More students hoping to improve their skills in English opt for Canada or Australia because they want to enjoy the laid-back lifestyle those countries advertise.
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Naomi Tagashira, a counselor with Japan Student Services Organization, on why U.S. colleges are losing their allure for Japanese students. (Asahi Shimbun)
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MeanRingo
And by "laid-back" they mean "pot-friendly". Ha ha. Bong!
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KingSaint
More "pot friendly" than an American college? I think that is only possible in Amsterdam. I would say that the more "laid-back" would possilble mean the work load, not that I know what the work load for Canada or Australia is like but there is a lot of work in American universities.
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michaelqtodd
Let
s hope those students keep laying back once they come back to Japan.Its because they are not clever enough to enter New Zealand ones that they go to Canada and Australia though0
LostinNagoya
I think they don't opt for US for security reasons. Too many guns out there.
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neverknow2
No. You are fail.
Australia and Canada are much cheaper to live in. Australia and Canada both offer Japanese the option of a working holiday visa whereas the US does not. It's easier for Japaneseto get a student visa for Australia or Canada. The cost of going to university in Australia and Canada is cheaper. Australia and Canada offer a more multicultural society i.e. foreigners are more accepted in the community.
And finally, in Australia and Canada, people do not walk around with guns shooting each other.
Case closed.
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funkymofo
michaelgtodd
Judging by your punctuation and sentence construction, you probably did though. Just kidding, but you did leave yourself open.
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dolphingirl
neverknow: You hit it!
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griff
america became unattractive when it decided to stop welcoming outsiders for the talent they could bring, in favour of protecting against the "danger" that they might bring... this change of focus will be its inevitable downfall
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LFRAgain
BWAAHH-Haaa-hahahaha!! Right. And John Howard? Now THERE'S a bastion of multicultural tolerance, if ever there was one. And before anyone suggests that things have changed now that Rudd's in office, do note that Howard managed to remain in power for 10 years with the support of an electorate that gleefully endorsed his "concentration camp" mentality towards undesireable foreigner elements (and even towards those that were homegrown). That kind of xenophobic, racist bigotry doesn't just disappear overnight.
No need to read any more into the quote than just what it explains. Japanese students tend to expect college to be a four year vacation, thus it's little wonder that they would opt for the closest alternative overseas. If Canadian and Australian schools are advertising a "laid-back" lifestyle, then it's not much of a surprise that more Japanese would-be college students are seeking just that.
To be fair, after the trauma of exam hell in Japanese junior and senior high school, I don't exactly blame them. But when it comes to furthering one's education, it's a sad waste of all the expended effort up until that point just to seek out a prolonged vacation overseas under the guise of "learning" at mom's and dad's expense.
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bushlover
[Australia and Canada are much cheaper to live in.] Sorry but this is complete and utter BS. Both those countries are much more expensive in my experience in the last few years of visiting both places. It may have to do with ease of obtaining a visa with America on the paranoid overload list due to our friends the Islamoretards.
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Gombei424Canada
Mean Ringo:
Bong on, my fine friend! Haha hah ha! Certain parts of Canada ARE more pot-friendly than anywhere in America.And it's just a shame that even though Barack, who we ALL KNOW is a big fan of cannabis, has never traveled to Vancouver to address the world's exchange student-stoners, like he did the world's Muslims from Cairo, about his language learning and drug experiences, on 3 different continents.
Well, anyways, I have to say I am partial to my own country, because, well, the accent Japanese pick up in Australia, which SHOULD be renamed "South America", is atrocious, and dreadful. I recently reduced one of my private students to tears when I informed her that unless she could recite at least one of Barack Obama's speeches WITHOUT her broad Australian accent she would be expelled FOREVER from my apartment.
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