The Japanese High School

For large numbers of school students in Japan school has become a battle field. Recent violent events in schools, together with increasing drop-out rates and bullying are undermining stereotypes about the effectiveness of the Japanese education system. This incisive and original book looks at Japanese high school from a student perspective and contextualises this educational turmoil within the broader picture of Japans troubled economic and political life.

". . . Rohlen's book achieves exciting conjectural stances while providing us with rich and trustworthy substantive data and description. His treatment of schools as 'moral communities,' his call for new, culturally sensitive definitions of moral and creative goals in children's education, his interest in the consensus between parent, school, and society which underlies effective schooling are reason alone why this book should be read by anyone interested in the context and future of any educational system ... A splendid book for non-specialists, as well as for policymakers ... " --Merry T. White, The Review of Education "Rohlen uses education as the entering wedge for a good understanding of Japanese society in general. That the author was sensitive to and appreciative of Japanese ways is evident throughout." --Eloise Lee Leiterman, Christian Science Monitor "Never have I encountered a work on modem Japan which so skillfully captures what is intrinsically unique about the society. Indeed, Rohlen proves that comparative education need not be a litany of lifeless facts." --Linda Joffe, London Times Educational Supplement "On the basis of fourteen months of fieldwork in five Japanese high schools, the author integrates observation of the schools themselves with discussion of their relationships to higher education and society at large. . . . Rowen's conclusions offer insightful contributions to the current debate on secondary education in the United States." --Harvard Educational Review "The best introduction for many a year into the cultural mainsprings of Japanese society, the principles of its organization, and the way its citizens think and feel." --Ronald P. Dore, Journal of Japanese Studies This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1983. ". . . Rohlen's book achieves exciting conjectural stances while providing us with rich and trustworthy substantive data and description. His treatment of schools as 'moral communities,' his call for new, culturally sensitive definitions of moral and crea

Japanese for American High School Students: Book 1 provides a comprehensive, programmatic, and student-oriented two-year course of instruction. Each lesson strengthens and reinforces the instructional material with numerous and varied fun-filled activities to engage and energize students. The content of each lesson is also structured to present a virtual teacher's guide, especially useful for new or less experienced teachers. Instruction is presented through a wide variety of means, including dialogues, essays, stories, oral practice, review sections, skits, songs, and games. A wealth of written and oral exercises not only make the teacher's task easier but also constitute a built-in workbook. A dedicated website includes audio files and other valuable materials keyed to the text. The author drew on 20 years of experience in teaching Japanese to American high school students. The text reflects her hard-won understanding of the critical assistance that teachers need the most: step-by-step guidance with daily lessons, tried-and-true methods of inspiring students, and pedagogical approaches that actually work in today's classroom.

Benjamin dismantles Americans' preconceived notions of the Japanese education system "Gail R. Benjamin reaches beyond predictable images of authoritarian Japanese educators and automaton schoolchildren to show the advantages and disadvantages of a system remarkably different from the American one..."—The New York Times Book Review Americans regard the Japanese educational system and the lives of Japanese children with a mixture of awe and indignance. We respect a system that produces higher literacy rates and superior math skills, but we reject the excesses of a system that leaves children with little free time and few outlets for creativity and self-expression. In Japanese Lessons, Gail R. Benjamin recounts her experiences as a American parent with two children in a Japanese elementary school. An anthropologist, Benjamin successfully weds the roles of observer and parent, illuminating the strengths of the Japanese system and suggesting ways in which Americans might learn from it. With an anthropologist's keen eye, Benjamin takes us through a full year in a Japanese public elementary school, bringing us into the classroom with its comforting structure, lively participation, varied teaching styles, and non-authoritarian teachers. We follow the children on class trips and Sports Days and through the rigors of summer vacation homework. We share the experiences of her young son and daughter as they react to Japanese schools, friends, and teachers. Through Benjamin we learn what it means to be a mother in Japan--how minute details, such as the way mothers prepare lunches for children, reflect cultural understandings of family and education.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is the best book on the Japanese school, and especially on the underlying concepts. As such it is one of the most important books on Japanese society. Peter Drucker Benjamin Duke knows both American and Japanese education intimately. His analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each is compelling. Everyone interested in Japan's economic performance over the past generation--and the next--needs to examine The Japanese School. Mike Mansfield, U.S. Ambassador to Japan

Kanji From Zero! isn't just another kanji reference book, instead, it's designed to give genuine insight into kanji, the associated Japanese culture, and related Japanese words that other books often ignore.

Most American visitors to Japanese senior high schools have observed only the very best public academic schools in the nation. Two-thirds of Japanese students attend other schools. This book presents findings of a case study that focused on the 12th-grade experience in a Japanese public general high school. The data were supplemented by visits to a dozen other secondary schools. The book discusses some important points of Japanese secondary education: (1) which is more important, group citizenship or examination passage, and (2) which is stressed more in Japanese high schools, student individualism or common fundamental academic ability? Following the introduction, chapter 2 describes the varieties of Japanese high schools and chapter 3 provides an overview of the 12th-grade curriculum and schedule. Instructional strategies are outlined in the fourth chapter. The fifth chapter explains the goals of Japanese secondary schools: inculcating group citizenship and passing a university-entrance examination. The characteristics and perspectives of Japanese students are compared to those of their American counterparts in chapter 6. The seventh chapter concludes that Japanese education will not provide American educators with solutions to the problems found in U.S. schools. The study found that the educational experiences of Japanese secondary school students in the public academic secondary schools seemed totally shaped by an all-important educational quartet: the development of group citizenship; a national curriculum; memorization-oriented instructional strategies; and the all-consuming importance of the university-entrance examination. A Japanese secondary school teacher and a university professor respond to the book in the final chapter. Two figures are included. (Contains 10 references.) (LMI)

This comprehensive study of the Japanese education system follows the Japanese child from the kindergarten, through the progressively more arduous and competitive environments of the elementary, middle and high schools, to the relative relaxation, even hedonism, of university life. Drawing on numerous surveys and on the author's personal experience, it provides a wealth of information on teaching methodologies, discipline, class sizes, the school day, assessment and the national curriculum. It also examines the role of the central Ministry of Education and the local boards in administering education throughout the country, and outlines and assesses the government's recent programs of educational reform. The behavior, attitudes and expectations of pupils and parents are discussed in detail, and placed within their political, social and historical context, revealing the complex cultural assumptions determining learning and socialization in Japan. This study thus contributes to the efforts of educators and sociologists to understand and evaluate different approaches to education in diverse cultures, increasingly important in the global information age. It shows how the American and Japanese education systems are based on fundamentally different concepts of society: democratic individualism and hierarchic collectivism respectively. While discussing the positive and negative effects of each extreme, it suggests that American educators might learn from a system in which truancy, insolence, violence and drug abuse are comparatively rare. However, the study shows how the traditional ideals of Japanese education - unquestioning acceptance, self-sacrifice, and respect for superiors - face serious challenges in a time of globalization, and moral, social and cultural change.