Quality & Quantity of Japanese Schooling

In Japan, children are only required to complete nine years of compulsory education, from age six through age fifteen. Compulsory education in Japan, like in the United States, is free. Public schools are completely funded by the government, mostly the Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture, commonly known as the Ministry of Education.

Funding for compulsory education in Japan differs from the system used in the United States. In America, schools are funded by local taxes. In Japan, the financial responsibility for compulsory schools is shared by the national, prefectural and municipal governments. (Prefectures are about the size of small or medium states.) The various governmental entities that finance education in Japan raise their funds from taxes and other sources.

The national government equalizes the funds that the prefectures and municipalities receive so that gross inequities do not occur. The national subsidies cover a portion of the cost of salaries and allowances for educational personnel at compulsory schools and special schools, teaching equipment, and school construction. Likew

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hools and ultimately prestigious colleges or universities. As mentioned above, the top-ranking universities are public institutions, and relatively few slots are available. Likewise, the Japanese government is not compelled to provide space for all students seeking entry into public high schools, many of which act as feeder schools to the top colleges. The private sector meets the excess demand at both the secondary and post-secondary levels: "The private sector can thus be seen as 'the other side of the coin' from what the government decided it would provide. The government left major gaps, which the private sector promptly filled" (James and Benjamin, 1988, pp. 55-56). The situation in higher education Japan is the reverse of the education system in the United States. In America, after World War II, the federal government met the excess demand for education by funding public universities. Private universities like Harvard and Princeton are among America's most elite, although some public universities like University of California, Berkeley are equally prestigious. In Japan, with few exceptions, the private colleges and universities represent the less desirable alternatives. Private schools are a profitable enterprise
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Approximate Word count = 3806
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)

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