School Systems of the world

Tatyana, nice write-up of the American school system! Here are a few highlights of the school system in Japan...

*The biggest difference--not only from the American system, but I imagine many countries--is that the school year begins in April and ends in March. The longest break, during the summer, is roughly six weeks, from mid-July to the end of August. So Japanese kids have more school days than the children of many countries. In fact, when I was a teacher at Hiroshima International School--which follows the American calendar--we scheduled for 180 school days; the Japanese school year has about 220 school days. (There has been talk of changing the calendar to match other countries, but this tradition of starting the school year in April is very deeply rooted.)

*There are six grades in elementary school (children enter at about age 6), three grades in junior high school, and three grades in high school. Children are never "left behind" a grade for poor performance. In elementary school, the students are grouped together in the same class for two years at a time, with the same teacher for those two years. This can cut both ways, of course--depending on the quality of the teacher--but it's a worthwhile idea for the continuity of the children's education.

*Japan's public school system follows a nationwide curriculum. At the elementary level, this is well designed and well taught--it's highly child-centered and experiential. However, the education in junior high and high school is very different--it becomes far more rigid and test-oriented. This shift is tied to the nation's competitive entrance exam system, where stressful tests must be taken to enter the better junior high schools, high schools, and universities. Many students, from about fifth grade in elementary school, begin attending cram schools (called "juku") after school and on weekends.

*While children are being schooled in various subjects, the system also seeks to socialize them into Japanese society by emphasizing such qualities as teamwork, empathy for others, hard work, and perseverance.

*One way children learn perseverance (for better or worse) is through learning the written language, which is very complex and takes many years for them to master. Compared to English, for example, which is composed of 26 letters, Japanese is made up of three different scripts: hiragana and katakana (which are fairly simple and can be mastered quickly) and kanji (the Chinese characters, which number in the thousands). Children spend many, many hours--both at school and at home--painstakingly copying these characters over and over again in order to learn them. It's an exhausting regimen--and an incredibly inefficient use of their time, I think--but there's no other way for children in Japan to become literate. And, yes, it does strengthen their sense of perseverance!

*Japanese children tend to be quite "innocent" compared to Western children. There are no drugs here (the penalty for even marijuana is very harsh) and alcohol use among students is limited. There are no guns, either, and violent crime is relatively uncommon. As a parent, this safe "bubble" is a blessing (I grew up in the United States so I know a very different sort of childhood experience), but it's also true that it tends to make Japanese children a little timid when it comes to encountering the world outside Japan.

*At the same time, English education here is so poor that most children study English for at least six years (through junior high and high school), but can hardly string together a simple sentence by the time they graduate. The main problem is that many teachers don't speak English well themselves and classes are conducted in Japanese, with a focus on grammar and translation. And so, because English is viewed as so "difficult" to learn, anyone who can speak it well is automatically admired. In fact, my kids benefit from this attitude, since their English ability is seen as "cool."

If you're curious to learn more about education in Japan, see Recommended Resources: The Lively Virtual Community of “Education in Japan”.