Having been a lecturer in the UK for more than five years, I have noticed many differenes and similarities between Japanese and British Universities.
When I just came to this country, I used to complain the low level of taught courses, especially mathematics. For example, (x+y)**2 will turn to x**2 + y**2, or x**2 + xy + y**2 by my British students. I tended to blame such "stupid" and "careless" mistakes. However, recenlty, I have realized that these wrong answers are all approximately correct! I was amazed at this finding as well as at myself taking everything positively. I believe this tendency is really British, not Japanese. I imagin that Japanese students would answer eithter correctly, or say nothing, that is, I don't know or just a blanc box. In other words, Japanese students are 1 or 0, or digital: nothing interesting and amusing.
