Figure 1.--These are students at a private school in Tokyo. Like virtually all private schools, the students wear uniforms. This is the first day of school and the new arrival have been assigned to older children to help them get adjustefd. All the children wear the school uniform, but the new children have tags. .

Most Japanese children go to the country's excellent state schools.  Japan has one of the premier educational systems in he world. Nor is religion a major concern among Japanese parents. As a result, few Japanese parents see the need to enroll their children in private schools. The private sector is relatively small, except for after school cram schools.  Japan does not have the deep-seated social problems and resulting serious discipline standards in its schools that face American and some European parents--causing them to flee the state system. Japanese schools have high standards and produce excellent results The Japanese schools are especially notable for obtaining excellent results with students from low-income families. Here parents may be at least as important if not more so than the schools. Japanese schools have been criticized, however, for the great pressure put upon students and the failure to engender creative thought.

State Schools

Most Japanese children go to the country's excellent state schools.  Japan has one of the premier educational systems in he world. Nor is religion a major concern among Japanese parents. As a result, few Japanese parents see the need to enroll their children in private schools. Japan does not have the deep-seated social problems and resulting serious discipline standards in its schools that face American and some European parents--causing them to flee the state system. Japanese schools have high standards and produce excellent results The Japanese schools are especially notable for obtaining excellent results with students from low-income families. Here parents may be at least as important if not more so than the schools. Japanese schools have been criticized, however, for the great pressure put upon students and the failure to engender creative thought. Most state primary schools are coed. Secondary schools are mosly single gender schools , but an increasing number are coed. State primary schools vary in their approach to school wear. Most do not require uniforms, but about a third do. There are a variety of styles. Almost all secondary schools do require uniforms.

Private Schools

The private sector is relatively small, except for after school cram schools.  There are a small number of prestigious private schools in Japan. They are for the most part academically rigorous. Almost all of the private schools require uniforms. An example of a private school uniform can be seen herev (figure 1). Most of the private schools are single gender schools. Several of the schools have interesting historical origins.

Created: May 7, 2004
Last updated: May 7, 2004