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The junior high school curriculum is divided into the same three major categories as the elementary school curriculum:
Schedule
In junior high school, one school hour is 50 minutes and at least 1,050 hours are required. For all junior high school students, moral education is allocated 35 school hours; however, the hours for special activities vary from 35 to 70 school hours for the first-year students (seventh grade) and 35 school hours for the second- and third-year students.
The length of the school year is 35 weeks or more, depending on decisions of the local school board. As previously noted, however, the minimum required amount of school time is often exceeded. A close look at a typical junior high school reveals a more accurate figure of the actual schooling time. In 1990, a typical junior high student followed this schedule:
The school year consisted of 240 days, with 5 to 6 hours on weekdays and 3 hours on Saturday. This yielded a total of 1,205 school hours, far exceeding the 1,050 hours required by Monbusho (Nishimura, Amakasa, and Horii 1992).
High school is not compulsory in Japan; therefore, entrance to high school is not automatic. To be admitted, students must successfully complete junior high school and pass a high school entrance examination.
High schools offer three types of enrollment: full time, part time, and correspondence courses. The length of schooling for a full-time student is 3 years, while a part-time student or correspondence student attends high school for 4 or more years. The part-time students can take either day or night courses, the latter being more prevalent. A high school diploma is awarded for completion of any one of these three different courses.
The high school curriculum may be classified into two main categories with regard to content?academic courses (futsuka) and vocational courses (shokugyoka)?and two minor categories?a technical course (senkoka) and a special course (bekka). Academic courses provide general education for students who either wish to continue to university after graduation or who may pursue specific vocational programs after graduation. The academic classes can be separated into two main categories: regular classes and special activities; specific time is not set aside for moral education in high school because it is believed to be incorporated throughout the other courses. The academic student faces a demanding schedule of required core courses of Japanese language, mathematics, science, English, and social studies. Elective courses are limited to two courses per year and are usually chosen to assist in preparing for a particular university's entrance examination (USED 1987).
Vocational courses prepare students for specific trades or occupations by offering training and other professional education. The major fields of study are commerce, industry, agriculture, home economics, nursing, marine studies, and art. The vocational curriculum is oriented to preparing students for careers, but it is not specific to particular jobs. When compared with academic students, vocational students spend less class time studying academic subjects. The incentive to study is not so strong among these students, because there are no university entrance examinations to prepare for, and future employers of vocational school graduates do not base employment decisions solely on academic records.
There are also two other courses offered to high school students, a technical course (senkoka) and a special course (bekka). These courses enroll less than 0.2 percent of the high school students and do not award degrees after completion of one or more years of schooling.
Of the 5,501 high schools, 51 percent offered only regular courses; 18 percent offered only vocational courses; and 31 percent of the schools were comprehensive, offering both general and vocational courses (Monbusho 1993b). Classifying the schools by their funding, 70.6 percent were public, 29.2 percent were private, and 0.2 percent were national high schools (Monbusho 1993b).
In 1992 there were more than 5,218,000 high school students in Japan (49.7 percent female); of these, 74.0 percent were enrolled in the regular academic program courses and 25.9 percent were enrolled in vocational programs. More than 1,807,000 high school students were graduated in 1992. Of these, 32.7 percent continued to a university or a junior college, 30.2 percent went to a special school, 32.3 percent obtained employment, and 4.7 percent were unemployed (Monbusho 1993b). 2.1 percent of students drop out during their high school years. In 1992 part-time students represented the largest percentage of dropouts: 14.6 percent. In comparison, much lower percentages of full-time high school students in both the academic and vocational course curricula dropped out: 1.4 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively (Monbusho 1993b). Their reasons for not continuing greatly varied, but the primary reasons were "inability to adjust to the high school environment and studies" (27 percent), "seeking employment" (26 percent), and "deficient ability" (10.3 percent) (Monbusho 1993b).
As in junior high school, 1 school hour equals 50 minutes, but the standard number of school hours is 1,190 hours per year. The length of the school year is 35 weeks, with 5 to 6 school hours on weekdays and 4 school hours on Saturdays. A typical school day during the week may start at 8:35 a.m. and end at approximately 3:30 p.m.; school on Saturday typically runs from 8:35 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Students are eligible to enter a university after completing 12 years of academic courses and passing an entrance examination to the university of their choice. A wide range of universities exists, giving students many options, but it is difficult to secure employment with prestigious companies unless one has attended one of the top-ranking universities. Because one's university determines one's prospects for the best careers and jobs, and because the results of the university entrance examination are a key factor determining whether a student is admitted to his or her chosen university, preparation and competition are so intense that some students start preparing as early as junior high school.
The usual length of study at a university is 4 years. Typically, a university is divided into faculty groups (gakubu), equivalent to schools and colleges, though it may also have different organizational units such as project research groups. For example, Tsukuba University, referred to as a "newly planned university," is organized by project research groups.
Faculties are determined by academic domain, such as social science faculty group and natural science faculty group, each of which may be subdivided into departments. The education faculty group, for example, may have such departments as educational psychology or educational administration.
In 1992 more than 2,293,000 students (29.3 percent female) attended the 523 Japanese universities. Of these universities, 73.4 percent were private, 7.9 percent were public, and 18.7 percent were national schools (Monbusho 1993a).
Of the 437,878 university graduates in 1992, 80.9 percent obtained employment; 7.6 percent continued to higher education; 5.7 percent went to special training schools, miscellaneous schools, job-training schools, or were unemployed; 1.6 percent obtained internships, such as in medicine; and the paths of 4.2 percent were unknown (Monbusho 1993a).
Graduate schools, where students can pursue advanced studies in various fields for masters' and doctor's degrees, requiring 2 and 5 years of study respectively, exist in 335, or 64 percent of the universities. In 1992, there were 109,108 graduate students (18.0 percent female) in Japan (Monbusho 1993a).
Junior colleges teach and conduct research in specialized academic subjects pertaining to vocations such as teacher education, engineering, and agriculture; or general education, including humanities, social science, and general culture. Some of the more popular fields of study are home economics, teacher education, and humanities. Students who have completed upper secondary education are eligible to enter a junior college. Degrees are awarded after the required 2 or 3 years of schooling, depending on the field. Junior college graduates may choose to apply for admission to a university.
In 1992 most students attending junior colleges were female (91.7 percent). In that year 524,538 students attended 591 junior colleges, 84.3 percent of which were private institutions (Monbusho 1993a).
Of the 226,432 junior college graduates in 1992, 85.7 percent obtained employment, 4.2 percent continued to higher education, and 7.4 percent went to special training schools, miscellaneous schools, job training schools, or were unemployed. Over one-third of those obtaining employment entered the service industry, 20 percent entered manufacturing, 17 percent entered retail or wholesale business, and 16 percent obtained employment with banking or insurance companies (Monbusho 1993a).
Technical schools (koto senmon gakko) teach specialized academic subjects to develop the skills needed for certain vocations. These schools were established in 1962 to respond to the demand for middle-level technicians during the rebuilding of Japan's industries (Sagara 1976). Entrance to a technical school, in contrast to entrance to a university or junior college, requires only completion of junior high school. Students are enrolled in a 5-year uniform course, during which they receive the equivalent of a high school education plus 2 years of specialized classes. The courses offered at a technical school may be classified into various departments, such as mechanical engineering for industry, electrical engineering, industrial chemistry, or merchant navigation. The degrees obtained are similar to those of junior college graduates, and some students choose to enter a university after graduation.
The majority of technical school students are men, as can be seen by the enrollment of 1992: 54,739 students (12.9 percent female) attended 62 technical schools; 87.1 percent of these are privately owned (Monbusho 1993a). Of the 9,280 technical school graduates (6.9 percent female) in 1992, 82.9 percent obtained employment, 14.7 percent continued to a higher school, and 2.2 percent were unemployed (Monbusho 1993a).
In addition to the formal education schools mentioned above, Japan has many special training schools (senshu gakko) and miscellaneous schools (kakushu gakko), most of them private. Such schools do not usually require an entrance examination for admission, and any test administered is relatively easy. The basic requirement for admission is usually completion of junior high school, but some schools require a high school education depending on the courses offered. The length of schooling varies from 3 months for miscellaneous schools to a year or more for special training schools.
In 1992, there were nearly 862,000 students (50.6 percent female) attending 3,409 special training schools, of which 89.7 percent were private. In addition, about 390,000 students (48.9 percent female) attended 3,202 miscellaneous schools, of which 97.4 percent were private institutions (Monbusho 1993b).
Special training schools aim to provide education in certain vocations or to help improve a student's general education. By law, special training schools must enroll more than 40 students at all times and classes must be conducted for at least a year, exceeding 800 hours of instruction. Special training schools offer three types of courses: upper secondary courses (koto katei), equivalent to high school; postsecondary courses (senmon katei), or specialized courses; and general courses (ippan katei).
Upper secondary courses correspond to high school education and require completion of junior high school for admission. Specialized courses are equivalent to universities courses and require students to have completed their high school education. General courses for continuing education are open to all students regardless of their educational background.
Miscellaneous schools offer programs concerning practical life skills or specific vocations, such as dressmaking, cooking, bookkeeping, car driving and maintenance, and computer skills. With a three-level structure similar to that of special training schools, miscellaneous schools offer courses at the high school level, postsecondary courses, and general courses.
Japan has three types of special education schools (shogaiji gakko): schools for the blind (mogakko), schools for the deaf (rogakko), and schools for students with physical handicaps, psychologically disturbances, and mental retardation (yogogakko). This last type is divided into three specific schools of concentration. Special education schools must have elementary and junior high school departments, and may have a kindergarten department and a high school department. Along with the appropriate level of education, instruction provides students with knowledge and skills to cope with their disabilities. In 1992 there were 963 special education schools. Of these, 93.6 percent were public institutions which were attended by over 90 percent of the nearly 90,000 students (Monbusho 1993b).
Continued
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[The Educational Structure of the Japanese School System - Part 3]