japanese education system
...level and distinctions are not always based on class level. I believe age is sometimes used over; say, social status as a telling of how intelligent you are. This is not always the case but I believe in the United States this is shown more often than in other countries. "…school has an important shaping influence for a person growing up in Japan, and the system of classification imparted already by parents and kindergarten teachers provides a basis for further development and elaboration." (Hendry, 97) The class system, so to speak, in Japan works well for their students. Every child is given an equal chance to excel even though these specific class distinctions exist. Students who achieve well scholastically in elementary school will have a better chance of getting into a more prestigious high school when they apply later on. In Japan one has to apply and take written exams to get into high school; this is contrary to how it is here in the states, where you just attend your local high school. The "privileged" children who have excelled are destined to be accepted at a good high school and those who are not as intelligent will have to settle for second-class high schools or vocational schools. The more intelligent a child is will undoubtedly earn them more respect and of course a better chance of succeeding, but this doesn’t mean that they are labeled differently than other children in their class. Underprivileged students often get the short end of the stick however and are placed in lower standard academic high schools and are destined to have lower paying jobs in the future. For so many years people have held the Japanese in the highest rankings of education amongst the world population. Through studies and surveys it has been proven that their education system is among the best in the world and in popular opinion one of the best as well. Why would anyone care if all these feelings and fore drawn conclusions were determined false? What if inequality was shown to exist inside this framework as well? An aspect I have thought about is the fact Japan's school system is so equal that perhaps it makes it unequal in some ways, well at least in the eyes of outsiders. Take for example their rigid order system; one day out their country they inundated with what seems to them as chaos. "The system is so clear cut that special schools and classes have been created for the re-adjustment of Japanese children who spend even short periods abroad." (Hendry, 107) It goes on to say that these returning students pose a threat to the tight order of Japanese educational institutions. Once Japanese students leave their safe zone of Japan they are mocked and ridiculed. They are un-confrontational and deal with things in an orderly manor. This idea of Tatemae or the separation of ones inner feelings from those feelings expressed in public, leads to awkwardness amongst other cultures. Honne, being their true feelings are not said aloud to make sure the harmony of the group is not disturbed. My father has experienced this at work due to his company being operated by Japanese men. The workers to avoid excess confrontation will at times except what is being said and go about there own ways as normal. This is not done in the United States most of the time. This is just foreign to us and we do our best to understand their culture, however they can't help but be touched a little by ours as well. They adore our carefree society so to speak and will pick-up on some of our "situation" handling techniques. Now referring back to what I said about Japanese students being unequal; there are distinct class systems present in this society. This is proven from school upward into job placement. Students are look at by what level of school they are in, so there is some inequality present. This might seem minor compared to our school systems, but it proves that nothing is perfect. There is always class, academic, and other distinctions amongst any society industrialized or developing. Unequal is the fact that job placement can be determined perhaps as early as entrance into high school. If a child is on th...