Why are Japanese Schools better than U.S. Schools

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Faith Looney
Mr. Stickle
English 10
10 October 2014

Ｗｈｙ ａｒｅ Ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ
Ｓｃｈｏｏｌｓ ｂｅｔｔｅｒ ｔｈａｎ
Ｕ。Ｓ。Ｓｃｈｏｏｌｓ
Not only does Japan spend less on education than the United States, but they are placed in the top three when it comes to the big education standards, reading, science, and math. The
United States doesn’t even come close. I’m sure that you have wondered why the United States is lacking in the education system. Why is it that we are always so low compared to the other countries? How are the Japanese any smarter than me? Its really simple, they aren’t. As a student in highschool I greatly worry about my future, often I would find myself looking at colleges and their entrance exams out of boredom. As a student who has moved from school to school, I have personally experienced the problems of the US education system. Although I haven't been to
Japan my self, I have studied how many different countries education systems work. Out of all of them I have found Japan to be the best. Not to mention my own personal obsession with the great country of Japan led me to learn even more about the education than any other country, and the more I learned the more I agreed with them. Now, to make my point clear, I am here to do two things, point out the flaws in the United States current education system, and explain to you how the Japanese education is the best.

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Faith Looney
Mr. Stickle
English 10
10 October 2014
It is a well known fact that the education system in the united states does not have a national curriculum, which is one of the main reasons why they rank so low. Each and every one of the 50 states have a different curriculum that is constantly changing, meaning that no one gets the same education. Not only that, but the education you receive greatly differs depending on the individual schools budget. In other words, you will receive a much better education in a rich school than in a tiny, poor, school. Its not that you are any stupider than the rich school, its just that you haven't been taught as much. In Japan, there is one curriculum that everyone is required to know, meaning that it is far more easier for someone to get into a college than if you were to come from a tiny low budget school in the southern states of the US. It is my own experience from transferring schools several times before, that I have noticed the large differences in the curriculums. One schools honor classes are the same as anothers regular classes. Some schools won't even study the same things at all, especially when it comes to things like history and science. Of course this confused me as a young student whenever I transferred schools. I would always either have learned it before or not have heard of it at all. These were all schools within the same area of the same state.
I would like to also point out something from a less educational point. Extracurricular activities. In Japan it is common for every student to be in one or two extra curricular activities, and this means more than just sports. These activities consist of things such as books, art, gardening, Fashion, cooking, and anything else you could possibly think of. Often times these

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Faith Looney
Mr. Stickle
English 10
10 October 2014 clubs are run by students who have a passion for something. There is little requirements to start such a club, often only needing a few members who want to join as well. Because of this there are often many different clubs to choose from. In the US, these things are rare, and clubs are hard to create. Even when they are, their activities are practically ran by the teachers, meaning that the students themselves have little creativity during these activities. The benefit of having such clubs should be obvious I think. It allows students to express themselves, and to be independant. They do not have a teacher leader, they have another student as the club leader who makes the club activities. They also allow for students to be individualistic. You can join clubs and do things that you yourself enjoy, not what's popular. Another thing I would like to point out is that these club activities give high school students something to do. It keeps bored students from running around and doing things that they probably shouldn’t, even during some weekends and summer vacation. For example, a student who goes to his Computer Programming club all day will be too busy to go out drinking with his friends, plus he would be able to do something he enjoys more. And, to be honest, US schools are lacking in the non sports related extracurricular activities. Finally I would like to mention the actual teaching methods. America is known for its unique teaching method that encourages the students to add in their own input, to ask questions, and to rely on the teacher. This is something the US is actually praised on, but once again I believe its one of the reasons we lack so much in the education department. The students will

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Faith Looney
Mr. Stickle
English 10
10 October 2014 take class time to ask questions and the teachers often focus on making class fun, more than they do on actually teaching. In Japan the teachers teach, and if a student is lost he either, figures it out, or he asks the teacher for help later. He doesn’t interrupt class to ask questions. This too is looked down upon because, if a student is lost, then he won’t be able to learn and the entire lesson from that moment on is pointless to him. However this is not the case, students can easily ask for help. There are also cram schools for students who are slower than others, or for students who want to study even more. However Japanese schools are still far better than US schools, why? because the students learn to figure things out themselves. They do not rely on the teacher as much, meaning they are able to learn things without a teacher. A skill that is very important in the real life, something that is much more important than just remembering facts, or relying on someone else to tell how things work.
Now allow me to summarize why I think the Japanese education system is far better than the United States. The Japanese national curriculum allows for students to all receive equal education that makes entering college both easier and more fair. Whereas the US education curriculum varies greatly. The after school activities in Japan allow for students to be more independant and express themselves. While the US hardly has anything thats not sports related.
Then finally, students learn how to learn, something I think is far more important than anything in school. A man who graduates from High school with all the knowledge he was taught would never be able to teach himself how to fix his radio unless he was taught by another. I know that it

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Faith Looney
Mr. Stickle
English 10
10 October 2014 is hard to convince an entire country to change its education system so drastically, I just wish that someday we can have a better education system, and that you understand that we need to change a few things.