed, Kumon's commercial and educational achievements can be attributed in large measure to the company's canny exploitation of many complex elements that characterize the culture of modern Japanese education. Of particular relevance are the nation's competitive exam-driven system, the social aspirations of Japanese parents, and the availability of a large pool of educated women who supervise and carry out the Kumon method.

The Kumon Method in Japan Kumon has been able to flourish in Japan for several reasons: (1) the

Japanese mothers who use it have a positive image of the method; (2) many children seem to enjoy doing it; (3) it is convenient for families; (4) society places a high value on education and Kumon is seen as a viable after- school program that propels children beyond grade-level work and prepares them successfully for competitive examinations.

According to a 1985 poll taken by the Mainichi shinbun, one of Japan's three largest daily newspapers, 66 per cent of 4,200 housewives in Tokyo and Osaka were aware of the Kumon method. Of those whose children were enrolled in the method, 45 per cent said they valued the good study habits that the method instills, and 28 per cent thought it would help their children learn how to think and concentrate. Nearly 40 per cent of enrolled families said they chose the program because it is liked by children,

13. Interview with S6og Takayoshi (president, Kumon Mathematex), Houston, Texas, March 29, 1992.

14. Miwa Tatsur6, former mathematics professor at Tsukuba University, explains: There is only you and a piece of paper. The idea is to look at the examples and find the rule. It's important and necessary for children to find things out on their own, but not all people are capable of this. For example, if you have a problem like 2 - 1 = , then you might notice that two is the number which precedes one, and that taking one away from two leaves one. But it is difficult to continually be making rules and finding out on your own how far the rules apply. (interview, Kyoto, July 28, 1991)

97



Table 2 Enrollment in Kumon Math for Japanese Elementary Schoolchildren

(September 1992)

Number of Students (Percentage of all Japanese

Age Grade elementary school students) -2 8,146

3 13,217 4 25,755 5 Kindergarten 50,447 6 1 87,574 (6.3) 7 2 111,710 (8.0) 8 3 119,031 (7.9) 9 4 108,084 (7.2)

10 5 89,020 (5.9) 11 6 74,028 (4.6)

Source: Kumon Institute of Education and Japanese Ministry of Education.

and 35 per cent because it has a good reputation among neighbors and friends.15

The company's user-friendly reputation belies its size and power. It operates 81 regional offices, 18,500 franchises, and in the fiscal year ending March 1992 reported sales of Y47.5 billion ($448 million). Enrollment figures for September 1992 show that approximately 800,000 children study with Kumon, mostly in three subjects: math, Japanese language, and English. According to the firm's figures, 790,000 children are enrolled in math, 605,000 study Japanese language, and 240,000 study English. (The figures add up to more than 800,000 since many children enroll in more than one subject.) Some 70 per cent of children who study math also study Japanese language and 63,000 students study all three subjects.

Kumon asserts that its method is appropriate for all ages, but enrollment statistics show that Japanese parents overwhelmingly choose Kumon math as a class for elementary schoolchildren. In fact, this age bracket accounts for 80 per cent of all users.16 Enrollment for math starts to double each year from the two-year-old level until the first grade. It peaks at elementary third grade, as seen in Table 2.

Kumon may be popular for this age level because the method is seen as useful for cementing fundamental arithmetic skills, which are introduced in the elementary years and which parents consider important to

15. Sh6ji Shiba, "The Excellent Education System for One and a Half Million Chil- dren," Programmed Learning and Educational Technology, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Nov. 1986), p. 311.

16. Approximately 100,000 middle and high school students were enrolled in Kumon math as of September 1992:

98



future success in mathematics. Parents who are considering Kumon are told of the method's record of accelerating children beyond grade-level work. Since the method starts new students at such a low beginning point, about six months is required for them to reach their true ability level. By the end of one year, however, 50 per cent of children in the top half of their class have surpassed grade-level work. Children in the top quarter of their class are already studying 0.75 years ahead. Within two years, children in the bottom quarter are studying ahead of grade level. Since the average Kumon student is enrolled for 28 months, it can be assumed that most children catch up with and eventually advance beyond their grade level. Kumon is used as an accelerated course and for remedial purposes but, according to the company, the majority of users are children of average ability.

Of at least equal importance to parents is Kumon's provision of a structured yet low-key format that, properly used, can nurture disciplined study habits and engage a child's attention on an academic subject for a short but intense period of time each day. As many children's first juku, or supple- mentary after-school class, it is a relatively unthreatening experience. Unlike many other big juku companies which have an impersonal, urban image, Kumon ky6shitsu are more akin to a neighborhood shop. Virtually all are run by women, half are run out of private homes, and it is common for children to walk directly from schools to their Kumon classes. After arriving, the child greets the teacher, turns in the homework, obtains his or her folder, and starts the day's assignment. In one Japanese classroom in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, a mother sat on the tatami with her 18-month- old son on her lap, quietly chanting "1 + 1" problems to him as the children around them chatted, gazed at the ceiling, and completed worksheets.

Tuition consists of a one-time Y10,000 (about $95 @ Y105 = $1) registration fee per family and Y6,000 monthly for primary school children, with a discount for more than one subject. Compared to the price of other juku, some of which may charge monthly fees of over Y20,000, Kumon is considered to be moderately priced.

Many elements that help to explain Kumon's commercial success would seem to be in place: a large market of interested consumers, time- tested curriculum, sound company reputation, and competitive price. But what cannot be overlooked in an examination of the Kumon method is the crucial roles women play in two areas: as supervisory parent in the home and as company-trained instructor.

Kumon extols its worksheets as self-teaching, but learning will not take place, of course, unless the daily worksheet set is completed. Much like getting a child to practice a musical instrument or brush his teeth after meals, the role of a badgering adult is critical. In Japan, it falls to the mother to make sure that "doing Kumon" becomes part of the daily routine

99



(the company recommends doing a packet before school). As Kumon parents will attest, the method is labor intensive, and the Japanese mother is well suited to its successful application.

Women also account for more than 95 per cent of Kumon instructors. Kumon uses a franchise system to spread its network of classrooms, and women who obtain a franchise also serve as that classroom's instructor. Some successful franchisees/instructors operate more than one tutorial center, thus 16,586 franchisees run 18,487 classrooms. The employment structure in Japan offers such limited opportunity for Japanese women, particularly for those who leave the work force to have children and later wish to return, that Kumon is able to select its franchisees from a deep pool of highly educated and willing applicants who are experienced in working with children. Among the group of franchisees hired in spring 1992, for instance, most were homemakers and 57 per cent had graduated from a four-year college, and 36 per cent from a two-year college. Very few Kumon instructors are professionally trained teachers: rather, their wish is to earn part-time income in a job that also offers the potential to help others. Economist Shiba Shoji has patronizingly described them as "social bench warmers" whose talents have been unleashed by Kumon.17

Given the information made available by the company, it is not clear what the average income is for a franchisee. New franchisees pay Y70,000 in training and start-up fees, and operating costs vary widely. Each month, the average franchisee collects tuition for 94 students, keeping 60 per cent of payments. In the case of extremely successful instructors, however, it is possible to earn the equivalent of $50,000 to $100,000 a year or more. Fujiwara Hideko, who is now employed by Kumon as an educational director in Houston, Texas, ran a famous franchise in Himeji City with several hundred students and 32 grading assistants. Minamiura Kumiko of Nara Prefecture is currently Japan's largest franchisee, with nearly 400 students, virtually all of whom study two subjects or more.

The company takes great care in the hiring, training, and maintenance of standards in its instructors. Kumon hires less than one of every ten applicants. Prospective candidates take a general knowledge exam, a test in the subject they hope to teach, and a 30-minute interview with a local Kumon manager who judges the applicant's personality and "love of children."

Successful applicants then enter a training period of over one year. They attend three months of introductory classes, open their franchise, and participate in a follow-up year of courses to study the curriculum and mo-

17. Shiba, "The Excellent Education System," p. 324. According to Shiba, 94 per cent of instructors believe their role is to help children develop their potential, and 70 per cent would like to continue working as long as they are healthy (pp. 226-27).

100



tivation strategies. Math instructors, for example, must complete 2,000 worksheets through Level J (factorization and quadratic equations), starting with 200 pages of mazes and drawing lines between cartoon figures.

For at least the first several years, instructors also are required to earn a prescribed number of credits by attending lectures on educational topics, and twice a year they must take an exam in their subject(s). The latter requirement assures subject mastery, keeps instructors mindful of the student's perspective, and works to enhance their esteem as "professionals." Fujiwara in Houston believes that the most diligent Kumon teachers are busier studying, attending seminars, and correcting papers than the average Japanese schoolteacher. In addition, the company has created an elaborate social world to motivate teachers, nurture their sense of professionalism, and instill a feeling of participation in a worthy educational cause.

Excellence is encouraged by publicly recognizing exemplary teachers. An elite group of superior instructors, who are judged by their innovative use of the method-which frequently coincides with their ability to amass huge enrollments-become superstars within the organization. Such famous instructors (yumei na shidosha) travel across the country delivering lectures to regional groups, granting interviews to company journals, and otherwise disseminating their ideas on learning and teaching. Dozens of others become headmasters of small schools. Kumon's top 100 instructors average over 200 students each, but actually collect tuition for the equivalent of 500 users since most students sign up for two or three subjects. Inouye Mayumi of Kyoto Prefecture, who specializes in upper-level (ju- nior high and above) worksheets and has published a booklet of hints, teaches 250 students, many of whom routinely stay at her juku for four years (almost double the average length of study). Morita Yukiko operates the "Triumph" kyoshitsu, attended by 260 students. She is well known within the organization for her work with gifted (yushuji) children who are under the age of five and who routinely work linear equations, read English stories, and study Japanese essays that use up to 800 kanji. Suzuki Mieko, of Tanashi City, Tokyo, holds well-attended seminars for new parents on teaching English to infants.

Teachers also gain recognition through contributing to or being featured in company monthlies, such as Yamabiko, a general newsletter; Nyiu- y6ji, about teaching infants; and Tsukushi, for teachers of children with learning disorders. All instructors are sent copies, which contain cheery accounts of high-achieving students, complete with baby photos and the obligatory sample of worksheets. One typical article featured the observations of a teacher's poignant experiences with a mentally handicapped boy who enrolled in her center as a third-grader-crying, unable to hold a pencil, and capable of reading only seven hiragana. By the time he turned 15, he was reading kanji, solving math problems, and had obtained a job.

101



Table 3 Hints in Kumon Teaching Manuals

Level 5A (prewriting) Contents: Drawing lines Aim: To teach them how to hold and apply pressure to a pencil, to write neatly,

and to work and concentrate To enable them to count aloud to 50 and to recognize numbers up to 30

Instructions: 1. Pay special attention to the children's expressions and attitudes throughout the 5A-level materials to be sure that they are always enjoying studying.

2. Score all the 5A-level materials with 100% even if there are some mistakes. Make sure the children correct their mistakes through the process of reviewing.

3. It is sufficient if the children can draw smooth firm lines even if they veer off the path somewhat.

4. The more advanced the worksheets, the more there is to do per page. You may want to decrease the number of worksheets after observing the progress of each child.

5. Have small children use Kumon's special pencils. Level E (fractions and decimals)

Pages E181-200 are difficult for many students. They may go forward if they can complete one page within seven minutes. Many children have trouble converting decimals into fractions .... Basic problems such as 0.5 = '/2, 0.25 = /4, 0.75 = 3/4 should be memorized through practice.

Sources: For Level 5A, "Points for Instruction," Sept. 1990; for Level E, "Shid6 ni tsuite no ryuijiko," undated.

She emotionally concluded that "there is no other method like Kumon that furthers the intellectual development of handicapped people." 18

Expert instructors may be asked by the company for their help in re- searching a specific topic. "Monitors" (monitd) consider a given problem and make suggestions, such as where improvements can be made in sequencing problems or in breaking down concepts into smaller parts.

We found that there is a difficult jump to go from doing 8 + 3 to 9 + 4 and that more practice is needed on problems that lead up to solving 8 + 2.... The instructors watch the children and tell us which spots in the worksheets give the children trouble. Sometimes a teacher will say, "one little girl cried when she couldn't do this one." We have the children do the problems and watch their responses. Another teacher told us, "the child was going along very smoothly until this point, when his pencil stopped." 19

The experience and expertise of past instructors also can be seen on the pages of detailed teaching manuals that offer hints and pinpoint trouble spots. Examples of these are shown in Table 3.

18. "Y6og gakko kara ippan kigyo ni shushoku," Tsukushi, No. 54 (April 1990), pp. 26-27.

19. Interview with Ozaki, July 18, 1991.

102



On the other hand, some women have complained of feeling exploited by the firm.20 Resentment may be directed against company managers who are in supervisory positions yet have little or no actual experience teaching Kumon. In cases such as this, the inspirational example of Mr. Kumon, who, at 78 years old, is the charismatic, hands-on chairman of the firm, can be a powerful salve. He is passionate about spreading his method to help children "learn how to learn," and frequently speaks before Kumon conventions, writes newspaper columns, inquires about worksheet revi- sions, and holds staff meetings to discuss ways that Kumon can contribute to society, based on his own 70-item list of the method's positive attri- butes.21 Admirers compare him to Suzuki Shinichi, the founder of the Su- zuki method of violin instruction, which, like Kumon, emphasizes practice and memorization of skills and produces a high level of proficiency in young children. Both men, who are friends, believe that all children have genius potential and that it is the responsibility of adults to nurture it to maturity.22

Mr. Kumon's drive to continually perfect the method led to his own important innovations, such as a Standard Completion Time (hyojun kan- sei jikan) for each page, and the Advanced Students List, which names children who have advanced at least six months beyond their grade level.23

20. One Japanese representative said that several women told him that they felt used by the company's ability to profit so handsomely from their ideas and observations, but that they would not quit because they wanted to continue working "for the sake of children."

21. "Kumon-shiki no tokucho" (March 1991) is a two-page, itemized list that is part data, part opinion, and part gospel. Item 10, for example, "Kan6sei no tsuikyfi," is a com- parative data chart that states that in the 10 years between 1981 and 1991, the number of elementary school students solving Level J worksheets (square roots, quadratic equations) grew from 181 to 7,000. Item 25, "Kumon-shiki shid6sha ni natte yokatta," quotes an instructor as saying that through Kumon, she understood the meaning of education and, as a result, developed a stronger love of humanity. I happened in on a Japanese representative in Texas who was studying the list in his office and had circled this item and added his own notes.

22. For an absorbing description and analysis of the Suzuki method, see Lois Taniuchi (Peak), "Cultural Continuity in an Educational Institution: A Case Study of the Suzuki Method of Music Instruction," in Merry White and Susan Pollack, eds., The Cultural Tran- sition: Human Experience and Social Transformation in the Third World and Japan (Boston: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986), pp. 113-40.

23. In 1958, Mr. Kumon introduced the Advanced Students List, which contained the names of all students completing worksheets six months or more above grade level. Origi- nally, it was intended as a way to motivate students. One manager said:

The child feels pride in seeing his name on the list and so does the parent .... One can see the lowest achiever and the highest achiever and it is valuable to know what your own position is in relation to the top and bottom. (interview with Ozaki, 1991)

But the "list," now published by region, seems to be of equal or greater interest to instructors, whose names and cities are published alongside those of the most advanced students. As of June 1992, math enrollment was 770,223 students, of which half were completing worksheets six months ahead of the Japanese school curriculum. One fourth-grader, one fifth-grader, and

103



Modern data analysis techniques underpin and refine basic concepts such as these. For example, using worksheet data collected from franchisees each month, the firm has established advancement models that predict the learning curves of children based on gender, age, and ability level. The same data are used to pinpoint the worksheets most frequently repeated, an indication of possible flaws in the curriculum. (The curriculum now devotes 460 pages to slowly introduce addition, but only one-fourth that number of worksheets to practice subtraction.) These findings and their efficient dissemination stimulate learning among instructors and generate new opportunities for growth. One veteran shidosha recalls how excited she and her colleagues were when worksheet data became available on the first three-year old to complete level M (differential equations). "All of the teachers were interested . . . to see which level had given him the most difficulty."24 They were surprised to learn that the culprit was level A, single-digit addition. This level and the one that precedes it are the most frequently repeated.

The Kumon Method in the United States

The Kumon method is used by nearly 70,000 children in the United States, about half of whom use it in public and private schools with the remaining 35,000 students enrolled in after-school tutorial centers. It is an experiment that is being watched with perplexity, hope, and fascination in Kumon's Osaka headquarters. The blend of social and cultural factors that contribute to Kumon's success in Japan-strong parental commitment, the continual, intensive training of instructors, and an extremely education- conscious society that has a thriving industry of after-school juku-do not exist to the same degree in the United States. At the same time, the ability of American schools to freely adopt supplemental programs has provided business opportunities for Kumon that do not exist in Japan, and by using professional schoolteachers the need for extensive training becomes less important. Limited experiments with using Kumon worksheets in Ameri- can corporations suggest another fertile market. In an effort to enhance productivity, Texas Instruments, the nation's largest manufacturer of elec- tronic calculators, uses Kumon worksheets to prepare some of its employ-

one sixth-grader were among the 14 children who completed the entire course, which ends in differential geometry.

The concept of a Standard Completion Time was introduced in 1976. It provides specific time limits for each page. Mr. Kumon and others observed that the highest achievers worked quickly and that when children had unlimited time to finish, their attention drifted. He also came to believe that a perfect score achieved too slowly did not constitute mastery.

24. Telephone interview with Fujiwara Hideko (educational director, Kumon Mathema- tex, Houston, Texas), Aug. 7, 1992.

104



ees to take a timed, math skills test in which they are only allowed to use pencil and paper.

The Kumon method arrived in the United States in the mid-1970s at the behest of Japanese expatriate businessmen who were searching for a supplement to their children's math education. Gradually the method began to spread among local populations on the West and East Coasts, mostly among children of Asian descent. Two-thirds of Kumon's after-school students in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, for example, are the children of first-generation Japanese and Korean parents. Similarly, children born to Chinese and Korean immigrants are believed to account for two-thirds of the enrollment in New Jersey. In order to expose the method to "real Americans," the firm opened an office in Houston, Texas, in 1988.

The Houston office planned to expand in the U.S. South and Mid- west by opening after-school tutorial centers. Ilene Black, an elementary school vice principal in Alabama, irrevocably changed this strategy. Black, of Sumiton Elementary School, viewed a news report on the Kumon method and was impressed by the company's claim of mastery. Despite initial protestations by Houston officials that Kumon was not for school use, she persuaded the company to let her try Kumon as an in-school supplemental curriculum, and within one year teachers cited dramatic improvements in standardized test scores. Sumiton first graders, who had routinely scored in the 20th percentile and below in the math portion of standardized achievement tests, began to place in the 85th percentile. Before starting the program, Sumiton ranked 19th out of 21 among county schools in a comparison of scores on the Stanford Achievement Test, a norm-referenced test, but after one year of practicing Kumon, Sumiton ranked 9th out of 21 in math. "None of our teachers changed, and neither did our textbooks. The only thing that was different was Kumon," 25 Black said. The most surprising thing for her and the teachers, however, was that the children said they liked it, with some even wanting to skip P.E. to do Kumon worksheets. Major news media published articles about these outlandish claims of success. Time magazine took the unusual step of printing Kumon's Houston address in its letters-to-the-editor column fol- lowing a large number of queries from the public, boosting the profile of the company enormously. The in-school program, which started with 300 students in Sumiton in 1988, was expected to expand to 50,000 children in 36 states for the 1992-93 school year. Sumiton Elementary, in its sixth year of Kumon, is frequently visited by teachers from all over the country, and even from abroad.

Kumon used as an in-school program almost always supplements a core

25. Interview with Ilene Black (principal, Sumiton Elementary School), Sumiton, Ala- bama, May 18, 1992.

105



math program, but that is where the uniformity ends. "In the U.S., the only norm is that there is no norm," one manager says.26 The ability to pay for the program is an important determinant in usage. Kumon charges a $5 monthly fee for each student ($45 per student for a nine-month school year). Private schools may choose to add $45 to the cost of the annual tuition, but in a public school, $45 must be multiplied by some 25 students per class, bringing the school's cost to over $1,000-for only one class. As a result, Kumon can be adopted only if a principal obtains a grant, if teachers find a way to raise money, or if parents are willing to pay for the program out of pocket, which may result in uneven participation.

The dramatic displays of success claimed by Sumiton Elementary led to praise and optimism claims by observers. The Kumon company set a goal of enrolling two million American schoolchildren in its method by the year 2000, now viewed by most managers as unrealistic. What has become clear over the past few years, however, is that outcomes swing dramatically depending on the effort and attitude of the classroom teacher. Teachers who like the method and the facts-oriented curriculum tend to produce good results, while those who do not may obtain the reverse outcome.

Enthusiastic teachers and schools report impressive gains in scores on standardized tests.27 My own random sampling of five schools which had used the method for at least one year also indicated that mathematics scores had increased by varying degrees, but since schools had used the method differently and without using the same control groups, the extent of real change could not be determined.28

26. Interview with Mark Burkhart (manager, North Texas Kumon office), Irving, Texas, Oct. 23, 1992.

27. Such samples are not scientifically measured and cannot be considered representative of other schools. Their common factor is higher test scores in the computation portion of standardized tests and smaller gains in problem solving. For example, Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School in Bowie, Maryland, reported that school-wide averages (for 210 students in grades 1-6) increased from an average 72nd percentile in 1990, to the 88th percentile in 1992, and from the 80th percentile in problem solving in 1990 to the 86th percentile in 1992, on the Massachusetts Achievement Test ("Kumon Kronicles," Sept. 1992, p. 3). In a follow- up telephone interview, a school representative confirmed the test scores and attributed the success of the Kumon program to a volunteer team of 60 parents who correct worksheets every night. Similarly, Cleora Public School in Cleora, Oklahoma, uses Kumon for all 130 children in grades K-8, and reported that the schoolwide average for total math (the average of three math sections: computation, problem solving, and concepts, on two standardized tests) rose from the 63rd percentile in 1990 to the 82nd percentile in 1993 on standardized tests ("Kumon Kronicles," June 1992, p. 3). Woody Goins, the district superintendent who initiated the program, said in an interview that the school pays for a full-time worksheet grader.

28. Desert Winds Elementary, Marana, Arizona; Gilboa-Conesville Central School, Gil- boa, New York; Judson Montessori School, San Antonio, Texas; P'tach School, Baltimore, Maryland; Roadrunner Elementary, Marana, Arizona.

106



Successful Kumon schools cite behavioral changes and improved self- confidence which may then have the effect of lifting the child's performance. An elementary school principal in Atlanta, Texas, whose school uses Kumon for 70 kindergartners said, "We felt like it gives the kids a good head start. They get to feeling like they're good at math, and that's about half the ballgame. If you believe you can do it, you can." 29

Some schools that use curriculums that focus on concepts say that the method is useful in helping children master basic arithmetic facts. A Mon- tessori school principal observed,

We look at Kumon addition problems as the lowest level of math, where speed and accuracy are developed. If you can do this without effort, so that it's second nature, then you are freer to think on a higher plane.30

The observations of the director of a program for gifted and talented children, at the University of Tulsa, attracted interest since it is commonly assumed that academically advanced children do not need or like repetition. After using Kumon for 82 students from grades 1-7, for one year, she found in a survey that:

68 per cent (56 children) said the method helped their concentration, 54 per cent (44) said it helped them stay on task, 60 per cent (49) said it helped them learn how to work hard, 83 per cent (68) said it had increased their speed, 73 per cent (60) said it had helped them improve accuracy, 91 per cent (75) said their math skills had improved.31

But Kumon can fail spectacularly where teachers are less convinced of its efficacy. Additional class preparation and the massive amount of grading and record-keeping can be staggering. Grading worksheets for an average class of 21 can take as much as two and a half hours.32 If immediate grading and record-keeping is not carried out, the wrong level of worksheet may be assigned, destroying the seamless progression of work that successful application of Kumon requires.

Even where teachers devise ways to alleviate the grading problem, such as by having students grade each other's work, rotating grading among work groups, or hiring a part-time grader, students inevitably tire of doing

29. Telephone interview with Gus Schulmann (principal, Atlanta Primary School, At- lanta, Texas), Nov. 12, 1992.

30. Telephone interview with James Judson (principal, Judson Montessori School, San Antonio, Texas), Oct. 29, 1992.

31. Patricia L. Hollingsworth, "A Reformer's 'Retrogression': Speaking Out for Kumon Mathematics," Education Week, Vol. XI, No. 13 (Nov. 27, 1991), pp. 23-25.

32. Sherman, "Japan's Latest Export," p. 96.

107



worksheets when the novelty wears off or when the problems grow more difficult. Finding ways to handle the dropoff in interest becomes a burden for the teacher, who is not paid to use Kumon and does not have the Japa- nese support mechanism of active parental interest.

Another problematic aspect of using Kumon in schools is that many participating public schools use the program for remedial students, whose materials are paid for by federal grants. Such students may be several years behind their grade level to begin with, and starting them at Kumon's tra- ditionally low level means that they may be unable to make meaningful progress, which can be a source of discouragement.

Thus, Kumon expects an annual attrition rate of approximately 30 per cent, due to the aforementioned reasons, personnel changes, and lack of funds. A random survey of eight schools that had left the program found that five cancelled due to lack of funds and the remaining schools found the program to be unproductive and too much trouble.33 Other teachers simply dislike the method: "it's a lot of repetition for children ... I don't see any great purpose in it. After awhile, if you've done it enough, you just memorize the answers."34 The method also has run into opposition from a national mathematics teachers' organization, which advocates a national curriculum based on teaching problem-solving skills and using calculators for computation. A former president of the National Council of Teachers and Mathematics said, "To want to be able to recite multiplication tables is a sad commentary (on math education) at the end of the century."35

Approximately 35,000 American children study Kumon math in after- school learning centers, which are operated in churches, community centers, schools, and malls. Students pay a $30 registration fee and $65 monthly tuition. Women, oftentimes schoolteachers who run centers on Saturdays and professional tutors, account for 70 per cent of franchisees. A license and start-up kit costs $300 and the instructor keeps 60 per cent of student tuition. The biggest difference is that, until recently, American

33. Preston Hollow Elementary (Dallas, Texas) lack of funds La Vega Elementary (Waco, Texas) lack of funds, disliked by teachers Midfield School District (Midfield, lack of funds

Alabama) Mansfield High School (Mansfield, Texas) scheduling problems Curry Elementary (Jasper, Alabama) scheduling problems Bonnie Brae (Ft. Worth, Texas) lack of funds (school for emotion-

ally disturbed children) Maria Immaculate (Houma, Louisiana) scheduling problems Ashland City Primary (Ashland, Tennessee) lack of funds

34. Telephone interview with Susan Allen (teacher, P'tach School, Baltimore, Mary- land), Nov. 2, 1992.

35. Telephone interview with Iris Carl (former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Houston, Texas), April 6, 1992.

108



franchisees have undergone only several hours of training, largely by watching videotapes.

A high drop-out rate plagues many centers. According to U.S. representatives, American students tend to be oriented to short-term results, such as passing an upcoming test or improving a grade, and are not fully accustomed to the idea of extracurricular classes. A Japanese strat- egist observes that "Japanese mothers want their children to progress beyond their classmates, but when Americans catch up, they feel satisfied and leave the program."36 An American manager adds, "Most parents feel math is the school's job. . . . When kids leave school, it's hard enough to get them to do their homework let alone extracurricular homework." 37

The extreme amount of repetition is unacceptable to many parents, and due to the lack of teacher training and absence of a system to educate the user, some parents come to believe that the intent of the extremely low starting level and the voluminous repetition is to collect more tuition. In some franchises, instructors who do not want to grade the worksheets ask parents to grade them at home, and if the parents fail to do so, the child's progress cannot be monitored accurately. The task of chauffeuring children to yet another activity and the $65 monthly tuition are other obstacles to participation. First-generation Asian-American parents, however, seem to be less deterred by these factors and American Kumon centers most re- semble their Japanese counterparts where first-generation Korean, Chi- nese, Japanese, and Indian families form the main constituency.38 Korean parents "are not satisfied with the education system here," says Han Kim, a manager for Kumon in southern California. "In Kumon, they see something very similar to what they learned in Korea. They emphasize this math very strongly for their children."39 Other foreign-born Asian residents from Taiwan and China have expressed "relief" at finding a program such

36. Interview with Fujiwara, Houston, Texas, March 28, 1992. 37. Telephone interview with Dave Walker (general manager, Kumon Mathematex,

Houston, Texas), May 30, 1991. 38. In Toronto, Canada, Kumon franchisees adjust their marketing approach according

to place of family origin. New students are considered to belong to one of two categories: "Type A," whose parents are not native to North America, desire more rigor in their children's education, and who want their children to advance beyond the school curriculum; and "Type B," whose parents are native Canadians and who tend to view Kumon as a remedial program. Franchisee Lynda Montis, who with her husband operates three Kumon franchises with a combined enrollment of 934 students, is known and valued within the Kumon organization for her success in attracting "Type B" children. They comprise approximately 75 per cent of her enrollment. See "Success with Kumon," speech text by Lynda Montis (Aug. 7, 1993, Toronto, Canada).

39. Anthony Millican, "Presence of Koreans Reshaping the Region," Los Angeles Times, Feb. 2, 1992, p. 5.

109



as Kumon in the United States. It seems to mirror an educational style they find familiar.

Conclusion A cursory inspection of Kumon worksheets seems to say everything

that one needs to know about the method: 28 volumes of worksheets filled with calculation problems that bespeak old-fashioned drill, a familiar and now commonly rejected pedagogical method. But the Kumon phenome- non has much to teach us about how an effective instructional method, grounded in accepted educational theory, was developed, applied, and per- fected. The worksheets have been derided as a "drill-and-kill" curriculum, but their meticulous sequencing and attention to detail make them a much more complex body of material. The decades-long drive to perfect the worksheets is reminiscent of Japanese industrial manufacturing processes and the resulting "product" has been likened to a Lexus luxury car among Edsels by educational psychologist Robbie Case.

We also can increase our understanding of Japanese education by studying why Kumon has been well received for 35 years among a dedicated group of Japanese parents. It may be that Kumon in the Japanese context is a desirable complement to school learning, particularly at the elementary level. According to recent research by Stigler and Stevenson,40 Japanese elementary schoolteachers use inquiry-based methods to conduct math classes by using small groups to explore concepts, encouraging mistakes, and leading open-ended discussions. Classtime is rarely spent practicing computational skills. In the evening, however, children practice drill and calculation at juku, by doing homework sheets or by filling in practice books sold at corner bookstores. Thus, concepts are considered during the day and practice takes place at night.41 Recent psychological research indicates that this is a powerful combination for learning.42

40. Harold W. Stevenson and James W. Stigler, The Learning Gap: Why Our Schools Are Failing and What We Can Learn from Japanese and Chinese Education (New York: Summit Books, 1992), pp. 175-79.

41. Japanese math educators face problems of a different nature. One concern is the finding of the Japanese Ministry of Education and other research groups that while Japanese math scores on standardized tests are among the highest in the world, Japanese children also have the highest rate of disliking math. The ministry is recommending in its guidelines that more time be spent in the classroom on kadai gakushtu, in which children must create their own problems using rules and applications.

Critics also note that Japanese students do not place high in international math olym- piads, whose participants represent "genius"-level talent in mathematical thinking and whose top performers usually come from the United States, China, and Europe.

42. Robbie Case, Intellectual Development: Birth to Adulthood (Orlando: Academic Press, 1985), chapter 15.

110



Once Japanese children leave elementary school, however, their usage of the Kumon method and the individual and institutional nature of learning changes. In contrast to the nurturing female instructors of Kumon, yobiko cram school instructors are strict, authoritarian male teachers whose task is to mentally prepare their charges for the narrowly competitive task of excelling on a standardized entrance exam. The option of attending a Kumon kyoshitsu is only one component in a complex web of educational choices that Japanese parents make at different points in their children's careers.

The Kumon method also supplements an educational system whose institutions do not provide a place for diverse learning styles and users- children with learning disabilities, those who are extremely advanced, or others who simply want to study something outside the standard offerings, such as German, French, Spanish, or Chinese. Kumon enrolls 2,000 users roughly classified as learning disabled, including children who are hearing impaired, autistic, Down's syndrome, or have other disabilities.43

Part of Kumon's appeal also can be attributed to the fact that it is a modern expression of deeply held beliefs about how teaching and learning should take place. Kumon's emphasis on learning through drill, physical repetition, and memorization echoes Japanese instructional traditions that value "doing" as a part of knowing. The phrase "karada de oboeru" (literally, "memorizing through the body") is commonly used in reference to learning processes, whether one is learning how to bow, ride a bicycle, master a no dance, or, in the case of Kumon, rapidly perform mathematical calculations. This phase is the first step for novices and children. A Japa- nese music instructor who has taught piano to children and young adults for 25 years says, "In methods like Suzuki and Kumon, you are making children learn through their body. They aren't told 'why' yet. When they ask labout conceptsl you say 'just wait a little longer' lchotto matte kuda- sail, and you don't encourage them to think about that yet. Education is a difficult process because you must switch to different styles depending on the age of the learner." 44 Repetition also is seen as nurturing positive character traits, such as endurance, patience, and discipline. Thus the Japanese teenager who completed 17 levels of Kumon English, and then repeated it for reinforcement, viewed the exercise not only as a way to absorb knowledge, but also as a badge of his diligence and perseverance.

Many traditional Japanese methods of instruction also rely on a

43. The company categorizes the learning problems as follows: autism or autistic ten- dencies (318), emotional disorders (126), Down's Syndrome (281), mentally delayed (527), hearing impaired (136), and other disabilities (552). Teachers adjust their guidance methods, but it appears that extreme repetition, such as using the same worksheet 10 or 20 times, one page at a time, is coimmon.

44. Interview with Yukie Kyuzaki (piano instructor), Dallas, Texas, Nov. 8, 1992.

111



"guided method" in which a clear goal is set forth with detailed steps that, if closely followed, assure a high level of proficiency. Along the way, learners are rewarded and motivated with an acknowledgment of their incremental advancement: special licenses in the tea ceremony, different belt colors in the martial arts, promotion to a higher level of apprenticeship, or, in the case of Kumon, stickers, certificates of achievement at the end of each "200-step" level, or mention in the Advanced Students List. This incremental approach allows for gradual mastery of a subject while en- abling learners to develop a sense of themselves as serious participants in a learning process. For those who endure the two-steps forward, one-step backward progression through the curriculum, it guarantees objective measures of success, confirming the view held by most Japanese that personal industry is more important to academic achievement than natural intelligence.

Observing the Kumon method in new environments provides additional insight on how the method functions and how users' needs differ. Due to American resistance to intensive repetition, Kumon may develop an abbre- viated curriculum for U.S. use without the repetition that Kumon deems necessary for "overlearning." "The steps will become rougher." 45 Kumon is being applied to new user groups in the United States, in corporations, prisons, and in English-as-a-second-language programs. Chinese-language newspapers in New York carry front-page advertisements for Kumon En- glish.46 Using Kumon cross-culturally focuses attention on different standards of achievement. Although college-bound Japanese students are ad- vised to complete Level O (differential and integral calculus) to ensure mastery of college entrance examination material, Kumon analysts say that an adequate goal for their counterparts in an American K-12 system is completion through Level I and part of Level J (algebra) to score in the 70th percentile, or over 600 in the math portion of the Scholastic Apti- tude Test.

It has become clear that without Japanese support mechanisms, such as fervent parental support, and other technical features, such as the uniform training of instructors, the method functions less evenly and effec- tively. (This became particularly clear to my family when we switched from studying at the Texas office-which was a training center for some of the company's most experienced representatives-to a private New Jer- sey franchise, where grading was left to the parents, guidance was sparse, and progression in the curriculum stagnated.) But, ultimately, the deter- mining factor for success in using Kumon lies in the personal motivation of the individual parent or teacher. When parents and teachers become

45. Interview with Fujiwara, March 28, 1992. 46. Shijie Ribao, Aug. 21, 1993, p. 1.

112


Ukai: Kumon Approach 113

closely involved, they achieve high outcomes and open up new areas for application. An Australian instructor suggested the idea for developing an English curriculum for native speakers, Americans were the first to use Kumon in schools and companies, and Canadians now operate the two largest Kumon franchises of all, in Toronto.

PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY


Article Contentsp. 87p. 88p. 89p. 90p. 91p. 92p. 93p. 94p. 95p. 96p. 97p. 98p. 99p. 100p. 101p. 102p. 103p. 104p. 105p. 106p. 107p. 108p. 109p. 110p. 111p. 112p. 113

Issue Table of ContentsJournal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Winter, 1994), pp. 1-290Front MatterSymposium on Teaching and Learning in JapanSymposium on Teaching and Learning in Japan: Introduction [pp. 1 - 3]Teaching and Learning in the Rinzai Zen Monastery [pp. 5 - 35]Guiding Them on: Teaching, Hierarchy, and Social Organization in Japanese Middle Schools [pp. 37 - 59]The Path to Adulthood according to Japanese Middle Schools [pp. 61 - 86]The Kumon Approach to Teaching and Learning [pp. 87 - 113]

Arisawa Hiromi and His Theory for a Managed Economy [pp. 115 - 153]Review Sectionuntitled [pp. 155 - 162]untitled [pp. 162 - 166]untitled [pp. 166 - 170]untitled [pp. 170 - 174]untitled [pp. 174 - 176]untitled [pp. 176 - 180]untitled [pp. 180 - 185]untitled [pp. 185 - 190]untitled [pp. 190 - 194]untitled [pp. 194 - 198]untitled [pp. 198 - 201]untitled [pp. 201 - 207]untitled [pp. 207 - 212]untitled [pp. 212 - 217]untitled [pp. 217 - 218]untitled [pp. 219 - 221]untitled [pp. 221 - 228]untitled [pp. 228 - 230]untitled [pp. 230 - 234]untitled [pp. 234 - 238]untitled [pp. 238 - 245]untitled [pp. 245 - 250]untitled [pp. 250 - 251]untitled [pp. 252 - 253]untitled [pp. 253 - 256]In Search of the Cultivated Mind: Changing Images of Education and the Educated in Meiji Japan [pp. 257 - 262]untitled [pp. 262 - 263]untitled [pp. 264 - 267]untitled [pp. 267 - 270]untitled [pp. 271 - 273]untitled [pp. 273 - 276]untitled [pp. 276 - 280]

Publications of Note [pp. 281 - 284]Opinion and CommentResponse to Gary Ebersole's Review [pp. 285 - 286]Reply to Wayne Farris' Review [pp. 287 - 289]

Back Matter [pp. 290 - 290]

Kumon1

Documents

Transcript of Kumon1