Meiji Restoration: School Grades

Meiji Restoration[edit]
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the methods and structures of Western learning were adopted as
a means to make Japan a strong, modern nation. Students and even high-ranking government
officials were sent abroad to study, such as the Iwakura mission. Foreign scholars, the so-called o-
yatoi gaikokujin, were invited to teach at newly founded universities and military academies.
Compulsory education was introduced, mainly after the Prussian model. In order to aid in the
modernization the country, the Meiji government built a public library in 1872 modeled after Western
architecture. The Japan Library Association (or the JLA) was founded in 1892 to promote the library.
However, public education became the main focus of the Meiji government before they could
strengthen the library's presence in 1899.[16] By 1890, only 20 years after the resumption of full
international relations, Japan discontinued employment of the foreign consultants.[citation needed]
A modern concept of childhood emerged in Japan after 1850 as part of its engagement with the
West. Meiji period leaders decided the nation-state had the primary role in mobilizing individuals -
and children - in service of the state. The Western-style school was introduced as the agent to reach
that goal. By the 1890s, schools were generating new sensibilities regarding childhood.[17] After 1890
Japan had numerous reformers, child experts, magazine editors, and well-educated mothers who
bought into the new sensibility. They taught the upper middle class a model of childhood that
included children having their own space where they read children's books, played with educational
toys and, especially, devoted enormous time to school homework. These ideas rapidly disseminated
through all social classes.[18][19]
Post-WWII[edit]
After the defeat in World War II, the Allied occupation government set education reform as one of its
primary goals, to eradicate militarist teachings and convert Japan into a pacifist democracy. Nine
years of education was made mandatory, with six years in elementary education and three in junior
high as an emulation of the American educational system. A number of reforms were carried out in
the post-war period that aimed at easing the burden of entrance examinations, promoting
internationalization and information technologies, diversifying education and supporting lifelong
learning.[20][21]
In an effort to ease Japanese postwar sentiments, any nationalistic, militaristic, authoritarian, or anti-
American content was blackened from learning materials. This practice was known as suminuru, and
was used as the primary method of educational reform until newly fashioned texts, Kuni no ayumi
(Footsteps of the Nation), Nihon rekishi (Japanese History), and Minshushugi (Democracy) were
written by the Ministry of Education and Civil Information and Education Section.[22] The Ministry of
Education is now known as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology (MEXT) and is responsible for educational administration.[23]
In successive international assessment tests, Japan's fourth- and eighth-grade students have
consistently ranked in the top five globally in both mathematics and science
(see TIMSS).[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33]
Despite concerns that academic skills for Japanese students may have declined since the mid-
1990s,[34] Japan's students showed a significant improvement in math and science scores in the
2011 TIMSS survey, compared to the 2007 scores.[35]
School grades[edit]
The school year in Japan begins in April and classes are held from Monday to either Friday or
Saturday, depending on the school. The school year consists of two or three terms, which are
separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a six-week-long summer break.[36]
The year structure is summarized below:
Ag
Grade Educational establishments
e
6–
1
7
7–
2
8
8–
3
9
Elementary school
(小学校 shōgakkō)
9–
4 Compulsory Education
10
10 Special
– 5 school
11 (特別支援
学
校 Tokube
11 tsu-shien
– 6 gakkō)
12
12
– 1 (7th)
13
13 Junior high school/Lower secondary school

– 2 (8th) (中学校 chūgakkō)
14 Compulsory Education
14
– 3 (9th)
15
15
– 1 (10th)
16
16
Senior high school/Upper secondary school
– 2 (11th)
(高等学校 kōtōgakkō, abbr. 高校 kōkō)
17
College
17 of
– 3 (12th) technol
18 ogy
(高等専
門学
18 Medical Commun 校 kōtō
– School ity senmon
19 (医学 College gakkō,
部 Igaku- (短期大 abbr. 高
bu) 学 Tanki- 専 kōse
Veterinary daigaku, n)
school abbr. 短
Associat
(獣医学大 tandai
e's
部 Jūigaku- )
19
bu) Vocation
–
Dentistry al School
20
School (専門学
National
University: Undergr (歯学校 Senm
Academy
aduate 部 Shigaku- on-
(大学
(大学 daigaku; 学士 bu) gakkō)
校 daigak
課程 gakushi-katei) Pharmaceu
kō)
tical School
20 (薬学
– 部 Yakugak
21 u-bu)
Bachelor National
's Defense
Medical
(学 College
21
士 Gaku (防衛医科大
–
shi) 学校, Bōei
22
Ika
Daigakkō)

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Meiji Restoration[edit]

13 Junior high school/Lower secondary school

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