Over the past years, Japan’s education system has moulded youth into better individuals. As per studies, it has been observed that Japanese students spend more time at their school. The country’s education system plays a pivotal role in determining the society’s fabric. The high school experience illuminates the function of the education system here in Japan.
Here are five things I learned about high school in Japan.
- Ways to reach a school in Japan.
Japanese high school learners walk or ride their bicycles to get to their schools if they live nearby. However, if the schools are too far, they take public trains or buses but mostly refrain from using their cars. Students spend at least a couple of hours daily on public transportation. Each student has to take a standardised entrance examination to get admission into a high school. The examination scores determine the students’ high school admission. Some students go a great distance to attend high school. High schools in Japan start at 8:30 am, so students must leave their homes early. Each school in the country has a unique uniform that helps the public identify the school students.
- Routines at a School in Japan
Once students enter the school, they keep their shoes in lockers and switch to wearing their school slippers. All boys have blue slippers, and the girls have pink ones. Many Japanese schools have a school-wide meeting every week. All students will then gather in their classrooms for the day’s learning. Each day in Japanese schools begins with classroom management chores involving making announcements and taking attendance. Students themselves will carry out these activities on a rotation basis. Each classroom will usually contain 40 to 45 students and have a lot of activities during the lunch hour.
- High schools’ extracurricular activities
Japanese high school fees are more than Indian school fees but are worth every penny. It is because all schools provide many extracurricular activities to students and personal attention. Every day, various club activities take place after school hours. Teachers are part of these activities, and students can also determine the daily activities. Each student can be a member of only one club and cannot change clubs annually. These clubs are divided into sports and culture clubs.
- Japanese high school entrance tests
An entrance examination is mandatory to gain admission into Japanese schools and colleges. Here students will be dealing with the Japanese language, mathematics, social studies, science, and English. Private high schools conduct entrance tests on their own. Public schools standardise their entrance examinations within each area. Admission to schools and colleges purely counts on the marks scored on the entrance tests.
- Japanese high schools’ free time
Japanese high school students dedicate about two hours weekly to homework and three hours on Sundays. They spend approximately two hours watching television, one hour on casual reading, and half an hour listening to the radio per day. Students can spend 30 minutes on social relations with their classmates outside of school.