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One of the basic questions we had at the outset of this research was "What role do math and science have in adolescent lives?" On the surface, the answer is that math and science do not play a special role. We did not find that teachers placed more emphasis on math or science than on other subjects, and on the whole, there was little to distinguish math and science from the larger field of academic endeavor. But, it is precisely in this way that math and science play a very large role in adolescent lives: they are core subjects in a culture that places extreme emphasis on the academic achievement of its students.
When we examine the situation more deeply, it is clear that a student's ability or preference for math and science will have powerful long-term effects on his or her friendship patterns, academic opportunities, and future chances. At the junior high school level, competence in Japanese, English, and social studies is just as crucial as competence in math and science in terms of preparing for the high school entrance exam. However, those students who show more aptitude in math and science will tend to enter academic tracks aimed at science or engineering courses in college. Because of these school divisions, math and science skills become highly important factors in adolescent life.
The strength of students in math and science versus Japanese, social studies, and English will have a great deal to do with the kind of school and course they enter. For students who excel in math and science, there is the possibility of enrolling in one of the nationally funded 5-year high schools (see introductory chapter), although enrollment in these highly selective schools is rather limited. Students in non-academic high schools are also affected by math ability. Some fields use a good deal of math, (e.g., electrical engineering), and students must attain a higher degree of proficiency in math and science for them than students in fields like information processing, which do not require strong math skills.
At Arata and Meiji, students were split into liberal arts and science tracks in the second year. The course of studies is altered to accommodate these divisions. For example, in the first year at Meiji high school all students take five hours a week of math. In the second year, students in the liberal arts track will take four hours while those in the science track will take six. Students in the science track will also take more advanced math courses such as statistics.
Teachers and students alike noted that students in the different tracks have slightly different personalities. Students in math and science courses were perceived to be more logical, whereas students in the liberal arts courses were perceived to be more creative or social. Two teachers at Meiji discussed this phenomenon:
The science students are seen as frank or open-minded. Their way of thinking is logical, mathematical. The liberal arts students are more involved with events, not the science students. They [the science students] don't make social contact with others.
A teacher at Minami thought that "in the liberal arts track, they are very good at memorization. And those in math and science are said to persevere in thinking skills." However a teacher at Arata had a slightly different view: "There are students who study seriously and those who don't. That is where the real difference is — in either liberal arts or science."
Many of the young women in the liberal arts track at Minami "hate math and science" according to the young teachers there. With the increasing division of students, fewer and fewer females end up in the science tracks. One young woman in the science course at Kita High School noted that there was a significant change in teaching styles between the two tracks: "There is a clear difference between science and literature. The science is much stricter than literature. The teachers don't differ so much, but in science the teachers have more of a feel of tension." This strictness or tension may be one reason that many young women dislike math and science and are over-represented in the liberal arts track.
It is not just young women who dislike math and science. In recent years, more and more students have come to this position. The phenomenon has been called "hate of math-science" (risu girai) as well as "fleeing math and science" (risu banare). One teacher at Shimogawa estimated that 50 percent of the students dislike either math or science. A number of students told us in their interviews that they did dislike these subjects, but at the same time students also said they hated virtually every class but art.
It is difficult to evaluate what it means when students say they do not like math or science. One student at Kita High School said about math:
I don't like it, but I don't really dislike it. As far as the essential component, the theorems, studying the beginning things is O.K., but then it gets complicated. We get into the last part of the text and the teacher isn't very interesting so it isn't very interesting.
Teachers at Kita Elementary thought that dislike of math and science started in the early years of school when students could not keep up with their peers in math. After teaching math at the junior high school level for several years, one teacher moved back to teaching elementary school. She thought that the early experiences with math and science largely determined the adolescent experience.
Interviewer: Well, why do some students dislike arithmetic?
Teacher: Probably, the cause is the inability to understand. In the progression from the lower grades, little by little, the parts that they don't understand increase. For example, in the multiplication table, if they don't understand all of the table at the fourth grade, when they get into larger computation problems, their speed and their way of understanding will be slower.
Interviewer: Why do the "parts they don't understand" increase as the years go by?
Teacher: Probably because these children lag behind in completing their drills. If all students study the same drill, you will find there are those who get it quickly, and those who won't get it after ten minutes. It is not that the student is lazy, it is that they don't comprehend a certain part of the work.
Although math and science classes are not generally oriented to the highest-achieving students, there is a strong sense among students and teachers that as adolescents progress through school, some will fall farther and farther behind in math. One aspect that is particularly troublesome for educators in the non-academic tracks is that many of their students have poor math skills. A teacher at Naka Vocational described the problems of his students:
Students who have no strength in math have a hard time at a vocational school. They don't know science at all, and they don't think about the process, just the result. Although students in these schools tend to focus on technical subjects, their difficulties with math and science can hinder them from achieving within their specific subject area.
Although there is growing concern that students are becoming disinterested in math and science, there is also evidence to suggest that this may be a more generalized phenomenon. The pressures of the entrance exams appear to play a role in making instruction in the five basic subjects more hurried and intense. As teachers must try to cover as much material as they can in math, science, English, Japanese, and social studies, there is less and less time for experimentation and class discussion. The focus of the classroom shifts from what we might call "discovery learning"— common in elementary school and the first year of junior high school—to lectures, drills and reviews.
Most of the Japanese teachers and students interviewed in this study said that math and science classes no longer possessed vitality (iki iki) after the elementary school years. In such an atmosphere it is difficult to make any of the mandatory subjects interesting to students who already perceive themselves behind in school or unable to compete. Discovery learning and a sense of excitement and wonder over math and science appeared to lessen as adolescents advance from grade to grade.
Regardless of the kind of high school they attended, the students I interviewed said that they would like to work. Some were interested in money, but as one girl at Arata simply put it, "I'm curious." Part-time jobs appear to be associated with increased freedom and independence in the minds of Japanese high school students. These jobs are a kind of intermediary between the adult world of full-time work and the more circumscribed world of the schools and clubs.
Working, like dating, is another activity that Japanese schools generally forbid. At the junior high school level, very few students have part-time jobs, although at Midori and Shimogawa some students were given permission to deliver papers due to their family's economic circumstances. For most high school students, part-time jobs are forbidden by the school, but a survey of high school students in public and private high schools around Japan showed that between 2 percent and 8 percent of students in academic high schools had part-time jobs (Shimauchi, 1995:8). In the non-academic tracks, however, these percentages are undoubtedly much higher. At Naka Vocational, students did not go to great lengths to hide the fact that they were working part-time. The Naka Tech student, whose schedule is displayed in Figure 6, got only about 5 or 6 hours of sleep each night because he worked for four hours most evenings or else to driving school. He devoted nearly the whole day on Sunday to working at a local supermarket.
Teachers were more circumspect when talking about the issue of part-time jobs. I asked a teacher at Naka Vocational if part-time jobs were allowed:
That's a fine point. Part-time jobs aren't allowed, technically speaking. But we have students from all different kinds of family backgrounds, so each section (e.g., chemical engineering or computing), gives permission to work. The most common form is a particularly Japanese one — working at the post office delivering New Year's Cards . This is a positive type of work. As the school approved this kind of work, 70 of our students did this last year.
But many Naka Vocational students had jobs throughout the year. In fact, the role of part-time work in the lives of Naka Vocational students was one of the major factors that distinguished their lives from those of the Arata and Meiji students. Without the pressure of the exams or the necessity to go to juku, Naka Vocational students were free to try out various part-time jobs. Given the economic circumstances of many of their parents, this additional income — even if it were used solely by the students themselves — was quite welcome. But as a result of their earning power, Naka Vocational students had a greater degree of independence both from parents and the school than the students at Meiji and Arata.
In the past decade there has been a decrease in bullying, suicide, and the overall crime rate among adolescents (Somucho, 1993). Reported teen pregnancies remain low, and it is estimated that less than one percent of adolescents imbibe illegal drugs or substances like glue or paint thinner. However, in this same period, there has been an increase in school-refusal syndrome. Combined with growing concerns that students are drifting away from math and science, many of the teachers and parents in this study revealed concern that adolescents are becoming more dissatisfied with schooling (Somucho, 1993).
The Japanese adolescents we met during our field work, on the contrary, appeared motivated and engaged in schooling. They appeared to be materially prosperous, and the high school students exhibited an interest in foreign music, food, and film. As White (1993) has shown, many Japanese high school students are sophisticated consumers with a highly developed awareness of international events and trends. While many of the students in this study said that they were tired or felt pressure to perform, most appeared to be coping rather well.
The pressures produced by the entrance exam, the education system and the culture of testing have undeniable negative influences on Japanese adolescents. The remarkable energy expended on the high school and college entrance exam is evidence that juken benkyo is a central fact of life for most adolescents. But, students, parents, and teachers were quick to point out that learning, defined more broadly, is a central human activity in the Japanese cultural worldview. Many respondents noted that to stop learning is to decay or stagnate as a person. Such a view of learning implies constant change and re-evaluation, the ability to shift and adapt. In the face of all the pressure to succeed, the vast majority of students still maintain a healthy social life, balancing the long hours of study with involvement in clubs, hobbies, or going out with friends. Despite adult worries, all of the adolescents we talked to were healthy, active, and had some goal.
[Chapter 5 - Teachers and the Teaching Profession in Japan (Part 1 of 7)]