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 3 of 6)

A "Thin Slice": Life in the High Schools

The atmosphere in Japan's junior high schools is largely determined by the size of the school and the neighborhood surrounding it, but the most significant impact on high school atmosphere is overall academic rank. In several of our interviews, teachers and administrators used the term wagiri (a slice) to refer to the level of academic ability of students they admitted each year. They noted that this phenomenon was especially true for the academic schools like Meiji and Arata, where a few points on the entrance test could mean the difference between passing and failing. The teachers at Meiji and Arata were extremely conscious of the fact that they were seeing only a "thin slice" of the range of students found in Naka City:

When they come in, they want to go to college. If it is Meiji, they want to go to a famous or good college. They expect very detailed guidance in studying. Of course, at first, the parents exert a strong expectation. (Meiji social studies teacher)

According to this teacher, 58 percent of Meiji's third-year students attend juku. Meiji is an "advancement" school and students here specialized in juken benky. Unlike lower-ranked academic and non-academic high schools, nearly all of Meiji's students go on to college, and substantial numbers of them attend the best universities in the nation. At Meiji, going to college is not a defining characteristic. The primary factor in student lives is what type of college they hope to enter. For example, those choosing to enter science or engineering departments spend much more of their time concentrating on math and science.

Students at Meiji rarely take part-time jobs. Most of their spending money is provided by their family. After classes, many students at Meiji engage in sports and then go home to eat before heading off to juku. Even those who do not attend juku are busy studying their textbooks, reviewing handouts given by their teachers, or studying materials provided by correspondence course companies that supplement the regular regime of studying.

Whereas middle students in general are busy with the same kinds of things — clubs, studying, enrichment courses and juku — high school students spend their time in very different ways depending on what kind of school they attend. In Figures 6 and 7, I have reproduced the weekly schedules of two male students, one at Meiji High School and one at Naka Tech. The student at Naka Tech does study one hour every night, but most of his free time is taken up with his part-time job or attending driving school (Figure 6). Since he is a senior, he will be eligible for a drivers' license upon graduation, and the school allows students to take driving lessons so that they can get their license quickly. This practice was not allowed at Arata or Meiji.

Figure 6 — Daily schedule of a Naka Tech High School student

NOTE: *part-time job or driving school
SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994-95.

In contrast, the Meiji student spends a good deal of time after school in clubs (Figure 7). This student has about an hour's commute to school, which is not uncommon. His schedule also includes juku classes two nights a week, which means that on some evenings he does not eat dinner until nearly 11:00. Sunday is a time for him to rest and spend a little time socializing with friends. He spends far less time watching television or listening to music than does his counterpart at Naka Tech. When I asked another Meiji student what he expected of school, his answer was simply: "Studying."

Figure 7 — Daily schedule of a Meiji High School student

NOTE: * this student has a commute.
SOURCE: Third International Mathematics and Science Study, Case Study Project, 1994-95.

The students at Meiji and Naka saw themselves at opposite ends of the academic spectrum. Meiji students were aware that their school was one of the best in Naka City and Naka Tech students openly discussed the fact that they had not performed well on academics in junior high school. Students at Arata generally fall somewhere in between in terms of their academic aspirations and their study or work habits. Some students at Arata want to go on to college and others are not sure. As one teacher at Arata put it, "It depends on the student. Among the third-year students, there are some who study and some who don't." Some seniors are going to juku and preparing for the exam, while others are spending their free time in driving school. Although school policy prohibits students from taking part-time jobs, both students and teachers reported that many students do indeed take such jobs.

Two Schools at Once: The Role of Juku

Most high school students who are trying to get into academic high schools or college attend two schools: their own school and a juku. At advancement schools like Meiji, juku can play a key role in students' lives. While junior high school students may attend any of several types of juku (enrichment courses, review courses, or exam prep courses), high school students are largely enrolled in exam prep or advancement (shingaku) courses. These courses are specifically designed to improve students' scores on practice tests and the entrance exam. A teacher at Arata noted that most students attended " . . . the exam prep juku, the big ones, like Kawai. Then there are juku courses in the summer and spring vacations, when students have long vacations. These are sort of concentrated lectures."

For many of these students, attending juku takes precedence over other activities. Again, a teacher from Arata noted: "Well, when there is conflict in the time between juku and club, they leave club early." However, juku are not the only place that students are doing their juken benkyo. Schools also organize extra classes (hoshu) after school or over the holidays. A teacher at Arata explained:

We also have extra classes here at the school. So, when students are in their second year, they have classes about two or three days a week, and these run into club time. The school is officially over after sixth period, but teachers stay in the classroom and teach another hour, so we have seven periods all total.

Clubs and School Participation

At both junior high and high school, teachers believe that there is a strong link between participation in clubs and success in academics. Many teachers linked active club participation with a well-rounded and healthy school atmosphere. Teachers reported how a student behaves outside the classroom is a powerful indicator of motivation and persistence in learning. One teacher at Arata thought that students who did well in clubs also did well in academics "because they are serious. It is all because they are diligent, even when they study they do it with all their might. 'I must do it', that kind of feeling exists in both clubs and other activities. These students take responsibility."

Junior high schools and isshokenmei. "With all one's might" — this is one way to translate the term isshokenmei, and this translation comes close to capturing the attitude that junior high school teachers and students expect of anyone participating in a club. Club activities, whether they are broadcasting, Japanese fencing, or playing in the brass band, are serious endeavors. First-year students in Japanese junior high schools are required to take part in clubs, and the majority continue to voluntarily participate, in varying degrees, thereafter. Clubs provide a significant source of identity to the extent that those who do not participate in clubs, choosing instead to go home after supplemental classes are over, are often designated as members of the "go home club" (kitaku bu).

The idea of devoting all one's extra energy to club activities is part of the expectation that junior high school students must study hard and play hard. School is an intense but often enjoyable experience. Socialization outside of school is a source of concern to parents and teachers. They expect students to participate in club activities after school and on weekends. Except for juku, socialization outside school is kept to a minimum by adults. For junior high school students, social interactions with peers most often occur where there is some adult supervision. Apathy, lukewarm participation, or half-hearted endeavors are considered to be the antithesis of the junior high school experience, and students displaying these characteristics can be harshly criticized by teachers and peers.

Participation in clubs is part of the balance that teachers and parents feel is necessary for students at this age: a balance between physical versus mental activity. The adults I interviewed thought that students need opportunities for vigorous physical activity and an active social life. The fact that students may end up exhausted at the end appeared to be taken for granted by many parents.

Interviewer: Do students practice every day and on Saturday?

Parent: Yes, even on Saturday. Though now the second Saturday is a vacation. On Sunday they can have meets. They get tired, but I suppose they are used to it. And then they have juku until 10:00. It really is late! Lately, my daughter has gone to sleep in her school uniform. (Shimogawa parent)

As students get older, they also gain seniority in the clubs and take a stronger role in directing the practice. However, many students retire from the club after their first semester as third-year students in order to devote their energy to studying for the tests. This development means that for many students, the second year in junior high school is a crucial transition year when students move from junior status in the clubs to take on a leadership role. As students move up into senior positions in the clubs they appear to display a growing seriousness about club activity.

High school and independence. One evening I observed the student managers and team members of the basketball club at Arata High School. Both the boy's and girl's clubs were practicing on the same court. It was perhaps 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the unheated gym, and the student manager of the girls' team was huddled in her coat with a training jersey draped over her legs. She said that she got interested in basketball in junior high school, and although she wished she could play or take part in the practice, she did not feel good enough to play on the team. However, she said that she came to practice everyday and stayed until practice was over (about 6 p.m. in the winter months).

The captain of each team directed the practice. The girls' and boys' styles of practice differed significantly. The girls made extensive use of sing-song cheers, chanting rhythmically as they drilled. The boys drilled in silence or counted off. The boys also tended to spend more time on playing mock games while the girls spent much more time on drills. The girl's captain kept up a pattern of encouragement and advice, yelling "Shoot!" and "Nice shot."

After about half an hour the teacher who supervised both teams came in and formally introduced me to the team members. He said that his specialty is really baseball so this club really has to "instruct" itself. He stayed for about 20 minutes and left again. After his departure, the students worked on group drills with each student trying to better his or her performance.

The fact that teacher-supervisors at the high school level may only briefly check on how the club is doing indicates the degree of independence and responsibility that club members are expected to have. Senior members are expected to be responsible for training new members and for overseeing the club finances. Most of the times that I observed clubs like these, students spent their time doing various drills.

Participation in clubs at the high school level is, again, quite varied. At Naka Vocational, many students preferred to work rather than join the clubs, but the baseball team was exceptionally popular and had won several local tournaments. At Meiji, the school had a strong tradition of general club participation. Most of the students took part in some form of club activity. At Arata, club participation varied greatly with certain clubs being popular and others barely limping along with only a few members.

Problems with School

Most of the criticisms expressed by the respondents in this study were not directed at schools directly, but at the exam system and the pressures that it created within school. It is the exam system, respondents noted, that pushes teachers to cover so much in each class, that pushes friendly rivalry into stark competition and that feeds the large juku industry. Respondents noted that exam pressures begin to affect students about a year and a half before the exam, i.e., the second year of junior high school.

In the classroom, academic competition is commonly promoted by comparing an individual or a group's performance with some absolute standard. Teachers commonly exhort students to get a few more points right than on their last test, to try and surpass the class average, to score above the cut-off point on the practice exams for the school of their choice. Teachers harangue their classes to boost the average for the class up to or above the average for the school. Many teachers linked these academic pressures with the fact that more and more students are refusing to attend compulsory education.

School refusal. School refusal (toko kyo) was one of the most common problems discussed by teachers and parents. The problem of school refusal is growing. In 1992, the White Paper on Youth showed that about 10,000 elementary school students and nearly 50,000 junior high school students were considered to have school-refusal syndrome. This is compared with about 3,000 elementary and 10,000 junior high school students in 1978 (ibid.). What teachers mean by school refusal differs, but in general these students will not come to school for weeks or months at a time. Often these students express discomfort at being around other students, seem extremely shy, and appear to have underdeveloped social skills.

At Midori, the nurse's office was used as a kind of transition room for the 8 to 10 students who would not attend regular classes. Students were allowed to come to the nurse's office and work on worksheets for an extended length of time. After students seemed comfortable with working in the nurse's office, the nurse and a teacher on the guidance committee would try to get the student to attend one class a day, often a non-academic class like art. Teachers also encouraged peers to try to involve the students who refused school in more activities. In this way the teachers hoped to reconnect students gradually to the social life of the school so that they would not drop out.

Students who have problems fitting in socially were seen as also likely to have problems academically. Most of the students who were being counseled through the nurses' office had poor grades and were unlikely to be able to enter any of the academic-track high schools. This fact, teachers said, leads students to become completely disenchanted with studies. These students are at risk of dropping out of the school system, either at the transition to high school or after they have spent a year or two in high school. The problem of dropouts is growing for the first time in the post-war era.

Dropouts. Dropping out is difficult to define and measure. Sometimes teachers will refer to students who are sitting in class as dropouts. From the teachers' point of view, dropouts are students who are often absent from school or are inattentive and refuse to participate in class. Students who exhibit this behavior are usually labeled as ochikobore and eventually these "dropouts" may fail to attend school altogether. One teacher at Midori described such students as having "no place to live."

At the high school level, a certain percentage of students fail to complete their education. While this percentage is small in general, it is greater in the non-academic tracks (Shimizu, 1993). At Naka Vocational, the teacher who headed the guidance committee discussed the dropout problem:

Teacher: Well, this year, 27 have dropped out so far (chu totaigaku). That's for the whole school — first to third year. Every year it's 25-35. The first year is where most dropout, only one or two drop out in their third year.

Interviewer: Why do they drop out?

Teacher: Most drop out because (they can't do) the academic work. The second reason they give is 'This school doesn't suit me.' They say a regular or night school would be better, and they try to make a change in their future course.

Interviewer: Do dropouts also go to work?

Teacher: Yes, most can't do the studying that is necessary or lack interest, so they find a job.

In this interview, the teacher combined students who quit school to work with students who entered some other form of schooling, most often a night high school or correspondence course in the case of Naka Vocational students. This vagueness in the usage of the term "dropout" appeared to be common to both junior and high school teachers.

School Violence. Violence in schools (ko nai boryoku) is also a concern for Japanese teachers. This term covers a wide variety of actions including violence against other students and teachers. Levels of school violence were higher during the 1960's and 1970's, and members of the community were sometimes drawn into the conflict. Data from the Prime Minister's office indicate that in 1982, 1,028 junior high schools and 346 high schools experienced some form of school violence (Sorifu Sieshonen Taisaku Honbu, 1982). These rates fell until about 1988 when they began to rise again. In 1992, 882 junior high school teachers and 244 high school teachers reported being injured by students at school (Somucho, 1993).

Junior high school teachers in Naka and Kita City said that in the past some incidents of school violence had occurred in their schools. One teacher at Kita Junior High School linked school violence to the influence of the media and to family problems. He thought that students responded to violent images they saw on television and were more likely to be violent if their home life were unstable. He described an incident of school violence that had occurred while he was teaching at one of the more rural schools in the prefecture:

It was just like on Kinpatsu-sensei [a popular television show]. The students took up posts outside the teacher's room and blocked the hall. They broke the glass. This confrontation in front of the room escalated and it turned into a mess in the teacher's room. I was hit in the nose with a drawer.

They were mad at the teachers because the teachers weren't working together. And, in that area, there was a lot of divorce. So the kids were very upset. Some weren't studying and the whole school was tense. The school and parent relations were disrupted; there were no real PTA relations. That is why it happened.

The breakdown of human relations — between parents and children, teachers and students — was a significant theme brought up again and again by teachers and parents. When asked to discuss why problems like bullying or school refusal were on the rise, teachers and parents often attributed the rise in problems to a combination of several factors: increasing competition on the entrance exams, too much emphasis on material prosperity and consumerism, a lack of opportunities for intense peer interactions in the early childhood years, and the fact that families were smaller and more isolated from each other.

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

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