What are some differences between the Japanese school system and the American school system?

Question

What are some differences between the Japanese school system and the American school system?

Answer 1

There are a few differences.  It's split up into parts similar to our own system, but slightly different.

Elementary school pupil (6 years) = shoogakusei

Junior high school student (3 years) = chuugakusei

Senior high school student (3 years) = kookoosei

University student = daigausei

Graduate student = daigakuinsei

Also, they spend a LOT more years actually learning how to read and write than we do, because of the number of kanji characters they have to memorize.

There are plenty more differences.  This is simply all I can come up with regarding the Japanese school system at the moment.

Answer 2

US schools- gun shooting

Japanese school- no gun shooting

Answer 3

lingual difference dude...........

Answer 4

US Schools wouldnt require...

1. very short skirts and knee high socks for the girl's uniform?

2. anime looking and very colorful hairstyle.

3. tired, bored, very dirty looking formal attire for the boys' uniform

4. uniformed leather bag that costs 1000USD

But honestly...Japanese schools use Japanese language for their curriculum and American schools use English

Answer 5

Teachers get paid alot and they are highly respected.

Answer 6

Pick Chikaomi; I think his is the best answer because I figure you know how the american one is set up.

Now, here is my own answer;

The Japanese school system actually does its job, the teachers are more impartial, professional and distant, and you don't get into college from the admissions people playing favorites on the basis of demographics or your folk's educational attainment.

In Japan, there have been Lawyer's and Doctor's kids who have failed the entrance exams of places like Tokyo University.  You fail their exams, they don't give a c**p what your parents do for a living or how much they earn, you don't get in.

I have a lot of respect for that.

If I had to name one thing, it would have to be the fact that it is considerably less corrupt, and the academic race isn't rigged either.  Also the country does not use standardized testing; regarding university admissions they are still very 19th century in that you have to pass entrance exams which are MURDEROUSLY hard.

Had a friend who attended Tokyo U once; he transfered to Washington State University because he said the curriculum was slowly murdering him.  Apparently it was so difficult, he prefered to study in English, than in his native Japanese at Tokyo U.  I have never been to the place (Tokyo U) so don't ask for personal experience but that sounds like a total nightmare.

The American school system, uses human graded standardized testing to keep minorities and low income whites out of college, and to further these efforts, very few funds are given to higher education so that the prohibitive cost will keep even more poor people and minorities out of a University education.  Also, grading in the United States is based not so much on your own effort or brain power, so much as your parent's income, ethnicity, and educational attainment.  Indeed how many geeks and nerds with freakishly high I.Q.'s do you see in the valedictorian position?  The smartest person in the school doesn't always have the highest grades, and then you discover that mom only made it as far as High School, and dad holds an AA degree.

Another major difference is that there is little emphasis on the humanities; school in Japan is all about preparation for the working world, so once the advanced maths are finished, usually by their equivalent of 10th grade whatever it is, emphasis then switches to business math.  Because of the emphasis on education which opens doors to any kind of job, many Japanese often start work, real, full time work, right out of high school.

I mean, work that pays a full salary, as much as 30k U.S. dollars per year.  Indeed, the great majority of Japanese students who come to study here often pay their own way because of a non-age and experience discriminating job market.  That is, Japan allows its youth to work right out of high school at a serious occupation, and the government has not screwed over an entire generation.

Also, ask a Japanese person, 2 years out of high school to do Calculus without any refreshers, and they can do it.

Ask the same of an American, well, good luck with it (unless they study it or do it for a living....).

The main problem with the Japanese educational system though, would have to be the fact that the whole notion of "critical thinking" is almost nonexistent even at the university level.  Its part of the reason that even though Tokyo U's curriculum is actually far tougher than any of the Ivies, it does not rank as highly because, not playing on a stereotype here, the places produces little original research and it only rides trends rather than sets them.

It is ranked the way it is ranked, because of its murderous toughness, and almost ridiculously low graduation rates which no one in the school worries about because for every person that drops out or fails to graduate, there are 10 wanting in.  The Ivies generally outrank Toky U because of their graduate level research facilities and funding, as a University is ultimately ranked by the research of its academic staff, not the undergrads that study there.

Ultimately though, very little academic research is of any use to the human race, and most of the research done at the Ivies is the subject for dinner conversation at snob parties than the actual advancement of human knowledge.

Answer 7

Japanese schools do not have a janitor, that's what the students are for. There are no cafeterias but there are school lunches. The kids are divided into groups and each week or month or so your group has a certain duty. It may be bringing the food from the kitchen to the classroom (it's part of your fees) and next time it's scrubbing toilets. The boys are laid back and the girls do all the work. You wear slippers indoors, even in class. You tend to stay in your homeroom and rarely switch classes except for special ones like science where you need a lab setup. They teach more things, like how to sew or cook, this is not some home ec class option but something everyone in the class does at one point or another. Mandatory learning of English. If you want to learn something else, do it on your own time or college. Not required to go to college to get a good job. College in Japan is a joke, only a few actually make you work. Instead you slave over K-12 education and college is the time to relax. Physical discipline is illegal but still done sometimes (I got smacked once but this was like 20 years ago). Mandatory uniforms and strict codes of personal appearance, except for elementary school. You have to join a club. This meets after school. There used to be school on Saturday mornings too. The time of the year for when it starts/ends is April/March whereas in America it depends on your school, could be September/June or August/May. Everyone graduates at age 18, that's how they hold people back when they start, to make sure everyone is 18 when they finish. Whereas in America, again it depends on the school, cutoff point could be if you are born in November or December. Others have asked for the differences and I wrote a lot before but I'm sure there's other info online if you search.

Answer 8

Japan is strick , on the other hand US is free .

They seem totally opposite , but  both are superpower country in the world .

Answer 9

Location :)

Answer 10

In Japan,

At first,  2 year: kindergarten.

            6 years: elementally.

            3 years: junior high.

            3 years: high school.

            4years :university.

If you want to be a medical doctor added 2  more years.

Answer 11

they dont have a summer break, or spring, or winter ... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH