Question:
Answer:
It's very mixed. For grades 1-12 they pack in 240 school days per year compared to 180 or so in Canada. With all that extra time they cover a lot more material. Since vacations are short they don't lose as much during vacations so there is less catch up at the beginning of each semester. There are usually three semesters. (Some schools have cut back the number of days but this is a recent development.)
The method of teaching focuses on rote learning or learning to apply formulae (algorithms) to problems. Independent and original thinking are discouraged. A large number of students are forced to attend extra classes (juku) on top of the heavy regular school load.
As a result of this the burnout rate is high. School becomes so fulfilling that students just don't care. Kids can suffer burnout like this from early grades.
To get into a top university students have to get into a top high school, middle school, elementary school, kindergarten. Top kindergartens have entrance exams and the little tykes have to be groomed for that. Kids who are not going to the top schools often come to the reasonable conclusion that it doesn't matter what they do in school because they are doomed to be hairdressers or taxi drivers anyway. (Apologies to hair dressers and taxi drivers)
So the few that are served by this system are really good but the rest are burnout cases or at best worker bees for Japanese companies.
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