A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Perception of Ability Differences in Japan

Yoshihisa Abe, Douglas Trelfa, David Crystal, and Kazuo Kato

Historical Background

The roots of the perception of ability differences in modern Japan may be traced to the attitudes and beliefs of the political leaders of the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Before the Meiji government came to power in 1868, Japan was a federation of feudal domains and provincial warlords. The Meiji Restoration abolished the feudal domains and established a centralized government as well as a centralized education system.

The Meiji leaders regarded education as a crucial part of their plan to make Japan militarily strong and economically prosperous (fukoku kyohei seisaku). As such, education was not considered a natural right of all citizens but was seen as the tool that would forge the integration of diverse feudal loyalties to a technical elite. Therefore, the Meiji leaders gave priority to educating people so they could be useful to the nation, primarily as soldiers or workers.

The Imperial Rescript on Education (Kyoiku Chokugo), issued in 1890, set forth the main principles of modern Japanese education. The principles guided education in Japan until 1945. The essence of the message conveyed by the Rescript was that the goal of education is to promote harmony among the Japanese people. The document contains very little about individual achievement or the importance of cultivating the talents of the individual. Even after World War II, the view that education should be designed for developing Japan's human resources to contribute to the welfare of society—business and industry—has been strongly emphasized. Some educators suggest that individual differences in ability were de-emphasized, not because of Japan's "egalitarian" philosophy (Cummings 1980), but because of its societal needs.

Perceived Determinants of Ability

An indirect manifestation of the egalitarian philosophy may be seen in the strength of the Japanese belief in the importance of effort for academic achievement. Among elementary school students, for example, differences in school performance are thought to be due to differences in effort rather than in innate ability. Fukaya (1983) asked elementary school students to imagine that one of their classmates was not good at mathematics and to explain why they thought this might be the case. Seventy-seven percent of students said that the child was not listening to the teacher in class; 69 percent said that the child did not study at home; 16 percent said that the child did not have the innate ability to do mathematics. Similarly, Fukaya (1983) asked for explanations as to why a student was good at mathematics. Eighty-one percent said that the student studied hard at home; 79 percent said the student listened to the teacher in class; only 18 percent of students said that it was due to innate ability.

Abe (personal communication, 1994) suggests that beyond elementary school, when students enter junior high, and later high school, teachers and parents attribute differences in ability not only to effort but to a combination of factors including innate ability, effort, and the quality of instruction. However, in elementary school, the majority of parents place a great deal of emphasis on the quality of teaching. In fact, in elementary school, the quality of teaching may make a great difference in students' grades.

Given the increasing prevalence of single-parent households in Japan, teachers also include family environment, in addition to effort, ability, and quality of instruction, among the factors responsible for individual differences in academic performance. This is not to say that Japanese teachers disregard or ignore differences in ability. Based on an informal survey (Kato and Ando 1985), 95 percent of teachers acknowledged differences in individual ability, and 98 percent of teachers felt the need for more individualized modes of instruction.

In an effort to find an answer to that need, a conference was held in January of 1993 to discuss the question of the ideal student/teacher ratio so as to develop a variety of methods to deal with individual differences in ability. Participants in the conference submitted a report on this topic to the Ministry of Education. In this report, the authors argued that in order to facilitate a variety of educational methods for coping with individual differences in ability, and to create a better method for whole-class teaching, it was necessary to hire new teachers. New teachers, who would not be set in their ways, would be better able to respond flexibly to changing classroom situations and could actively carry out new methods of instruction, such as individual instruction, group instruction, and team teaching. The members of the conference hoped that such new teaching methods would more effectively address the issue of individual differences in ability (Kaneko 1993).

Teachers and Teaching Practices

The emphasis on student effort rather than on innate differences in ability has consequences for Japanese teachers. For example, elementary school teachers tend to teach to the whole class, relying on students to generate ideas and to evaluate the correctness of other students' responses (Stevenson and Stigler 1992). One of the most important results of de-emphasizing the role of ability is the manner in which elementary school teachers make effective use of errors. In a culture where effort is stressed, mistakes are interpreted as markers indicating where one needs to work harder. In a culture where ability is stressed, errors may be viewed as signs of "stupidity" or lack of ability. Japanese elementary school teachers use errors as effective learning tools by eliciting a wide variety of responses from students. They then analyze the faulty reasoning that led to the incorrect responses in an open and nonjudgmental manner, using the errors as material to help discover the misconceptions students might have about the problem at hand (Stevenson and Stigler 1992). Eliciting a variety of different answers also tends to encourage divergent and creative thinking in children.

Such nonjudgmental use of errors, however, disappears rapidly once students enter junior high and high school. In preparing students for high school and college entrance examinations, Japanese teachers stress the fact that there is only one right answer to the examination questions. Teaching practices, therefore, change dramatically when students leave the elementary school level. Rather than act as a guide who relies on students as sources of answers and reactions to the answers of others, the teacher becomes a lecturer, imparting information and evaluating the relevance of the students' responses.

Tracking in Japanese Schools

Tracking During Compulsory Education

One of the equalizing factors that distinguishes the Japanese system from other systems of education is the apparent lack of tracking that occurs throughout the years of compulsory education. Scholars who have studied Japan seem to agree that Japanese elementary and junior high schools do not track students or practice ability grouping (Cummings 1980; Stevenson and Stigler 1992; White 1987). Regardless of whether its basis lies in humanistic philosophy or political strategies, the Japanese system of compulsory public education during the 6 years of elementary and 3 years of middle school attempts to provide equal opportunities for all children. In terms of both access to schools and quality of instruction, the Japanese system provides a consistently high standard of elementary and middle school education to a very large percentage of its students.

Rohlen (1983) cites three reasons for the lack of tracking:

• The incomes of Japanese metropolitan areas tend to be uniform;

• Japanese compulsory education is guided by national standards and a curriculum set by the Japanese Ministry of Education; and

• Wide and inclusive administrative school districts allow an even distribution of resources among large numbers of schools.

Tracking at the High School Level

These scholars all point out, however, that the equal opportunities and experiences in Japanese elementary and junior high schools give way to an elaborate system of tracking and academic ranks that begins at the high school level. The gateway into this elaborate system of tracking is the high school entrance examination (kotogakko nyugaku shiken). The examination is administered by either the prefectural (ken), metropolitan (to), or city (shi) governments that finance and administer public schools under their jurisdiction. Scores on the high school entrance examination are used by high school teachers and administrators to allocate junior high school graduates to positions within local high schools. Throughout Japan local high schools are academically ranked, and students within high schools are tracked and placed into ability-grouped classrooms (Mimizuka 1986).

The main distinction in academic rank among Japanese high schools is the distinction between academic (futsukoko) and vocational (shokugyokoko) high schools. These two types of high schools have divergent educational missions. Academic high schools prepare students for the university entrance examination, while vocational high schools prepare students for immediate employment upon graduation. Generally, academic high schools are ranked above vocational high schools.

Table 5 presents the distribution of the lowest standardized scores of students admitted to positions in Tokyo area high schools by type of high school. This table shows that almost all vocational high schools accepted students who scored below the mean score on the Tokyo Metropolitan High School Entrance Examination in 1983, the latest date for which data are available. Most academic high schools, by contrast, did not take any students who scored below the mean.

Table 5—Distribution of the lowest-scoring student accepted by type of school for the Tokyo metropolitan area in 1983 (number of schools)

Normally, once quotas for the academic high schools have been filled, students who scored below the cutoff points are assigned positions in vocational high schools. However, table 5 shows that some overlap exists in the standardized scores of lowest-scoring students admitted between academic and vocational high schools. Dore and Sako (1989) estimate that this overlap in scores results in typically around 20 percent of the highest- scoring vocational high school students being within the range of academic high school students. Many of these higher-scoring students elect to attend vocational rather than academic high schools because of economic hardships in their families and the necessity of entering the labor force during or after high school graduation.

Ranking the Academic High Schools

In addition to the distinction between academic and vocational high schools, distinctions in academic ranking are also salient in Japanese society. Tsukada (1988) found that yobiko students were able to distinguish five ranks of academic high schools. From the highest to lowest these ranks are:

• The private super-elite;

• The national-liberal elite;

• The public-urban;

• The public-local; and

• The marginal-average high school.

The private super-elite academic high schools that send a high proportion of graduates to elite colleges are called shingakko. These schools are highly prestigious. One such high school, Nada, selected by Rohlen in his 1983 study, is nationally recognized and, during the 1970s, was often ranked by magazines as the "best" high school in Japan because a high proportion of its graduates were accepted into Tokyo University.

Ranking the Vocational High Schools

Distinctions also exist among vocational high schools. Japan has two main types of vocational high schools, the industrial high school (kogyokoko) and the commercial high school (shogyokoko). Industrial high schools are primarily male-only institutions, and typically are ranked somewhat higher than commercial high schools, which are predominantly female.

Other common types of vocational high schools are agricultural (nogyokoko) and marine (suisankoko). These schools tend to have the lowest-ranking of all types of vocational high schools. It is important, however, to consider the academic ranking of each vocational high school, since some vocational high schools may be ranked higher than academic high schools.

Ranking Private and Public High Schools

Private high schools exist alongside those in the public system, although few elite private high schools, such as Nada, are highly visible and prestigious. Most private high schools in Japan tend to be ranked lower than public high schools, and students and parents prefer public high schools (Rohlen 1983).

Ability Grouping Within Schools

As mentioned previously, students in Japanese elementary and junior high schools are not tracked or placed into ability groupings. However, an elaborate system of academically ranked high schools exists. In addition to this ranking system, many Japanese high schools practice ability grouping and tracking among their students. In a nationally representative sample of 1,911 academic high schools in 1983 (response rate = 51.4 percent), Mimizuka (1986) found that 59 percent of the private and 42 percent of the public high schools practiced some form of ability grouping, and 48 percent of all high schools practiced some form of tracking.

Methods of Ability Grouping

According to Mimizuka (1986), two distinct types of ability grouping systems are practiced in Japanese high schools: banding and setting.

• Banding: This system tracks students from the moment they enter high school. In the banding system, high school entrance examination scores are used to place students into homerooms with students of similar ability. Thus, the homeroom itself is the ability grouping, and students are consequently tracked in all subjects.

• Setting: Schools using this system begin tracking students sometime after they enter high school. Scores on midterm examinations given in the first year of high school are normally used to assign students to different tracks in classes such as mathematics and English. Since the homeroom is not tracked by student ability, students within the same homeroom may be in one level in mathematics and another level in English.

Of the two types of ability grouping, setting is the more common, with 23 percent of high schools practicing setting and 9 percent practicing banding in the 10th grade.

Mimizuka (1986) reports that in a survey of ability grouping practices in the 10th grade, 64 percent of the schools that responded to the survey indicated that they did not practice ability grouping at all in this grade. Of these, 40 percent indicated that they felt such groupings are necessary, and 44 percent proposed these ability groupings at employee meetings (shokuiinkai) during the 3 years prior to the survey.

The remaining 36 percent that practice some form of ability grouping give different reasons for practicing banding versus setting. Banding was cited as a way to increase the percentage of their students entering college. Banding, therefore, seems to be a method for schools seeking to improve the aggregate performance of their students on the university entrance examination. Setting, on the other hand, is a way for high schools to respond to the variance in ability among their students.

Tracking Within Japanese High Schools: Ruikei

Mimizuka (1986) found several types of tracking systems (ruikei) in Japanese high schools. Generally, ruikei are divided into school advancement (shingaku) and employment (shushoku) ruikei. In spite of the functional differentiation between academic and vocational high schools in Japan, a large proportion of academic high school students are not college bound and, consequently, can be found in the employment track. Fourteen percent of high schools begin using school advancement or employment tracking in the 10th and 11th grade, and 8 percent begin in the 12th grade. Some Japanese high schools track students into humanities (bunkei) and sciences/mathematics (risukei) tracks.

A small fraction of Japanese high schools use national university or public university tracks. Students seeking entrance to national universities are placed in the national university tracks; public university aspirants are placed in the public university tracks. Seven percent of the high schools in Mimizuka's sample (1986) had national and public university tracks.

Tracking and Ability Grouping

According to Mimizuka (1986), the types of tracking and ability grouping practiced by Japanese high schools are determined by several factors. First, Mimizuka found that major cities with populations over 100,000 were somewhat more likely than smaller cities to practice ability grouping (47 percent versus 40 percent). In some prefectures, all the schools practiced ability grouping; in other prefectures, as few as 20 percent of schools engaged in such a practice. Schools ranked in the lower four-fifths of high schools were almost twice as likely to have ability grouping as schools in the top fifth. In addition, schools with a high variation of ability among students were more likely to practice ability grouping than schools with less variability among students.

Remedial Programs

Because tracking is generally not practiced in Japan during the years of compulsory education, the question of how to deal with children who have physical, emotional, or mental disabilities presents a particularly difficult problem for the Japanese education system.

For slow learners. By law, classes are provided for students who are "disturbed" or seriously handicapped, but not for those regarded as slow learners. In some schools with a more flexible administration, teachers give individual instruction to slow-learning students whenever the teachers are not in front of a classroom, such as after lunch, during recesses, or after school.

For students who are learning disabled. Similarly, no official special classes exist for children who are learning disabled (gakushu shogaiji). In Japan, research on the definition and diagnostic method regarding learning disabilities has started only recently. The Ministry of Education is currently working on developing a more elaborate program for assessment of learning disabilities. At the present time, the most that is done for children suspected of having a learning disability is to place them in special classes for children with language problems (tsukyu shido kyoshitsu); these classes were legalized in 1993. Here, students with a minor problem can get special instruction while attending regular classes.

For children who are psychologically disturbed. Children who are psychologically disturbed (seishin shogaiji) are those with emotional problems, such as school refusal, autism, and neurotic behaviors caused by psychological or environmental factors. In Japan these children are also termed jocho shogaiji (emotionally disturbed).

If their symptoms are severe, they are put into a special school for children who are physically or mentally fragile (byojaku yobo gakko). As of May 1993, there were 97 schools of this kind, attached to medical institutions. These schools generally accommodate students with heart disease, kidney disease, and asthma, but in recent years they have admitted more children with emotional disturbances.

If the degree of emotional disturbance is not severe, these children are placed in special classes. As of May 1993, there were 3,731 classes of this kind in the elementary and junior high schools of Japan. Furthermore, in recent years, some prefectures have established special classes known as Special Instruction Classrooms (Tokubetsu Shido Kyoshitsu) for children with emotional disturbances, particularly for those who refuse to attend school. These classes are often located physically outside the school.

Special Education for Children with Disabilities

The system. Implementing special classes for children with disabilities is a more complicated matter. In 1993 Japan established a system in which education for such children is provided primarily in special education classes within elementary and junior high schools and within special schools. Since then, a number of laws have been passed that set the guidelines for the creation of therapeutically oriented classes. According to these laws, elementary, junior high, and high schools are allowed to establish classes for students who fall into one of the following categories: mentally retarded, physically handicapped, physically fragile, visually impaired, hearing impaired, or having other physical or psychological problems judged to be appropriate for special education.

In addition, special education curricula may be developed for children with disabilities who attend regular classes in elementary and junior high schools. These students are allowed to receive supplementary instruction for each subject and special guidance necessary for their psychological and physical problems through attendance in the resource room.

There are also special schools for children who are mentally retarded, physically fragile, visually impaired, and hearing impaired. Generally, the children placed in these schools are severely handicapped. Students with milder forms of these disabilities are, as much as possible, mainstreamed into regular classrooms.

In the 1992 school year, the proportion of students in special education classes was 0.37 percent, and the percentage of students in special education schools throughout Japan was 0.46 percent (for a total of 0.83 percent).

As of May 1993, there were 191 schools for students with physical handicaps throughout Japan (shitai fujiyu yobo gakko). There were 552 classes (including elementary and junior high school) for such children (shitai fujiyu tokushu gakkyu). The students in these classes spend most of their time in regular classes and a fixed number of hours in special classes. Among children who received special education in 1993, most were mentally retarded; other common disabilities, in order of occurrence, were physically handicap, emotional disturbance, hearing impairment, physical fragility, speech impairment, and visual impairment.

Admissions. Children usually enter special education classes through the following procedure:

• Teachers in regular classes refer students thought to have handicaps to the Committee for Guidance of School Enrollment (Konai Shugaku Shido Iinkai);

• This committee administers tests individually to the target children (in case the testing cannot be administered in school, the committee will refer them to a counseling center for children or to a special education center for assessment); after reviewing the results of the assessment, the committee makes a decision about whether the child should be placed in special education classes. After the decision is made, the committee sends its recommendation and the assessment results to the Municipal Committee for Enrollment Guidance;

• The Municipal Committee also makes a decision as to the appropriateness of the recommendation given by the School Committee; and

• The principal of the school informs the parents of the child of the results of the committee's decision.

In recent years, there has been a vigorous debate over the issue of special education classes for children with disabilities. One of the most contentious questions, over which a number of legal battles have been fought, is whether parents have the right to decide for themselves whether to send their child to regular or special education classes. Legal decisions in this regard have varied depending on the case. Some decisions have affirmed the legal right of the Board of Education to force a child to enter special education classes. Other decisions have supported parents' rights to make that choice. In many cases, the Board of Education will try to respect the wishes of the parents in this matter, and often parents will opt to mainstream their child. For example, in one city, one-third of the parents did not accept the advice given them regarding the placement of their child, and sent him or her to regular classes.

Special education teachers. Although there are relatively few special education classes in the Japanese public school system, there are special education teachers for children with disabilities. As special education instructors, these elementary and junior high school teachers receive a salary 8 percent above the wages of high school teachers. Because the salaries for the special education teachers are higher than those for the regular teachers, it follows that the education expenditure for one special education student is much higher than that for a regular student. In fact, extra funding is required for special education classes to pay for teachers' salaries. There is a fixed student-teacher ratio for special education classes and schools. In regular classes, the ratio is usually 1:40, but for special education classes in a regular school, the ratio is 1:10. For special education classes in special schools, the ratio is 1:7. For children with serious or multiple handicaps, the ratio is 1:3. These ratios vary slightly depending on the prefecture.

Programs for Gifted Students

Because of the focus on group learning and the effort to avoid elitism, special classes for gifted students do not exist in Japan at the elementary and middle school levels. Divergent student interests and abilities are given more consideration at the high school level, where tracking and ability grouping are often practiced in the manner described above. However, despite the fairly widespread use of tracking in high schools, parents and educators are suspicious of and hostile toward any system that appears to foster "elite education" (Stevenson, Lee, and Chen 1994). For this reason, there are no official programs or special classes for students who exhibit exceptionally high intelligence or academic ability.

Summary

The perception of ability differences in Japan is rooted in the political philosophy of the Meiji Era, which viewed equal access to education as a means of forging a united nation rather than of developing the potential of the individual. An indirect manifestation of this philosophy may be seen in the strength of the Japanese belief in the importance of effort in academic achievement. This belief is especially strong as it applies to academic performance in elementary school.

Despite the emphasis on effort and group learning, there has recently been a growing awareness that individual differences in ability need to be given more attention in the classroom. As a result of a conference on this issue held at the beginning of 1993, it was decided that almost 17,000 teachers would be dispatched into the school system to aid in team teaching.

One of the factors that distinguishes the Japanese system from other systems of education, such as that of the United States, is the apparent lack of tracking that occurs throughout the years of compulsory education. Scholars who have studied Japan concur that Japanese elementary and junior high schools do not track students or practice ability grouping. These scholars also agree, however, that the relatively egalitarian compulsory education system gives way to an elaborate system of tracking that begins at the high school level. The gateway into this elaborate system of tracking is the high school entrance examination, and later, the college entrance examination.

Because tracking is generally not practiced in Japan during the years of compulsory education, the question of how to deal with children who have special needs presents a difficult problem. Schools are not legally required to provide for students who are regarded as slow learners. Similarly, there are no "official" special classes for children who are learning disabled. Students with severe emotional problems are put into a special school for physically or mentally fragile children.

There are special education schools and classes for students who are mentally and physically handicapped, although there is heated debate over who should decide whether to place a student in special education classes. In 1993 laws were passed that set guidelines for the creation of therapeutically oriented classes. These included children who are mentally retarded, physically handicapped, physically fragile, have visual or hearing impairments, or are otherwise deemed to have conditions appropriate for special education. In 1992, 0.83 percent of Japanese students were enrolled in special education schools or classes.

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[Components of National Educational Standards in Japan - References]

[The Perception of Ability Differences in Japan - References]