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When one asks a Japanese why a student does poorly, particularly in mathematics, one of most common responses she receives would be, benkyo busoku, or lack of study. Pointing to the lack of study as the very reason for one's poor academic performance is reflected in the commonly used word, yudan. Yu means oil, and dan means to be out of. "Don't run out of oil" parents and teachers say, meaning, "Don't ever think you have studied enough." Just as people before the time of electricity had to make sure that they did not run out of oil, the students have to make sure that they are well prepared in their effort to do well in school. A junior high school student testified about the danger of yudan as follows:
A friend in your class might say, 'I'm not studying so much for this exam.' If you believe such a statement, you tend to goof off, too. But it usually turns out that most other people in the class are studying really hard, and you end up being at the bottom of your class. (Parent, Midori Junior High School)
The Japanese see the learning of math in particular as a result of cumulative effort. For example, tsumikasane, the Japanese word for "accumulating knowledge," means building one thing over another. In order to erect pillars, a mason has to lay cornerstones first upon which the pillars will stand. This was the dominant image by which Japanese teachers, parents, and students explained how academic competence was built.
Nearly everyone we talked with agreed that elementary education was the basis of junior high and high school education, and that math education epitomized this principle. As one parent said:
Math ability is something you accumulate over a long period of time. If you neglected your effort to build the foundation of basic arithmetic in elementary school, you would not be able to build anything else on top of that. That's when a student becomes bad at math (Parent, Naka Vocational High School).
One teacher said:
For some students such basic things as the reading and writing one learns in elementary school have not become part of their habit. They do not lack ability, but they simply neglected to lay the proper foundation at that stage.
Students generally agreed with parents and teachers. For example, as a reason for doing poorly in math, a high school student noted, "Math is accumulation (tsumikasane)! Even when you are in elementary school, if you cannot do addition and subtraction, you cannot move on to the next level." Her classmate affirmed this opinion by saying, " I think there is a point where such students get lost. Once they get lost, they will not learn anything that will be introduced to them thereafter, unless they do something to understand the materials about which they got confused" (Student, Arata High School).
Teachers and parents stressed that in this process of tsumikasane there was a critical period which came at the end of the third grade when the concepts of multiplication and division were introduced. Knowing the importance of mastering addition and subtraction beyond arithmetic in elementary school, the parents I interviewed recalled the kinds of assistance they provided for their children:
No one dislikes math to begin with. Take functions, for example. It combines multiplication, division, and all the basics. If you have solid understanding of these basics, you understand functions, and you'll come to like functions. That is why I spent so much time working with my children when they were in elementary school. They learned addition and subtraction on their own. But it took effort for them to learn multiplication. Parents must help at this critical time. Parents have to be very serious about children's academic progress from third to fourth or fifth grade.
This observation was echoed by a junior high school math teacher who reluctantly admitted: "I think the differences in academic abilities were caused by different degrees of mastery in the notions of fractions and decimals in elementary school." He said in one of the previous schools in which he taught, he had a significant number of students having trouble with math because most of them could not understand the notions of fraction and decimals.
While seeing mathematics learning as a cumulative process, the majority of Japanese teachers, parents, and students regard mathematics as primarily a technical, as opposed to purely intellectual, undertaking. This trend resonates well with the findings that individual differences in academic performance are typically assessed in terms of concrete academic behaviors and exam scores.
One memorable response was given by one top student who was in the math and science track at Meiji High School. To the question about how she became so good at math, she suggested that her success came from "just knowing how to solve problems." Then she added, "The way I am studying is to get good scores, and not to accumulate some deeper understanding. Getting good scores is a matter of knowing technical things." A math teacher at Arata High School reiterated this opinion:
The math I learned in high school and the math I learned in college are two very different kinds of mathematics. I was always a poor math student. That's why I'm a math teacher now. Real mathematics has to do with logical thinking. When you think logically, you often find truth in logic's logicalness. It is a thing of beauty to be able to find such truth. This is a very moving experience. In high school, however, we don't even touch upon such beautiful aspects of math. We just deal with mathematical skills. In my opinion, just because you were good at math in high school, you should not automatically think of majoring in math in college. For example, if you liked differential and integral calculus in high school, you should contemplate majoring in engineering rather than mathematics. The mathematics taught in high school is a very practical one. In an average school like this one, we spend almost no time teaching "theories" of mathematics. So being a good student in a school like this — or I should say in the majority of Japanese high schools — gives you no guarantee that you will do well in a collegiate department of mathematics.
A math teacher at Meiji High School said it is not difficult to explain why some students do poorly and others do well in math because "in most Japanese classrooms, exam questions are taken right out of the materials covered in class." In his class, about 90 percent of exam questions are the same as those in the text book. He arranges the difficulty level of these questions so that the class as a whole would score an average of about 55 points. He continued saying that a student would be considered to be "bad at math" if he or she was able to answer only 20 or 30 percent of the problems right. And to have such a score when "about 90 percent of my problems are taken right out from the text book" can only "indicate lack of study" on students' part. His junior high school counterpart endorsed this view by saying "as far as junior high is concerned, I think students can solve most problems with effort. After all, they are tested on what's covered in class."
Then what does one have to do to master such technical skills to get high exam scores? Our data suggest two major ingredients: First, paying attention in class, and second, preparing for (yoshu) and reviewing (fukushu) materials covered in class daily either at home, at juku, or preferably at both.
Japanese teachers, parents, and students say classroom learning is not automatic. Instead, its success depends on how well students pay attention. A teacher at Arata High School described high-achieving students as: "ones who listen to our lecture very attentively. They are eager to catch every small detail we teach. Second, if they know any different way of solving problems, they raise their hands and speak up, giving their opinion in class. An elementary school pupil described the same principle, "The most obvious reason is that some people don't listen to the teacher in class. The students who do well are listening very attentively, but the students who don't do well give up easily." A junior high school student asserted boldly: "Everyone is listening to the same lecture, and if we listen, we should be able to do well on exams."
It is assumed that the materials covered in class have to be practiced over and over again on a daily basis. When I asked what students must do in order to do well in math and science, my informants responded, "Solve practice problems daily and learn from mistakes" (Teacher, Arata High School)," "Practice solving problems over and over" (Student, Shimogawa Junior High School)," and "Make an effort to study on a daily basis, and one can make tremendous improvement" (Parent, Naka Vocational High School). For a mother at Arata, effort made on a daily basis was important because she immediately saw the difference reflected in her child's test scores. She said that when her daughter studied consistently before the exams, she always got better scores. In order to help her daughter keep up the daily exercise, she used the athletic metaphor by telling her:
When you were in the fourth grade and first joined the basketball club, you could not dribble at all. But now you can do it without even looking at the ball. It is important not to neglect effort. No matter how little your progress is, you still have to keep working every day.
In short, Japanese teachers, parents, and students preach the importance of effort simply because they believe it works. The following two testimonies of a high school math teacher and a junior high school student further prove their strong belief that "if you study you do well."
Let me tell you how I came to like math. I am not a person who was always good at math. As I said, I felt a kind of pride when I received praise from teachers in elementary school. I thought I was pretty good at math then, but when I entered high school, math became very complicated. So I decided to do the workbooks titled Algebra 700 Questions, and Geometry 700 Questions. It took a very long time, but I tried to do them without asking teachers and looking at their answer sheet. After making a strong effort for some time, I suddenly began to understand them. It just dawned on me. After that point, it was like a snowball accumulating more snow each time it rolled. In the beginning, when the ball is small, it does not collect much snow, but when the ball becomes big, it can collect so much snow by rolling just once. To me, learning math was exactly like that. I felt so great. When you are making an effort in the beginning, it seems like you are not gaining any understanding, but if you persevere and continue to work hard, you will see your understanding grow. I think students who experience such an excitement think math is interesting and do well in it. (Teacher, Arata High School)
There is a student who gets really bad grades, but when he was in elementary school, he got 90 out of 100 points on one of the Japanese exams. So we are all saying that he can do better if he makes an effort, but whenever we tell him that, he would just say he isn't smart enough. He has made up his mind that he cannot do well in academics. People become stupid when they decide for themselves that they are stupid. If anybody makes an effort, he can do better (Student, Chuo Junior High School).
The Japanese often describe their nation as "a small island country with few natural resources, but plenty of people who are willing to work hard." Thus, the Japanese have given higher regard to people with high levels of motivation than to those with only ability or talent. Undoubtedly, this underdog mentality has a direct impact on how much energy people put into their work. One principal told me, for example, "We've been basically a poor country with no resources up until recently. Poverty motivated the nation as a whole to catch up [with the West], and before we knew it, we had achieved this goal."
The motive to do well is considered to be a virtue in its own right, and to encourage students to study hard, Japanese teachers and parents often use the expression, "If you tried your hardest, it wouldn't matter if you succeeded or not." We found three categories of motivation that teachers, parents, and students believed to have contributed to success at school: (a) having interest in (kyomi or kanshin) or liking (suki or tanoshii) to study, (b) having a willingness or desire (yaruki) to study; and (c) having the right attitude (taido) for studying.
Interest in and liking to study. "If you like it, you will be good at it" (suki koso mono no jozunare) is a Japanese saying. Japanese teachers, parents, and students take this philosophy to heart. A teacher at Naka Vocational said that for the majority of his students who did poorly on math, studying math offered no rewards. He said that since these students could not even recall times when they felt that studying math was enjoyable or satisfying, he had to go back to where the student had stumbled and have her re-experience that studying math could do good for her. I asked a mother why some junior high school students did well and others did poorly while pointing to the bell-shaped curve I had drawn to indicate variation among students. Pointing at the higher end of the bell curve, she said, "You know those students up here . . . They just love math. They like to solve math problems, including applied problems. They are just like that." Students shared the same view: "Students who wonder and become interested and curious usually do well, because they keep studying and trying to find out answers" (Student, Tancho Elementary School); "People who are good at math are that way because they think it's fun. Those who are bad at math usually don't like it."
Willingness or desire to study. Yaruki, the Japanese word for motivation to achieve, is made of two parts, yaru, "to do," and ki "mental energy." Iyoku, on the other hand, means "desire to motivate oneself." The American phrase, "Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it," comes fairly close to this Japanese emphasis on the desire and willingness to do things well. The Japanese take it for granted that nearly all achievement behaviors are based on strong motivation.
Japanese students are surprisingly candid in attributing the reason for poor performance to a person's lack of motivation. An elementary school pupil even told me that most of those who did not do well in math could actually solve problems, but since they were not willing to study or think by themselves, they told everyone that they could not do math. "All they do in the classroom," she continued, "is talk to their neighboring students and do not listen to the teacher. That's how they become bad at math." A high school student echoed the same logic by saying, "Students who lack willingness say, 'I don't understand,' but if a teacher comes around to their desk and makes them do problems, they are able to do them. So they do understand, but just lack willingness to study."
For teachers and parents, the willingness to study is regarded as one of the necessary factors on which students depend for their success. One high school teacher remarked that if students did not have a willingness to study, it would not matter whether they were good or bad at math, because "either way, they would not listen to what the teacher says." But with a little bit of willingness, the teacher can produce improvement in a student at any level because "after all, we are trained professionally to do just that." One parent put it succinctly: "Motivation. That's all that counts. Unless you are a genius, success depends on how hard you are willing to work."
Attitude. Another way Japanese consider motivation is through one's attitude. One teacher at Naka Vocational High School suggested "the most important reason for differences in students' academic performance is the attitude—that is, the manner with which a student approaches tasks." Having the right attitude for the Japanese means more than being serious or diligent about studying. Having the right attitude toward study is being ready to learn and absorb new lessons physically, mentally, and spiritually. The teachers' particular concern for their students in Naka Vocational reflected this point. That is, they thought that their students tended to regard themselves as underachievers for various reasons and affirmed this negative perception for themselves. One teacher noted that there were two types of students at Naka Tech, "those who came here to study what we offer—vocational education— and those who came here just to pick up a high school diploma." He said those who were simply aiming to get the diploma tended to have what he called, "I-will-just-turn-my-back-on-the-problem" approach. Their attitude was, "Whatever grades I get, I will be satisfied." But the attitude of those who did well was that "I'm going to understand this problem." The teacher described how these types of attitude made a huge difference in how well students did at Naka Tech, and stressed his point by saying: "Imagine you were in an accident. If you are willing to go through rehabilitation, you will improve. The recovery might be slow but you will improve. But if you refuse to do the rehabilitation activities, you will never improve. It's the same principle."
If interest, willingness, and attitude are what propel students to study, where do these motives come from? "Family environment," the majority of Japanese teachers, parents, and students would answer. An elementary school teacher explained: "When I think of environment, I think of how parents themselves are interested in studying. When children are studying, are parents reading books [versus engaging in non-intellectual activities] themselves? That's what I mean by environment." (Teacher, Nio Elementary School) This comment indicates that the Japanese believe that ability differences are created at home, rather than acquired first in school or by birth. Japanese families possess at least three factors significantly affecting students' academic performance: (a) parental encouragement to study, (b) socioeconomic status (SES); and (c) locality (shusshin).
Parental encouragement to study. When referring to their children, Japanese parents typically call them uchi no ko, literally meaning "the child of our family." Also when they are asked how they helped their children study, they would often begin the sentence with the words, uchi no baai wa (in the case of our family). The use of the word uchi, or our family, indicates that in Japan, children are seen as being interdependent members of the family, working under the emotional, intellectual, and economic sponsorship of parents. Therefore, how a family as a whole emphasizes education is crucial for a child's academic success, because Japanese do not believe young children acquire such values for themselves. Parents, students, and teachers suggested that children who received much help and encouragement from parents to study at home, especially during elementary school years, did well in school.
As noted earlier, the Japanese believe that knowledge in math and science is acquired cumulatively. To miss an early step can lead to failure in later years. Many parents, therefore, consider helping children develop appropriate study habits in the elementary school years as being crucial for both current and later success. A parent at Midori Junior High School explained: "If a family creates the right environment for studying, it certainly makes a difference. You need to lay down the track for children from early on; otherwise, they won't know which track to be on." Another parent felt that mastering multiplication and fractions by the end of the elementary school years was critical for her child's future success. She made relatively easy multiplication and fraction work sheets for her child to do at home and rewarded her child with a hanamaru (badge of flowers) for every exercise the child answered well.
Some students attributed their success in school directly to the parental encouragement they received to study, as a boy at Tancho Elementary School testified:
I think my grades improved only because my mother pushed and trained me. I used to be very impatient. The way I was doing math was that as soon as I copied problems on my notebook, I tried to write down the answers. I did not give much time to think. My mother told me that I needed to be careful even about my handwriting in my notebook. Instead of merely copying the problems, she told me to write neatly, and after that she told me to go through each thinking process to get to the right answers. She reminded me that in the process of getting answers, I may need to do a few calculations, and I should use the margin of my notebook to make sure my calculations are correct. I used to try to solve problems as soon as possible, so I did calculations in my head. I could use my abacus skills, too, but I have learned that writing down calculations as my mother told me was the most accurate way. Without my mother, I could not have been good at math. I think if she were not there for me, I would get zero on the exams.
Teachers also emphasized the importance of the family's involvement in education. A math teacher at Shimogawa Junior High explained, for example,
Some students are good at math because they have been raised in an environment in which they were taught the importance of making an effort. As a result, they naturally make efforts when they face hardships. If parents raise their children in the environment which stimulates them in many ways, they also acquire many things through such an environment.
A science teacher from the same school suggested that if parents stressed that things learned at school were important, children would take studying seriously. He explained:
What they learn in school is only a small part of their learning. If they cannot apply what they learn at school in their daily life at home, then whatever they are taught at school will not remain as their knowledge. Whether or not the parents could provide such an environment and lots of stimulation is very important (Teacher, Shimogawa Junior High).
Socioeconomic status. It is difficult to identify the Japanese opinions about the effect of socioeconomic status on academic achievement of students, because the public consensus is that there are no socioeconomic status differences in Japan. Without building upon systematic data or observations, the public simply assumes this perception. As LeTendre (this volume) notes, Japanese teachers surprise foreign visitors by saying that a school consists mostly of students from middle class families such as those of factory workers and self-employed merchants. The reality is that Japanese students come from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and such differences are clearly one of the most significant and permanent predictors of students' academic and occupational prospects. That each school district represented a different academic ranking is one such example. According to one teacher at Meiji, even within Naka city, junior high school students coming from the port district (industrial area) on average score lower on standardized mock exams than those coming from the hill districts (suburbs). His colleague at Naka Vocational also acknowledged,
I do not have the exact data, but, for example, if you compare the family income of students who attend a university with those who are high school graduates and who are junior high graduates, you see a big difference (Teacher, Naka Vocational High School).
At a specific level, the differences in socioeconomic status were broken down by parents' levels of education and occupation. A teacher at Midori Junior High School focused on the effect of parental education on students' achievement:
If parents have a certain level of education, they expect the same for their children. Parents in this school have a somewhat higher level of education than those in other schools, and they have high expectations for how well their children do on exams or how high their children's grades should be (Teacher, Midori Junior High).
Students at Naka Vocational High School also said,
The environment your home creates has something to do with individual differences. Maybe some people are from a family that owns a business, and they have to help out. They don't have much time to study.
When a child shows socially unacceptable behavior, such as speaking in vulgar or coarse language, the Japanese use the expression that such behavior "reveals the child's upbringing" (sodachi ga wakaru). The word seiiku is the formal word which describes the family background. A teacher at Arata High School used the notion of seiiku to describe its effect on students' academic achievement.
What I call seiiku is a big factor in determining students' ability differences. It's the environment in which you were born and grew up (umareta toki kara no kankyo). It's where you are molded into a human being. It is where ability differences are created in the first place. For example, you may have a father who works in the field of math, electronics, or science, or you may have a father who is a construction worker. Having one type of a father over another can give you a totally different kind of environment for you to grow up in.
Teachers use extreme caution when they talk about socioeconomic differences among families. At Hasu Elementary School, for example, the principle told me that his school was located in a town whose name was the same as one of Tokyo's "up town" wards. He then jokingly told me not to hold the same image about his school district, because it was in one of the poorer areas within Naka City. He also asked me not to ask teachers about their educational background, or to ask parents or children about their family occupation, because these were considered to be highly sensitive areas. Both the humor about the city's name and the warning about not asking teachers, parents, and students about their backgrounds suggested that discussion of socioeconomic differences remains a taboo subject in Japan.
In Japan, living in one of the major metropolitan areas or the remaining provincial areas makes an immediate difference in people's judgment concerning a student's level of academic achievement. One teacher at Meiji succinctly summarized the effect of urbanization on students' levels of academic achievement as follows:
Teacher: For example, you see the difference between junior high schools in a big city and those in a small rural town. The students, after graduating from junior high, go a different direction. That is, depending on districts, there are junior high schools which contain a lot of students who probably end up going to college and also there are junior high schools whose students would most likely start working after high school. I can even see that in Naka City.
Interviewer: Does that mean that the students in a big city will go to college more often than those in a small rural town?
Teacher: Yes, there is such a tendency, but behind that fact, we have to consider the financial status. In a big city, there seem to be families that are doing OK financially, but in the countryside, you see parents who cannot afford to send their children to college.
Interviewer: Though living in the countryside, a family would have a different situation if the parents have a high income and work as doctors.
Teacher: Yes.
Although Japanese education does not permit tracking, Japanese teachers, parents, and students share the view that in public elementary and junior high schools, all children have the right to be treated equally.
[Chapter 3 - Individual Differences and the Japanese Education System (Part 3 of 5)]