13.1.2: Education in the Most Industrialized Nations:

 13.1.2: Education in the Most Industrialized Nations: 

Japan Japanese students outscore U.S. students. Why? One reason is that hardly any nation takes education as seriously as Japan does. One of five grade school students and two of three ninth graders in Japan attend a cram school (juku) (Kim and Jung 2019). These schools operate after the regular school day. 420 Another unique aspect of Japanese education is that during the regular school day, all grade school children study the same page from the same textbook (“Less Rote …” 2000). This vast uniformity is accompanied by a personal touch: Teachers are required to visit each student’s home once a year (Yamamoto and Brinton 2010).

These high school students in Fukuoka, Japan, who are completing their cram school courses, are raising their fists in enthusiastic hope of success in their coming university entrance exams. Credit: The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images A central sociological principle of education is that a nation’s education reflects its culture. Studying the same materials at the same time reflects the core Japanese value of solidarity with the group. In the workforce, people who are hired together are not expected to compete with one another for promotions. Instead, they are promoted as a group (Inatsugu 2011). Japanese education reflects this group-centered approach to life. In a fascinating cultural contradiction, admission to the best high schools and colleges is highly competitive, and this is where the cram schools come in. All ninth-grade students take national tests and then attend high schools that match their test results (Matsuoka 2019). The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), taken by college-bound high school students in the United States, is voluntary, but Japanese seniors who want to attend college must take a national test. U.S. students who perform poorly on their tests can usually find some college to attend—as long as their parents can pay the tuition. Until recently, in Japan, only the top scorers—rich and poor alike—were admitted to college. Because Japan’s birth rate has dropped, more space is available, and it is now easier for students to get into college. Competition for entrance to the best colleges, however, remains intense, and the juku have adjusted by reducing the size of their classes (Entrich 2018). As in the United States, children from Japan’s richer families score higher on college admission tests and are more likely to attend the nation’s elite colleges (Matsuoka 2019). In both countries, children born in richer families inherit privileges that give them advantages over others. Among these privileges, which sociologists call cultural capital, are having more highly educated parents, encouragement and pressure to bring home top grades, and cultural experiences that translate into higher test scores. A major change is occurring in Japan’s colleges and universities, one that mirrors the community college debate we discussed earlier. For its lower-tier schools, government officials have decided to de-emphasize arts, literature, history, and the social sciences and stress preparation for jobs (Obe 2015). For the upper-level universities, they are increasing funding for research, with the goal of increasing from two to ten the number of Japan’s universities that are in the world’s top one hundred.