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The story
On September 4, the Science Council of Japan released a statement calling for the active use of calculators and spreadsheet software in arithmetic and mathematics education, aimed at the next Courses of Study guidelines. The idea is to hand off calculations and graph-drawing that become cumbersome by hand to digital tools, freeing up time for students to analyze numerical relationships and interpret results; the proposal also includes splitting test questions on national achievement tests and regular exams into those testing basic calculation and those permitting calculator use. On 5ch, cautious voices — “relying on calculators means kids never build real math skills,” “writing by hand is what makes it stick in memory” — clashed with supportive ones — “it’s reasonable if the basics are finished by 5th grade before moving on to calculators and Excel” — and the pros and cons of abacus (soroban) education also became a hot topic.
On the 4th, the Science Council of Japan released a statement calling for the active use of calculators and spreadsheet software, among other tools, in arithmetic and mathematics education, aimed at the next Courses of Study guidelines. It called for handing off calculations and other tasks that become cumbersome by hand to digital tools, in order to enrich learning that involves exploring numerical relationships and analyzing and interpreting results.
It stated that, in order to advance the use of digital technology, the format of tests also needs to be reconsidered. For national achievement/learning surveys and regular exams, it proposed separating questions that test basic calculation skills from those that involve consideration and judgment using calculators and similar tools, with the latter permitting their use depending on the purpose. Evaluation would focus on grasping numerical relationships, interpreting representations, examining results, and choosing strategies.
In its recommendations for the next Courses of Study guidelines, it called for actively incorporating calculators, spreadsheet software, and math apps into middle and high school mathematics. By leaving calculation and graph-drawing to digital tools, it said, time can be secured for tackling prediction and verification and for connecting multiple forms of representation. Mastery of basic calculation skills will continue to be emphasized.
Source: kyoiku-press.com / Original article here
What people said
So it really comes down to learning by writing things out by hand?
Same as how kanji only sink in if you actually write them.
Wasn't there research from overseas showing IQ levels dropping?
When classes switched to tablets, academic performance dropped sharply.
Once paper was pushed out in favor of digital, kids just used the tablets for entertainment during class and stopped paying attention.
With paper, simply turning a page easily connects the shape of the letters to memories of having written them before.
With digital, you're swiping around, there's other stuff in the UI, there are buttons — it's distracting, so it doesn't link up with memory as well.
Bottom line: you need to physically write characters by hand at least once to carve them into your brain's memory.
Spain just released its PISA 2025 test results, and the whole country is in an uproar over how badly scores tanked.
The cause: generative AI.
People are lamenting that any kid with access to it has had their brain turned into a chimpanzee's.
For reference, Japan scored the highest in the OECD.
But at this rate, the future looks pretty bleak too.
We'll probably end up as chimps too.
The plan is to finish the 6th-grade material by 5th grade, then move on to calculators and Excel after that, right?
Calculators should be banned all the way through middle school.
You get the same results with a calculator no matter what age you pick it up.
The problem is you never actually build math skills.
That might be fine if you're going to be an academic, but for hands-on work like manufacturing, solid math skills are a must.
The math taught through middle school isn't abstract theory — it's stuff that's essential on the job.
"Nyaruhodo" (a cutesy, cat-ified version of "naruhodo," i.e. "I see").
This just means more of a burden on parents.
We'll have to teach kids ourselves to counteract what school teaches them.
Send your kid to school and they don't pick up anything worthwhile.
Anyone can get good at that stuff in just a few days.
Is that so?
Then by all means, let's make everyone take it as a required subject.
They teach mental arithmetic with it too, you know?
And we're already at the point where human labor is cheaper than AI token costs — don't build an education system around the assumption that AI will just handle everything.
Programming is going to end up being purely a hobbyist thing.
Anyone who's been in IT for close to 30 years already saw this coming.
What's going to be needed going forward is blue-collar work — intellectual labor will be left to just a small handful of people.
Though stuff like the abacus is still worth keeping.
Don't need it.
What you'll need is a tough body and an unbreakable will.
For young people, that's the essential skill whether they're just trying to live a normal life or fighting a war.
That said, saying IT education and devices are completely unnecessary is too extreme — using both devices and paper (notebooks) together for a while seems like the safe bet.
There's no need to have them do that before they've built up basic academic skills.
But I think just using devices and getting used to them is a good thing in itself.
That's true, but it should be kept separate from math class.
The smartphone generation doesn't need extra practice getting used to devices.
but for now, I think using both paper and digital devices together is the way to go.
I do agree the Science Council of Japan itself is unnecessary, though.
Making sure kids build basic skills on paper first — that's the choice Silicon Valley parents make.
Just like Japanese-language class teaches both calligraphy and romaji,
it'd be just right for math class to cover both the abacus and calculators.
Doing both is a heavy load.
Apps keep evolving and changing every year anyway, so learning them can wait until college, vocational school, or starting a job.
Right now the curriculum has too much crammed into it — something needs to be cut.
Honestly, maybe fully reviving abacus classes would be the better move.
Correction: that was a kid at soroban grade 1 (the advanced level, not grade 10).
Way too many people here haven't actually read Re: #1 properly.
Read the whole thing before replying.
> Continued emphasis will be placed on mastering basic calculation skills.
> By leaving calculation and graph-drawing to digital tools, it said, time can be secured for tackling prediction and verification and for connecting multiple forms of representation.
> It pointed out that, internationally, Japanese students have relatively little experience using digital technology to mathematically explore, judge, and express ideas. In PISA 2022, experience using spreadsheet and programming software fell below the OECD average.
Does drawing shapes/figures even count as a "calculation skill"?
That's something to tackle once you're majoring in math at university (or if you're a high schooler or middle schooler who's into math as a hobby).
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The Science Council of Japan’s statement looks ahead to the next Courses of Study guidelines and includes a concrete proposal to split test questions into ones assessing “basic calculation skills” and ones assessing “consideration and judgment using calculators.” As some in the thread noted, the backdrop includes findings from PISA 2022 showing that Japanese students’ experience using spreadsheet and programming software fell below the OECD average — this forms part of the basis for the recommendation to expand digital use. A point readers can easily get wrong is that this statement does not call for scrapping instruction in hand calculation itself; the original text explicitly states that “continued emphasis will be placed on mastering basic calculation skills.” Opinion in the thread split sharply, roughly dividing into a camp worried that heavy reliance on calculators and tablets will erode calculation ability and memory, and a more moderate camp that felt it would be fine as long as it’s paired with abacus training and paper. There was also some discussion touching on the Science Council’s organizational management and political leanings, but that’s a separate matter from the education proposal itself and isn’t covered in this article.
*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (News Express+) thread “Science Council of Japan releases statement calling for calculator use in arithmetic/math education — leaving hand calculation and graph-drawing to digital devices.”
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