Japan Schooling - what's it really like?

[Tats]

はじめまして！

So on my quest to relate Japanese to my college course, I was coerced/ended up on the topic of schools in Japan and how they differ from life in the UK.

Like anyone, I've heard the whole 'one classroom' system, April school year starts, seen the students sweeping the classroom in animes and cram school things; but is it actually like that? What subjects are taught? Is there core material, with additional extras? Is rote and repetition the only teaching method? Are there really that many cultural events held??????


Haha, so many questions.


If anyone has any experience with the education system in Japan, be it a week on an exchange program, teaching in a JET program or something of the like, or your actual schooling years: any questions you could answer/experiences you could share would be a great help.
Even a paragraph with odd notes or whatever would be fab!

よろしくおねがいします！

edit
...... and I cannot believe I looked over this post twice and spent school wrong.
*sinks into the ground in shame*

[MeLLeoNae]

haha...I sure know how Japanese schools are!

Though, I'm only part Japanese and the rest of me is FIlipino...I sooo kow how they're school system works since the Philippine school system is modeled more towards the Japanese than the American school systems (I don't know why everyone thinks that its designed more in favor of the US school systems)

ANyways...I don't know if everything about the Philippine school system is exactly the same as the Japanese ones...but considering that my former school, before I left for America, was run by a Japanese principal then I guess we've got some great similarities.

Okay...this is gonna be long...but lets look back at WWII...haha. Yeah it started there. Japanese occupation in the Phils. lasted for only 4 years, 'til the Americans liberated us. Little did people know, those 4 years changed a lot in the Phils.! esp the school systems.

We wear uniforms...like those sailor typed uniforms the Japanese girls wear. I remember wearing pleated skirts and wearing neck ties. Our socks had to be knee-high and we wore black shoes. Everything in there has to be uniformed. And oh...we wore school IDs!...if you don't wear them...you won't get into the school! The guys' uniform...well they wore polos (more like white dress shirts) sometimes with ties as well...sometimes they don't. Our P.E. uniforms were a shirt and jogging pants. Anyways, just soo you know. these uniforms were especially made by the school soo we would all look alike.

yes, like the Japanese, we stayed in one classroom. The teachers were the ones who moved around. I remember having 10-12 classes each day, each lasting 4 mins. long. School day starts from 7am-5pm...hehehe..yeah that long!!...if you have extra-curricualr activities...then that happens after 5. We also clean our classrooms like the Jpanese students do. We're assinged in cleaning groups in the beginning of the school year. One group per day cleans the classrrom.

Also, we have school cultural festivals like they do. Considering that the Phils. mostly comprises Catholics, Our school cultural festivals fall on the feast day of the saint of whatever the school is named after. FOr my part, Our school festival lasted for a week! (first week of December) It totally depends on the school,administration. Sometimes, if needed, we have Saturday classes as well. Saturday classes is kind of like the Cram schools in Japan.

We also have sports fest, where every student in each grade level competes. And oh, every grade leve is divided into sections. like 1A, 1B, 2A, 2b...and soo forth!

And oh, I remember having a couple fo Japanese friends as well. There's a lot of them in my school. I remember two of them...Sachiko and Yukiko Akai.


Anyways...We have clubs. They happen sometimes after school like the Japanese do and sometimes happens all day Friday.


hmm...thats all I could think of right now.... I sure miss those long school days!!....wearing those uniforms ...not like in here...we have to wear casual clothes (following the dress code of course)...Back there I don't have to worry about what I'm gonna be wearing the next day cause its already been picked out for me. haha

[MeLLeoNae]

and oh one more thing...we weren't allowed to wear makeup...no piercings...no dyeing of hair...boys' haricuts must be short and clean...just like the Jpaanese ...