The Japanese education system is ostensibly based on that of America. Children begin school at age 6 (a year later than the UK) although many have attended kindergarten. The school year begins in April. Children attend junior high school from the age of 11 or 12 to 15 or 16. At 15 or 16, they apply to the senior high school of their choice. This will affect the rest of their life.
Although some students at agricultural or commercial high schools have managed to be accepted for universities, generally this is not the case. If a student wants to go to a university, he or she must get into an academic high school. Japan is alarmingly rigid in that students have ONE chance, generally, to attend a public university. The situation for private universities may be different.
Before I arrived in Japan, along with many of the other participants on the programme, I had the idea that students at schools in Japan were well-behaved, studious, polite, and generally little darlings. The reality was rather different.
Junior high schools in Japan are notorious for their violence and bullying. Every year in each district of Japan at least one child commits suicide because of bullying. Amongst my friends on the JET programme, I heard numerous cases of pupils attacking teachers physically. There was one particularly sickening case of a teacher being beaten black and blue by a group of junior high school students the day before her wedding. Amongst the 10 high schools in my district that I visited, four had charming, well-behaved students who genuinely wanted to learn. In the remainder, the following behaviour was far from uncommon.
The Japanese government frequently laments the fact that Japanese children are not creative. The way that the school is arranged is not exactly conducive to creativity. Schools across the country are uniformly drab and lacking in displays and colour - this is particularly the case at senior high schools. At present, Japanese students also attend school on Saturday mornings, although this will be phased out in about 2002. At the moment, there are ten minute breaks between each lesson. In a day, there are 6 50 minute periods. Teachers generally teach 3 or 4 periods. As in the UK, teachers also have many extra-curricular pastoral duties which add to what is acknowledged to be a difficult and stressful job (albeit respected by the general public). Teaching is one of the few professions that offers relatively good prospects for women.