A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Chapter 1 - Introduction
(Part 2 of 3)

An Overview of the Japanese System
of Education

A general discussion of the Japanese system of education is necessary in order to place the schools in the wider social context. The Japanese public system is highly centralized and administered under the Monbusho. At the regional level, each prefecture or major urban district has its own board of education. In some areas, high schools are under the direct authority of these boards, while elementary and junior high schools are managed by local (municipal) boards of education. For example, in Kita City, high schools were directed by the prefectural board of education but elementary and junior high schools were directed by the municipal board. In Naka City, all levels of schools were under the authority of the Naka City board of education. In general, in more rural areas, high schools will be managed directly by the prefectural board and elementary and junior high schools by the municipal board whereas in large urban centers, all schools are under the authority of one board.

Teachers are hired by the local or regional boards and are rotated through the schools on a pre-determined schedule. Competition for new teaching positions is often intense and boards of education hold entrance exams and interviews for potential applicants. Once hired, new teachers are required to undergo various in-service training sessions during their first years in the school system. Salary is determined by the locality, type of school, seniority, and the position held in the school. Principals and vice principals are recruited from the ranks of teachers and have generally taught in the classroom for 15 to 20 years.

In terms of staffing, Japanese schools are virtually teacher-run institutions. Administrative duties are dispersed among the senior teachers through a system of committees that oversee all school functions. Teachers are also organized by grade level, and these grade-level committees are responsible for planning and implementing the year's curriculum as well as organizing extracurricular events for the grade.

Today, 95 percent of Japanese students are enrolled in some type of pre-school program, either kindergarten or day-care (Peak, 1992; Tobin, Wu and Davidson, 1989). Students then spend 6 years in elementary school (sho gakko), 3 years in junior high school (chu gakko ), and 3 years in high school (ko to gakko).

Nearly 30 percent of students are enrolled in private schools at the high school level (Statistics Bureau, 1993). There are also special schools at all levels for students with severe disabilities as well as a small number of elite, nationally-funded, 5-year high schools. However, enrollment in the special schools and the 5-year high schools constitutes a very small percentage of the overall enrollment. See Table 1 for general enrollment figures.

Table 1 — General school enrollment trends, 1996

SOURCE: Statistics Bureau, 1996: 688

Education is compulsory for students from the age of 6 to 15 (i.e., for those at the elementary and junior high school levels). It is also tuition-free, although parents must provide required materials such as uniforms, math kits, and calligraphy sets. Elementary schools are generally within walking distance of the child's home, and during the school year small groups of children (guided by older students, a parent or teacher) can be seen walking to school. At the end of 3 years of junior high school, students must choose a high school they would like to enter and most will take a high school entrance exam. While nearly all Japanese children go on to high school, none are guaranteed admission.

Students have several choices of high school. First, there are public, private, and a few nationally funded high schools. Within the public and private sector, students can apply to academic high schools or to non-academic high schools. About 25 percent of students eventually enter the non-academic track, though most originally hope to get into academic high schools (Monbusho, 1993). Those who fail to enter either a full-time public or private high school may attend night courses offered by some public schools. There are also correspondence courses and training schools open to students who fail to find a place elsewhere in the system.

Elementary School Education

The elementary school (sho to kyo iku) curriculum is divided into three major categories: regular subjects, moral education, and special activities. The nine regular subjects are Japanese, social studies, arithmetic, science, life and environmental studies, music, arts and handicrafts, homemaking, and physical education. The curriculum in elementary school provides ample time for music, arts, and physical recreation. Special activities play a major role in the overall curriculum and consist of such activities as clubs, school-wide festivals, or competitions, student associations, and other student-run activities. Teachers spend considerable amounts of time organizing and participating in such activities as class trips, yearly sports and cultural festivals, and entrance and graduation ceremonies (Lewis, 1995).

The official school year for elementary students lasts 35 weeks. Each class period is 45 minutes long with 10-minute breaks after most subjects. The number of classroom periods each year increases with each grade. For example, first through third grades are scheduled for 850, 910 and 980 periods respectively, while for the upper three grades the schedule calls for 1,015. The typical school day starts at about 8:30 a.m. and classes end around 3:50 p.m. Homeroom meetings occur at the start and end of each day and over two hours each day are spent in recess, lunch and cleaning the classrooms and hallways. Traditionally, students have gone for a half-day (until 12:30) on Saturdays, but starting in the spring of 1995 Japanese children have no school the second and fourth Saturday of each month.

Junior High School Education

After 6 years of elementary school education, students make the transition to the chu gakko. Student life in Japanese junior high schools (chu to kyo iku) is more regimented than in elementary schools and classes are divided by subject. For most subjects, students stay in their classrooms and teachers rotate from class to class. Teachers are organized according to grade (i.e., first year, second year, and third year) as well as by the various committees they serve on and by academic subject. The grade divisions are the most salient and give students and teachers a strong sense of belonging to their homeroom class and grade.

In 1995, about 94 percent of Japan's roughly 5,000,000 junior high school students attended public schools (Monbusho, 1996:688). In 1994, over 96 percent of junior high school graduates continued on to high school in that year, with about 2 percent entering special schools and another 2 percent entering the work force (Monbusho, 1996: 706). As junior high school marks the end of compulsory education, the third year of junior high school sees students preparing for the what the Japanese media has labeled the "exam hell" (shiken jigoku), during which time the students prepare to take the high school entrance exam.

Middle school periods are longer than in elementary school, 50 minutes, and the minimum school year is scheduled for 1,050 periods. Special activities (class periods officially dedicated to such activities as clubs or free periods) take up 35 to 70 hours in the first year of study with time decreasing as students approach the high school entrance exams. These numbers should be considered a minimum, however, because the vast majority of junior high schools hold extra classes, especially for third-year students, before and after school as well as over the holidays. These classes are held in order to provide students with extra preparation for the high school entrance exam.

High School Education

Public education at the high school (ko to kyo iku) level is neither compulsory nor free. However, each prefecture or municipal district maintains publicly funded high schools that offer relatively low-cost education. The vast majority of the Japanese public and private high schools are 3-year institutions. In addition, there are also "night schools," correspondence courses, and nationally funded 5-year high schools, but these constitute a relatively small percentage (less than 5 percent) of overall enrollment. In 1992 about 75 percent of students were enrolled in academic courses and 25 percent in vocational courses (Monbusho, 1993). Although there is no restriction on vocational school graduates applying to college, few make the attempt. Vocational courses do not offer the rigorous preparation necessary for the college entrance exam.

Virtually all high schools admit students using scores based upon the high school entrance examination scores. However, different prefectures may place different emphasis on test scores and on grades. Shimizu and Tokuda (1991) note that in Hyogo prefecture, student grades and character reports (naishinsho) account for 50 percent of material weighted in the selection process. In the last few years, the use of "recommended admissions" (suisen nyu gaku) has also increased.

In 1992 there were over 5.2 million high school students in Japan and about 70 percent of them attended public high schools. In 1992, over 32 percent of high school graduates continued on to college or junior college, 30 percent went to one of the various specialty schools, about 32 percent found employment, and roughly 5 percent were unemployed or not in school (Monbusho, 1993). The percentage of students who drop out of high school is generally low (about 2 percent), but this figure varies considerably by type of school. Students in the night schools had a dropout rate of over 15 percent as compared with only about 1 percent for academic high schools (Monbusho, 1993).

High school periods, like those in junior high school, last 50 minutes and the school year is scheduled for 1,190 hours. As in junior high school, extra classes are commonly provided by academic high schools, but vocational schools rarely organize such classes. Clubs and other extra-curricular activities also consume a good deal of the students' time. Students in vocational schools tend to take part-time jobs during the year, and most of these students enter the workplace upon graduation.

Shadow Education

Japan supports a wide-range of academic institutions outside of the school system. This dense network consists of home-tutors, correspondence courses, juku, and exam prep schools (yobiko) (Rohlen, 1980; Stevenson & Baker, 1992). These extra-school forms of education have been described as "shadow education" because their curriculum tends to shadow the curriculum offered in the public schools.

Most of these forms of education are collectively referred to as juku by Japanese parents and students. There are two major types of juku: individual enrichment courses (naraigoto/okeigoto), and academic juku (gakushu). The academic juku are further divided into review juku (hoshu), which cater to students who need remedial assistance and advancement juku (shingaku), which cater to students preparing for the entrance exams. Schools that specifically prepare students for the college entrance exams are called yobiko. Students who fail to get into the college of their choice may spend a year or two studying at these schools after graduating high school.

The individual enrichment courses are primarily non-academic and some Japanese consider them to be distinct from the academic juku. These juku teach such activities as swimming, piano, or calligraphy and are most popular among elementary school students. Review juku are popular with upper-elementary and junior high school students. Students in these juku get help in subjects that they find difficult. Many of these juku are run out of private homes by teachers who use the same texts used in the classroom. The advancement juku are the ones that most closely match western stereotypes. These schools are largely attended by junior high students and high school students who are seeking to prepare for the upcoming entrance examinations.

In a survey of over 60,000 students conducted by the Ministry of Education (Monbusho, 1996), the percentage of students attending juku is surprisingly high (see Table 2). Enrollment in individual enrichment courses tends to decrease over time while enrollment in advancement courses increases. Enrollment also varies markedly according to the size and location of cities.

Table 2 — Percentages of students enrolled in juku, by grade level

SOURCE: All figures from Monbusho, 1996, except (a) Kawai Juku, 1994 and (b) Tokai Ginko,1995, p.9

Class, Ethnic, and Regional Differences

Compared to the rich social and cultural diversity found in many countries, Japan has a relatively homogeneous population. This is a fact that Japanese themselves are quick to point out, especially when asked about problems that arise from differences in class, ethnicity, or language. Our findings indicate that such differences are important in understanding how the Japanese education system works. While ethnic and linguistic minorities do constitute a small percentage of the overall population, differences arising from socio-economic background or region have a powerful impact on the nature of schooling.

Economic. The most striking effects we noted through our observations were differences in opportunity for education associated with income and wealth. Economic background appeared to influence parental participation in school activities, the rate of students holding part-time jobs as well as parents' and students' academic aspirations. For example, in one school we visited both parents in most families held full-time jobs, and teachers at this school noted that there were more student behavior problems at school and more problems within families than at other schools. In wealthier neighborhoods, families were able to afford juku and other extra-school academic opportunities for their children, and at more schools in affluent neighborhoods we met students who had spent a summer overseas.

Regional. While Japanese authorities strive to ensure that high quality public education is available to all students, certain regional differences in access to school also exist. Teachers in Kita City remarked on the harsh conditions in the elementary and junior high schools located deep in the mountains of the prefecture. Access to high schools was also a problem in Kita: there was no well-developed system of public transportation and children had long rides when commuting to school. Most significant, though, were differences in opportunity for extra-school forms of education. Kita teachers at all levels remarked on the lack of large juku in Kita City. This lack of juku, teachers noted, forced then to provide more extra classes and act as guidance counselors in helping students pick future schools.

Ethnic education. Japan is home to several ethnic minority groups including the Ainu, presently concentrated in northern Honshu and Hokkaido, as well as descendants of Chinese and Korean immigrants. With Japan's rise as an economic world power, people from many different nations have come to Japan as temporary residents who work and send money back home to their families.

The largest minority groups in Japan are children of Korean and burakumin descent. Over 600,000 people of Korean descent reside in Japan. Many of their parents or grandparents were forced to come to Japan during Japan's pre-war colonial occupation of Korea. There are currently 60 Korean schools in Japan with an enrollment of 30,000 to 40,000 students.

On the other hand, burakumin, are ethnically and linguistically Japanese, but their ancestors were at one time relegated to out-caste status. Despite nation-wide attempts to reduce inequality, Japanese of burakumin ancestry have continued to experience problems in access to jobs, housing, and education.

Research on minority issues in Japan remains a volatile topic. Previous studies focusing on education have uncovered pervasive evidence of institutionalized discrimination faced by students of burakumin ancestry. Nabejima (1993) found systematically lower rates of high school completion for students of burakumin ancestry. For the nation as a whole, the overall high school graduation rate for non-burakumin students was 94.4 percent whereas as it was only 87.5 percent for burakumin students. Differences in college attendance were even more striking: overall 30 percent of non-burakumin students went to college in 1990 whereas less than 20 percent of burakumin students did so (Nabejima, 1993)

Burakumin students are obviously experiencing some barriers to academic success, but describing these barriers is difficult and can be offensive to many Japanese of burakumin ancestry. Many families of burakumin descent do not wish to be identified as burakumin. They prefer not to emphasize this ancestry, and one principal informed us that some children in his school did not know they were of burakumin descent. The schools we visited had a strict policy of maintaining anonymity with regard to these students. The majority of teachers we interviewed did not seem to know who in their class were from burakumin families. Given these factors, we decided to refer to previous studies rather than attempt to address this difficult and provocative issue in our fieldwork.

[Chapter 1 - Introduction (Part 1 of 3)]

[Chapter 1 - Introduction (Part 3 of 3)]