Quote:
Originally Posted by Autumn Demon
I have a bunch of questions about what school is like in Japan.
How does a typical school day in Japan go structure wise? For example, in America it's common for middle and high schools to work on nine period days, where each period is a different class with different people. From watching anime it seems like it isn't like that at all in Japan, but rather each grade/year is divided up into classes (of how many students?) and each class spends the (entire?) day together learning from different teachers. Is that all correct? And also, does each class move from room to room depending on what they're learning or do the teachers move around and the students stay in the same classroom all day?
What are the core subjects in Japan? For example, in America I would say they are English, math, science, history, and foreign language.
Do students have a choice of which classes they take? For example in America students can often choose from many electives such as art, cooking, shop, band, chorus, orchestra, economics, journalism, computer science, statistics, psychology, etc.
Can students choose which second or third language they take? Which languages can students usually choose from?
Can students take advanced/honors courses?
Do elementary, jr. high, and high school all operate on trimester years?
I know high school isn't mandatory, but is it free for everyone?
What are the typical costs for private school and university?
Are grades important for getting into high school/university or is it just entrance exams that count?
The rest of the questions are more trivial:
About what percent of japanese schools have swimming pools and require their students to take swimming classes?
How many students would a typical elementary, jr. high, and high school have?
Are school grounds usually surrounded by walls with a gate at the entrance that closes when classes start?
Do most schools have flat roofs that students are allowed to go on?
Do all schools require students to do chores before and after school?
About what percent of schools require their students to wear uniforms?
Does every school have 7 mysteries?
How rare is it to see a teacher throw chalk at a student?
Do students really have to memorize square root values of non-perfect squares in math class? (The square root of 2 is 1.4142 for example.)
At what times does school usually start and end?
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read this =3 it answers most of your questions about subjects, costs, cleaning in classrooms etc.
http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/classroom.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Japan
other answers: schools have flat roofs yes but access to them normally isn't allowed
chores is only after school, though soemtimes you have to set the tables, chairs etc.
a school without uniforms is VERY rare
school is never free but you have to do highschool according to law (its the same here), it is after upper secondary highschool that you can stop studying to work fulltime or that you, during those last years do entrance exams for university. this is why japanese study so hard because getting in the best university is hard
schools there use three periods instead of four (so no trimester), 1st term is from April to mid July (depending on the summer holiday start date), second is late September to December and final term is from January to begin March with spring break followed. graduation is done in March and enrollment in April
swimming is very populair in highschools etc. there is always a swimming club (they are n.o. 1 picks for after school club activities)
students learn how to swim in kindergarden
as for the entrance exams, you take two tests. one is an actual test and int he second is an examination to see if you are capable to enrol, meanign they look at your older grades, if they are low then you won't be allowed to enter no matter how high you scored on yoru entrance exam