In addition to a strong school system, three factors play a key role in the education of Japanese children: Juku, parental support and school clubs.
JukuAt the end of the school day, many Japanese children pack up their belongings and head for Juku -- cramming schools.
Juku are private, for-profit educational institutions that supplement children's education. It's a big business in Japan -- about $5 billion annually and growing.\ According to a U.S. Department of Education report, in 1985 the average family with one elementary child attending a juku paid about 2 percent of its income in juku fees.
Between regular school and juku, "schooling fully and deeply occupies childhood and adolesence," said researcher Shogo Ichikawa.
There are three types of juku: non-academic, academic and those that prepare students for entrance exams.
Children may attend juku not only after school but also on weekends. In 1985, 70.7 percent of elementary children and 27.4 percent of junior high-level students attended non-academic juku after school, according to researcher Ishizaka Kazuo. There they study such subjects as calligraphy, art, music, abacus, sports, etc.
That same year, 16.5 percent of elementary children and 44.5 percent of junior high-level students attended academic juku, where top study subjects are mathematics, Japanese language, science, English and social studies. Academic juku also provides remedial help for students unable to keep up in regular school.
School clubs
In middle school, all students are required to participate in school clubs during special activity hours. Most students also belong to clubs that meet after school in the school building, usually from 3 p.m. to 5 or 6 p.m.
Some clubs also meet on Saturdays at the school.
Clubs are organized around all sorts of activities -- sports, hobbies, art, music, etc. They are organized and run by students.
Clubs provide Japanese students with recreational and social opportunities. But they also keep children occupied after school and out of mischief.
There is an implicit message in the school-based slubs: the school setting is a place to build social relationships and have fun, as well as gain an education.
Parental support
The primary focus of many Japanese parents is their children's education. School meetings routinely generate 100 percent parental attendance. Parents sacrifice financially to provide juku lessons and tutors for their children. Parents support directives given by teachers and principals.
Many Japanese mothers are sarcastically referred to as kyoiku manas -- education-oriented mothers -- because of their almost total devotion to procuring a good education for their children.
In fact, in Japan the responsibility for children's education rests heavily with mothers. Fathers' lives center around work; many get home long after children are in bed.
Mothers oversee homework, getting children to school and to juku.
A mother's sense of personal accomplishment is closely tied to the educational achievements of her children, according to "Japanese Education Today," a U.S. Department of Education report.
"The community's perception of a woman's success as a mother depends in large part on how well her children do in school," the report says.
"Is it right to ctiricize such mothers (kyoiku mamas) in this one-sided way?" Seiji Katanuma asked in a letter to the Deseret News. Katanuma taught at Brigham Young University as a visiting professor in 1988-89 and now lives in Sapporo, Japan.
"The mothers want to let their kids go out and play when they come home, but as their friends are attending privately run cramming schools they have to go as well," Katanuma said. "This is because the mothers do not want to see their kids left behind in their school work and then, as a result, left behind in society."
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Educational Systems Comparison
Average class size:
JAPAN UNITED STATES UTAH
40 17.6 24.7
Average yearly
per-pupil expenditure
$4,320 $4,243 $2,454
(not including
lunches & books)
Percent completing
upper secondary education
or training
97% 71.1% 80.6%
Average teacher's salary
(with Bachelor's degree)
Nearly impossible to
calculate because numerous
allowances are given to
teachers for housing, high
cost of living, dependents,
commuting expenses, etc.*
$28,008 $22,572
Minimum beginning teacher's
salary (with Bachelor's
Degree)
$12,508
(not incl. allowances) $19,400 $15,315
Average principal's salary
$38,561
(not incl. allowances) $41,536 $39,137
(Elementary schools)
Suicide rate by age
(1984)
10-14
10-14 10-14
1 in 142,857 1 in 76,923 1 in 526,316
15-19
1 in 18,182 1 in 11,111 1 in 7,657
20-24
1 in 6,452 1 in 6,410 1 in 5,000
* Allowances amount to a minimum of $5,000
Figures are for 1987 unless indicated