• U.S.

Education: Report Card

2 minute read
TIME

> Even though Cornell has admitted women students since 1872, its 80-member Glee Club has not. Women were welcome to sing in the Sage Chapel Choir or the Cornell Chorus, but the Glee Club remained dedicated to “the study, practice, performance and promotion of music for male voices.” Now, however, the Glee Club has decided to end discrimination solely on the basis of sex. Starting next semester, women are welcome to audition along with the men. There is only one condition: since the club remains dedicated to music written for male voices, only women who can sing in the tenor or bass ranges will be accepted.

> Japan boasts an education system that produces a 99% literacy rate. Nevertheless, the Japanese Ministry of Education last week disclosed the results of a survey on personal relations between high school students and teachers. Of 70,000 students questioned, less than 2% ever turn to their teachers for advice in solving problems of any kind. What has gone wrong? Teachers said that they were too busy, and most students said that they preferred to solve their problems on their own. Observed one Tokyo daily: “The teacher-pupil ties that are so vitally important in the formation of the upcoming generation are at rock bottom.”

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