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(Michael: late 30’s American):
I’m not an expert on the topic of education, and I can only tell you about the differences that I’ve noticed between the educational systems in the U.S. and Japan. Having been born and raised in the U.S., I’m very familiar with the educational system in the U.S., and for Japan, I only know things from what I’ve observed firsthand and heard from my friends who grew up in Japan and are also currently raising their own kids here.
First, in the U.S., most students go to the nearest public schools that are operated by the local city government. There are private schools, but they’re usually for students who belong to a certain religion like Catholicism or Christianity and their parents want them to practice their respective faith at schools. In the U.S., there’s a law called, “Separation of church and state,” which prohibits religion from being taught in public schools. There’s also a special public school called a magnet school that students who want to concentrate on science and math curriculms can attend.
Since there aren’t any entrance exams for public schools in the U.S., when students finish elementary school, they would automatically attend a junior high school that is closest to their homes. The same goes with when they finish junior high school and move up to high school. So, there aren’t long commutes to school for children. In my case, the closest elementary, junior high and high schools were about 5, 15 and 15 minutes by walking, respectively.
I was surprised to learn that some elementary school students in Tokyo wake up around six in the morning to go to school. I don’t usually wake up early in the morning, and one of the few times that I did was when I was going to play golf on a regular weekday. On my way to my friend’s place, I saw what seemed to be first graders riding the trains to go to school around 6 a.m. This just surprised me as I remember that I had a fairly difficult time even waking up at 8 a.m. for school every day.
Regarding actual academics, I think that there is too much emphasis on it and competition between children at an early age in Japan. I personally believe that children should spend more time playing with their friends and enjoying their precious childhood than studying all day and seeing their classmates as rivals. If I had seen my classmates as my academic rivals during elementary and junior high schools, I think that I would have been mean to them and not helped them if they needed help on a certain homework problem just so that I can gain a slight edge on them.
For most students in the U.S., it gets academically competitive when they enter high school and start thinking about applying to colleges. For college applications, grades in high school classes and a score on a standardized exam, which is somewhat equivalent to the Japanese college entrance exams, are mainly considered for admission. By becoming more conscious of my own grades in relation to that of my classmates at a later stage in life like high school, I think that I was emotionally and mentally mature enough to recognize the importance of friendships and also able to find a healthy balance between compassion and competition.
If I were to ever have children of my own, I wouldn’t want them to feel the pressure of getting admitted to a prestigious school at a tender age of 10. I’d rather have them prioritize playing than studying at that age, and gradually realize the importance of academics as they go through junior high and high schools.
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