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from School Journal, August 2003
School Days: A World of Differences
by Jiro Terasawa
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Twelve-year-old Akira lives in Tokyo, Japan. He races out of school on Friday afternoon, but he is not heading home or going off to play with friends. Instead he is on his way to "cram school" where he will spend hours studying for a special test. Akira needs to pass this test to get into middle school. When he gets home that evening, he will study his notes and do homework assignments for several hours.
Like Akira, most students in Japan work very hard to succeed in school. Students in the United States are also hardworking and eager to succeed, but they do not spend as much time in school or hitting the books after school. The school systems in Japan and the United States share many of the same goals, but the approach to education in each country creates a world of difference in schools and in students’ lives.
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Both countries require students to stay in school from the ages of five or six to fifteen or sixteen. However, Japanese students tend to enter kindergarten at three and stay in school until they are eighteen. They need to pass an exam just to enter grade school, and they face even more tests to get into high school. Japanese students are under a lot of pressure to succeed, not just for themselves but for their families. Failing any of these tests is considered shameful to both the students and their families.
Students in Japan spend far more days in school during the year than students in the United States. A Japanese student attends school 240 days a year, whereas a student in the United States goes for 180 days. In addition to Monday through Friday, Japanese students are in school for a half day on Saturday with one or two Saturdays off each month. The average summer vacation for students in Japan lasts only six weeks, while summer vacations in the United States last twelve weeks.
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