Dr. Kathryn Ibata-Arens wrote:
> "Cram" schools, which focus on rote memorization
(e.g. math) are an
> integral part of the education system in a number of
Asian countries

I find this prejudiced and stereotypical assertion quite disturbing.
While I cannot speak to Asia as a whole, I can say that what is properly called "shadow education" in Japan is not, for the most part, based on "cramming" for any subject, least of all math.

"Shadow education" in Japan is, if anything, the antithesis of cramming.
Teachers in "shadow education" take the time to explain the context that public school teachers cannot do because of class size and other constraints. One has only to look at the advertisements for contemporary "shadow education" in Japan (or better yet talk to kids who are enrolled in "shadow education") to learn that "cramming" and "rote memorization"
are NOT what this sector is generally about.

If you want "cramming," you are more likely to find it in something like the exam-specific short courses offered by Kaplan and other such American companies than in the "shadow education" sector in Japan.

http://www.kaplan.com/Our-Programs/Test-Preparation/Def
ault.aspx

Moreover, the application of the term "cram school" to "shadow education" in Asia in general and Japan in particular is ethnocentric with a strong connotation of superiority on the part of those who do not "cram." For example, if one checks, as I have, articles about "shadow education" in the United States, the term "cramming" almost never appears even though the instruction provided is similar to what one gets in Japan. Indeed, some of the very popular "shadow education" providers in the US are franchised from Japan (Kumon, for example). If articles in The New York Times are to be believed, Americans "prepare" for examinations and receive "tutoring" while Japanese "cram."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/nyregion/21testprep.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/education/26winerip.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/education/08tutors.html

Something like the following from a recent New York Times article sounds more like "cramming" to me than the norm for "shadow education" in Japan.

And a test-prep industry for 4-year-olds has burgeoned.
Bige Doruk opened Bright Kids NYC in 2009, and there is so much demand that she says she's opening a second site this month. She runs a two-month "boot camp" for the gifted test in the fall that includes eight one-on-one 45-minute sessions and two test-prep books for $1,075.

While a certain amount of "cramming" and "rote memorization" may have a part of Japanese "shadow education" in the past, college entrance examinations (to the degree that they still exist) are quite different today from what they were a generation ago.
The so-called "ronin" are an endangered species. The primary market for "shadow education" today is
(1) preparation for private middle school selection and
(2) supplementing the dumbed down public education sector.

I would also observe, based on teaching large numbers of Chinese students (in Japan), that if they are indeed a product of "cram schools," the US definitely needs similar institutions. The Chinese students I get are not just very well prepared, they know how to think and dissect arguments and texts. Although there are exceptions, the norm for my American students is that they are argumentative without knowledge to back their arguments.

Your mileage may vary depending on class composition.

EHK

PS

For the record, my own basic education in the US was very heavy on "rote memorization." My impression is that this was (is?) typical of church-affiliated schools in the US.