It's Back to School time! Cultural post - about school in Japan, especially Elementary school

This article is provided by K-Mom (not Sister Parker the missionary)

From:  http://www.factrange.com/japanese-elementary-school-students-dont-get-exams-reach-grade-four/

Japanese elementary school students don’t get any exams until they reach grade four.

BY ARUN PANDEY · NOVEMBER 5, 2013

In Japan only requires nine years of compulsory education to students.
The Japanese education system consists of three years of elementary school, three years of middle school and three years of high school.
The Japanese make more of a big deal about the beginning of a child’s education career than the end.
Japanese elementary school students don’t get any Exams until they reach grade four because the goal for the first three years of schools is not to judge the child’s knowledge or learning, but to develop responsibility, establish good manners and to develop their character.
More Japanese elementary school students say they enjoy school than their American counterparts.

School Rules in Japan.

> Japanese schools have strict rules about fingernail length and hair styles.

> Students who have been caught cheating have had their heads shaved and have been expelled from school.

> They are taught to fold their jackets properly and always have tissue in one pocket and a handkerchief in the other. In school they learn to have three sharpened pencils with them and always have glue, rulers and erasers in their pencil boxes.

All primary school kids eat school lunches, and about 8 percent of middle school students do. Japanese students eat their lunches in the classrooms. there are no cafeterias in Japanese schools and help prepare and serve school lunches. Food is served from stainless serving trays and large pots by students, who sometimes wear surgical masks, aprons and hair protection.  The food is often prepared in a kitchen on one floor and transported to the classroom on special carts.

Souji (honorable cleaning) is a period of about 15 minutes each day when all activities come to a stop, mops and buckets appears and everyone get busy in cleaning up. Often the teachers and principals get on their hands and knees and join students.  Japanese schools don’t have any janitors because the students and staff do all the cleaning. Students in elementary school, middle school, and high school sweep the hall floors after lunch and before they go home at the end of the day. They also clean the windows, scrub the toilets and empty the trash cans under the supervision of student leaders.

  

The students in Japanese schools are generally better behaved and there are far fewer discipline problems than in the United States. Studies have also shown that Japanese students on average spend about one-third more time learning each class period than American students do.