Manga Artist Criticizes "Manga Textbook"

In March 2007, several publishers were allowed to include manga in school textbooks. The move was intended to help students who are doing bad in school to learn while having fun. However, the idea of including manga in school was met with severe criticisms.

Mimei Sakamoto, a manga artist for over 20 years and writes essays and manga for several Japanese magazine, recently expressed her opinion on manga textbooks:

Several textbook publishers allowed textbooks to carry manga in order to make the textbooks "more interesting and easier to understand."

Being a mangaka, I'm pleased to see manga being recognized as an tool to educate young people. However, it makes one wonder if the manga textbook really will help students improve their skills? I have to say that the publisher's idea is frustrating: "Even bad students can read manga." It sounds as if manga is a thing for idiots.

I heard that some high school students can't get use multiplication table or write the alphabets. Such students are the result of the government's "relaxed education policy," and now the government intends to educate students with manga. Even if a class is taught using manga textbooks, how can a student who can't master the multiplication table be able to understand trigonometry? It's an impractical idea. For a student to master trigonometry, they need to first master the basics, such as multiplication, quadratic equations, and more. The students who can't understand the multiplication table should not be allowed to enter high school, they should remain in elementary school until they understand it.

A textbook is a tool to help students improve, but the students must also be at the level of the textbooks. Why must textbooks be dumbed down to suit the students? Can it still be called a "textbook"? (Mimei Sakamoto, Mangaka)

Source: Sankei Web
Translation by T. Ohara