When you think on school in Japan, you immediately think about the school uniforms; that sport club teams are celebrated like real celebrities but you also think about the lots of pressure are put on the pupil.
But is the Japanese school system more like this or else, if there's something in what's said about the Japanese school system, especially how it's portrayed in certain documentaries about Japan?
This is what this article is about.
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| a typical Japanese class room in anime style |
In the following, I'm gonna elaborate in this article:
- What are major differences between the German school system and the Japanese school system as well as the respective educational path in general
- What's the deal with the Japanese school uniforms
- How the image of the "hard" school system in Japan being extraverted in certain documentaries came into being
- and moreover, what was the original purpose of nowadays' Japanese school system and if and to which extent it could be archived meanwhile.
Without further ado, let's go:
The most important major differences between the Japanese school system and those of the most other countries (particularly Germany, many other European states and North America)
The way the Japanese school system is set up is - similar to the US-American system - the 6:3:3 system, i.e. six years of elementary school, three years of middle school and three years of high school. A succesive university degree course takes two, three or four years, depending on the subject you choose. This system had been established in Japan in the post-war era.
However, there's no equivalent to the A-levels/abitur/matura/baccalauréat etc. in Japan but instead, there're entrance exams whereby you archive the respective (secondary school or university) entrance qualifitation and - depending how well you've performed - you come into the correspondending secondary school or university.
Furthermore, the curriculum in Japan is uniform nationwide, not like Germany where the curriculum is different from federated state to federates state. The uniform curriculum is indeed convenient for those pupils who move to another town (let alone, to another prefecture) during their childhood or youth and consequently change school during their school career.
Unlike the most countries, there's no grade retention in Japan: All pupils are automatically promoted to the next grade.
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| A typical school corridor in Japan |
Unlike the most countries, a new school year doesn't begin after the summer vacation but after the spring vacation (Japanese school vacations: two weeks New Years vacation, two-weeksspring vacation in March/April and six-weeks summer vacation in July/August). But the school vacations are entirely uniform in Japan and not like, for instance, in Germany where the vacation periods depends on the respective federated states and where are fall vacations in some federated states (e.g. in Northrhine-Westphalia) as well.
In Japan, a school year is parted in trimesters but in the universities, an academic year is parted in semesters.
A school day goes from 8:30h to 15:30h (including recesses, lunch breaks and extracurriculars). Here in Germany, a school day goes from most likely 8:10h to 13:30/14:25h (but only two recesses, as there most likely ain't lunch breaks in German schools by default) and everything which takes place after this is being considered as afternoon classes not being necessarily, for instance, project groups or extracurriculars.
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| From Digimon Adventure 02, Episode 8 where the respective school soccer clubs from Ken (left) and Daisuke (right) plays against each other. So, references to sport clubs in Japan are not only in sport animes but also in many other animes |
Additionally, as distrinct to Germany, there're many private education institutions who offer their services from the kindergarten to the high school: These are so called tutoring schools not being to be confused with the tutoring institutions here in Germany.
Are the Japanese school uniforms really that cool as portrayed in the Japanese popular culture?
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| This male uniform type is called in Japanese gakuran (学ラン) |
Having said this, the male school uniforms have been introduced in Japan already in the Meiji period (1868-1912) wherefore the Prussian school uniforms were mostly the templates back then (seeing the Mob Psycho 100 pic on the right). But there's also the suit-and-tie uniform-type for men, like in e.g. Detektive Conan.
The female school uniform being based on the British sailor uniform had been firstly used in the Taishō period (1912-1926). To be exact, it has been introduced in the year 1921. Therefore, this uniform is called sailor fuku (セーラー服 , literal meaning: sailor outfit). But in the 1980s, the female blazer-type uniform which also contains the mini skirt had been introduced in Japan as well.
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| For instance, Shin'ichi from Detective Conan has brown hairs and no one of the school authorities ordered him to turn the hairs black (neither on-screen or off-screen) |
But in real life, it's an entirely different story.
Added to this, concerning the female pupils, even in the deep of winter when are cold temperatures of -10°C (equaling 14°F), they still have to wear the mini skirts and ain't allowed to combine them with tights. Indeed, meanwhile, there're more and more schools allowing the girls combining their school uniform with tights but up to this day, it's still an exception.
How hard is the Japanese school system really or rather, is it really that hard as portrayed in certain documentaries?
To come right to the point: Contrary to the way it's portrayed in certain documentaries, the exorbital stress ain't put by the teachers (even though expections confirm the rule) but rather by the pupils themselves as well as by their parents.
One of the reasons the Japanese school system is often regarded as quite hard is as follows:
Japan is a garureki shakai (学歴社会、literal meaning: educational background society), d.h. the social position of a citizen is pit against the past educational and academic career.
As already mentioned, in all stages of the educational carrer are so called entrance exams and only when you've good results, you can go to a highly esteemed secondary school or else highly esteemed university/college, respectively. With that said, the reputation (or else the name) of the secondary school or university college, respectively, is regarded as important because it's decisive for the social measurement: The higher the university's prestige, for instance, where you've graduated from, the higher your carrier opportunities are during your career path afterwards.
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| Shuntarō Furukawa (古川俊太郎) born 1972 |
Concerning positions in administrative bodies, alumni from the University of Tokyo (東京大学), also called shortly Tōdai (東大) as well as those from the Kyoto University (京都大学), also called shortly Kyōdai (京大) - which are both public universities - have relatively good chances snatching one of said positions.
Many companies go so far, they only watch for WHERE the alumnus had studied and not if he can bring an indispensable value to the company in one way or another.
In other words, contrary to Germany and many other countries where it doesn't matter in which university you've studied, the career opportunities after graduation are propotional to the reputation of the university where you've studied - even though the sky's the limit in Japan as well concerning the career path. But beyond, the way the universties and colleges in Japan are set up to the extent that you'RE ABLE to graduate within the standard period of study and you get the Bachelor degree practically for free. It's ONLY HARD to pass the ETRANCE EXAM in order to GET INTO a (good) university but when you passed them succesfully, it's relatively relaxed to accomplish your studies there. In regard of this context, tn the video Day in the life of a Typical Japanese University Student from the YouTube-channel Paolo from Tokyo, it's shown what's really like. It's linked in the PS.
Which underlying idea of the nowadays school system or else education system in Japan was actually there in the first place and could said system live up to this expectation?
Concerning the nowadays' Japanese school system's consitution, the homogenization of the curriculum vitae as well as the nationwidely equal knowledge level were the aim. The underlying idea was the securing of equal opportunities. Therefore, uniform examination systems, e.g. multiple choice, are utilized up to this day.
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| A stock photo showing a multiple choice test |
Moreover, as already mentioned, there's no grade retention in Japan cuz on the one hand, you ain't meant to be seperated from peers and on the other hand, the network building should be facilitated as well.
But unfortunately, the goal of the equal opportunities could be archieved only to a limited extent cuz education is very expensive when it come to the additional tutoring schools. Only rich families can easily afford tutoring school, so families not being that moneyed have only two options: Forbearing the tutoring or taking out a loan (which leads often to high debts) in order to afford the tutoring for their children. The thing is: Not the teaching subject from the regular schools but those from the tutoring schools are decisive for passing the high school and later on university entrance exams afterwards. Hence, the expected equal opportunites ain't de facto given.
Additionally, the school instructions don't go beyond the mere knowledge reproduction, i.e. the pupils only commit to memory and don't learn, for instance, how to debate or how to transfer these and those methods or knowledge on other comparable situations. Likewise, due to the absence of project works and presentation practises in the school, they learn SOONEST in the university how to do project works and how to give good presenations.
Even the English class in the Japanese school is too reproductive and the quality of the same leave literally a lot to be desired. Apropos, this explains why many Japanese people aren't really good in speaking Englisch. Therefore, don't be surprised you'd gonna meet only a few Japanese people being able to speak English, if you're in Japan and if you can't speak Japanese.
Furthermore, the huge stress the pupils are having causes various issues, so the suicide rate among Japanese pupils are comparatively high even though the pressure ain't put by the teachers but by the pupils themselves as well as their parents. It originates from the fact that the social position of a citizen is pit against the past educational and academic career.
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| Jō Kido (城戸 丈) as 12-years old, as 15-yers old, as 18 years old and as 23 years old |
You can imagine it kinda like, e.g. the DigiDestined Jō Kido from the Digimon Adventure series who also went to a summer school by his own choice while other enjoyed their summer vacation or else wanted enjoy them. In the movie Digimon Adventure tri. - Chapter 2: Determination, he went as far as to neglecting his own Digimon partner Gomamon but he recognized his fault soon enough. Anyways, Jō manages to become a doctor afterwards. But this is a different story.
Additionally, there're increasing issues concerning violence at schools and school refusal too. But elaborating them as well would only go beyond this article's constraints.
Conclusion: All in all, the question if the Japanese school system is really that hard can be answered with "yes AND no". To sum up, the pressure on the pupils are pu but by the pupils themselves and by the parents but never by the teachers. Furthermore, not least because of the divide between rich and poor, the goal of the the chance equality in the occupational life afterwards could be archived only to a limited extent and the pupils only commit the subject matters to memory, so the don't learn knowledge transfering (i.e. applying of what you've learned when it comes to other similar situations), argumentation, analysis etc.
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| Screenshots from the Digimon Adventure tri. series showing Jō (and Gomamon) |
And concerning school uniforms in Japan, no matter how you slice it: It's very ridiculous that it's MANDATORY for pupils to additionally color the hairs black as a pupil (if they ain't black-haired by nature). Let's face it: Either you have black hairs by nature or you haven't. Full stop.
But either way, don't be confused by certain Japan-related documentaries whose way of presentations reflects a black-and-white thinking and which upset the applecart. The pupils being under great pressure and being shown in said documentaries haven't any representativeness for the average Japanese pupil.
And now, I ask you: Whaddaya think about the Japanese school system? Do you wish you was Japan-educated? Which school system from which country do you like most? Feel free to write it in the comments.
PS: Here's that video showing what the everyday's life of a typical Japanese university student is really like:
- Day in the Life of a Typical Japanese University Student (from Paolo from Tokyo)
And as a bonus, here's another sufficent video from the US-American female YouTuber Sonnie Travels who works as an English teacher in Japan and characterized the Japanese school system in said video:
- ALL ABOUT Japanese Schools!: Schools in Japan vs America! (from Sonnie Travels)
And for those amongst you who can also speak German, here are two videos from the German YouTuber NihonGo where he explains to which extent the Japanese pupil's everyday's life ain't that hard as portrayed in certain documentaries and and why a graduation from a (good) university is regarded as very important in Japan:
PPS: Here you can go to my other articles from the "Culture Studies"-rubric:
