Why Is Achievement in Japan So High, and What May Be Some Implications?

The Situation

Imagine you are sitting at lunch one day with two of your friends. One of them has just read a newspaper article pointing out that Japanese students score much higher on science and math tests than U.S. students. The article also explains that Japan has a national curriculum dictating what will be taught in every classroom, that Japanese students attend schools many more days per year than American students, and that Japanese schools have very few discipline problems. Maybe these facts are the clue to school reform in the United States, your friend suggests.

You are inclined to agree, but it happens that your other friend at the lunch table spent part of her childhood in Japan. From her own experiences she describes some further differences. Teachers in Japan have very high status, she says, and they pay attention to their students' social relationships and moral development as well as academic needs.

You begin to wonder, then, whether such differences in teaching-rather than factors like curriculum and discipline-might be the keys to Japanese achievement. Is it possible to isolate the characteristics that count? Also, can they be copied in the United States, or are there too many differences between the societies for the same methods to work in both countries?

Thought Questions

1. Do you believe that our schools should try to use methods and approaches that appear to be successful in Japan and other countries? What might be some reasons for being cautious about such methods and approaches? What special problems might be encountered in trying to implement them?
2. What methods and approaches that are widely used in our schools do you think are most valuable for consideration elsewhere? What difficulties might educators in other countries experience in trying to introduce them?
3. Can you identify a method or approach that is relatively unique to a specific country or group of countries? What historical and social circumstances might account for its unique emergence?
4. Isn't teaching and learning the same everywhere? To the extent that this generalization is valid, why are there so many differences internationally? Is the generalization invalid?
5. When we examine educational systems in other parts of the world, should we be most concerned about assessing practices that have helped boost economic productivity or, instead, give priority to practices that are advancing social and economic equity? Which countries may be making an effort in both directions?