I'm not the Only One having Trouble

I read an article today in The Japan Times about how outraged (actually I don't see many outraged people here) Japanese have been complaining that the schools are not teaching children kanji and proper use of honorific Japanese. This is a little bit like English speaking parents complaining that their children aren't learning penmanship, spelling, or good manners anymore.

The problem apparently with kanji is that most children can READ it but they have trouble WRITING it on grade level. Apparently their parents aren't much better. The secretaries will look it up on their phones or the word processor before writing sometimes.

There are TV shows now being aired which capitalize on the poor state of affairs. On an episode of "Quiz! Nihongo-O!" only 17 of 30 contestants could produce the kanji for nose which is learned in the third grade. The Japanese word for nose is hana (also means flower but has a different kanji). Here is the kanji for snout:

　鼻

Hmmm....