Why Japan’s Education System is So Different

Not that the Japanese education system is bad, but it is very different than education in others countries. A lot of schools have uniforms (like mine) but many of them don’t. In Japan everyone wears the same exact uniform to school. They are so strict about dress code one principal posted outside his office “clean clothes make a clean heart”. Students stay in huge class’s (called Kumis which is like a home room) of up to forty people THE WHOLE YEAR! At the end of the day they clean their room.

Throughout the day they do fun activities like skits to show their teacher what they’ve learned. Clubs that are somewhat like electives are chosen by every student, they are only aloud to chose one to teach them commitment usually a teacher will teach these clubs. Junior high students get a period of their club kind of like a real elective. After school a very high percentage of people go to Juku which is like tutoring after school but even the smartest kids go to it. A thing that most kids don’t like about the Japanese curriculum is that it is 240 days a year! So its year round with a six week day. That leaves six weeks in the whole year for vacation but usually that time is spread out so there are not huge gaps in between school years.

The teachers get the same respect as the principal and are usually bowed to and called sensei. The teachers must travel to each of there students home by the end of the year and give there family a report on the child’s progress. In addition to that the teachers change classrooms so the students never get to get up and walk around the hallways. And a lot of the parents in Japan are very involved in their students education. In fact some parents go to school for their children if they are sick. (I couldn’t imagine my mom doing that for me… Talk about embarrassing) So although Japans education system is very different many of the worlds greatest minds come from Japan