I wanna preface this by saying I’m not even a parent yet and I also don’t think I’m super up to date with things like this, so if I’m saying things that are outright wrong or off feel free to correct me lol. ALSO, I have nothing against people who want their kid to get an advanced level of education for their future. I’m just talking about how I feel meh about this trend of parents kind of overdoing it, imo.
Recently I noticed something around me, both in real life and what’s being talked about on television. What seems to be this growing trend of making elementary school aged children spending literally all their time studying and going to cram schools.. to get into a good middle school. And then from there, good high schools, prestigious universities, etc. At least that’s what I imagine those parents’ intentions to be.
Some opinions I hear are that if they don’t get things down around the 5th grade, 6th grade mark or at least by junior high, it’ll get harder and harder to get into a decent school. Ok, but don’t companies or employers not even really care about what uni you’re from anymore? At least not as much as they used to? So is it really worth it? And why spend all that money on extra education when your kids don’t even realize why they should study so much when you could use that to maybe study abroad in the future or give them opportunities for more unique experiences?
Kids’ physical abilities and time to socialize with other kids are already declining because they don’t go outside anymore. If it’s not their interest in indoor activities like video games, I feel like it’s because their parents make them go to juku everyday or make them go to their 5 different after school classes for things they don’t even enjoy.
I guess this is also happening in other countries, actually I know it does, but it’s been coming to my attention this is a big thing especially in Japan.
I don’t know, I just saw this interview of this kid saying he goes to bed at like 12am and all he does on a normal day is study and talking about how hes excited actually play and get decent sleep on spring break.. at age 10.. and the whole studio and announcers were so proud of him and praising it and shit. It kind of just upset me and wondered if I was the only one who was kind of concerned about this. They’re not my kid and to each their own, I guess, but come on, really? Is this what childhood is supposed to be about? And I feel like if a certain group of people start doing this, most other families will start to feel pressured to do this for their kid too.
41 comments
Welcome to Japan Co. Inc.
*Pssssst* … the TV/media companies are in on it.
Taro-kun studies hard, gets into a *good* school, gets *good* grades, gets into a *good* university, gets into a *good* company, pledges his life for the *good* company, does what he’s told and marries himself to his job, meets a *good* girl becomes wife, produces 2 kids (future tax payers), pays his taxes like a *good* boy, goes to the work nomikais to work his way up… you can see what the goal is.
It’s not a conspiracy theory.
They want peeple to “get on the treadmill” early like good citizens.
They don’t want to advertise learning coding/programming, learning English to get a job overseas, making your own company/business etc, critical thinking etc.
As George Carlin would say – “It’s A BIG Club & You Ain’t In It!”.
Just another cog in the machine.
The funny thing is whenever I asked kids at my school which they preferred, regular school or juku, they always said juku. I don’t have any kids so I don’t know why that’s the reason, is it fun and school is not or what?
I do agree that young kids need more playtime in Japan, but when I asked my Japanese husband, he said that he went to abacus classes and a juku as a child. He didn’t really like either, but he’s happy now (as a 47 year old man) with the skills he learned from his outside school classes. He also got into Kyoto Dai law school so he needed juku to teach him what was on the entrance exam.
My nephew was in grade 3 when he started going to juku. It was because he needed more support in math and he wasn’t getting it in a regular school setting. He hated it but he’s still going. I think some of it has to do with his parents both work into the night (7pm) and that’s what time his juku ends, so two birds one stone.
I did not go to any sort of cram school back in my home country- go to school at 8am, go home at 2pm, then spend the rest of my day doing other things that is not studying. Fast forward, here I am in Japan doing just fine. For me it is pretty bonkers and just highlights that their “base education” (e.g. what is taught in school) is lacking and not enough.
There are some major exaggerations going on in your post. Kids don’t spend a whole lot of time at cram school, and cram schools also somewhat play a social role in children’s lives. A lot of kids like going to cram school because they can make more friends there or because the style of teaching is more intimate due to the smaller group size which allows them to get the academic help that they need. A lot of kids even specifically request to go to cram school because their friends go.
For lower elementary students, most who attend cram school are going for English classes (Starting at 48.8% of cram school students in the first year of elementary school) while only a small number go for supplementary education. As they age, those two figures change; towards the end of elementary school a much larger number of students are going for supplementary education (28% of cram school students in the final year of elementary school. English classes still make up 27.9% of attendees at that age as well. 67.4% of cram school students attend for supplementary education in the final year of junior high school, and then it drops to 48.7% in the first year of high school, but then sees it’s peak at the final year of high school which is 71.7% of attendees receiving supplemental education). The number of elementary students who attend cram school also peaks in the third grade of junior school at, and then has a sharp drop the following year.
As for how many kids actually enroll, according to surveys by Benesse (the figures mentioned above come from the same 2017 source), around 27% of kids are enrolled in the first grade, and that number has a slight drop in second grade, and then it steadily increases (it doesn’t reach 40% until the fourth grade) and then it peaks at 58% in the third year of junior high school, and then it has a sharp drop down to 26% in the first year of high school, and then finishes at 30% in the final year of high school. So the reality here is that around half of kids are attending cram schools during junior high school, and a smaller number of kids attend for a couple of years in prep for junior high school, but it is far and away from the situation that you (and others) paint.
Cram schools exist to make up for the shortcomings of the public education system. If you think they’re bad, maybe you should compare test scores between students from your country and Japan. Japanese males have the highest test scores in the world for [math](https://data.oecd.org/pisa/mathematics-performance-pisa.htm) and [science](https://data.oecd.org/pisa/science-performance-pisa.htm) (PISA). How are the scores for students in your country? I grew up in America and you should see how laughably bad the scores are there; there’s a reason so many stem workers come from other countries. Japanese value education, so of course some number of them will utilize cram schools.
>I just saw this interview of this kid saying he goes to bed at like 12am and all he does on a normal day is study and talking about how hes excited actually play and get decent sleep on spring break.. at age 10.. and the whole studio and announcers were so proud of him and praising it and shit.
Just because someone says something on TV doesn’t mean it’s true, and it especially don’t mean that it’s normal. The fact alone that it was on TV should be enough to tell you that it’s an extreme case.
>It kind of just upset me and wondered if I was the only one who was kind of concerned about this.
Considering that around half of students do not attend cram schools even during peak enrollment – No, you’re not the only one who thinks it’s not necessary. And personally speaking, I’m not sending my kid until junior high school unless they’re bad at math because I grew up in America so I can’t help them with math.
What I fail to understand about this whole system the most is if they’re constantly studying their asses off, why does the level at university tend to be so ridiculously low? I can only speak for the one I went to, which was supposed to be one of the better ones, but the classes for full-time students that I selected for my program were basically on par with junior high school back home. And that’s including the language barrier since all of the classes were obviously in Japanese.
For some reason, someone from my university and myself ended up TA’ing in a shared 2nd and 3rd year economics class (despite us being 文系), and these kids were struggling with basic concepts that we’d both studied in our very basic 2-hour a week economics class in high school.
I know it’s common knowledge here that university is supposed to be last play time they get before slaving their lives away, but that still doesn’t explain to me how ridiculously stupid some (well, all) of these classes were.
well my son ain’t gonna do it, he’s ahead of the game, bilingual parents and 3 passports, both uni graduates and it means bloody nothing when you get here, I’ve noticed, coming from New Zealand that the kids here just don’t have the same athletic ability as the kids back home or in Australia, but on the flip side, back home they don’t have the stability in anything whatsoever like regular meals and proper guidance. but seem quite bright in both aspects. studying all night seems like a punishment for a system made for wage slaves. I want my son who is Half Maori and Half japanese to be strong physically and mentally, he will do martial arts at night and he will study as much as I believe he needs to. his mother is Japanese and feels that same. but at any time that he chooses to do the “Juken” style. we will let him, but I guarantee it will come down to social status at school. so either way, I don’t want him being a wage slave or doomed to work a job he doesn’t want to do either. I wish the best for everyone’s little ones out there. Oss 🙂
Blame the system, they measure solely your test scores on 5 subjects. Math, Science, English, Japanese, and Social studies.
I just got back from my middle school kid’s meeting about “higher education” options. To enter top public high schools, they literally only see your test scores, every year the formula changed, this year, the weights come down to
* 0.1 of your scores in first grade,
* 0.1 in second grade,
* 0.3 of your scores in third grade,
* 0.5 of your test score during the high-school entrance test.
They total 900 points, battle royale from there, whoever get highest scores get into one of those “elite” highschools. I don’t know about university, but I bet it’s the same. Literally nothing in art, whether it’s drawing or music.
What’s a parent to do to ensure your kids get a chance for a decent life in the future ? Send them to Juku, which seem to be the only industry that offer “a solution”.
I once talked with a weird old Japanese guy. He said that Juku is government scandal to increase GDP, make sure Japanese parents don’t and/or can’t save money.
Just like opajamashimasuuu said, it’s about creating a cog that will continue to run the system.
TL:DR I have thoughts, am torn, but come down on the idea that it is overall negative for society, but can be positive on an individual level.
As somebody from Canada who can remember the first time they actually studied- for a history test in Grade 7 – and never really worked hard at school except for pulling all nighters to finish essays in university that I had procrastinated on, I am slightly torn. On the one hand, I am very happy that I never had to do anything like that, didn’t even have anything like the SATs needed to go to university, and had a pretty happy and free childhood. On the other hand, I got kind of lucky to have the job and life I have now, and I could easily have gotten stuck in the part-time carousel that a lot of friends have. My one big weakness is procrastination and laziness when it comes to work, and I think that is one thing that the Japanese system helps with.
My oldest son is just finishing second year of junior high now. He was very bright from when he was little- reading English better than kids older than him when we went back to visit, understanding multiplication and division at a very young age, etc, but similar to me he is lazy and never strived to be the best at school or anything else, just better than average. We avoided putting him in juku because of the cost and the impact on his free time, but for the last year and a bit he has said that he wanted to go, and so he started to (part way through 1st year of junior high). Because they clearly teach what will be on the tests, he destroyed some recent standardized tests (100% on multiple subjects where the average was 50-60s, etc), and he is motivated to study. He has a high school that he’s trying to get in to, and the competition to do is pretty fierce, and pretty much impossible to get in to without this level of effort. He studies until about 10 every night, then plays video games for an hour or so before going to sleep. On the one hand it seems like a waste of youth, but it’s specifically what he wants to do, and it will no doubt help with his education down the line, so I’m supportive of it for now. If he loses motivation and doesn’t get in to his target school, I plan to get him to go to high school overseas somewhere to see the world a bit. This would have been my first choice for his education, but I respect his wishes, and an important point that my wife often stresses is that sort of thing can be done later, but it is much easier to do those things while you have a “base” education. Like if you are in a good uni, it’s more likely they have an exchange program, if you have a degree from a good uni, it will be easier to take a gap year or take work at an NPO or something and then come back and work in a more traditional role if you want, or you can decide to be a stoner hippie. Whereas if you mess around traveling now, you might end up a really well-rounded adult with lots of cool experiences, but you also might end up a stoner hippie, and then at that point it would be very difficult to work backwards and get in to a good uni and traditional company.
My youngest son, finishing second year of elementary, is quite different. He is just clearly not as naturally “smart”, and struggles to understand things at school as well some basic math stuff. On the other hand he is a better athlete, and he has a more sensitive personality. He currently plays soccer a lot, and also does swimming, dancing, piano, and drills from a juku type place that sends workbooks every month for him to do. He is very busy, but he likes doing all of the activities, and says there aren’t any that he doesn’t want to do. Without the workbooks he would be falling behind at school, so I think it’s a necessary evil, and he quite enjoys them except for when the day’s work is a topic that he just completely can’t wrap his head around. We’ll have to see how things shape out over the next few years, but I highly doubt he will study as much as his older brother, and will more likely focus on sports, or perhaps look to do some type of physical or licensed work like electrician or something.
There is a young girl (7) in my neighbourhood who studies all the time. She goes to a Christian international school, takes lessons in English, Math, swimming, piano at least, and a lot of her “play time” is spent studying or doing learning stuff on an ipad. It seems like overkill to me, but she seems perfectly happy. Like, if she has free time she is likely to do some math drills or programming tasks on the ipad. And she does play outside with friends as well. Her time is certainly more structured than mine was at that age, but it’s tough to say that she’s worse off for doing that kind of stuff than the amount of time I spent playing nintendo and watching after school TV.
With regards to the “not caring what school you went to” thing, there is some truth to it, but it’s still very much a thing. I think for the most part it’s just that it’s not officially a part of a lot of companies’ hiring standards now, but it’s still very meaningful. If you can show that you went to Tokyo University or whatever, you’ve obviously proved yourself to be a certain level of smart, and have a certain level of perserverance to be able to make it through the juken process. So it’s not specifically about what you learn at a specific school, but about whether you have what it takes to get in to that school. And while it kind of sucks and seems unfair maybe, it’s not like it’s specifically a Japanese thing. Look at the founders or CEOs of big companies in the US. Some come from middle class families and middling schools where they learned real-life lessons and applied them to business, sure, but a lot of them are from the Ivy League. I highly doubt that the content of courses varies that much between Harvard and whatever other school, but the fact that you made it through the vetting process and in to Harvard tells people something about you. And you also have the human network that comes with going to a school like that – it’s better to have a group of friends who all went to Harvard or Tokyo University, than some local school.
So, I think it depends on the individual kid. Some will benefit from studying hard from a young age, while others need more free time, and are probably not going to a top-level school no matter what they do. My biggest concern with the system is that there’s a sort of accomplishment inflation thing going on, and the costs involved mean that there will be multi-generational effects that lead to further stratification of society. If getting in to good schools is possible only by paying for expensive juku, there will be many families that can’t afford to do that for their kids, and they are likely the ones living in areas with the worst public schools. So in my upper middle class suburban neighbourhood, like 2/3s of my son’s junior high class goes to juku, whereas for my in-laws in the inaka, it’s only like 10%- the really smart kids, or the kids who need remedial help just to understand the content. It would obviously be a much better system if the government (or a public/private system similar to healthcare) ran the education system (juku included), and spread out resources so that all kids got what they needed regardless of family wealth. It would be better for the poorer kids, and it would be better for the country as a whole. But it would be a massive restructuring, and with the government already not having funds and teachers being overworked, I don’t see it happening any time soon.
>Ok, but don’t companies or employers not even really care about what uni you’re from anymore?
Only if the uni is above a certain level. For example, many companies no longer prefer Waseda over Sophia and vice versa, and don’t give Keio preferential treatment over the other two or take Todai or Kyodai graduates over Waseda, Sophia and Keio when possible.
Kids with bad grades don’t play outside either with all the games and media they have access to. This was already an issue 30 years ago with many types of videogames and comics. On the other hand families with means tend to encourage their children to play outside by taking them to athletic parks etc, making the gap of physical abilities wider. Children who suffered from this are already parents now.
Personally, juku was much more fun than school for me and many of my juku friends with all the materials that matched our levels and teachers who were allowed to focus just on teaching to meet us where our then-current understanding was and help us grow and challenge harder tasks. I didn’t mind going to a juku every day really LOL.
I’ve started to think of juken as different from tutoring. Some students go to juku because they’ve fallen behind in a subject and need support. Assuming that the teacher doesn’t completely subvert proper classroom teaching practice (I’m looking at you juku English teachers), it’s fine.
But juku for juken seems to me to be a pretty corrupt system that doesn’t accomplish much at all except for help ensure that arbitrary administrative barriers keep poor people out of prestigious schools.
The whole Japanese education system seems to be built around preventing idle hands from doing the devil’s work. I have to admit to some bias against that just because of my upbringing, but I also think we all could use a little more time to be well-rounded people. Achievement is good, but who are you when you aren’t wearing your school uniform or your company badge? The juken system seems to be designed to deny that any identity outside of those social roles has any value whatsoever.
Keep in mind kids on TV are the most extreme cases and not representatives of average “juken” students who want to go to private/national middle schools.
First, even today vast majority(92%) go to local public schools without any exams, and 8% of kids take “juken” of private/national schools.
Among those 8%, it seems average “juken” 6th grader study around 3 hours including juku, 6th grader generally study 4.5 hours at most at elementary school , so combined the total hours is 7.5 hours(+ maybe 3 hours including commute, break, lunch etc) not as ridiculous number as you might think.
The time and money really worth it or not is subjective,
those local public middle schools will always have various kids including delinquents, and the level of textbooks are pretty low because every student should understand them while students of private middle schools are typically from relatively affluent families and there are few delinquents, teachers can use upper level textbooks etc.
I think it’s low-key appalling. For me, it underlines many issues related to Japanese education, work culture and family life.
If school itself does not provide a good enough education for all children to enter high school or university should they chose to do so, then something needs to change.
If you’re always home late and can’t be there for your kids, in my opinion, shipping them off to school after school isn’t the best solution to solving that problem.
With that said, I have kids in my elementary school who genuinely enjoy it, because they see it more as a club activity than as extra work.
Outside looking in, it’s very bizarre, I dislike how normalized it is and I wish kids could get a bloody break from it all, but it’s just one of those Japanese things.
3rd gen Japanese American living in Japan weighing in.
There’s a deep cultural value placed on self improvement in Japan. If it’s not academic, it could be sports, arts, music, hobbies, etc. at all times there’d be a social aspect. I did a ton of extracurriculars as a kid in the States. Art, Kumon, martial arts, dance, private tutoring, volunteering, community events. A lot of my non-Japanese peers were the same in that upper-middle class area. I studied at my local library with friends when I was in high school.
In Japan, libraries aren’t suitable for studying like they are in the States. The schools close down and kids can’t study there either. Homes are often cramped, and many households in Japan lack internet access (if the school even does use tech in learning). Cram schools can be a poor fit solution to that issue.
The point in that being idle in Japan is seen as a negative. Really the “saving face” part of culture seems to be the most detrimental part. I remember my mom acting like she was raising me quite strictly, when, behind closed doors, she was very aware of my social-emotional needs. Whatever Japanese people present in public is not necessarily an accurate indicator of who they are, which could be a good or bad thing.
I find a lot of the kids I work with who go to cram school have parents who can’t help them with their work, need them to be out of the house while they work, or want their kid to be taught by “the best” according to the parental rumor mill. Otherwise many families (middle and upper income) are doing homework and enrichment activities with their kids.
I’m only worried about middle school for my kids right now. We are fortunate to live in a city center, so the elementary and nursery schools are quite progressive. There are also so many enrichment services available.
I hate that regular school is so inefficient for students who excel that they are forced to go there to be able to learn at their own pace. Public schools here serve the middle of the curve reasonably well but are awful at either end. And while it’s less than ideal for gifted kids it’s absolutely awful for special needs kids
I often hear from parents of older kids that it’s a social thing and they like it better than school because they can hang out with different friends. Obviously these kids have no idea that you can just hang out in somebody’s basement after school, watching movies and smoking weed.
I had the same worries and coincidentally there was a tv program comparing Showa to Reiwa yesterday. It focused more on that juku are more like after school cares for a lot of parents. It used to be salaryman+housewife but now both parents easily work until 7pm. The rest is sales tactic. As a parent in a highly competitive study environment, extra school is just a bonus for your price. Not saying I am in favor of juku. I just wish the public school system would improve its quality.
That said, my Japanese husband liked his juku and said it actually made him interested in some topics. He calls Japanese school “prison”.
Kids would be smarter if parents would spend more time with them, playing, teaching them from the ages of 0-6
It a lot of ways, it’s a two tier system. Posh private schools lead to a “good” job/life. For the average Taro, the only way into the elite class is endless juku because regular school doesn’t teach what you need to get into the “better” junior/high/uni escalators. That’s a lot of pressure for parents. The chances of traditional success by not buying into this system are really low. As foreigners we often have a bit of an advantage ( better English levels, foreign university options etc) that we can leverage for our kids.
I’m mostly dismayed that regular school for kids doesn’t prioritize learning differently. The hours and hours spent on sports day, club or practicing graduation seem wasted to me.
To a certain extent, I think it’s just an industry playing on the anxieties parents naturally have over the future prospects there kids will enjoy. Ours are still young, but I already find myself having to dissuade my SO from boarding panicked trains of thought even now. They’ll face enough pressures without us heaping more on their shoulders.
My two multicultural daughters both came up though Montessori preschool and elementary, then Japanese public school and the full juken experience from junior high and also soroban and ballet, then a well-rated English-centric high school (not an international school). They enjoyed the busy life they had and we never had a bad feeling about any of it. There was not much bullying or negative experiences. If anything, it was all part of socializing them as thoroughly Japanese as well as American. They hold both of those identities strongly. They went on to matriculate and graduate from US university and are now doing graduate work in the US (one a masters the other a PhD) but want to return to Japan. Both are fully bilingual in all areas and the feeling is that they have two native languages.
We felt like the cram school experience had its moment in their lives and we utilized it for what it was worth. I think our saving grace was that we just kept switching it up along the way so that no one experience dominated or got too intense. We feel like juken helped our daughters to learn how to be more academic and soroban gave them a math connection that my wife and I never had.
I should say that my wife and I are both teachers with flexible schedules and our home lives were so educationally-oriented that our daughters probably benefitted as much or more from our time together as their school time. We were always reading or traveling or making things or doing things together.
Just our experience. Other families may have other experiences.
Japan and Korea spend huge amounts of time in school and in cram schools to get top 5 results in student ability…
But Finland instead makes sure students have rest between lessons and spends money on making sure teachers are well educated and are able to do their task. Also top 5.
I know which way I’d choose but maybe I’m biased.
There’s plenty of evidence that in developing kids sufficient rest and sleep is extremely important in their development.
The Japanese system also creates booksmart robots created to pass tests, but that can’t actually think on their feet :/ I say this based on working with graduates from elite Japanese universities and having a Finnish parent(which may be why I’m somewhat biased…) that had a career in teaching at an international school
Just from a perspective from my country as I grew up in the 90s, for most average kids there were no extra classes after school (organized by the school or an outside institution) except in these cases. Case 1 – You were a gifted student or exceptionally good at the subject, there would be extra classes after school. These were in most cases also preparation classes for competitions. (sometimes also forced to go :D, was told by the professor that I have to go to advanced math and math competitions, otherwise she would give me a B at the end). Case 2 – You were bad at a subject, lets say you suck at math. The school would organize after hour classes for those students to catchup on the subject and it was mandatory. Case 3 – Just extra classes, more in depth on a subject, completely optional and sometimes paid if organized by an outside organization within the school or outside the school. For example language classes. So I dont see the japanese system all that different, maybe just more (over)organized, as everything else in Japan.
I just became a parent in the last year, but I find myself wondering how all of this stuff works myself.
According to my wife and a few coworkers, both private and public, are useless if you want to get into university above a certain level. So most people either self study, or pay a cram school to direct their studying at a faster pace/tailored to specific universities.
The underlying cause seems to be that you need to have already completed the entire high school curriculum by X-year of high school before the actual final year of high school in order to actually focus on practicing exams/mastering concepts for X-years to get a sufficient scores on the Kyotsu test and university specific exams.
That all makes sense to a degree, sure it’s super competitive so you might want to get ahead. But then why even go to school? It sounds like school is just review + unnecessary pressure to get naishinten (a mix of GPA and teacher brown nose points) if you’re aiming for public universities (doesn’t matter for private, it seems). If you really want to be efficient about it, you could just go to juku and get the equivalent of a GED and just skip the entire 6-8 hours of presumably useless school time and have time for relaxing/hobbies/other pursuits. Presumably you’d might still want to go to school to make friends, but apparently kids do that at juku too…? What else…physical education maybe?
I’ll probably learn more as I go on, but this is all so confusing. I barely paid attention in my public school, attended a “who-cares” state university, but here I am working along side “elite” university grads who went to Keio/Waseda/Todai, etc…but they don’t seem that…impressive, even to my mediocre self.
I’m probably going to get ‘piled on’ here but, as someone who’s son has just gone through the JHS 受験 I thought that I’d explain why we decided to go down this road.
Firstly, you’re not going to escape if you have kids in Japan – it’s just up to you when you decided to tackle it (kindy/elem/jhs etc.) We decided to go for it during elementary school so that our eldest son could relax and enjoy JHS and high school. He loves sports so this would be a chance to spend his time after school playing basketball rather than going to cram school.
The other reason, whether you like it or not, the university you graduate from will decide which doors are open to you when you graduate university. Some (most?) companies screen applicants based upon their alma maters and other resumes will go in the bin.
As for the experience of 受験 itself, it was tough. Very tough, especially in the final year. More expensive than we thought too as you may find yourself having to switch schools or add on another tutor to work on their weaknesses. But my son is very happy with the school he got into and said that, despite how tough it was at times, he’s glad that he went through it.
As an addendum I’d also add that I meet a lot of foreign guys who have ranted about cram schools and say that their kids will just play outside all the time and be OK but when they’re out of the room, their wives tell me that that’s not going to happen.
I read that as junken and clicked thinking it’d be a weird discussion about Japan’s obsession with rock paper scissors.
The school should do their job to prepare for the next stage. Juku should only exist for slow learners. My two cents.
Recently? I don’t live in Japan, but I’ve seen this for ages on Japanese media
shocking how many people feel knowledgeable enough to comment on this, yet don’t have children, or don’t work in the actual school system in japan.
kumon or eikawa is not juku. juku serves more than one purpose.
elementary school students who study till midnight are not unheard of but not the norm. studio announcers OF COURSE praise him/her. what else would they do? tear them down on national tv?
it’s not that public education is not enough. it’s just that private education is better. yes, kids should get as many experiences as possible, and private school offers that, for a price, as with anything.
it is the trend to go to private junior high. that’s because the economy and future is unstable. parents are trying to give their kids the best life possible in the best way that they know.
i could go on about this for days but you won’t truly know until you are there yourself, making life-altering decisions about your own children or watching your own students suffer from their parents egos.
Our two didn’t go to juku, ever. Both made it into national uni (sciences) and have done fine.
There are a few such families. Like families where all the members are doctors.
After school, some kids go to the park to play, others go to soccer clubs or jyuku. It varies.
In any case, we cannot force children to do something they don’t want to do. Because they have human rights too.
I was a tutor here when I was a college student.
There were kids who went to Jyuku but wanted me to teach them what they were having trouble with.
In any case, none of them felt like they were being forced to do it.
I have never been to jyuku, so I thought they were lucky to have the support of their families.
Additional education is big business in Japan.
Sure, I agree with after school juku for kids if they need extra practice (are falling behind), but I also agree that a lot of it is overdone and wears kids out and robs them of their childhood.
> What seems to be this growing trend
I doubt it’s a growing trend, it’s been the norm for a very long time. Decades.
Some parents really overdo it. We found a great juku for our kids that focused on what the kids needed help with. More science and math focused than anything else. They went 2-3 days per week for a couple of hours at a time. Juku classes were small with a lot of individual attention from the teacher.
It made a big difference in their grades and they enjoyed school more because they knew WTF was going on and weren’t struggling.
I’ve heard of this from a few people – it might depend on the parents, but if kids study to get into a combination junior high/high school that’s associated with a prestigious university (Waseda, whatever), then they don’t have to take anymore entrance exams – they get automatic acceptance to both the high school and university. So, in that case it seems to come from a place of making them study hard in gr 5 and 6 in return for not having to study so hard until they’re done university. I’m not sure whether it’s a good trade off or not, but I can see how some parents might consider that kind or easier somehow. Idk, my friend’s son is in gr 5 and he’s already talking about wanting to go to jhs in the UK or something, which his parents don’t really want him to do, so it’s hard to tell if it’s all just the parent’s choice or if some of the kids want to do that too.
I’ve heard of this from a few people – it might depend on the parents, but if kids study to get into a combination junior high/high school that’s associated with a prestigious university (Waseda, whatever), then they don’t have to take anymore entrance exams – they get automatic acceptance to both the high school and university. So, in that case it seems to come from a place of making them study hard in gr 5 and 6 in return for not having to study so hard until they’re done university. I’m not sure whether it’s a good trade off or not, but I can see how some parents might consider that kind or easier somehow. Idk, my friend’s son is in gr 5 and he’s already talking about wanting to go to jhs in the UK or something, which his parents don’t really want him to do, so it’s hard to tell if it’s all just the parent’s choice or if some of the kids want to do that too.
I’ve heard of this from a few people – it might depend on the parents, but if kids study to get into a combination junior high/high school that’s associated with a prestigious university (Waseda, whatever), then they don’t have to take anymore entrance exams – they get automatic acceptance to both the high school and university. So, in that case it seems to come from a place of making them study hard in gr 5 and 6 in return for not having to study so hard until they’re done university. I’m not sure whether it’s a good trade off or not, but I can see how some parents might consider that kind or easier somehow. Idk, my friend’s son is in gr 5 and he’s already talking about wanting to go to jhs in the UK or something, which his parents don’t really want him to do, so it’s hard to tell if it’s all just the parent’s choice or if some of the kids want to do that too.
When I was growing up, my parents forced me to do piano lessons. 2 times a week for 1 hour per lesson.
It sucked. I didn’t like it. It really didn’t help me that much in life beyond some vague “the ability to stick to something” bs.
That said, it was 2 hours, 3 hours if you include transportation and maybe 4 hours if you include my self practice sessions.
2.4% of my week was dedicated to piano.
Now let’s look at my son, and a large majority of his peers.
2-3 days of juku per week, 1-2 hours per session. 2-6 hours per week. Add in the extra homework juku gives you, maybe 1-2 hours per week. 3-8 hours per week total.
My son is on the low end of that. Maybe 4 hours a week.
We don’t really force him to go, but he asked to go since his friends go. I have gone to pick him up from juku and he’s mostly goofing around with friends after juku class is over.
He’s not an overachiever and we don’t push him too much. It seems to me like a large majority of the juku kids are like this, and only a few kids are quietly packing their stuff and quietly going home after juku.
Of course, this probably varies greatly from town to town. Middle of Tokyo next to some prep school is probably the opposite, everyone trying to get into Todai etc.
Our town’s High Schools are all standard deviation scores of 48-50 (aka super average) and in the morning, only a handful of HS kids are taking the train into the city for school, studying flash cards waiting for the train.
—
This is just one anecdote. But tbh, your view on the whole juku system is a bit generalized.
I know of about 1 or 2 families in our neighborhood that force their kids to do juku, piano, tennis, eikaiwa, and all these other lessons and never let their kids be kids.
A majority are just juku and maybe one other naraigoto.
My 2 cents.
When I was growing up, my parents forced me to do piano lessons. 2 times a week for 1 hour per lesson.
It sucked. I didn’t like it. It really didn’t help me that much in life beyond some vague “the ability to stick to something” bs.
That said, it was 2 hours, 3 hours if you include transportation and maybe 4 hours if you include my self practice sessions.
2.4% of my week was dedicated to piano.
Now let’s look at my son, and a large majority of his peers.
2-3 days of juku per week, 1-2 hours per session. 2-6 hours per week. Add in the extra homework juku gives you, maybe 1-2 hours per week. 3-8 hours per week total.
My son is on the low end of that. Maybe 4 hours a week.
We don’t really force him to go, but he asked to go since his friends go. I have gone to pick him up from juku and he’s mostly goofing around with friends after juku class is over.
He’s not an overachiever and we don’t push him too much. It seems to me like a large majority of the juku kids are like this, and only a few kids are quietly packing their stuff and quietly going home after juku.
Of course, this probably varies greatly from town to town. Middle of Tokyo next to some prep school is probably the opposite, everyone trying to get into Todai etc.
Our town’s High Schools are all standard deviation scores of 48-50 (aka super average) and in the morning, only a handful of HS kids are taking the train into the city for school, studying flash cards waiting for the train.
—
This is just one anecdote. But tbh, your view on the whole juku system is a bit generalized.
I know of about 1 or 2 families in our neighborhood that force their kids to do juku, piano, tennis, eikaiwa, and all these other lessons and never let their kids be kids.
A majority are just juku and maybe one other naraigoto.
During parent teacher conference at the elementary school we never had anyone talk to us about juku or standard deviation. Middle school 2nd/3rd year is where that conversation happens. Mostly “if you want to get into a good public school you’ll need to study, but if you’re just going to go to the local school you’re fine” etc. Of course they push you to aim higher than what you can currently achieve.
I think this also could be biased by the fact that we live so far from Tokyo that it wouldn’t make sense to commute to some fancy school in the city. Also, maybe dumb people like us are just surrounded by dumb people and we’re actually the minority and I can’t tell.
Just saying, don’t think you have everything figured out in life just from your limited view and the “vocal minority” effect of the internet coloring your opinion.
My 2 cents.
When I was growing up, my parents forced me to do piano lessons. 2 times a week for 1 hour per lesson.
It sucked. I didn’t like it. It really didn’t help me that much in life beyond some vague “the ability to stick to something” bs.
That said, it was 2 hours, 3 hours if you include transportation and maybe 4 hours if you include my self practice sessions.
2.4% of my week was dedicated to piano.
Now let’s look at my son, and a large majority of his peers.
2-3 days of juku per week, 1-2 hours per session. 2-6 hours per week. Add in the extra homework juku gives you, maybe 1-2 hours per week. 3-8 hours per week total.
My son is on the low end of that. Maybe 4 hours a week.
We don’t really force him to go, but he asked to go since his friends go. I have gone to pick him up from juku and he’s mostly goofing around with friends after juku class is over.
He’s not an overachiever and we don’t push him too much. It seems to me like a large majority of the juku kids are like this, and only a few kids are quietly packing their stuff and quietly going home after juku.
Of course, this probably varies greatly from town to town. Middle of Tokyo next to some prep school is probably the opposite, everyone trying to get into Todai etc.
Our town’s High Schools are all standard deviation scores of 48-50 (aka super average) and in the morning, only a handful of HS kids are taking the train into the city for school, studying flash cards waiting for the train.
—
This is just one anecdote. But tbh, your view on the whole juku system is a bit generalized.
I know of about 1 or 2 families in our neighborhood that force their kids to do juku, piano, tennis, eikaiwa, and all these other lessons and never let their kids be kids.
A majority are just juku and maybe one other naraigoto.
During parent teacher conference at the elementary school we never had anyone talk to us about juku or standard deviation. Middle school 2nd/3rd year is where that conversation happens. Mostly “if you want to get into a good public school you’ll need to study, but if you’re just going to go to the local school you’re fine” etc. Of course they push you to aim higher than what you can currently achieve.
I think this also could be biased by the fact that we live so far from Tokyo that it wouldn’t make sense to commute to some fancy school in the city. Also, maybe dumb people like us are just surrounded by dumb people and we’re actually the minority and I can’t tell.
Just saying, don’t think you have everything figured out in life just from your limited view and the “vocal minority” effect of the internet coloring your opinion.
My 2 cents.
When I was growing up, my parents forced me to do piano lessons. 2 times a week for 1 hour per lesson.
It sucked. I didn’t like it. It really didn’t help me that much in life beyond some vague “the ability to stick to something” bs.
That said, it was 2 hours, 3 hours if you include transportation and maybe 4 hours if you include my self practice sessions.
2.4% of my week was dedicated to piano.
Now let’s look at my son, and a large majority of his peers.
2-3 days of juku per week, 1-2 hours per session. 2-6 hours per week. Add in the extra homework juku gives you, maybe 1-2 hours per week. 3-8 hours per week total.
My son is on the low end of that. Maybe 4 hours a week.
We don’t really force him to go, but he asked to go since his friends go. I have gone to pick him up from juku and he’s mostly goofing around with friends after juku class is over.
He’s not an overachiever and we don’t push him too much. It seems to me like a large majority of the juku kids are like this, and only a few kids are quietly packing their stuff and quietly going home after juku.
Of course, this probably varies greatly from town to town. Middle of Tokyo next to some prep school is probably the opposite, everyone trying to get into Todai etc.
Our town’s High Schools are all standard deviation scores of 48-50 (aka super average) and in the morning, only a handful of HS kids are taking the train into the city for school, studying flash cards waiting for the train.
—
This is just one anecdote. But tbh, your view on the whole juku system is a bit generalized.
I know of about 1 or 2 families in our neighborhood that force their kids to do juku, piano, tennis, eikaiwa, and all these other lessons and never let their kids be kids.
A majority are just juku and maybe one other naraigoto.
During parent teacher conference at the elementary school we never had anyone talk to us about juku or standard deviation. Middle school 2nd/3rd year is where that conversation happens. Mostly “if you want to get into a good public school you’ll need to study, but if you’re just going to go to the local school you’re fine” etc. Of course they push you to aim higher than what you can currently achieve.
I think this also could be biased by the fact that we live so far from Tokyo that it wouldn’t make sense to commute to some fancy school in the city. Also, maybe dumb people like us are just surrounded by dumb people and we’re actually the minority and I can’t tell.
Just saying, don’t think you have everything figured out in life just from your limited view and the “vocal minority” effect of the internet coloring your opinion.
My 2 cents.
It seems to me that Japanese education is very similar to what I experienced back in my home country as a kid, without much thought to actually explaining why things work the way they work and instead focusing on memorizing information and solution-arrival techniques. And I feel that cram schools just help perpetuate that system. For me personally it hasn’t been until now as an adult that I’ve been going back into a lot of what I was taught that I’ve actually started to understand the whys and hows and I realize how much I missed out just because the teachers were more focused on having us pass tests than actually understand what we were memorizing.