As the term “juku” gets a through explanation…(yes it’s long. it’s a GOVERNMENT STUDY)
School after school
Juku
Academic juku
Attendance patterns
Teachers
Why juku flourish
Criticisms
Juku
Juku is the Japanese term for a large and diverse group of private, profitmaking tutorial, enrichment, remedial, preparatory, and cram schools found throughout the country.
>>>(Think Sylvan)
Most juku operate after school hours and on weekends. Juku parallel the official school system in a somewhat interdependent relationship. The Japanese scholar Kazuyuki Kitamura provides an insightful, though perhaps overstated, perspective on the relationship between juku and the regular school system:
The dominant values of the Japanese public primary school are egalitarianism and uniformity: Pupils are not classified according to their academic ability because all pupils are supposed to keep up with the progress of the class.
>>>(A opposed to our system where we tend to slow down the entire class for the slower students. They keep up the class speed and it’s up to the student and parents to keep up)
There they are taught by means of a nationally controlled, uniform curriculum. Despite its principles of egalitarianism and
uniformity, however, the school inevitably must produce high achievers and low achievers. The school and its teachers are unable to counter these disparities because they are bound by the two mandatory principles.
>>>(Which isn’t bad. It supplies the best education for the majority of the students. Our problem is that when teachers slow down the class’ progress in order to accommodate the slower students, the average and better students get frustrated and bored. That is one of the major reasons for our large drop out rate…student boredom.)
So high achievers who are dissatisfied with the progress of the school class attend a school where they can take more advanced classes, while [students with learning problems can attend] another type of school offering remedial classes. Then, thanks to the existence of these. . supporting institutions, the formal school can continue to function according to the principles of egalitarianism and uniformity. [1]
>>>(So instead of trying to privatize the public schools by using charter schools or making the majority of parents angry because of the limited seats available in magnet schools, the government should create a national system as described earlier and regulate, license, and encourage both of the other types of after-school schools)
The juku can be categorized into academic and nonacademic. The latter offer instruction for general enrichment purposes in a wide variety of subjects such as piano, the arts, abacus, and calligraphy. They are more extensively attended by younger children. The academic juku are the more prominent kind and assume increasing importance with each successive grade level.
Academic juku
Academic juku are a response to several realities in Japanese education:
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the need for supplementary instruction to enable many elementary and secondary students to keep pace with the demanding school curriculum, |
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the need for remedial instruction to help those who have fallen behind to catch up, and |
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the need for special assistance in preparing for entrance examinations for senior high schools and universities. |
Academic juku offer instruction in school subjects such as mathematics, Japanese language, science, English, and social studies. They help students review and prepare for regular school lessons as well as advance to the next level through preparation for entrance examinations.
>>>( Note the list of subjects that they instruct on…look familiar? )
Many juku provide both kinds of services as well as remedial assistance for those having difficulty with their school studies. The yobiko is a special category of juku which specializes in preparing high school students and graduates for university entrance examinations. It is described further in the section on upper secondary education.
>>>(Our ACT/SAT test schools)
Academic juku vary greatly in philosophy, ownership, physical plant, and scale of operation. There are one-room juku as well as
chains, some with branches enrolling more than 1,000 students and employing a faculty of 50 or more. The major corporate chains have immense total enrollments–at least one has more than 1,000,000 students nationwide. Some juku have gained reputations as elite institutions in their own right, and some of these even have entrance examinations, although usually more for class formation than for student selection. The typical juku is operated by a private individual with one or a few teachers. The most common form is essentially a one-room, one-teacher school.
>>>(Talk about opportunities for enterprising teachers…)
The juku enterprise today is a recent phenomenon, paralleling the expansion and development of secondary and higher education. The growth during the past two decades has been dramatic. A national survey conducted in 1976 found that 60 percent of the juku had been founded in the preceding decade. Fully 70 percent of today’s juku have been founded since
1976, nearly half of them since 1981. Estimates of the current number of academic juku differ widely, but recent Japanese figures put the total at at least 35,000.
>>>( See, the Japanese are open to taking opportunities that open up…we should as well)
Attendance patterns
Juku attendance has risen at all grade levels in the last decade. [2] Participation rates increase with grade level throughout the entire compulsory school period. National average attendance rates rise from 6.2 percent of all children in the 1st grade of
elementary school to 47.3 percent by the 3rd year of lower secondary school, with figures for large urban areas even higher. The figures for attendance by grade level are given in figure 4. Comparable detail is not available for the upper secondary years, but the overall participation rate is lower, in part because almost 30 percent of the students are now in vocational education
programs and, thus, out of the university entrance marathon.
>>>(This goes with the importance Japanese parents place on academic achievement.)
Figure 4: Juku Attendance
Rates by Grade Level Through Compulsory Education
< src=”images/jed4.h1.gif”>
Except for 9th graders, during the compulsory school years more students are enrolled in either a “catch-up” program or one
which helps students review and prepare for regular schoolwork than in one geared to examination preparation and advancement to the next higher educational level. As students advance through the higher elementary grades and into lower secondary school, there is a tendency for more students to enroll in preparatory and examination programs. By the last year of lower secondary school (9th grade), half of those enrolled are engaged in courses which help prepare them for high school entrance examinations.
Juku also perform an important social function for young people, providing opportunities for contact with peers outside their regular school context. The most common reason parents give for sending their child to juku is that the child wanted to attend. Many youngsters ask to attend because their friends or other neighborhood children do. Almost 40 percent of the children who go to juku say that one reason they like going is because they are able to make friends with other boys and girls.
>>>(Another good reason to encourage development of a similar system. Peer pressure to attend.)
Juku operators, too, often point to the opportunity children have to make new friends outside the school circle as one of the
merits of attendance. Besides peer contact, many children see juku as a positive experience because they are able to have more personal contact with their teachers.
In listing the education benefits of juku attendance, about half the students placed “gaining a better understanding of school
work” at the top of their list. About half of all elementary and lower secondary school students report that their main reason for attending is “preparation and review” of school studies.
Teachers
Juku teaching is usually a part-time proposition, but many juku employ some full-time teachers. In many cases, it is the more senior and experienced full-time teachers who teach the critical examination preparation classes or the courses in a juku’s particular specialty. A juku’s faculty and reputation are strong drawing cards.
Approximately one-third of all juku teachers are university students.
>>>(An entry level job for future teachers)
About 4 percent are teachers in high schools or institutions of higher education.
>>>(Nothing like making extra cash doing what you’re trained to do. More time teaching, better teachers)
Only 1 percent are elementary or lower secondary school teachers (a decline from 6 percent a decade ago, reflecting strong Ministry of Education admonitions to regular full-time teachers against also serving as juku instructors). About half of the remaining faculty members earned a teaching certificate during their university study, but have no teaching
experience in regular schools. Some apparently prefer employment in juku. Others may have been unsuccessful in securing a regular teaching position.
Why juku flourish
Beyond meeting the three academic needs noted earlier, juku provide a socially acceptable way for parents to fulfill their educational responsibilities as the child advances to a point in schooling where they can no longer provide adequate assistance at home.
>>>(“I can’t help junior with his homework anymore…it’s too advanced” or”I don’t have time”)
At the same time, juku offer parents, particularly mothers, an opportunity for their children to receive additional educational and social benefits in a supervised environment after school hours.
>>>(And we’re ALWAYS looking for ideas to keep children off the streets…)
Few parents wish to deny their offspring the opportunity to attend juku when the children of other parents are attending. Some parents feel they would be derelict in their duty as parents if they did not send their children to juku. This tendency reflects the values of the parents, and in many cases, the children, in wanting to participate in an activity recognized by
peer groups as important.
>>>(Again, society has an important role in making the acquiring of knowledge equivalent to being a good athlete)
There are reports of neighborhoods devoid of children after school because the youngsters are all in juku. Some regular school teachers complain that children no longer stay around after school because they have to go to their juku lessons. A child who does not attend may have no one to play with and may therefore ask to be sent.
>>>( What a great problem to have…)
To some observers, juku represent an attempt by parents to exercise and by some educators to provide meaningful measures of choice in Japanese education, particularly for children attending public schools. Some juku offer subject matter not available in the public school curriculum while others emphasize a special philosophical or ethical approach. A small number feature programs that are almost Spartan in their demands, presumably appealing to parents who want their children to be exposed to the most rigorous standards of discipline and self-denial.
Most juku, however, differ from public school practice primarily in the extent of personal attention provided. Juku are not limited to standardized or lockstep instructional approaches, but may use whatever methods they believe are most effective.
>>>(In other words, let the ‘free market’ experiment with methods of education. Those that work will profit…those that don’t will change.)
Many juku pride themselves on approaches which emphasize individual attention to student needs. In sharp contrast to standard public school practice, some juku even stress individual recognition as a motivational device. The free market in which juku operate provides a strong incentive for improving instructional effectiveness: better instructional performance produces more fee-paying students.
>>>(Which is where most incentive belongs. The public schools are responsible for educating the majority of students to the
best standard they can. )
Class organization is one area where juku exploit their flexibility. Not being required to keep all students of the same grade
together, they often group students by ability rather than grade level. Some juku regroup students frequently on the basis of periodic assessments of progress.
>>>( Again, that is a better arena to do this in. Parents worry about self-esteem? Keeping a class together through their schooling helps. )
Some juku emphasize self-instruction. They may use a programmed instruction approach where the student progresses at his or her own pace. In these schools, classes typically consist of children working by themselves while sitting together in the same room. Many juku are run by dedicated teachers who feel quite strongly that they offer a valid educational supplement to the instruction provided in public schools. Some juku might even be considered a form of experimental school run by professionals who develop original curricular materials and innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
>>>(Of course, those approaches that work really well can always be integrated into the public school system.)
The juku industry has become a big business. It has reached the 800 billion yen level annually (about 5 billion U.S. dollars) and is still growing. [3] Because of the commercial aspect of most juku, some critics have argued that they have profit rather than education at heart.
>>>(Sound like the criticism of charter schools, eh? )
Juku operators acknowledge that their schools operate in the marketplace, but point out that they have a legitimate range of educational services to sell for which there is great demand. A sizable proportion of parents obviously believe that juku are providing services which the public schools do not provide, which the parents believe their children need, and for which
they are willing to pay. Parents are free to go elsewhere if a juku is not meeting their needs or living up to its claims.
>>>( And that’s why these are private, not public)
Criticisms
Since juku attendance costs money, not all students are able to obtain their services. Hence juku introduce some inequality into what is nominally an egalitarian education system. Yet while some juku are expensive, most are affordable for most families. Juku cannot afford to price themselves beyond the reach of their potential clientele.
>>>(What the market will bear…)
Japanese parents are very concerned about doing whatever they can for their child’s education. If the rising enrollments in juku are any indication, cost is not yet a limiting factor for most parents. Juku clearly are given some priority in family budgeting.
>>>( As is private school tuition here. If public schools met the same standards that the Japanese can, it might give the option
of going to a ‘juku’ for what the student needs instead of paying a full tuition at a private school)
Juku fees depend on the grade level of the student, number of courses taken, and the amount of individual instruction involved. In 1985 the average family with one elementary child attending a juku paid an estimated 2 percent of family income in juku fees. For families where children took four courses, the fees averaged about 3.5 percent of family income. For student of lower secondary school age, the costs averaged about 2.4 per cent of family income. Home tutors tend to be considerably more expensive, and the number of families employing them is only a fraction of those sending their children to juku.
Some criticism has been expressed that when juku teach material in advance of the time it is taught in school there can be a
disruptive and negative effect on the classroom situation. But recent studies do not substantiate this view. Rather, in some areas of mathematics, for example, students who have attended juku do better than those who have not.
However, in other areas of mathematics there is little or no difference in performance between the two groups of students. [4]
Occasionally some juku, especially those oriented toward examination preparation, have engaged in deceptive advertising or made false claims concerning their ability to qualify students to pass entrance examinations.
>>>( Ah..free markets…)
Other juku, anxious to enroll more students, have sometimes tried to steal away talented students or teachers on the theory that the presence of a particular “star” at their school would attract other students and parents. Such unethical behavior
has reflected on juku overall. However, most juku reputations are gained from legitimate achievements.
Maintaining perspective
Throughout the entire elementary and secondary school span, over half the parents do not send their children to juku, some for reasons of cost, but probably more because they do not have the need for juku. The latter group believes the schools do an adequate job and that such supplementary services and experiences are unnecessary.
>>>( If our public schools were performing as well as the Japanese, perhaps the call for charter and magnet schools would quiet
down. No need for special schools if THE ENTIRE SYSTEM provides an equal education across the board.)
Many of these parents also feel that children ought to have more time at home to play when young and that they, the parents, are capable of providing whatever additional assistance the children may need with their studies.
If a student is not in juku, it does not mean that he or she is necessarily at a disadvantage in school. Other avenues of assistance are available. For example, self-help literature or supplemental texts and study guides, some produced by publishing houses associated with juku, are widely available on a commercial basis.
>>>( And we DO love our self-help books as well…)
Most items are moderately priced, generally in the range of 5 to 10 U.S. dollars. There is also a complete Correspondence High School of the Air course broadcast almost daily on the Japan Broadcasting Company’s educational radio and television channels. These programs are essentially free for the listening and many students do, in fact, use them to supplement their studies.
>>>( In other words, NPR and PBS could be assigned an additional channel for this use ONLY. They can broadcast subjects from K-14 commercial-free. (Subject to the regulations of the school system, of course. They’d basically be classes-at-home)
In school and juku as well as in study at home, Japanese children learn good study habits, strong self-discipline, and persistence on school achievement matters. But Japanese children do not study all the time nor do juku function solely as educational institutions. Many children enjoy their lessons and friends in juku and have further social contacts with peer groups in clubs and other activities outside of study situations.
>>>( Networking..always networking…. ; ) ))
Japanese children watch television, read comic books, and enjoy pop music. But they clearly work hard on their education both in and out of school.
to be continued….
Sidelined Buddah
Sidelined Buddah 