Education in Japan

MARISSA BURROWS
JESSICA GOODIN
KATIE LEWIS

The History of Education in

Japan
JESSICA GOODIN

The History of Education in Japan

6th-15th Century

Chinese teachings and ideas flowed into Japan from

China dating from the sixth to ninth century

By the ninth century Kyoto had five institutions of
higher learning established
Zen Buddhist monasteries were especially important
centers of learning at this time

The History Education in Japan

16th Century

Japan experienced intense contact with the major

European powers and Jesuit missionaries

They preached Christianity to the Japanese and
insisted on opening religious schools
Japanese students began to study Latin and Western
classical music along side their own language

History of Education in Japan

Edo Period
When the Tokugawa period began, few common

people in Japan could read or write. By the period's

end, learning had become widespread
Tokugawa education was powerful because it
increased the populations literacy and it emphasized
discipline and competent performance.
The role of many of the samurai changed from
warrior to government bureaucrat
Confucian classics were memorized, and reading,
arithmetic and calligraphy were also studied.

History of Education in Japan

Edo Period Continued..
Most samurai attended schools sponsored by their

han, and by the time of the Meiji Restoration of

1868, more than 200 of the 276 han had established
schools.
Public education was provided for the Samurai, but
ordinary people taught the rudiments to their own
children
By the 1860s, 40-50% of Japanese boys, and 15% of
the girls, had some schooling outside the home

The History of Education in Japan

Meiji Period

After 1868 new leadership set Japan on a rapid

course of modernization
The Meiji leaders established a public education
system to help Japan catch up with the West and
form a modern nation

The History of Education in Japan

Occupation and Post-Occupation Period
A new wave of foreign ideas was introduced in 1945

after World War II.

A new grade structure was introduced: Six years of
elementary school, three years of lower secondary
education, and three years of upper secondary
education.
Curriculum and textbooks were revised, locally
elected school boards were introduced, and teachers
unions were established.

Japanese Alphabet
MARISSA BARROWS

Kanji
A system of Japanese writing using Chinese

characters.
One thousand kanji are leant over the six years of
elementary school.
The kanji are divided into six one year grades, of 80,
160, 200, 200, 185, and 181 characters.
These grades are commonly known as the Kyoiku
kanji.

Kanji contd.
The rest of the joyo and jimmie kanji maybe taught

at Junior high or High school, and further non-joyo

kanji maybe taught at the High school level.
There is no set list of grades for the joyo kanji of
Junior high school or High school taught.
Children learn calligraphic writing using a brush in
the kaisho form during their third year of school.
Many children also study penmanship or calligraphy
outside school.

Kanji contd.
Romanized Japanese using the kunrei system is

taught in the fourth year of elementary school.

1st grade ( 7 years old): 80 kanji
2nd grade ( 8 years old): 160 kanji
3rd grade ( 9 years old): 200 kanji
4th grade ( 10 years old): 200 kanji
5th grade ( 11 years old ): 185 kanji
6th grade ( 12 years old): 181 kanji

Hiragana
Is a Japanese syllabary one basic component of

Japanese writing system.

Means ordinary syllabic script.
The more cursive and more widely used form of kana
(syllabic writing) used in Japanese, especially used
for function words and inflections.

Katakana
The more angular form of kana (syllabic writing)

used in Japanese, primarily used for words of foreign

origins.
Children maybe able to read hiragana and katakana
at the age of six, but this is not part of the official
curriculum.
They learn hiragana and katakana during the 1st year
of elementary school.

How do Japanese students

Learn English?
Katie Lewis

A B C

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Schools teach their student to recognize

word for word use in sentences

I/ live in/ /Tokyo

/ /

Schools focus on students written ability

And use fill-in the blank

Schools in Japan mostly focus on a

students writing and reading ability
Leading many students to have trouble
with spoken English.

DISCIPLINE IN JAPAN

 Japanese teachers are well informed about how to

discipline students; every new school term, the
education ministry publishes research papers about
punishment. These reports help guide educators on
how to handle discipline and lay out specifics dos
and donts, including how long a teacher can make a
student stand before it becomes illegal. Teachers are
not allowed to strike or threaten to strike the
students.
Corporal punishment is illegal in Japanese schools,
says Aaron Miller, an assistant professor at Kyoto
University.

 strong sense of community

At least in Junior High, students basically live their lives at
school. They have classes Monday to Friday until 4:30, and
they have club activities before classes from 7-8 and 4:305:30. They often go to school on weekends as well for more
club activities. So they are pretty much always at school!
However typically students don`t really mind spending all
their time at school because they form really close friendships
with their peers.

 General lack of heavy handed discipline within Japanese

schools.
Detention, suspension and expulsion are pretty much foreign
concepts. A student might get a chewing out by their home
room teacher, but that seems to be the extent of the
punishment
Disciplinary system could be better, but at least the students
are more well behaved overall.

 teachers work (unpaid) overtime.

It`s even difficult for teachers to get the parents involved, because in Japanese
society, the onus is on the TEACHERS to raise the students correctly

 If you think about how you hold yourself when you go for a job interview, you might start
to get an idea of Japanese culture.
a student wants to come into the teachers' office for some reason. She has to knock,
stand at the entrance, state methodically: 'Sorry for the intrusion', Name. Grade. Class.
Purpose of visit. Permission to enter? Await reply from a teacher. Enter. And greet and
bow any teacher you happen to pass on your way to the desk. Then apology and bow to
the room in general before leaving.
Any student who makes a mistake in this regimen is usually pulled up by a teacher &
made to do it again.

 Japanese women were expected to stay home and focus all their time and energy
on preparing children for their exams.
Japanese education system after World War II was built around highly competitive
and rigorous high- school testing, which required enormous discipline and study.
Students can be targeted for failing to do well academically

REFERENCES
http://jpmeetsjp.blogspot.com/2013/04/discipline-in-japanese-school.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/11/japans-cutthroat-schoolsystem-a-cautionary-tale-for-the-us/281612/
https://thejetexperience.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/observations-of-japanese-jhslife/