Compare And Contrast American And Japanese Education

As American educators continue to disagree on the “best practices” for educating students, we are experiencing difficulty retaining effective teachers in high school classrooms. The failure to retain effective high school teachers contributes to the poor performance of American schools. As a result, high school students trail behind foreign students academically in Korea, China, and Finland. Retaining effective high school teachers should improve the academic performance of students and prepare them for success beyond high school.

I found the Differences and similarities of both educational systems very interesting. The United States educational system is has three levels however; some school districts may subdivide elementary and secondary students to create separate schools at the middle and junior high level. Once a child turns five they begin kindergarten and stay in elementary until they graduate. From there they attend junior high, grades 5 through 8. All students enter into High School for grades 9-12 and if they are successful, they graduate with a high school diploma and enter the workforce or pursue higher education.

With the development of the modern state, education has been a decisive factor in affecting the international status and impacts of a country. People pay more attention to education quality and provide advanced study facilities so that their country can have a faster development. With many conflicting different education forms, it is necessary to compare and contrast them for getting a better understanding of the education system in the world. The education here refers to teaching quality, different education level system, the policy and the well-being from the government about education. I will explain the similarities and differences about the education in Finnish and Japan.

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive” (Mahatma). Our culture identifies who we are and how we behave in social environments and provides us with a foundation in which to live our lives and raise our families. Each individual culture has certain customs and courtesies that are important. Exposure to the cultures of others can be intimidating and can leave a person feeling confused and unsure about how they fit in (Schaefer 60). Culture shock can leave a person feeling out of place in an unfamiliar culture (Schaefer 60). Our diverse societies demand understanding and acceptance of other cultures. Learning and understanding these cultures before being

Japanese education is very influential to the youth of Japan. It can affect students future and plays a big role in society today. Some people believe that students in Japan are better educated than the students in United States. While some people think this is not true, there are many strong reasons that prove this is accurate.

Since both the United States and Japan have very contrasting styles of education, many different outcomes arise from each of these styles. For instance, since the educational system of Japan is so strict and structured, students are gradually chiseled into very responsible and disciplined individuals who are very skilled when it comes to things such as standardized tests; however, much is unseen about this transformational process to the American eye. In Kyoko Mori’s essay “School,” her firsthand experience of the Japanese educational system is shared. She states that “You can never question the authority of the teacher, whom you address simply as ‘sensei,’ literally, ‘one whose life comes first’… The teacher is like the biblical God, whom you cannot name” (Mori 136). When authority cannot be questioned and is to be treated like God, how are students expected to comprehend every detail taught by their instructor? If the students can’t quite grasp an idea, how are they supposed to completely master it without the aid of their so-called “godly” instructors? The Japanese answer to this solution is simple: “Memorization and repeated practice” (Mori 132). In Japan, students are drilled into the ground by constant memorization and repeated practice, and without the aid of their teachers, they have to claw their way up a mountain to acquire every single answer.

Education is the foundation of a strong and productive individual as well as being the foundation for a strong and productive country. Any country that keeps its' people uneducated or does not help to educate them cannot hold them entirely responsible for their actions that result from their lack of education. The United States and Japan both feel very strongly about education and that they need to have well educated people. Both of these countries have educational systems that are similar in some ways and yet very different in other ways. Both the similarities and the differences of these two systems give light to how each of these countries go about educating its' people and how much each of these countries

Lizeth Galindo May 27, 2015 APWH/Period 2 Japan vs. United States How was the relationship of Japan and United States after Pearl Harbor? The whole world was thrown into wars in the late 1930’s. Countries fought one another with devastating consequences. Thousands of lives were ended in a matter of seconds and numerous generations were scarred for an eternity.

Because Japan and France both existed within the genre of feudal society, they shared many economic similarities. Both feudal systems had common qualities of fief organization, similar inheritance customs, taxing systems and issues with debt, and the lack of social mobility characteristic of feudalism.

For instance, in Korea their “pressure cooker”(24) style of education “school never stopped”(57). In comparison, Korean student typically went to school from 8am to sometimes 10-11pm, while in the United States generally school is from about 8am to usually at the latest 4pm. With this style of schooling the Koreans never use excuses found commonly in the United States such as, “the test was unfair or not everyone can be good at math”(57) instead their mindset was “You didn’t work hard enough”(57). While Ripley and Korean Education minister Lee Ju-Ho think this method is extreme she uses this comparison to show that their is no denying that working harder in school whether it be more rigorous or lengthy improves scores tremendously. In Finland the utopia of education, many comparisons were linked to the teachers as well as students. In Finland “all education schools were selective”(85) meaning that most finnish teachers had received “the highest levels of education in the world”(85), in comparison to the United States where an Oklahoma algebra one teacher’s college had “low standards and little rigor”(88). This comparison also shows how seriously foreign countries take teaching compared to the United States where “jobs were protected by powerful unions”(84). Many finnish kids also were

The division between the test scores of American and Asian high school students has recently become a matter of many debates in many circles. Often the conclusion is that the American system is not fulfilling its role of making competent citizens, and that America will soon be unable to compete in the global economic market. Before I discuss the differences between Western and Eastern attitudes towards education that feed this test score split, I will review an important factor that is often overlooked in these statistics. The school systems of Japan and Korea do not attempt to educate the entire population of the country. Instead, only the most successful grammar school students are chosen to go on to higher education. In contrast, America makes education beyond grammar school not only available but required. Therefore, while the test scores represent all of American children, they only represent a select number of Asian students.

The educational system differs throughout the world; its viewed and taught differently because of cultural differences. Many cultures view education as a necessity of life therefore family are strict and get more involved in there child’s education. Around the world, education is given to students to prepare them for their future. The American education is considered one of the strongest systems of education therefore many countries the American system. The American education system contains many differences and similarities to the foreign system of education; however, students in the American system are not as successful as those in foreign countries like Japan.

The comparison between Japanese and North American educational systems is often used. The Japanese system, along with other Asian cultures, places importance on the group and the interdependence of its members (Cole & Cole, 2001, p. 541). The North American model, in contrast, focuses on the ideals of individuality and independence (Cole & Cole, 2001, p.541). This contrast is due to a conflicting cultural/social structure and outlook of the world. Japanese look at the development of self as doubled sided: the inner self and the social or public self (Hoffman, 2000, p.307). Within the Japanese education system, the teacher's goal is to develop and cultivate both layers.

     For years, people have always felt that the Japanese school system was superior or more effective than that of the United States. Although some feel this way, others feel that the Japanese system is too strict and not flexible enough for those who may need extra help along the way. Through researching two different case studies, and also reading other materials, I have found many similarities along with many differences between the two, including teaching methods, overall emphases, and student involvement. Both countries have developed very effective and intricate systems of teaching, which compliment, and clash against one another. The Japanese system is not in all ways

The culture of a place is an integral part of its society whether that place is a remote Indian village in Brazil or a highly industrialized city in Western Europe. The culture of Japan fascinates people in the United States because, at first glance, it seems so different. Everything that characterizes the United States--newness, racial heterogeneity, vast territory, informality, and an ethic of individualism-- is absent in Japan. There, one finds an ancient and homogeneous society, an ethic that emphasizes the importance of groups, and a tradition of formal behavior governing every aspect of daily living, from drinking tea to saying hello. On the surface at least, U.S. and Japanese