Japanese Schooling System - Research Paper Example

Japanese Schooling System School system varies according to countries and depends on cultures inherent to these countries. Schoolsystems are characteristic of students released to the job market as the skills learned in these systems play a significant role in portraying the qualification of individuals in the job market. In addition to teaching curriculum in school systems, there are elaborate methods applied to enhance attitudes, values, and indigenous characteristics of school system offering specific characteristics to students in a particular school system (Wray 75). The indigenous characteristic of each school system in a country is related to the quality of education in these countries and the competitiveness of respective graduates in the global market. As the forces of globalization trickle to the entire world, school systems face a challenge to adapt to these forces in embracing a borderless global market. In this paper, the Japanese school system will be considered and compared to the American school system. Japan is becoming one of the world’s largest sources of students studying in foreign universities (Gainey and Andresen 153). This implies that the forces of globalization are felt around the globe and Japanese students, in order to be in tandem with demands and skills of a globalised system, have to seek education outside their country, mostly in western countries. Therefore, compared to other education system, particularly western countries, Japanese education system has major flaws and portrays deficiencies that urgently need reforms to be in line with other educations systems which are relevant to a globalised world. According to Gainey and Andresen (153), in 1996 more than 16 million Japanese were on record to have travelled abroad, out of which 180,000 students were studying abroad. This represented about 8.1% increase compared to the previous year and the figure remained stable to the year of 2000 (Byron 248). However, 12 years earlier, in 1988, the number of students travelling abroad for studies was about 84,708. In addition, as Gainey and Andressen (153) explain, Japan is the largest source of international students in the US with more than two thirds of these students engaged in undergraduate studies. These large numbers of Japanese students studying abroad portray dissatisfaction and weaknesses in the Japanese school system which the students try to escape by searching for better studies particularly in America. In this report, the reason behind this large number of students seeking education in America and other foreign countries will be disseminated in proving the Japanese education system has major weaknesses that have been challenged by the forces of globalization. The Japanese school system follows the 6-3-3 schooling system which they inherited from the Americans during the American occupation of Japan, particularly after the Second World War (Cooke 14). However, there were some major changes making this schooling system to deviate from the American system. For example, in Japan, as Cooke elaborates, the elementary and the secondary education systems are more centralized compared to the US system with most kindergartens being private in Japan (Cooke 14). The elementary schooling in Japan covers grades 1-6, the middle school being between grades 7 and 9, with grades 10-12 attending high schools. The largest difference between the two education systems is while most of American public high schools are comprehensive, comprehensive high schools in Japan are not popular. In addition, though between 75- 80% of Japanese students enroll in university preparation tracks, most university bound students go through separate academic high schools with those who do not plan to proceed with higher education attending commercial or industrial high schools (Cooke 14). On the contrary, in American schooling system, students go though high schools based on personal choice or school district assignments. This presents more elaborate criteria of schooling than the highly centralized Japanese criteria of education. Many critics have blamed the Japanese elementary or secondary schools for destroying the totality of pre higher education (Wray 75). This is because those who wish to join universities and the rest of students are taken through different schooling system with those who qualify to university based schools receiving better education facilities and undergoing a rigorous examination based system. This makes the system more theoretical than imparting the required skills to students. However, the Japanese schooling system may be considered as an organic whole in implying that emphasizing on early education leads to order, groups consciousness, character formation, school rules, and academic competence in all levels leading to a system that enhances good humanity development and democracy in Japanese society (Takeya 2000). However, this lessens the creativity and confidence of the student at the secondary level (Wray 75). Therefore, the Japanese schooling system, particularly in the elementary levels, is based on imparting morals and personalities on students, but does not involve preparing students to exude creativity and confidence. These are required to be nurtured at an early level in order to compete effectively in a globalised world. This type of schooling through leading to better personalities does not meet Japan’s industrial and development needs as demanded in the current globalised world. Another imparting on Japan schooling system is the centralized education system that makes it hard for most of the students to join public universities in the country. Japan has one of the highest relative education cost globally, and high competition for the university vacancies driving most Japanese students to seek university studies abroad (Gainey and Andressen 155). In most cases, students find studying in countries such as the United States to be not so much expensive as compared to studying at home, considering the lower cost of living in the US. The centralized schooling system affects university education for most students in that only a few can make it to the universities based on the high entrance criteria as entry to high schools and universities are based on examination performance. In Japan, the best high schools and universities are public high schools which require high entrance examination scores (Cooke 14). These high scores limit the chances of many students from attending these public schools, meaning career choices of many students in Japan is based on their ability to pass exams and not on nurturing talents and providing affordable education for the entire student population. This schooling system makes the Japanese education to lag behind other developed countries and is the reason behind the large numbers of Japanese students studying abroad. In addition, the culture of Japanese employers to make hiring decisions based upon prestige level of schooling that a candidate attended further complicates the problems in schooling system in Japan. According to Cooke, in order to meet these demands by employers, many students attend juku, or private cram schools, and study for long hours to make it through in both high school and university examinations. Pegging the future life of Japanese students on the type of high school attended (Cooke, 14) further limits the school system as the private schools are established purposely to enable students to pass exams, aimed at making it to universities rather than acquiring necessary skills to help them in their future careers. The failure to formulate a vocationally oriented and a more relevant education system has led to a system that is out of step with modern social and cultural changes which includes changes in industrial and employment structure (Lebra). In Japan schooling systems, students are over dependent on the instructor, compared to the American system, which makes students to be part of the learning processes. The extensive use of lesson studies in Japan in all studies as the norm in elementary and low secondary school teaching makes students to be separated from the learning processes (Dubin 24). For example, the American students in a classroom interrupt the teacher occasionally to ask questions or to express opinions. In addition, teachers in the US system of schooling expect students to take part in the learning processe by asking questions, meaning students have to be more attentive to the instructor (Takeya). Moreover, students in American schooling are used to taking notes while the instructor is teaching and rarely do instructors give direct notes to students especially in higher levels. On the contrary, in Japan, students are supposed to keep quiet and listen to the teacher without interrupting or asking questions. Students are later given notes for further reading by the teacher: this implies a student does not have to concentrate in class (Takeya). The lack of ensuring students are participative diminishes the effectiveness of such schooling in schools as is the case in Japan schooling system. This weakness is replicated in school system leadership levels. For example, when plans to decentralize education in Japan were initiated and school leaders were empowered to make decisions regarding the best learning system in their schools, the local education officials frustrated Division Education by always streaming into their offices to ask what they ought to do in the new system (Wray 76). The Japanese schooling system is highly test oriented with standardized tests of achievement (Spring 15). This standardization limits the creativity of students in imparting skills that are in accordance with the globalised market which requires rapidly changing skills and creativity which are best obtained when students learn the art of innovation. This makes many Japanese students to prefer the American schooling system. This implies the entire schooling system is used to a centralized system to the extent that even policy makers find it hard to make independent decision regarding best learning methods. Unlike in the American schooling, where the well being of a child is important in mental and physical development, these are put at risk in the Japanese schooling due to the escalator education system. Students have little time working out their stresses through physical exercises and playing outside or engaging in physical exercises (Lebra 205). The examination based system of education in Japan limits development of a well rounded personality, hurting the mental and physical health of a child through neglecting other activities considered irrelevant to examinations. These consequences have been increasing over the past one decade resulting to massive absenteeism in junior high school students. For example, in 1994, 77,000 junior high school students absented themselves for long periods for reasons linked to these stresses (Gainey and Anderssen 7). The Japanese unique schooling system is embedded in their cultural system and has much different aspects from what is known as western or American schooling system. The construction of Japan unique approach in handling education matters such as the centralized education system is accepted universally as a system characteristic of their cultural orientation (Takayama 458). This explains why the system emphasizes much on building personalities and values as in the lower elementary levels, in contrast to other western schooling systems. Schooling systems are characteristic of the type of graduates released in the market. Leading school systems release all round graduates with relevant skills and knowledge required by the rapidly changing market of a globalised world. The Japanese schooling system is one of the school systems that have been criticized for failing to adhere to systems that impart skills relevant in a globalised world. The education system is much centralized and exam oriented making students to over rely on reading aimed for passing exams to join leading high schools and universities. This denies these students time for recreation and innovative practices away from examination related issues. The graduates produced are, thus, skewed towards a theoretical approach in education compared to a practical one based on real life challenges in the market. The American schooling system is recognized as one of the best educational systems that imparts creativity and independence to students enhancing innovation that drives a globalised world. Therefore, Japanese schooling system has major limitations and portrays deficiencies that have to be corrected to make the schooling system responsive to skills required in a globalised world. Works Cited Cooke, Jackie. A Comparison of Japanese and American Education Systems: Part 2. Oregon: Gresham Barlow School District, 2005. Print. Byron, K. Marshal. Learning to be Modern: Japanese Political Discourse on Education. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994. Print. Dubin, Jennifer. American Teachers Embrace the Japanese Art of Lesson Study. Education Digest, 75.6, (2010), 23-29. Print. Gainey, Peter, and Curtis Andersen. The Japanese education System: Globalization and International Education. Japanese Studies, 22.2 (2002). Print. Lebra, T. Sugiyama. Japanese Women: Constraint and Fulfillment. Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 1984. Print. Lebra, R. S. Japanese Women, 2003. pp 205-206. Print. Spring, H. Joel. Globalization of Education: An Introduction. NY: Taylor and Francis, 2009. Print. Takayama, Keita. A Comparativist’s Predicament of Writing about ‘other’ Education: A Self- reflective, Critical review of Studies of Japanese Education. Comparative Education, 47.4 (2011), 449-470. Print. Takeya, Kanae. Culture Shock: Schools in the U.S. and Japan. Kaleidoscope: Minnesota, 8 May 2000. Available at http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/kaleidoscope/volume3/cultureshock.html Wray, Harry. Japanese and American Education: Attitudes and Practices. CT: Greenwood Publishing Inc, 1999. Print. Read More