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Japan Elementary School
More than 99 percent of elementary school-age children
are
enrolled in school. All children enter first grade at age
six, and
starting school is considered a very important event in a
child's
life.
Virtually all elementary education takes place in
public
schools; less than 1 percent of the schools are private.
Private
schools tended to be costly, although the rate of cost
increases in
tuition for these schools had slowed in the 1980s. Some
private
elementary schools are prestigious, and they serve as a
first step
to higher-level private schools with which they are
affiliated, and
thence to a university. Competition to enter some of these
"ladder
schools" is quite intense.
Although public elementary education is free, some
school
expenses are borne by parents, for example, school lunches
and
supplies. For many families, there are also nonschool
educational
expenses, for extra books, or private lessons, or
juku (see Glossary).
Such expenses rose throughout the 1980s,
reaching an
average of ¥184,000 (US$1,314) in FY 1987 for each child.
Costs for
private elementary schools are substantially higher.
Elementary school classes are large, about thirty-one
students
per class on average, but higher numbers are permitted.
Students
are usually organized into small work groups, which have
both
academic and disciplinary functions. Discipline also is
maintained,
and a sense of responsibility encouraged, by the use of
student
monitors and by having the students assume responsibility
for the
physical appearance of their classroom and school.
The ministry's Course of Study for Elementary Schools
is
composed of a wide variety of subjects, both academic and
nonacademic, including moral education and "special
activities."
"Special activities" refer to scheduled weekly time given
over to
class affairs and to preparing for the school activities
and
ceremonies that are used to emphasize character
development and the
importance of group effort and cooperation. The standard
academic
curriculum include Japanese language, social studies,
arithmetic,
and science. Nonacademic subjects taught include art and
handicrafts, music, homemaking, physical education, and
moral
education. Japanese language is the most emphasized
subject. The
complexity of the written language and the diversity of
its spoken
forms in educated speech require this early attention.
A new course of study was established in 1989, partly
as a
result of the education reform movement of the 1980s and
partly
because of ongoing curriculum review. Important changes
scheduled
were an increased number of hours devoted to Japanese
language, the
replacement of the social sciences course with a daily
life course-
-instruction for children on proper interaction with the
society
and environment around them--and an increased emphasis on
moral
education. While evidence is still inconclusive, it
appears that at
least some children are having difficulties with the
Japanese
language. New emphasis also was to be given in the
curriculum to
the national flag and the national anthem. The ministry
suggested
that the flag be flown and the national anthem sung at
important
school ceremonies. Because neither the flag nor the anthem
had been
legally designated as national symbols, and because of the
nationalistic wartime associations the two had in the
minds of some
citizens, this suggestion was greeted with some
opposition. The
revised history curriculum emphasized cultural legacies
and events
and the biographies of key figures. The ministry provided
a
proposed list of biographies, and there was some criticism
surrounding particular suggestions.
Elementary teachers are generally responsible for all
subjects,
and classes remain in one room for most activities.
Teachers are
well prepared. Most teachers, about 60 percent of the
total, are
women; but most principals and head teachers in elementary
schools
are men.
Teachers have ample teaching materials and audiovisual
equipment. There is an excellent system of educational
television
and radio, and almost all elementary schools use programs
prepared
by the School Education Division of Japan Broadcasting
Corporation
(Nippon Hoso Kyokai--NHK). In addition to broadcast media,
schools
increasingly are equipped with computers. Although only
6.5 percent
of public elementary schools had personal computers in
1986, by
1989 the number had passed 20 percent. The ministry is
greatly
concerned with this issue and planned much greater use of
such
equipment.
Virtually all elementary schoolchildren receive a full
lunch at
school. Although heavily subsidized by the government,
both
directly and indirectly, the program is not altogether
free. Full
meals usually consist of bread (or increasingly, of rice),
a main
dish, and milk. Although the program grew out of concern
in the
immediate postwar period for adequate nutrition, the
school lunch
is also important as a teaching device. Because there are
relatively few cafeterias in elementary schools, meals are
taken in
the classroom with the teacher, providing another informal
opportunity for teaching nutrition and health and good
eating
habits and social behavior. Frequently, students also are
responsible for serving the lunch and cleaning up.
Japanese elementary schooling is acknowledged both in
Japan and
abroad to be excellent, but not without some problems,
notably
increasing absenteeism and a declining but troublesome
number of
cases of bullying. In addition, special provision for the
many
young children returning to Japan from long absences
overseas is an
issue of major interest. The government also is concerned
with the
education of Japanese children residing abroad, and it
sends
teachers overseas to teach in Japanese schools.
Elementary school education is seen in Japan as
fundamental in
shaping a positive attitude toward lifelong education.
Regardless
of academic achievement, almost all children in elementary
school
are advanced to lower-secondary schools, the second of the
two
compulsory levels of education.
Data as of January 1994
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