National Clearinghouse for United States-Japan Studies
Indiana University
Memorial West #211
Bloomington, IN 47405-7005
(800) 441-3272 (812) 855-3765 http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/digest5.html
JAPAN
DIGEST
Japanese Education Updated September 2005
Lucien Ellington
It is important for teachers and students to develop a broad
understanding of Japanese education. Americans who are
knowledgeable of teaching and learning in Japan gain insights about
a different culture and are better able to clearly think about their
own educational system. This Digest is an introductory overview of
1) Japanese educational achievements, 2) Japanese K–12 education,
3) Japanese higher education, 4) contemporary educational issues,
and 5) significant U.S.-Japan comparative education topics.
Japanese Educational Achievements. Japan's greatest educational
achievement is the high-quality basic education most young people
receive by the time they complete high school. Although scores
have slightly declined in recent years, Japanese students
consistently rank among world leaders in international mathematics
tests. Recent statistics indicate that well over 95 percent of Japanese
are literate, which is particularly impressive since the Japanese
language is one of the world's most difficult languages to read and
write. Currently over 95 percent of Japanese high school students
graduate compared to 89 percent of American students. Some
Japanese education specialists estimate that the average Japanese
high school graduate has attained about the same level of education
as the average American after two years of college. Comparable
percentages of Japanese and American high school graduates now
go on to some type of post-secondary institution.
Japanese K–12 Education. Even though the Japanese adopted the
American 6-3-3 model during the U.S. Occupation after World War
II, elementary and secondary education is more centralized than in
the United States. Control over curriculum rests largely with the
national Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (Monbukagakusho) and education is compulsory
through the ninth grade. Municipalities and private sources fund
kindergartens, but national, prefectural, and local governments pay
almost equal shares of educational costs for students in grades one
through nine. Almost 90 percent of students attend public schools
through the ninth grade, but over 29 percent of students go to
private high schools. The percentage of national funding for high
schools is quite low, with prefectures and municipalities assuming
most of the costs for public high schools. High salaries, relatively
high prestige, and low birth rates make teaching jobs quite difficult
to obtain in Japan while in the United States there are teacher
shortages in certain fields. Although more Japanese schools are
acquiring specialists such as special education teachers and
counselors, American schools have many more special subjects and
support personnel than is the case in Japan. Japanese schools have
only two or three administrators, one of whom has some teaching
responsibilities.
Japanese students spend at least six weeks longer in school each
year than their American counterparts although Japan’s school year
was recently shortened when all required half-day Saturday public
school attendance ended in 2002.
While the Japanese K–12 curriculum is actually quite similar in
many respects to the curriculum of U.S. schools, there are important
differences. Because Japanese teachers at all levels are better
prepared in mathematics than their American counterparts,
instruction in that subject is more sophisticated in Japan. Japanese
language instruction receives more attention in Japanese schools
than English instruction in the United States because of the
difficulty of learning written Japanese. Virtually every Japanese
student takes English language courses from the seventh grade
through the final year of high school.
Since many Japan Digest readers are social studies teachers, a
few words about those subjects are included here. First- and secondgrade
students study social studies in an integrated science/social
studies course. In grades 3-12, there are separate civics, geography,
Japanese and world history, sociology, and politics-economics
courses. University-bound students may elect to take more or less
social studies electives depending upon their career interests.
All Japanese texts are written and produced in the private sector;
however, the texts must be approved by the Ministry of Education.
Textbook content, length, and classroom utilization in Japan is quite
different than in the United States. The content of Japanese
textbooks is based upon the national curriculum, while most
American texts tend to cover a wider array of topics. Japanese
textbooks typically contain about half the pages of their American
counterparts. Consequently, unlike many American teachers, almost
all Japanese teachers finish their textbooks in an academic year.
The Japanese believe schools should teach not only academic skills
but good character traits as well. While a small amount of hours
every year is devoted to moral education in the national curriculum,
there is substantial anecdotal evidence that teachers do not take the
instructional time too seriously and often use it for other purposes.
Still, Japanese teachers endeavor to inculcate good character traits
in students through the hidden curriculum. For example, all
Japanese students and teachers clean school buildings every week.
Japanese students are constantly exhorted by teachers to practice
widely admired societal traits such as putting forth intense effort on
any task and responding to greetings from teachers in a lively
manner.
Many American public high schools are comprehensive. While
there are a few comprehensive high schools in Japan, they are not
popular. Between 75 and 80 percent of all Japanese students enroll
in university preparation tracks. Most university-bound students
attend separate academic high schools while students who definitely
do not plan on higher education attend separate commercial or
industrial high schools. In the United States, students enter
secondary schools based on either school district assignment or
personal choice. In Japan almost all students are admitted to high
school based upon entrance examination performance. Since
entering a high-ranked high school increases a student’s chance of
university admission or of obtaining a good job after high school
graduation, over half of Japanese junior high students attend private
cram schools, or juku, to supplement their examination
preparations. Until recently examination performance was the major
criterion for university entrance as well. However many private
colleges and universities have replaced entrance examinations with
other methods for determining admission, including interviews.
Although mid- and high-level universities still rely primarily on
entrance examination scores, increasing numbers of college-bound
students do not spend enormous amounts of hours studying for
university examinations as was the case until just a few years ago.
Japanese Higher Education. Japan, with almost three million men
and women enrolled in over 700 universities and four-year colleges,
has the second largest higher educational system in the developed
world. In Japan, public universities usually enjoy more prestige than
their private counterparts and only about 27 percent of all
university-bound students manage to gain admission to public
universities. Even so, Japanese universities are considered to be the
weakest component in the nation's educational system. Many
Japanese students have traditionally considered their university time
to be more social than academic and, usually, professors demand
relatively little of their charges. Until recently, graduate education
in Japan was underdeveloped compared to Europe and the United
States. However in response to increased demands for graduate
education because of globalization, Japanese graduate enrollments
have increased by approximately one third since the mid-1990s.
Contemporary Educational Issues. In the past decade a variety of
factors have contributed both to changes in Japanese schools and to
increasing controversy about education. Japanese annual birth rates
have been decreasing for almost two decades, and Japan’s current
population of almost 128 million is expected to decline. Almost half
of all Japanese women with children in school now work outside
the home at some point during their children’s schooling. Although
low compared to the U.S., Japan’s divorce rates have been rising
recently. While Japanese teachers now enjoy considerably smaller
classes than at any time in the past, they face increasing discipline
problems resulting in part from children who do not get adequate
parental attention. Also Japan’s economy has experienced a fifteenyear
malaise, and many people believe that an inflexible
educational system is in part responsible for the country’s economic
problems.
In 2002 the Ministry of Education began to implement
educational reforms that officials labeled the most significant since
the end of World War II. In an attempt to stimulate students to be
independent and self-directed learners, one third of the content of
the national curriculum was eliminated. Japanese students in grades
3–9 are now required to take Integrated Studies classes in which
they and their teachers jointly plan projects, field trips, and other
“hands-on” activities. Students in Integrated Studies learn about
their local environment, history, and economy. They also engage in
regular interactions with foreigners, and in learning conversational
English. There are no Integrated Studies textbooks, and teachers are
not allowed to give tests on what students have learned. Although
many elementary school teachers and students seem to enjoy
Integrated Studies, the reform is quite controversial among both the
public and junior high school educators. They perceive Integrated
Studies as “dumbing down” the national curriculum, and they are
concerned that the reform will result in less-educated students and
lower high school entrance examination performance. In response
to this controversy, the Ministry of Education has recently
announced plans to reevaluate Integrated Studies.
Japanese higher education is also currently going through
significant changes. During the early part of the 21st century, the
Japanese government initiated policies intended to expand
educational opportunities in professions such as business and law.
In 2004 the Japanese government declared the national universities
to be “independent administrative entities,” with the goal of
creating more autonomous universities offering less duplication of
programs while having more financial discretion. It is expected that
some national universities will attain international reputations as
research centers. It is quite likely that the recent reforms will also
result in downsizing of some public universities and expansion of
other public institutions of higher learning. Because of projected
smaller enrollments in a few years due to continuing birth rate
declines, many of Japan’s private universities are potential
“endangered species.”
The way certain Japanese textbooks depict World War II has
twice been the subject of international controversy in the new
century. In 2001 the Ministry of Education approved a new junior
high school textbook, written and edited by a group of nationalist
academics, that omitted topics such as the Japanese army’s
mistreatment of women in battle zones and areas under Japanese
rule and the Nanjing Massacre (Masalski 2001). In Spring 2005 the
Ministry approved a new edition of the same textbook. In both
instances, despite the fact that less than 1% of all Japanese students
use the book in schools, there were widespread Chinese and Korean
protests. In 2005 the situation negatively affected overall ChineseJapanese
relations, as boycotts of Japanese goods occurred and
some Japanese-owned property was destroyed in China.
Significant Comparative Education Topics. Despite the problems
addressed in this Digest, American policymakers and educators will
find Japan's educational system, and in particular its K–12 schools,
worthy of serious study. Scholars of Japanese education are
particularly interested in the following questions: Why are Japanese
elementary teachers so much more successful than their American
counterparts in teaching math? How have Japanese educators
managed to sustain successful peer collaboration for decades? How
is moral education handled in Japan, and can American textbooks
be improved through a closer examination of slimmer and more
focused Japanese texts? In an era of increasing globalization, it is
imperative that American educators study other nations’ schools.
Japan offers rich food for thought for all those who wish to improve
the teaching profession.
REFERENCES
Masalski, Kathleen. (2001). “Examining the Japanese History Textbook
Controversies.” A Japan Digest produced by the National Clearinghouse for U.S.Japan
Studies. Full text at http://www.indiana.edu/~japan/Digests/textbook.html.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Benjamin, Gail. Japanese Lessons: A Year in a Japanese School through the Eyes of
an American Anthropologist and Her Children. New York: New York
University Press, 1998.
DeCoker, Gary, editor. National Standards and School Reform in Japan and the
United States. New York: Teachers College Press, 2002.
Ellington, Lucien. “Beyond the Rhetoric: Essential Questions about Japanese
Education.” Footnotes, December 2003. Foreign Policy Research Institute’s
website: www.fpri.org
Eades, J.S. et al, editors. The ‘Big Bang’ in Japanese Higher Education: The 2004
Reforms and the Dynamics of Change. Melbourne: Trans Pacific Press, 2005.
Fukuzawa, Rebecca Erwin and Gerald K. Letendre. Intense Years: How Japanese
Adolescents Balance School, Family, and Friends. New York: Routledge
Falmer, 2000.
Goodman, Roger and David Phillips, editors. Can the Japanese Change Their
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Guo, Yugui. Asia’s Educational Edge: Current Achievements in Japan, Korea,
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Letendre, Gerald K. Learning to Be Adolescent: Growing Up in U.S. and Japanese
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Wray, Harry. Japanese and American Education: Attitudes and Practices. Westport,
Conn.: Bergin and Garvey, 1999.
Lucien Ellington is UC Foundation Professor of Education at the University of
Tennessee at Chattanooga. Ellington is also Co-director of the UTC Asia Project and
Editor of Education About Asia.
The National Clearinghouse for U.S.-Japan Studies is made possible through the
generous support of the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.