Some characteristics of upper secondary education
School status and selection
Facilities and staff
School calendar
Daily schedule
Curriculum
Vocational programs
Reference to table 8
Clubs
University entrance
Suicide issue
Reference to table9
Student life
Student delinquency
What high school graduates do next
High school entrance is the critical juncture at which the Japanese
education system begins to reflect major differences in ability and
socioeconomic background. The hierarchical ranking of the high school
that a student attends is closely related to future employment and
career path. With high school entry, a student already has a fair idea
of his or her likely future status. Thomas Rohlen summarizes the
enormous significance of high school ranking and attendance:
Although the attention of
Western scholars has focused primarily on the problem of college
entrance in Japan, and particularly on the formation of future elites,
the time of high school entrance represents an even more crucial
juncture in the total process of educational stratification. Virtually
the entire youth population is involved, and the educational tracks into
which students are shunted at this stage are both more diverse and more
fundamental than at the college stage to the overall structure of
society. The ranking of high schools in a given locality is as clear--if
not clearer--to all citizens as is the ranking of universities on a
national scale. At the local level, which high school a person attends
carries lifetime significance, and the finely etched stereotypes of
student character associated with each high school become an indelible
part of individual identity.
[1]
For most students, the even more serious atmosphere of upper
secondary school and the growing pressure of impending college entrance
examinations makes high school a low point in the life of many Japanese
youth.
[2]
On the other hand, the drive for good secondary school credentials and
university admission provides most high school students with a clear
sense of purpose and goal orientation during late adolescence.
Some characteristics of upper secondary education
All Japanese high school students are enrolled in either an academic
or vocational program, but the course work in the first year is the same
for all students. The academic program is the college preparatory track.
In 1984, approximately 70 percent of all Japanese high school students
were enrolled in this track. In the second and third years, students in
academic programs have the choice of specializing either in literature
or science. Within each specialization, students are sometimes further
separated by ability levels. In the second and third years of the
vocational program, about one-third of the student's time is devoted to
vocational education. The rest is spent on the standard academic
subjects.
One objective of the Occupation's education reform was to promote
comprehensive secondary schools, yet the comprehensive model did not
become dominant. Today, about 49 percent of the upper secondary schools
provide the academic program, 23 percent are vocational high schools,
and only 28 percent are comprehensive--offering both types of programs.
[3]
The Occupation had better success with its coeducation objective.
Four out of five Japanese high schools are coeducational. About 90
percent of the public schools, but only 37 percent of the private
schools, are coeducational.
Although private schools are rare at the elementary and lower
secondary levels, 24 percent of upper secondary schools are private.
These schools enroll 28 percent of all Japanese upper secondary school
students.
[4]
Both public and private high schools charge tuition. A family with a
child in public high school can expect to spend about 5 percent of its
income for school expenses. The average cost for a family with a child
in private high school would be 10 percent or more
[5]
In addition, there are other education expenses incurred by many
families, such as supplementary books, juku tuition, or private tutoring
costs. Juku tuition would require another 3 to 5 percent of family
income per child.
School status and selection
Established public high schools have long enjoyed the most prestige.
However, over the past decade, redistricting and other attempts to
discourage one or two high schools in an area from enrolling a
disproportionate number of the best students have been made, but reform
is often not a simple matter. Some reform efforts to reduce the
preoccupation of public schools with preparation for university
examinations have backfired, as parents with university aspirations for
their children have shifted their patronage to private schools. There
are natural ripple effects in juku. Currently, depending on the
educational situation in a given locality, the "best" high
school in the area may be either public or private.
On a national basis, between 50 and 100 of the 1,300 private
secondary schools have developed fine reputations because of the success
of their graduates in gaining entry to the most prestigious
universities. Some of the most prestigious private institutions are
6-year schools that encompass grades 7-12. They structure the 5-year
program so that the regular secondary school curriculum is covered in 5
years, leaving the final year for full-time preparation for university
entrance examinations.
[6]
In some cities, elite private high schools send the highest number of
graduates to elite universities. Ikuo Amano, a professor at the
University of Tokyo, summarizes the dominance of private high schools in
the battle for admission to his institution:
Currently 351 high
schools, including 74 private schools, send graduates to the University
of Tokyo, which is the most selective university in Japan. But the top
20 high schools, those sending the largest number of entrants to the
University of Tokyo, are private schools. Most of these private 'prep'
schools are located in metropolitan areas, and in those areas the
children who seek admission to them have to start preparing for the
schools' entrance examinations when they are in the fourth or fifth
grade of primary school.
[7]
Although most students aspire to enter the best local high school,
only the strongest students in each age group can achieve this
distinction. The rest of the good and average students enter other
academic high schools which correspond to their level of scholastic
achievement. Students of lesser school achievement may have to choose
between maintaining a future option on a possible university education
by paying more to attend a private academic high school, or attending at
lower cost a public vocational school.
Facilities and staff
Facilities. Japanese high schools resemble their lower
secondary school counterparts. They are unadorned multi-story
rectangular or U-shaped concrete structures, equipped with laboratories,
libraries, and the like. Vocational schools have specialized classrooms
which are equipped for practical training in mechanics, electronics,
business, and other fields. Most schools have gymnasiums, athletic
fields, and swimming pools. Upper secondary schools also have
audio-visual equipment, including cassette tape recorders, and 90
percent have color television sets. Over half have personal computers,
although in-class use of these devices is not widespread.
[8]
Staff. As in lower secondary schools, each upper secondary
school has a principal and head teacher, again almost always men.
Indeed, 83 percent of Japanese high school teachers are men. Women
teachers tend to teach such subjects as home economics and girls'
physical education.
In addition to the principal and head teacher, there are grade level
head teachers and department heads, vocational guidance counselors, and
disciplinary officers who oversee general student conduct and provide
liaison with police and other assistance for students who get in
trouble. Teachers with reduced course loads carry out the vocational
guidance and disciplinary functions on behalf of the entire school.
While all teachers assist in helping students find a job or apply to
higher education institutions, the homeroom advisor and the teacher
responsible for vocational guidance have actual day-to-day
responsibility in these areas.
As in lower secondary schools, the teaching staff is organized
administratively both by grade level and subject. The teachers' room is
arranged so that the desks of all homeroom advisors for a given grade
adjoin those of the counselors and the head teacher responsible for that
grade level.
Although students in the same grade are assigned to different class
groups each year, the faculty remains largely the same and teachers move
up with the age group until graduation. Thus, over the 3-year period
teachers come to know most of their students well. This helps teachers
provide instructional continuity, occupational guidance, and promote
student character development.
[9]
Within the academic department framework, a head teacher helps the
faculty in that subject coordinate decisions about the content and pace
of instruction, plans and conducts inservice training, and provides
guidance and assistance to new or weaker teachers. Frequent citywide
departmental seminars, study meetings and regular teacher transfers
between schools create a strong, informal city or prefecture wide
network of friendships between teachers of the same subject.
[10]
In high school, teachers' regular teaching duties average about 15
hours per week.
[11]
About 40 percent of all teachers are assigned homeroom advisor
responsibilities.
[12]
The homeroom advisor for each group of students plays an important role
in providing individual guidance on the selection of higher education
institutions and counseling students with personal, social, or
delinquency problems.
School calendar
As in elementary and junior high schools, the yearly calendar is
divided into 3 semesters. All-school celebrations such as Sports Day and
Culture Festival continue to be important occasions for building school
pride and unity. Second-year students go on a 3- or 4-day class field
trip to a cultural or historical area of the country. The experience
serves the same purposes as the school trip at the lower secondary
level.
For students who plan to take university entrance examinations, the
third year of high school is a time of self-imposed withdrawal from
clubs, hobbies, and most leisure pursuit .Students study as much as
possible, often focusing more attention on tutorial and juku-related
assignments than on regular classroom instruction. As March examination
season nears, there is a perceptible change in classroom atmosphere.
Student attention is concentrated totally on the impending exams. Once
the examinations are over and the next year's course has been
determined, the last few weeks of high school are casual and relaxed.
Daily schedule
In a typical high school, teachers gather each morning at 8:30 a.m.
for a brief meeting. Students meet at 8:35 a.m. for a 5-minute homeroom
period. Regular classes begin at 8:45 a.m. and there are four 50-minute
classes before lunch. High school students eat in their homeroom. Two
afternoon periods are followed by school clean-up and a 5-minute
homeroom meeting, after which students are dismissed at 3:30 p.m. On
Saturday the day ends after four periods, at 1 p.m. Club activities are
held after school and run until 5 or 6 p.m. One hour per week is devoted
to mandatory club activity. Other club activity is voluntary.
An hour-long homeroom period occurs once a week. This provides an
opportunity for teachers to concentrate on student guidance. Typical
activities include helping students develop greater awareness of
themselves as high school students, encouraging them to reflect on their
summer vacations, or perhaps asking them to contemplate the forthcoming
advancement from one grade to another. These discussion topics are
planned by teachers and scheduled in advance for the entire school year.
Instruction
Although fewer than 1 in 5 high school students actually continue
their education at a 4-year university, the entrance examinations exert
a strong influence on everyone's instruction. Most strong academic high
schools are more a downward extension of higher education concerns than
an upward extension of compulsory school philosophy. In both academic
and vocational programs, the tenor and pace of instruction are geared to
covering large quantities of factual information likely to be tested on
entrance examinations. Students in the university-bound academic track
feel the pressure and understand the importance of studying hard for
examinations long before they enter their senior year.
Both vocational and college preparatory programs are primarily
academic in nature and designed to maintain a challenging pace of
advancement through new material. Even in the vocational schools,
instruction in academic subjects rarely deviates from straightforward
lectures. Good teachers are considered those who carefully and
conscientiously cover the material outlined in the course of study.
Enriching the required information with audio-visual materials or
commentary on the facts presented in the textbooks is permitted, but
given little priority by most teachers. There is scant time for such
supplementary attention anyway. Student questions or challenges are
uncommon and not encouraged. Some teachers, however, not only exhibit an
exceptional command of the factual material, but also are talented in
stimulating student imagination.
Curriculum
During the 10th grade, the program is virtually identical for all
students, whether they are in the academic or the vocational program.
The Japanese student faces a demanding course of study in the required
core subjects of Japanese language, mathematics, science, English, and
social studies.
All first year students study "Japanese Language I"
"Contemporary Society," "Mathematics I,"
"Science I," "Art," "Physical Education,"
and "Health."
[13]
They also take a course in the arts (painting, music, calligraphy, etc.)
and English as an "elective."
"Japanese I" provides continued practice in reading
contemporary literature and composition. Students study some classical
Japanese and Chinese literature, as well as archaic language and
literary forms.
"Contemporary Society" is a survey of contemporary national
and international issues and problems, with an emphasis on politics,
economics, and personal ethics.
"Mathematics I" includes further work with the quadratic
formula and higher order equations, graphing of quadratic equations,
introductory trigonometry, complex numbers, sets, and algebraic proofs.
"Science I" covers laws of transformation and conservation
of energy, basic chemistry and computation of chemical formulas,
embryonic development, evolution, and Mendelian laws.
Many students have difficulty with the content and pace of the
curriculum. Some fall far behind and lose interest. In one recent survey
students were asked what kind of school they would like to attend. The
overwhelming majority selected the response "0ne with lessons which
are easier to understand."
[14]
FIRST
YEAR
|
All Students
|
Weekly Hours
|
Japanese I
Contemporary Society
Mathematics I
Science I
English I
Physical Education and
Home economics*
Health
Music or Calligraphy
Homeroom
Club activities
Total class hours per week
|
5
4
6
4
6
4
1
2
1
1
34
|
*Boys take 4 hours of
physical education and girls take 2 hours and 2 hours of home economics.
SECOND
YEAR
|
Literature Majors
|
Weekly
Hours
|
Weekly
Hours
|
Science Majors
|
Japanese II
Classical Literature
Japanese History
World History
Basic Mathematical
Analysis
Biology or Chemistry
English
Physical Education & Home economics*
Health
Music or Calligraphy
Homeroom
Club activities
Total class hours per week
|
5
2
2
3
3
3
7
4
1
2
1
1
34
|
4
3
3
3
4
4
5
4
1
1
1
1
34
|
Japanese II
Japanese History
or World History
Algebra & Geometry
Basic Mathematical Analysis
Physics
Chemistry
English
Physical Education & Home economics*
Health
Music or Calligraphy
Homeroom
Club activities
Total class hours per week
|
*Boys take 4 hours of
physical education and girls take 2 hours and 2 hours of home economics.
THIRD
YEAR
|
Literature Majors
|
Weekly
Hours
|
Weekly
Hours
|
Science Majors
|
Modern Literature
Classical Literature
Japanese History
World History
Ethics or Politics
Basic Mathematical
Analysis
Biology or Chemistry
English
Physical Education
Homeroom
Club activities
Total class hours per week
|
4
4
3
3
3
2
2
8
3
1
1
34
|
3
2
5
5
4
4
6
3
1
1
34
|
Modern Literature
Japanese History
or World History
Integral and Differential
Calculus
Probability and
Statistics
Physics
Chemistry
English
Physical Education
Homeroom
Club activities
Total class hours per week
|
The Japanese high school student does not assemble an individual
class schedule from a large menu of possible electives. Extras such as
driver education, drama, or psychology are not offered.
Except for two courses per year in which students are allowed to
choose between options to fulfill a specific requirement (such as
selecting music, fine arts, or calligraphy to fulfill the arts
requirement), each class takes the same courses and remains a unit for
the entire day. For students in the academic curriculum, the choice
among these options is frequently based on the characteristics of the
university entrance examination for which one is preparing. Students
whose interests or educational objectives are not satisfied by the
established curriculum turn to after school clubs, out of school
enrichment classes, or academic juku.
Although moral education as a formal subject in the curriculum
disappears at the upper secondary level, student guidance and character
development continue to receive attention. The emphasis shifts, however,
from the training in fundamental living habits and classroom behavior of
the lower grades to the further development of a disciplined attitude
toward work and study.
In the academic program, only 9 class hours per week are devoted to
nonacademic subjects. During this time, boys receive 4 hours of physical
education and girls receive 2 hours of physical education and 2 of home
economics. Both boys and girls take 1 hour of health and 2 hours of fine
arts. The weekly schedule also includes an hour each of homeroom and
faculty-led club activities.
Vocational programs
Almost 30 percent of all full-time
Japanese high school students are enrolled in a vocational program. The
vocational curriculum is career oriented, but not job specific. The
occupational areas include commerce, industry technology, agriculture,
home economics, fisheries, and health. Enrollments in vocational
programs are shown in
table
8.
Within each vocational major the curriculum follows a predetermined
sequence. In comparison to regular academic programs, less class time is
spent in studying academic subjects and the textbooks are less
difficult. However, students are still required to spend 16 to 18 hours
a week in each of the 3 years studying Japanese, mathematics, social
studies, and English as well as science during 2 of the years. As in the
academic program, 9 hours per week are devoted to physical education,
home economics, health, music or art, homeroom, and club activities.
Only 9 to 11 hours per week are actually devoted to vocational
education. The incentive to study is not as great in vocational schools
because for most students, there are no university entrance examinations
to prepare for and the academic record may not be given as much weight
by the employers likely to hire from these schools.
[15]
Clubs
Clubs are an important part of Japanese high school
life. Activities after school are strongly encouraged and over half of
Japanese students are active in one or more clubs. As in lower secondary
school, sports clubs are the most popular. Most are organized and run by
the students themselves.
Meetings are held from 3 to 5 or 6 p.m. There is interscholastic club
competition in some sports, particularly soccer and baseball. Japan's
largest amateur sporting event is the annual National High School
Baseball Summer Tournament. Club activities provide recreation
opportunities for students, while fostering social relations and group
solidarity.
University entrance
Importance of a university education. In Japan, university
graduates have a lifetime advantage over those without a university
degree. The education credential, not the individual talent, determines
initial employment with the more prestigious companies and remains a
major consideration in any advancement. It is uncommon for a
non-university graduate to move ahead of a university graduate in such
firms. With little chance to return to formal education, the adolescent
depends on doing well in school, first to enter a good high school and
then a good university. More than any other single event, the university
entrance examinations influence the orientation and life of most
Japanese high school students, even for the many who do not go on to
postsecondary education. For university aspirants, it is literally the
last major hurdle to be successfully negotiated on the way to adulthood
and preferred employment.
In Japan, one's university largely determines one's prospects for the
best careers and jobs. Career patterns of the graduates of various
universities are widely known, and institutions are informally ranked
according to the success of their graduates in securing prestigious
employment. It is very difficult to secure high status, white collar
employment with the government or a major firm unless one has graduated
from a top ranking university.
It is not primarily the specific coursework or other academic
preparation which students receive at these institutions which is so
highly valued by employers. Rather, it is the ability to learn what is
taught, work hard, and persevere, all demonstrated by success on the
rigorous university entrance examinations, which indicate to the
prospective employer that the student will be a good risk as a career
employee. Thus, the competition to enter the best institutions is
especially severe. The number of applications to openings for
institutions as well as constituent academic units are published
annually, and students take these into account in deciding where to
apply.
Preparation for entrance examinations. For students aspiring
to enter the more prestigious universities, exam preparation is an
arduous and painful task which often begins in earnest in lower
secondary school. In its most extreme form, the long, intense period of
study followed by the stress of the examination itself is referred to as
"examination hell." A common slogan is "4 hours pass, 5
hours fail," referring to the presumed relationship between the
amount of time a student sleeps each night and the prospect for success
or failure on the examination. Apocryphal or not, the catch phrase
dramatizes the rigor of the regimen in which the student is caught.
Scores on entrance examinations to the better universities have been
increasing. Students, therefore, have had to work harder to gain
admission, especially to the top schools. Many students who fail the
examination to the university of their choice will spend a year or more
in intensive study and then try again. Monbusho data show that in 1984,
36 percent of all entrants to 4-year universities had spent at least 1
year in extra study.
[16]
For entrance to the most prestigious facilities of the best
universities, this percentage is even higher, and it is not uncommon
that almost half of the students who are admitted are taking the
examination for the second (or third) time.
[17]
Even mastery of the high school curriculum may not be sufficient to
pass the very difficult examinations of the better institutions or more
specialized faculties. Helping fill the gap between what students learn
in school and what they must know to pass the examinations of a specific
institution or constituent academic unit is a sizeable private sector
cram school industry, yobiko.
Yobiko. These are a specialized extension of the juku system.
There are local yobiko in each prefecture as well as some regional and
national chains of schools. These sophisticated cram schools offer
intense training for the entrance examinations, often tailored
specifically to the requirements and examinations of individual
institutions or groups of universities with common characteristics.
Although there is a nationally administered standardized entrance
examination available in Japan, many universities depend instead upon
one of their own design. Some institutions use the results of the
national examination as a general screening device and consider only
those applicants whose scores are above a certain cut-off point. The
institution's own examination is then used to select students for
admission. Whatever the nature of the exams, the yobiko aim to prepare
students to pass them.
Each year, there are about 200,000 ronin, (literally, "masterless
samurai")-- students who have failed the exams for admission to the
school of their first choice and who have elected to spend a full year
preparing to take the examinations again. Many of the ronin enroll in a
full-time examination preparation program at a yobiko. There are over
200 yobiko in Japan.
[18]
The number of students enrolled in them very nearly approximates the
number of ronin. In addition, there are high school students who attend
yobiko-sponsored programs after regular school hours and on weekends.
Although some yobiko have programs geared to high school students, the
hallmark of yobiko is the fulltime, year-long examination preparation
programs for ronin. Given the fact that so many university entrants have
had the ronin experience, secondary education in Japan is often called a
3-3-1 or -X system to reflect the extra year or more of study that many
students engage in after high school graduation.
Not many female high school students attend yobiko, and male ronin
outnumber female ronin more than 10 to 1. These participation patterns
again reflect the different institutional objectives of girls in
postsecondary education.
[19]
Female students account for less than 25 percent of university
enrollments. Their professional career opportunities are limited.
The yobiko develop and administer model examinations against which
students can chart their progress and estimate their chances of gaining
admission to a particular institution. These practice exams are given
several times during the year and are also open periodically to the
general public for a fee. The latter event is often a means by which
students first come to a particular yobiko. Many of the large yobiko
also maintain sophisticated information gathering operations to collect
data on the content and results of the most recent university
examinations.
Yobiko also publish a wide variety of books and study aids, which
they sell commercially. Texts they create exclusively for their own
students are a big drawing card for the school, since they are often
prepared by professors and teachers intimately familiar with the
entrance examinations, and they are not usually available in the
bookstores. Faculty of these yobiko include both full-time and part-time
teachers, with many of the part-timers drawn from various university
faculties and other educational institutions. Yobiko often have their
own entrance examinations, but like those of the juku discussed earlier,
these exams are often used for class organization and ranking as much as
for entrance.
The cost of yobiko for a year's full-time study approximates that of
tuition and fees for some private universities, although most private
universities cost more. The average cost is about one-third higher than
tuition and fees at a national university.
Suicide issue
Worry about examinations is a continuing
reality for most Japanese high school students and their families,
but--dramatic media coverage notwithstanding--it is not true that large
numbers of disappointed youth are driven to take their own lives because
of their failure to pass the entrance examination to elite universities.
While school related factors are clearly among the important causes of
adolescent suicide, examinations per se are not the dominant factor:
"...maladjustment to school . . . lack of motivation, dislike of
school, and trouble with homework--are more prominent than failure in
exams or the pain of exam preparations. "
[20]
The suicide rate for Japan for the 15 to 19 age group dropped 43
percent during the 1975 to 1984 decade while that for the United States
increased 17 percent and surpassed Japan's. A comparison of youth
suicide rates in Japan and the United States in three age brackets over
the past 20 years is presented in
table
9.
Student life
Although the classroom and study out of school occupy the main
portion of high school students' days, recent data show that Japanese
students still enjoy leisure activities. High school students watch TV,
listen to the radio or read newspapers and magazines an average of about
2 hours per day, engage in sports for almost 1 hour per day (more on the
weekends), and find another hour a day for some other form of
relaxation.
Teenage social life in Japan is focused on school, clubs, and
school-sponsored activities. Although most high school classrooms are
coeducational, boys and girls display shyness in public social
relationships. While each sex is interested in the other, close
opposite-sex friendships and dating are rare. Most students do not begin
dating until after high school.
Japanese high school students are not encouraged to experiment with
adult fashions, pastimes, and responsibilities. Students are not allowed
to drive automobiles until they are 18 years of age. Although
16-year-olds may obtain a license to drive small motorbikes,
three-quarters of all high schools prohibit or severely restrict their
use. Many students must commute as much as 45 minutes or more to school,
and most students use public transportation or a standard three-speed
bicycle.
Part-time jobs are also discouraged or prohibited by most high
schools. A large scale comparative study of high school students in
Japan and the United States found that only 21 percent of Japanese high
school students worked part-time during the school term, compared with
63 percent in the United States. Schools and parents discourage students
from working on the grounds that it distracts them from study and
exposes them to dubious influences in the adult community.
[21]
Students are often further restricted by school regulations regarding
inappropriate activities, regulations which remain operative even after
students leave the school grounds. Curfews, dress codes for after school
hours, and prohibitions regarding the frequenting of game parlors,
coffee shops, and other undesirable neighborhood attractions are common.
In some schools, parents cooperate with the teacher in charge of student
behavior in patrolling the neighborhood after school and on weekends to
monitor student behavior and encourage observance of school rules.
Student delinquency
Juvenile delinquency in Japan has increased over the past decade. It
is widely publicized in the mass media and is a growing source of
national concern clearly reflected in the current reform movement. Yet,
by comparison with various other industrialized nations, including the
United States, delinquency in Japan is mild and infrequent. This is not
just because Japan is a homogeneous, highly disciplined society. It is
also partly because Japanese youth are more closely supervised. They
spend a greater proportion of their time at home or in school. Further,
many major factors commonly associated with juvenile delinquency and
crime, such as poverty, divorce, and adult crime, occur less commonly in
Japan than in many other major nations.
[22]
In explaining the apparent reasons for the relative confinement of
adolescent experience to home and school and some basic differences
between Japanese and American values and priorities concerning
adolescent sexuality, Thomas Rohlen writes:
. . . Americans have found
a new morality to suit our increasingly precocious individualism,
whereas in Japan, urbanization, industrialization, and prosperity have
drawn nearly the entire population into a middle-class pursuit of
educational achievement. The postponement of independence and adult
sexuality appears to be a by-product. Japan is not puritanical about
sex, but it is very middle-class about getting ahead and very aware of
propriety and status. Adolescent romance and sex are still improper.
[23]
Adolescent rebellion commonly takes the form of small but significant
alterations in school uniforms and regulation hair style. Boys express
delinquent tendencies through widening the trouser legs of their school
uniforms, or wearing sandals rather than regulation footwear. Girls
lengthen their skirts beyond the regulated norm or have their hair dyed
brown or set in a permanent wave.
Cigarette smoking is considered a serious form of delinquency among
high school students. Although smoking on school premises is rare, some
teenagers smoke on the streets or in private. When caught in the act,
they are taken to the station and admonished by police. Repeated
offenses are grounds for expulsion from school.
Substance abuse takes the form of sniffing glue or paint thinner and
ranks as a relatively serious manifestation of adolescent anti-social
behavior. Although the subject of considerable media attention, the
problem remains small in statistical terms. Nationwide in 1984 there
were only 15,000 lower and upper secondary school students who were
admonished by the police for this act.
[24]
There is little adolescent drinking, and marijuana and hard drugs are
virtually unavailable. Coupled with the fact that car ownership or
regular use by high school students is virtually nonexistent, Japan is
spared some very serious, often interrelated problems that are common in
some other industrialized nations.
Serious forms of delinquent activity that do occur include
shoplifting or theft, usually of bicycles and motorcycles. While there
are some motorcycle and automobile hot rodding gangs, the total number
of these is relatively small.
[25]
Schools of good academic standing typically are less plagued by
problems of delinquency and find it easier to require students to
conform to the rules. As noted earlier, vocational and other schools
near the bottom of the hierarchy enroll more disaffected and
disadvantaged youth. In these schools, teachers typically are more
tolerant in enforcing the letter of the school's regulation. When
student delinquency occurs, schools are usually involved along with the
parents and police.
When delinquent students are apprehended by neighborhood police for
such offenses as smoking, shoplifting, or motorcycle hot rodding, both
the school disciplinary counselor and the students' parents are commonly
required to come to the police station and take subsequent disciplinary
action. In some cases the school's response is so predictably prompt and
severe that the police may attempt to protect a contrite first offender
caught smoking by notifying only the parents and not the school.
[26]
What high school graduates do next
In Japan. In 1984, 1,482,312 students graduated from upper
secondary schools. More than 29 percent of these went on to university
undergraduate and regular junior college programs (18 percent to
university and 11 percent to junior college programs). In addition,
almost 12 percent went on to postsecondary courses in special training
colleges. Thus, approximately 41 percent of the graduates proceeded to
one or another of these types of postsecondary education.
Another group of the graduates, almost 14 percent of the total, went
on to other kinds of vocational courses, primarily those in that
category of institutions known as "miscellaneous schools."
Approximately 41 percent of the total number of graduates (including
1 percent working and studying) found employment. Details of the total
distribution of students after graduation are presented in
table
5.
In the United States. In 1985, 2,666,000 students graduated from high
school.
[27]
About 58 percent went on to full-time or part-time study in 4-year and
2-year colleges. (This was a record; the proportion had been in the
range of 50 to 55 percent for most of the 1970's and early 1980's.) Of
the 1,539,000 who went to college, 593,000 were also working.
(Information on the number going on to various vocational programs other
than in junior colleges is unavailable.)
Of the 42 percent of all graduates who did not go to college, 26
percent were working, 8.5 percent were unemployed, and the remaining 7.5
percent were not in the labor force. The total number of 1985 graduates
employed, including those who were also attending college, was 1,292,000
or 48.5 percent.
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U.S. Dept. of Education Study