What's an English class of jr. high schools in Japan like?

       ~Observations as an English Teacher in Japan

<Oct. 24, 2003>

I came to Japan from America this August to work as an assistant English teacher via the JET (Japan Exchange & Teaching) Program.

I was placed in Shobu, a town in Saitama, to teach junior high school students.

Working in a Japanese school has allowed me to observe some interesting differences between Japanese and American schools.

For instance, in Japanese schools, students clean the school every day together, eat the same meal together in their classrooms, and wear school uniforms.

In American schools, students do not do such school cleaning, eat in a cafeteria where they may have choices of meals, and rarely wear uniforms except in private schools.

Perhaps what surprised me most was that students at my Japanese school are required to join a club and participate in after-school club activities,

and many students attend an after-school "cram school" (juku) even as young as elementary age.

In America after-school clubs are not quite as common and are generally voluntary, and cram schools are rare.

The Japanese and American educational systems are different in some ways, but each has its good points and weaknesses.

It is sometimes said that the American system emphasizes critical thinking and creativity more while the Japanese system emphasizes learning facts and memorization more.

Thus, American students may be more skilled at developing their opinions and creatively using the information they are given

but know fewer basic and specific facts by heart, while Japanese students may know more facts by heart and have better-developed memorization skills and a sense of discipline necessary for memorizing large quantities of information but may have less experience in using that information imaginatively and forming their own opinions about it.

I feel the role of the school in a student's life is another difference that has an important impact on students.

Compared to Japan, school in America seems to be less important to the student's social life and perhaps life in general.

In America, school, like the workplace, is more separated from one's private life than it is in Japan.

When I was a young student, the activities I enjoyed in my free time were rarely connected to school, many of the friends I played with were not classmates but children who lived in my neighborhood,

and even when I played with classmate friends we rarely did activities related to school.

Because American students do not need to do club activities or attend cram school, they have more free time for themselves, their friends, and their families.

They also seem to have more freedom and are allowed more individuality at school, from the clothes they wear to the choices they can make.

However, it also seems to me that at least partly because school seems to play a less-central role in the life of the student,

American students feel less of a loyalty to their school and their fellow students, feel less of a community spirit, and have less-close relationships with their teachers,

and perhaps because of this there seem to be more fights among students and more discipline problems than in Japanese schools.

Perhaps because school seems to play a more important and central role in the life of a Japanese student, Japanese students seem to have better and closer relations with their teacher

and perhaps their fellow students and seem to feel more loyalty to each other and share more of a community spirit.

However, Japanese students also seem to have fewer opportunities to express their individuality and to make their own decisions and choices, and with pressure to attend club activities (often even on weekends) and cram school, less free time to play, to explore life, and to just be kids.

I think both our countries can learn a lot from each other, and can share a lot with each other,

and that's what makes cultural exchange programs like the JET program so important.

A first step toward understanding and learning from each other's cultures is communication.

As English is being spoken by more and more people all over the world, and thus becoming a truly international means of communication, I am thrilled that Japanese students are starting to study English at a younger age.