japan education?

Deangelo Marchak: well i know that one factor is that the students know if they do not have a higher education, therefore compete for good grades, that they will not have a chance in the "race" for good jobs.as where in the us. kids know they need good grades to go to better colleges and have higher chances of excellent jobs, but sometimes there isnt that motivational push that gets students to do so....Show more

Tyrone Disanti: As to why the education system differs, that's simply because education everywhere differs. Every country and society has it's own traditional educational backgrounds to start from, different ideals, and different goals. If you want to know how the education system differs...well, this has been my experience. The education system here has specific core classes like most schools in America do. For instance, every student must take Japanese, math, science, English (junior high and up), etc. Many elective classes that are offered in Americ! an schools, such as music, art, orchestra, theatre, etc. are not very common in Japan. Typically, students instead join school clubs which meet after (and sometimes before) school and on the weekends. Clubs differ at every school, so what might be available at one school might not be at others. Discipline is handled VERY differently in Japan. On many levels, it seems that discipline is simply pretty lacking all around. There is no detention, very little suspension, etc. Students (at my school, at least) are not punished for things like tardiness the way they are in most American schools, and students sleeping in class is fairly common, something that seems pretty rare in America. Most of the time discipline comes down to a student receiving a verbal reprimand or having to apologize for wrongdoing.Another main difference is testing to get into school. Junior high school students must pass exams to get into highschool, and then highschool students must pass exams to ! get into college. These exams are difficult, and schools are ! typically arranged according to academic level or field. For instance, you have some schools that aim to send students to college, others that teach students agriculture, and others that focus on business. Highschool education is not mandatory in Japan, so if you fail the entrance exams or simply don't want to go, you can choose to quit and work instead.As for students being high achievers, this is more of a stereotype than anything else. It all depends on the school you're at. Very high level schools have highly motivated students who work hard and study constantly. Those students are high achievers because they're intelligent, work hard, and set goals. They probably have families who place high importance on education. On the other hand, other schools have students who are lower level or not as motivated. Even in those schools you'll have some highly motivated, high achieving students, but for the most part they don't seem that different from American students. ! Having said that, it does seem, however, that even the lower students have a higher understanding of math than typical American students. My guess is that it comes from encouragement and stress on importance of the subject from a younger age. I think many foreign countries seem to push students harder and expect more from them than American schools. That's just my two cents. Hope this helps. :)...Show more