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

Chapter 4 - The Role of School in
Japanese Adolescents' Lives
(Part 2 of 6)

School Structure and Adolescent Participation in Schooling

Gender, region, economic circumstances, and minority status are broad parameters that affect students' experience inside and outside of school. But, what is the overall adolescent experience like? Where do adolescents stand in Japanese society? First of all, the very terms "adolescent" and "teenager" are problematic because they evoke only vague images for most Japanese. In creating the original interview formats at the University of Michigan, it was difficult to find adequate translations for "adolescent." Indigenous terms for adolescence (seinenki, seishunki, seisho nen) have connotations more like the English "youth" or the German jugend.

Teachers and parents use "student" (seito) much in the same way that American parents would use the term. But, they also commonly use "junior high school student" (chugakusei) and "high school student" (ko ko sei). Junior high school is the culmination of compulsory education (roughly equivalent to our grades seven to nine), and unless students pass the high school entrance exam, they will be effectively shut out of the public high school system. Once adolescents become high school students they experience major changes in their social life. High schools pull students from across large districts, and in Naka City it was not unusual for students to commute half an hour or more to school. Increased mobility translates into greater freedom to associate with peers with no supervision, as well as a significant expansion in social contacts.

Students also exhibit different academic expectations depending upon the type of high school they enter. Those going on to college generally go on to 2 or 4 years of post-secondary schooling. Those in the non-academic tracks usually enter the labor force immediately after high school. Students and teachers both noted that studying plays a much less important role in the non-academic tracks and that part-time jobs are one of the most significant experiences for students in industrial or technical high schools.

There are also significant differences in curriculum, instructional style, and norms of behavior associated with junior high school and high school education. Junior high schools in Japan have a reputation for strict rules about conduct and deportment. Student and teacher committees carry out virtually all the day-to-day tasks of running the school. Students' time outside of class is taken up in committees or in clubs, when they are not studying for a test. Junior high schools generally draw from larger districts than elementary schools, giving children the opportunity to meet children from outside their immediate neighborhood. While students in the last year or two of junior high school tend to exhibit an interest in the opposite sex, dating is strictly forbidden by Japanese junior high schools, and it is not until high school that adolescents have much opportunity to date. For the students in our sample, junior high school marked the beginning of an intense period of study and club activity.

Junior High Schools: From Morning to Night

In the popular press, junior high schools are portrayed as the busiest of all of Japan's school levels. Arriving at school shortly after 8:00, many students finish up club activities at 6:00 or later. Junior high school students do not have to commute long distances to school, as do many high school students, and this means that junior high school students generally spend more time in after-school activities. At this age, parents and teachers noted, students need to achieve some independence from the home yet must still be closely supervised by adults.

Daily schedules. In Figures 4 and 5, I have reproduced the daily schedules of two eighth-grade students, a boy from Chuo and a girl at Shimogawa Junior High School. During the interviews, I asked students to write down their schedules, and I have selected these two because they illustrate the range of schedules students may have. Although these students spend quite long days in school, their time is broken up between classes, activities, and clubs. Not shown in their schedules are the wide range of special activities that junior high school students take part in every year, such as the cultural festival, physical education festival, school outings, and sports meets. Since most students begin a serious course of study in junior high school, there is often not much time left over for watching television, listening to music, or socializing with friends. While both these students enjoy such activities, most weeks they are simply too busy with studying and activities to relax.

The boy's schedule (figure 4) illustrates the impact that tests have on students’ lives. This boy was interviewed during the end of the semester exams when school ends at noon so that students are free to go home and prepare for the next day of testing. Like many students, he is studying intensely—logging 6 hours of studying on Tuesday and Wednesday evening. And this studying is in addition to the juku classes, which he attends on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Figure 4 — Daily schedule of a Chuo Junior High School student

SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994-95.

In sharp contrast, the girl studies only 2 hours a night and puts much of her energies into her club activities (Figure 5). She is an active member of the student council and the volleyball team, and she spends nearly 4 hours after school in student council and club activities during the week. She also pursues enrichment courses quite seriously, taking 2 hours of piano lessons on weeknights. She clearly distinguished these activities from the academic juku, a review course, which she attends on certain Sundays.

Figure 5— Daily schedule of a Midori Junior High School student

SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994-95.
Note: *dinner, bath, or piano lessons

Many students in junior high school regularly attend juku. Combined with time spent in clubs, this means that a significant amount of each day outside of class is spent in some kind of structured learning environment. But, because there are different kinds of juku, students may have very different experiences and receive different academic training.

How do these two students' daily schedules compare with national averages? Tables 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 give a brief summary of how junior high school students spend their days. Based on a sample of 1,319 boys and 1,131 girls from Tokyo and Fukuoka, this survey shows that young adolescents in Japanese schools are busy indeed. Only about 10 percent of third-year students get over eight hours of sleep a night. The students in this survey also were very busy with extracurricular activities. Over half spend 2 to 3 hours per day in some club, and the vast majority go to clubs more than three days a week. As to television time, the students I interviewed appear to watch very little. This is probably due to the fact that their schedules were completed during or around the end-of-semester tests.

Table 7 — Percentage of students in survey, by hours of sleep per day

SOURCE: Fukotake, 1993.

Table 8 — Percentage of students watching television

SOURCE: Fukotake, 1993.

Table 9 - Percentage of students, study time

SOURCE: Fukotake, 1993.

Table 10 - Percentage of students, club participation

SOURCE: Fukotake, 1993.

Table 11 - Hours of club participation

SOURCE: Fukotake, 1993.

The effects of tests and preparation for the entrance exam are also reflected in the study times logged by students. Students generally study longer in the first year, when they are getting used to junior high school, and in the third year, when they are preparing for the entrance exam. Table 7 shows that about 37 percent of middle students studied one hour or less each day, and nearly 40 percent studied between one and two hours. Due to the wording of the survey, it is impossible to tell if this studying is directed toward schoolwork or toward exam preparation, but this study time is separate from whatever time students spend in juku. The second year, often considered most problematic by Japanese teachers in terms of motivating students, is when students studied least according to this survey.

Differences in the junior high school experience. We found few overt differences in the quality of teachers or basic physical plant in the junior high schools of Kita, Naka, and Minami City. However, school size did play a key role. In small schools like Midori, there were simply not enough teachers to supervise the various clubs; therefore, the club life in Midori was not as active as at Shimogawa. While Shimogawa was somewhat cramped in terms of its physical space, it had enough students to support many sports teams and was a leader in Naka City in terms of athletic competition.

Because junior high schools are neighborhood institutions, we found differences in the levels of parental income and education between the three junior high schools we visited. Teachers and parents believed that these differences contributed to the quality or atmosphere of the school. When asked what other people in Naka thought about Midori, a parent replied:

That it has a relatively good environment; the students are unagitated. Some years ago, there were some people in this neighborhood who moved in from other parts of Naka City. They came because they thought the environment was good. (Mother of Midori Eighth Grader)

However, affluence was not always considered a desirable characteristic by teachers. The nurse at Midori felt that growing up in a relatively affluent atmosphere could stunt the character development of some students. Here appraisal of the effect of family background on Midori students was more critical:

Well there's no unruly behavior. In terms of lifestyle, there is no pain or hardship, nothing like students shoplifting due to poor quality of life. It is very calm. It is calm, but sometimes the students are a bit spoiled. Some students are kind of like weeds, I mean, like grass. The grass that grows on the side of the road is very resilient. The students here are raised in a greenhouse. They aren't used to cold winds or adverse conditions. A bit weak emotionally. In terms of their relationships with friends, many go to juku, to academic juku, to study. They don't play with friends, and they have few siblings. There isn't enough hardship (kuro) I guess. (Midori nurse)

Many teachers felt that students must become inured to hardship in order to succeed on the high school entrance exam. As students progress through junior high school, studying, rote memorization, and drill take up more and more of their school life. While some students maintain an active role in clubs all the way up through the first half of their third year, for most students, the last year of junior high school is focused on the coming transition to high school.

[Chapter 4 - The Role of School in Japanese Adolescents' Lives (Part 1 of 6)]

[Chapter 4 - The Role of School in Japanese Adolescents' Lives (Part 3 of 6)]