Universities

Education in Japan and education in America are vastly different in numerous aspects, but today, I'll describe Japanese study habits and university entrance exams and compare them a bit to American ones.

Before I talk about universities, I've gotta look at the habits set in high school. Typically, American students must be able to analyze and interpret information, often inferring or utilizing critical thinking skills. While memorization does play a role, it can be a rather minute one, depending on what subject matter you are being tested on. For English, yes, you might be tested on obscure vocabulary (damn you GRE!), but other than that, there are far more sections where analysis is more important, such as reading comprehension and writing. Even in Math, where you might think relies more on rote memory because you must remember some formulas, you must still be able to show an understanding of how to apply the formulas when solving the problems. In the US, it seems that, if you have to memorize something, it is usually pertinent information.

This is in stark contrast to Japan, where everything is based on rote memorization. Everything is rote memory. Students will be tested on important things and obscure things. It is the student's duty to cram it all into his or her brain. They don't even have to understand what it means, but if they are able to write it out on the test, they'll get good grades. Critical thinking skills are largely ignored. This is painfully apparent in how most of the students will try to speak English...but that's beside the point.

The main point to take away from these contrasts is how important rote memory is in Japan.

For Japanese university entrance exams, rote memory is especially important. There are no critical thinking sections...I believe it is all multiple-choice answering. The students who remember the most get the best grades. Based on your score, you are given a selection of universities that you are able to attend. Essentially, if a student is able to memorize all of the information they learned in high school, they will get a top score on the public university entrance exam. This top score allows them to choose any public university in the country that they want to go to. This once-a-year test is very competitive, as many students are competing to get into just a few prestigious universities.

How different this is from American universities! American ones look at extracurricular activities, volunteer work, high school grades, essays, letters of recommendation, and standardized testing scores. Even if you excel in school, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll get into the top university.

Backtracking, the less famous Japanese private universities test multiple times a year. There are so many universities in Japan and only so many students to attend them...so these private schools want to be able to accept as many students as possible, often extending the entrance deadlines until the latest possible date to do so. More students = more money = happier universities! ...or something like that...

These private universities often have a little bit of a different requirement for testing, which I've found to be a little closer to the American style of testing (even if everything else about the test, including how to study for it, is still vastly Japanese). Certain English Departments at these private schools have a test only on English skills. They are required to listen, think, and analyze/infer information very quickly...which is very difficult for Japanese students to do. The passing rate of some of these entrance exams is far less than 50%, so I've been told.

Having said all of this, I can now say that I was on the train this past weekend when I received some amazing news! One of my students, Suzuka, had passed her college entrance examination!!!

She had been trying to get into the Foreign Languages Department at her dream university (a private university in Osaka) since I had met her. She didn't make it after the first round of private school testing...and, while she did decently on the public university test, she didn't want to go to any of the universities that were available to her. The last date that she could take her dream private university's test was on Akaho's graduation ceremony day...so she missed it to take her test.

After a long wait (even longer for her, I'd imagine), I heard back from her. I am so happy for her and I'm so proud of her!!! :] I was so happy, in fact, that I did a celebratory fist-pump and happy noise on the otherwise silent train. Normally, I would've been very embarrassed, but I didn't even care at all. I was just too happy for her!! ;)