Japanese Seek to Bolster Their Weak Universities

Japan’s education system, like its industry, isn’t satisfied by success and is striving to bolster its admittedly weak universities and to foster more analytical thinking, according to a major U.S. study of Japanese schools released today.

This move for education reform, which one U.S. expert called “the No. 1 domestic issue” in Japan, took off in 1983 when a Japanese national council decried the “state of desolation” in the nation’s schools. The “evil of uniform education,” proclaimed the council, caused the schools to put too much emphasis on memorizing facts and not enough focus on thinking and analysis.

Only a few months before this report was released, a comparable U.S. educational panel complained of the “rising tide of mediocrity” in American schools. However, in contrast to the Japanese council’s report, the U.S. panel urged more rigorous and uniform academic standards in America’s high schools.

“They are trying to loosen up while we’re trying to tighten up,” said U.S. Assistant Education Secretary C. Ronald Kimberling, a coordinator of the U.S. study.

Japanese leaders “know that, in the next generation, they can’t depend on American scientific research for their progress, so they see a need to encourage individuality and innovation in the schools,” Kimberling said.

This period of reform in Japan comes after four decades in which the Japanese education system was rebuilt along American lines--stressing equal education for all, rather than an elitist structure.

About 93% of Japanese students complete high school, and they do so with an average educational attainment that is roughly similar to what American students reach after two years of college. Japanese students rated first in math and science rankings of 18 nations completed in the last five years.

By contrast, in the United States, about 76% of students complete high school. And American students scored near the bottom in math and science when compared to those from other industrial nations.

The education studies resulted from a 1983 meeting between President Reagan and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who each saw a need to study the other’s education system.

In their reports, the nations found much to admire about each other. The U.S. study, for example, praises Japan for creating an educational ethic that encourages hard work and diligence.

“The Protestant ethic is alive and well in Japanese education,” Education Secretary William J. Bennett said in releasing the U.S. report.

Teachers Better Paid

In addition, while Japan spends slightly less of its gross national product on education, its teachers are better paid than teachers in the United States, Bennett noted.

But teachers in Japan also work a longer year and have larger classes. The median elementary school class in Japan had 36 students, well above the U.S. average of 25, the report said. And Japanese teachers are responsible for counseling students and preparing the curriculum, tasks usually handled by separate staffs in American schools.

In spite of the relatively heavy workload, however, there are “more than five applicants for each (teaching) position” in Japan, Bennett said. “It is a highly desirable profession, an honored job.”

A Key Dilemma

The Japanese report was not scheduled for release until Monday, but a brief summary made available in Washington said that Japanese officials were impressed by programs for gifted children in American schools and the scope and quality of university research. The summary also pointed out that most U.S. school reforms are undertaken by states.

The key dilemma confronted by American schools, the Japanese report says, is how “to achieve excellence while, at the same time, maintaining both equality and diversity.”

The 100-page U.S. report contains the following observations:

--Despite the well-publicized pressure of “exam hell” in Japan’s high schools, Japanese students are less likely to kill themselves than their American counterparts. “The suicide rate for Japanese for the 15-19 age group dropped 43% during the 1975-1984 decade, while that for the United States increased 17% and surpassed Japan’s,” the report said.

Comparison of Rates

Among those 10 to 14 years in age, the suicide rate was 0.7 per 100,000 in Japan in 1984, about half the U.S. rate of 1.3 per 100,000. Among those 15 to 19 years old, the rates were 5.5 per 100,000 in Japan and 9.0 in the United States.

--The Japanese school year is longer but not as long as often reported. A typical school year in Japan may extend 240 days, but this includes days set aside for sporting events, festivals and field trips. On Saturdays, students attend for half a day. The report concluded that Japanese students attend the equivalent of 195 school days per year, contrasted with 180 in the United States.

--Part-time jobs are frowned upon for Japanese students because they take away study time. Some high schools even prohibit students from working. One study found that only 21% of Japanese high school students worked part time during the school year, contrasted with 63% of U.S. students. Some Japanese schools set curfews for students, none of whom can obtain a driver’s license until age 18.

Universities Relaxed

--Although secondary school study is extremely demanding for Japanese students, university work tends to be relaxed and not particularly challenging, a pattern that is the reverse of the typical American education. “After a grueling period in upper secondary schools when they are preparing for university admission,” the report said, most students have “ample opportunity to ease off in college.”

--Upon leaving high school, 41% of Japanese students went on to post-secondary education in 1985, contrasted with 58% of American students. Despite some progress, the best universities in Japan remained male-dominated. Females accounted for 90% of the enrollment in two-year junior colleges but only 23% of the university enrollment.

--Few Japanese college students go on to graduate study. With a population about half that of the United States, Japan had only 65,000 students in graduate programs in all fields in 1984, contrasted with about 1.6 million in the United States. Most graduate students in Japan were preparing to teach in universities.

“Despite my loving criticisms of it,” Bennett said, “American higher education remains the standard for the world.”