The kid wants to go to cram school because theirs friends are there too. Now I see this article and I’m leaning towards no juku https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231103/p2a/00m/0op/002000c
If the kid wants to do it to spend time with their friends, then sure. There isn’t much real academic benefit to a typical cram school though. I firmly believe that getting enough sleep and eating a solid dinner does a lot more good for most students than cram school does.
It seems weird to pay money for them to go to juku because their friends are there. Can they actually study well?
Personally I would entertain their desires for a time. If they are learning, pay for juku. It’s difficult to focus today with phones and other entertainment. If the juku prevents them from getting distracted it’s a good chance to study.
Just because Juku is an endemic part of Japanese education it doesn’t mean that it is terrible for everyone. It’s terrible if students are spending 5 hours after school and had to drop out of club activities because their parents are tyrants.
The evil me would let the kid go learn the hard way it but that is an expensive lesson on your pocket book. I would get your kid into another hobby they can do instead. If the kid wants to do something meticulous get them into programming or something.
I don’t think there’s real clear cut consensus on juku. It really depends on a number of things.
Study culture at home is a big one: some students don’t have their own room or a quiet place to study.
For some, their teachers in JHS or SHS are downright useless and they have to get extra support.
For others, they just prefer getting to spend some time with their friends in a more relaxed atmosphere without all the rules and social pressure of school.
I teach university students. And one of the warming up questions I give to first year students is who was your favorite teacher? Almost 70-80% of the time they’ll answer they liked their Juku teachers the best. The close age gap and relatability being a big factor.
Juku is just a business
How old are they?
Up to them to decide as parents IMO. When I was in eikaiwa, parts of the lesson (mostly inputting repetitive vocab) were learned using juku-style techniques (i.e. loooots of flash card).
While the style has rightfully been criticised as being pure rote learning, IMO rote learning is often necessary. If it’s once a week and they’re willing participants then what’s the harm? It’s an hour or so of study that they otherwise wouldn’t have done and you can always pull them out…
The problem can come that, if your kids don’t juku, on the weekends they may be stuck with nothing to do because their friends are all busy!
I agree that it is ridiculous and can be expensive (up to 100,000 yen a month is not rare). But for busy parents and mothers it acts like a babysitting service too.
Depends how old your kids are and what are they supposed to study for. Is it just to meet friends? Do they need more time to study better for school? Can they study well at home or do they need different environment to concentrate better? Do they want to go to popular public HS that has tough exams or are they cool with private HS? What about college?
From what I see, lots of kids go to juku to prepare for HS and college tests. It depends on individual child, but for lots of them juku helps to get into HS and college of their choice.
As a juku teacher, here aremy 2 cents. While juku does have a negative reputation, especially in the west, the truth is that many students learn things faster at jukus than at their regular schools which apart from giving them a leg up in their regular schooling, it does wonders with other facets of life too. Some parents do use it as a baby sitting service but I’d much rather an educational babysitting service than any other. There are some obvious negatives to jukus but most of the kids I teach are happy and love coming. If you can afford it, (there are lots of cheaper jukus around that don’t break the bank), why not? Even if they just want to hang out with their friends, it’s in an educational setting.
Juku can be a great way for your kids to have things explained in a different way. They can find it easier to stay ahead of the school curriculum with the juku doing all the prep work, and then can relax when they are at home.
Most kids play in their rooms.
Most kids also study in their rooms.
Studying where you play / sleep / do anything other than study can be less effective, because your body wants to go in to ‘play’ mode.
YMMV but there are good juku and it can be a great option for your kids. The answer, as always, is to be very involved in speaking to your kid and speaking to the juku and actively monitoring what the kids are actually doing at the juku.
If there was ever a kid with a punchable face that kid is it
Is this paper having a contest for essays about jukus? this is like the third or fourth Ive read so far from some precocious little shit Either going to the American school of Tokyo or the British school of Tokyo these are way more than any jukus or private school they’ll ever go to at ¥3 million a year.
I work for an eikawa that is also a juku. I don’t plan sending my 2 kids to either.
Reason being is I have the resources and teaching knowledge to promote enriched learning at home, without stress. Not everyone has that experience so I don’t judge for parents thinking juku is a must. It’s just a business capitalising on a demand is all.
However I’d consider it if they really wanted to go, but I’d explore other extra curricular stuff first.
Juku is mostly once or twice a week and last 1-2 hours so not really put much burden more than eikaiwa or piano/soccer lessons. Average Japanese JHS/HS students spend roughly 4-6 times more hours on club activity/bukatsu than juku.
If I ever have a kid I will let them go to juku if it’s actually needed. I’m not going to use it just because or as a babysitting service. There’s no way. I want my child to be creative and not be afraid of trying new things or failing as well. School/jukus etc in Japan just destroys that.
All 4 kids went to Juku or are going. Both of us worked so they were in Juku while we were working. We saw no negative impact from Juku and our older two both got into good high schools and universities.
Younger 2 are still in Elementary so we will see.
A letter to the editor (not an article) by a junior HS student at ASIJ (probably the top and most expensive international school in japan) may have some valid points, but I’d be careful about generalizing from this.
Juku can be useful for:
1. The year of entrance exam (JHS, HS) 2. In JHS or HS for weak matters (whatever it is).
Also, what matters is the studying environment. Don’t do it too much too long or too late. If it is for gathering with friends, it is useless.
As for the linked article, a student at a one million yen a year private school saying that juku has become profit hungry is really the pot and the kettle.
If all of their friends go to the same juku, its actually a great chance to socialize
I taught kids who would spend almost 100% of their free time in their juku just because it was an easy way to meet all their friends, a lot of juku have open study rooms and not many rules
​
My advice would just be to go with your kid and check hte place out, if the kids are all sitting in cubicles studying silently, I would say its not great….but if there are big open rooms where the kids are talking and hanging out while studying together….its alright I think
when I was young my parents let me come up with activities to do myself. boredom is great tool for increasing creativity. Also it is valuable to have downtime. it is very important to be able to relax and not fill all the time being awake. That said, can be beneficial if done in correct amount.
Personally, I’d be more likely to be considering having my children move to america for JHS and SHS than to have my children attend both school and juku.
23 comments
The whole thing is a scam
If the kid wants to do it to spend time with their friends, then sure. There isn’t much real academic benefit to a typical cram school though. I firmly believe that getting enough sleep and eating a solid dinner does a lot more good for most students than cram school does.
It seems weird to pay money for them to go to juku because their friends are there. Can they actually study well?
Personally I would entertain their desires for a time. If they are learning, pay for juku. It’s difficult to focus today with phones and other entertainment. If the juku prevents them from getting distracted it’s a good chance to study.
Just because Juku is an endemic part of Japanese education it doesn’t mean that it is terrible for everyone. It’s terrible if students are spending 5 hours after school and had to drop out of club activities because their parents are tyrants.
The evil me would let the kid go learn the hard way it but that is an expensive lesson on your pocket book. I would get your kid into another hobby they can do instead. If the kid wants to do something meticulous get them into programming or something.
I don’t think there’s real clear cut consensus on juku. It really depends on a number of things.
Study culture at home is a big one: some students don’t have their own room or a quiet place to study.
For some, their teachers in JHS or SHS are downright useless and they have to get extra support.
For others, they just prefer getting to spend some time with their friends in a more relaxed atmosphere without all the rules and social pressure of school.
I teach university students. And one of the warming up questions I give to first year students is who was your favorite teacher? Almost 70-80% of the time they’ll answer they liked their Juku teachers the best. The close age gap and relatability being a big factor.
Juku is just a business
How old are they?
Up to them to decide as parents IMO. When I was in eikaiwa, parts of the lesson (mostly inputting repetitive vocab) were learned using juku-style techniques (i.e. loooots of flash card).
While the style has rightfully been criticised as being pure rote learning, IMO rote learning is often necessary. If it’s once a week and they’re willing participants then what’s the harm? It’s an hour or so of study that they otherwise wouldn’t have done and you can always pull them out…
The problem can come that, if your kids don’t juku, on the weekends they may be stuck with nothing to do because their friends are all busy!
I agree that it is ridiculous and can be expensive (up to 100,000 yen a month is not rare). But for busy parents and mothers it acts like a babysitting service too.
Depends how old your kids are and what are they supposed to study for. Is it just to meet friends? Do they need more time to study better for school? Can they study well at home or do they need different environment to concentrate better? Do they want to go to popular public HS that has tough exams or are they cool with private HS? What about college?
From what I see, lots of kids go to juku to prepare for HS and college tests. It depends on individual child, but for lots of them juku helps to get into HS and college of their choice.
As a juku teacher, here aremy 2 cents. While juku does have a negative reputation, especially in the west, the truth is that many students learn things faster at jukus than at their regular schools which apart from giving them a leg up in their regular schooling, it does wonders with other facets of life too. Some parents do use it as a baby sitting service but I’d much rather an educational babysitting service than any other. There are some obvious negatives to jukus but most of the kids I teach are happy and love coming. If you can afford it, (there are lots of cheaper jukus around that don’t break the bank), why not? Even if they just want to hang out with their friends, it’s in an educational setting.
Juku can be a great way for your kids to have things explained in a different way. They can find it easier to stay ahead of the school curriculum with the juku doing all the prep work, and then can relax when they are at home.
Most kids play in their rooms.
Most kids also study in their rooms.
Studying where you play / sleep / do anything other than study can be less effective, because your body wants to go in to ‘play’ mode.
YMMV but there are good juku and it can be a great option for your kids. The answer, as always, is to be very involved in speaking to your kid and speaking to the juku and actively monitoring what the kids are actually doing at the juku.
If there was ever a kid with a punchable face that kid is it
Is this paper having a contest for essays about jukus? this is like the third or fourth Ive read so far from some precocious little shit Either going to the American school of Tokyo or the British school of Tokyo these are way more than any jukus or private school they’ll ever go to at ¥3 million a year.
I work for an eikawa that is also a juku. I don’t plan sending my 2 kids to either.
Reason being is I have the resources and teaching knowledge to promote enriched learning at home, without stress. Not everyone has that experience so I don’t judge for parents thinking juku is a must. It’s just a business capitalising on a demand is all.
However I’d consider it if they really wanted to go, but I’d explore other extra curricular stuff first.
Juku is mostly once or twice a week and last 1-2 hours so not really put much burden more than eikaiwa or piano/soccer lessons. Average Japanese JHS/HS students spend roughly 4-6 times more hours on club activity/bukatsu than juku.
https://berd.benesse.jp/shotouchutou/research/detail1.php?id=3209
If they like it and you can afford it, why not?
If I ever have a kid I will let them go to juku if it’s actually needed.
I’m not going to use it just because or as a babysitting service. There’s no way.
I want my child to be creative and not be afraid of trying new things or failing as well.
School/jukus etc in Japan just destroys that.
All 4 kids went to Juku or are going. Both of us worked so they were in Juku while we were working. We saw no negative impact from Juku and our older two both got into good high schools and universities.
Younger 2 are still in Elementary so we will see.
A letter to the editor (not an article) by a junior HS student at ASIJ (probably the top and most expensive international school in japan) may have some valid points, but I’d be careful about generalizing from this.
Juku can be useful for:
1. The year of entrance exam (JHS, HS)
2. In JHS or HS for weak matters (whatever it is).
Also, what matters is the studying environment. Don’t do it too much too long or too late. If it is for gathering with friends, it is useless.
As for the linked article, a student at a one million yen a year private school saying that juku has become profit hungry is really the pot and the kettle.
If all of their friends go to the same juku, its actually a great chance to socialize
I taught kids who would spend almost 100% of their free time in their juku just because it was an easy way to meet all their friends, a lot of juku have open study rooms and not many rules
​
My advice would just be to go with your kid and check hte place out, if the kids are all sitting in cubicles studying silently, I would say its not great….but if there are big open rooms where the kids are talking and hanging out while studying together….its alright I think
when I was young my parents let me come up with activities to do myself. boredom is great tool for increasing creativity. Also it is valuable to have downtime. it is very important to be able to relax and not fill all the time being awake. That said, can be beneficial if done in correct amount.
Personally, I’d be more likely to be considering having my children move to america for JHS and SHS than to have my children attend both school and juku.