Is school work in Japan generally more difficult than in America?
For a full year exchange student to Japan, would the work load be heavier than in high school in America? I would think that it would be since they're so strict but you never know. Obviously you have to improve your Japanese language and writing skills or completely learn them if you haven't already. Besides that though, what's the work load like and just the general difficulty level? The school that I go to, I usually stay late anyway. Not until 8 but maybe an hour or two before depending on what day of the week it is. It takes me a half an hour to get home so it's actually very close to that. Then I have to do my homework and we get a LOT of homework. Sometimes I don't get to sleep until morning. Then I have to get up at 4. I also get really good grades, always high 90's. I've heard that New York schools are a lot harder than most in North America. A couple of my friends moved to Florida and here they were just passing and there they were a high 90's student too. So I think in North America it depends on where you go too. Then I also have clubs and stuff to do on the weekends. So that actually isn't a very hectic schedule for me so far xP Oh yeah! In the winter our schools only run the heat in the morning and it gets in the negatives here. Then in the summer we don't even get air conditioning and it gets in the high 90's and 100's. Fun! @_@
Japan - 7 Answers
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1 :
ive noticed in north america school is quite easy. all my chinese friends tell me how much harder the cirriculm is and how much more they have to do. this isnt just in china and japan also in europe. north american school is easy, i think thats good ;)
2 :
It's difficult if you want to get perfect grades to have a shot at entering a top Japanese university, are a member of a club (and therefore coming home at least at 8 pm everyday without having even done your homework yet and have to go to club activities during the weekends) and that if you don't know any japanese they probably won't baby you. On the other hand, because Japan issues laws that every student has the right to get an education, they can still fail every subject they feel like and still graduate once they turn 18. I've heard Japanese schools have poor ventilation and become freezing ice boxes during the wintertime (you'll notice that female students will still wear skirts even during those months, it's crazy). I didn't do a lot of education in the US, but I found it to be ridiculously easy. Mexican schools (at least private school because I never attended a public one) actually force you to learn course material and have higher learning standards, especially in high school.
3 :
If your language skill in Japanese is capable enough to keep up with Japanese students, and you are serious enough, the amount of work would not be a big problem. It is not a matter of workload; it is a matter of your language skill that really counts. You need to pass all the exams of math, science, physics, chemistry, literature, sociology, history, etc, in Japanese language. I guess you are very smart student and you could easily get good grades if you take them in English. But when you take them in Japanese language, the story would be totally different. I am Japanese, and I do admire your courage and seriousness in trying this hard work. I really hope you can make it!
4 :
The difficulty of classroom work is not much higher, but students who want to do well in academics have to dedicate a lot more of their life to school work. University entrance exams require tonnes of study, and most students take some private lessons / cram school after class and on holidays. They also have to join school clubs, some of which demand many hours every week. And there are a lot of mandatory school functions to attend, too. On the other hand, if you decide you don't care about your academic future, you can skip all that because it's basically impossible to flunk out of high school in Japan.
5 :
Yes it is. If you don't do well in high school, you can't get into the college of your choice.Kids go to cram schools after school.
6 :
Not necessarily... The only difference is they have to try harder than we do to get into university and such. My Japanese friends said the work here (Canada) was MUCH harder than back home, however, they didn't work as much or as long. =]
7 :
Dittoing on the language ability. I think that would be the biggest factor as to how much work it will be. Also, I have no idea if the grades you'll receive transfer over when you move back home to the US. If you're not aiming for uni in Japan, you can enjoy more of your high school time there, since it's pretty much uni prep. The first years can goof off a bit, as can the second years, but the third years spend their year diligently studying for entrance exams, and once those are over, they don't go to school anymore. They also usually don't belong to clubs, as they need to spend their time studying for entrance exams. At a non-academic high school, it's probably different, as most students there are not going to go to university. So it depends what type of high school you end up at. Math, I think they're ahead. And of course, classes like History or Social studies will be different because it'll all be about Japan. Also ditto-ing that they'll pass you even if you fail. You've got to do spectacularly bad to fail a grade (less than 30% in 2 core courses at the school I taught English at; the marks in other courses didn't matter). Of course, that 30% can be a bit subjective. General work load though... if it's anything like English class, it's really not too bad. I told them what high school was like for me in Canada, after I said we didn't have uni entrance exams. That made them wish they were in Canada! Until they heard that universities look at your marks from high school - all of your classes. And often not just year 3, but usually your entire high school record. And that they prefer students who are well rounded, which meant volunteer work, sports, student council, etc. After that, every single student said they preferred the Japanese system, because they only had to "work hard" for their last year. School ended around 3pm, cleaning finished around 330. Not all the students cleaned; they took turns. If I was late at school, or went back for something, there was usually hardly anyone around at 8pm, and the doors are locked at 9pm. The few Rotary Exchange students I knew didn't have much homework as their Japanese wasn't good enough for most of the classes. One guy got to spend a lot of time in the library doing work to keep them from falling behind in their home country, chatting with the librarian, reading books, studying Japanese. Classes like gym, cooking, arts, obviously English, maybe math, he could take. His Japanese improved greatly, of course, but even then he didn't bother going to those classes, and the school didn't make him do it, either. If you've good work ethic, and know the language, I don't think the workload is that heavy. A lot of it is just maintaining the image.
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