Assignment Procrastination

Right now I am procrastinating in writing a paper for my Culture and Education class. The paper is not due until Monday and it only has to be a page or two in length, so I'm in no serious danger of failing the assignment, but all the same, I'm not quite sure about what to write. The assignment is to discuss comparative culture and comparative education. That is all. My issue is that it's such a broad topic, I'm not sure how to focus the direction of my essay. I suppose that it's great that I'm able to choose specifically about what I wish to write, and that there is nothing to limit my thinking. This should be a chance to show off my creativity and wow the professor with my brilliance, right? Too bad I don't feel as motivated as I should... I will write this essay based off of a two hour visit to Fukiai High School, an outstanding private high school in Kobe City that specializes in studying international cultures and English language. The students spoke English fairly well, although I still had to speak slowly and use simple grammar and vocabulary when speaking to the majority of them. Some students had more confidence than the average Japanese high school student when using English, which was nice to see. They were shy in speaking with us foreign exchange students, but I could tell that the interest was there in our cultures and different view points. One point Koji Sensei brought up in class which was thought-provoking for me is the idea of studying English to pass tests versus studying English to learn. I feel that the students at Fukiai High School are studying English because they are genuinely interested in learning the language. This point connects to the whole concept of cultural education. In the U.S. junior high and high school students are allowed to choose from amongst several foreign languages the one we wish to study, so U.S. high school students may have a genuine interest in the foreign languages they study. However, Japanese middle school and high school students are forced to study English, so even if they are more interested in Latin American or African cultures, they do not have a choice about which language and culture they may study. This may play a role in Japanese students as a whole performing more poorly on English language assessments than students in other countries.