A Look at Tests in Japan... and Ready for the Weekend

Wow, a lot going on at work right now.

Entrance Exams - A Little Background... and a Little Loophole?
You've probably heard about the entrance exams that most Japanese students need to take during thier last year of high school. There is an enormous amount of pressure placed upon them, as they are required to "retire" from club activities (the general term used for all sports, clubs and extra-curriculars) to study for months in advance and they either enroll in cram schools (paying large sums of money for extra tutoring and lessons) or spend a lot of their free time studying (well, ideally... although I am not sure how much it actually happens). This is a country where these tests matter, after all.

What you might not know, however, is that not everyone has to take these tests (or take a test to get into university).

At the beginning of each fall term (September), the third year teachers and upper-level staff members hold a big meeting and decide what students they will "recommend" to certain universities. The recommendation choices are based on ability and academic aptitude, as well on a student's interest in attending the schools that will accept or use the recommendation system. And if a student is recommended and they apply... no test. Everyone else needs to take one, but if you get a recommendation to where you want to go, you'll still have to do an interview (which, ok, is a test in many ways), but there is no written test.

I will say that because Japan is a test-based society (all of my students take mini-quizes every morning in homeroom, rotating subjects each day), if you are at the top of your class and your name's on the list of those worthy of being recommended, you're probably going to be alright at studying and at tests anyways. But talk about a relief if you don't have to take that really big, one, scary one that can literally determine the rest of your future (the school you go to and how you do matters more to the course of your life in Japan than it would in, say, America).]

So what does this have to do with your school, again?
The recommendations were announced a few weeks ago, and while some of my favorite students were chosen, many students were not. It's been a buzz in the staff room lately and there have been a lot of big meetings about how the progress of each student is going. I've seen this college application process twice now, but I guess I am noticing the change in focus/tone/atmosphere with some staff and teachers more this time because I now know the system a bit better, know these students better (and knew what they were like when they had less pressure being applied to them) and can understand a little more of the Japanese conversations about it (going on around me). While it's really different from the way we do things in my country (to some extent), I find this whole system fascinating and am proud of how hard the kids are working and applying themselves to this. Crazy to think they only have a few months left.

Weekend A Go... Go
I have a few classes today, need to do a few lesson plans and am determined to catch up on my blog (erm, sorry about the massive number of posts going up today... decided to finally publish a few!), but I am looking forward to my enkai (work party with the new school) tonight and the long weekend.

A few of my friends asked me to go to a cabin in Okayama with them, which I was really tempted to do, but I'm finally going to the fashion museum for a Chinese dress exhibit that looks interesting as well as the Danjiri Matsuri, basically Japan's answer to the Running of the Bulls (a festival in Osaka where teams carry around 82 large wooden carts... that sometimes run loose... and run over at least one person each year!). This weekend also brings a few Harvest Moon festivals that are supposed to be pretty good (one in Kyoto has dragon boats), but we'll see what happens.