Intense Years: How Japanese Adolescents

This volume examines the lives of young adolescents in Japanese middle schools, focusing on the dynamics of school, family, and social life, and explores the change from child to adolescent that takes place in the middle school years. We discuss several themes which play a major role in how Japanese adolescents deal with school, academic pressure, social maturation, social hierarchy, personality development, and the development of gender identity.

Gerald K. LeTendre is Assistant Professor in the Department of Education Policy Studies and Chair of the Comparative and International Education Program at Pennsylvania State University.

List of Tables

ix

Acknowledgments

xi

Series Editor's Preface

xiii

Introduction. Japan: A Dynamic Society

1

(1)

Young Adolescents in and out of School

2

(3)

The Study

5

(2)

The Curriculum and Life in Classrooms

7

(18)

The Middle School Curriculum

8

(4)

In the Classroom---Lecture or Questioning?

12

(3)

Shifting Toward Cramming

15

(1)

Nonacademic Curriculum

16

(3)

Out of Class but Still in School

19

(3)

The Approach of Entrance Exams

22

(1)

Conclusion

23

(2)

Exams, Juku, and the Pressure to Advance in School

25

(12)

Changing Enrollment and High School Entrance

26

(2)

High School Entrance Exam

28

(1)

Growth of Juku and Juku Enrollment

29

(2)

Exam Hell

31

(1)

Academic Pressure and Student Life: Finding a Balance

32

(5)

The Ideal of Education: A ``Family Community''

37

(8)

Shudan Seikatsu

37

(2)

Gakkyuzukuri

39

(1)

Life Guidance versus Student Guidance

40

(2)

Conclusion: Changing Patterns

42

(3)

Peers and Friendships: Groups and Expanding Social Network

45

(22)

Friends, Friends, Friends

46

(1)

Personality Types and Adolescent Subculture

47

(5)

Student Groups and Cliques

52

(1)

Organizational Effects on Friendship Equation

53

(5)

Attractiveness and Dating

58

(1)

Dating

59

(2)

Preparing for Goodbye: Friendships and Academic Aspirations

61

(4)

Conclusion

65

(2)

The Cultural Role of ``Teacher''

67

(10)

Tanning-sensei: The Foundation of the School

68

(3)

The Grade: Bonding Across Classes

71

(1)

Sections, Committees, and Departments

72

(2)

Intersecting Worlds

74

(3)

Adjustment: Problems in School

77

(18)

The Onset of a Problem Age

78

(3)

School Fefusal Syndrome

81

(3)

Ochikobore

84

(2)

School Violence

86

(1)

Ijime

87

(3)

Taibatsu/Kanri Kyoiku

90

(1)

Conclusion: Adolescent Problems and the Breakdown of the Classroom

91

(4)

Family Relations and the School

95

(18)

Parental Supervisions and Control

96

(2)

Family Time and School Time

98

(2)

Parental Expectations for Schooling

100

(2)

Parental Involvement in the School

102

(1)

Home Support and Ky<o>iku Mama

102

(2)

Studying and Parental Attitudes

104

(2)

Family Problems

106

(3)

Social Aspirations and Relations with Teachers

109

(1)

Impact of Counseling Placement: Identification with Parents

110

(1)

Conclusion

111

(2)

Conclusion. The Changing Conditions of Adolescent Lives

113

(8)

Changes in the Family

114

(1)

From Social Development to Academic Preparation

115

(1)

Increasing Significance of Social Class

116

(1)

Toward a ``Western'' Life Course and Adolescence

117

(1)

Precarious Balance

118

(3)

Japanese Terms

121

(4)

References

125

(6)

Index

131

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Intense Years: How Japanese Adolescents Balance School, Family and Friends

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials