by Rio
Much like we have a Board of Education, Superintendents, and all kinds of people who determine what is taught at school in the US, Japan has the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education determines what academics should be taught at school and how much time is spent on those subjects. The textbooks to teach those subjects must also be approved by the Ministry of Education though teachers can buy outside sources as supplements to the courses being taught.
Going back to the academics, 24 of the 29 class periods are academic oriented while the remaining are free classes to be determined by the teacher and one period set aside for a weekly class meeting. For 1st Graders, they must set aside this amount of time for required academics set by the Ministry:
Japanese – 8 periods a week
Math – 4 periods a week
Social Studies – 2 periods a week
Science – 2 periods a week
Music – 2 periods a week
Art – one double period
Morals – 1 period a week
Physical Education – 3 periods a week
For 5th Graders, they have the following instead:
Japanese – 5 periods a week
Math – 5 periods a week
Social Studies - 3 periods a week
Science – 3 periods a week
Music – 2 periods a week
Morals – 1 period a week
Physical Education – 3 periods a week
Home Economics – 2 periods a week
Calligraphy – 1 period a week
Art – one double period
Open Class - 4 periods a week
There is also a required open assembly once a week on Tuesdays from 8:30 am – 8:50 am for the whole school either outside or inside at the gym depending on the weather. As I also mentioned previously, there is a required club meeting every Wednesday after school hours for students (not 1st graders).
It is a national policy that everyone passes their grade even though low scores may have been given to some underachieving students. Generally, 15% of the students have high grades while 75% have average grades with the last 10% achieving the lowest grades.
Also, attending high school is not required by young Japanese teenagers though a good 95% do enter high school to continue their education. The legal school-leaving age is after finishing 9th grade.
