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Mar. 4, 2005 The Classroom and the Cram School Rebecca Cataldi, Assistant Language Teacher

I'm an American AET (Assistant English Teacher) teaching at a junior high school in a small rural town in Japan. Recently I had the opportunity to observe some of my second-year students studying English in another classroom - one of the town's cram schools, or juku. The evening juku classes had a rather different atmosphere than that of the regular school classroom, with a much smaller group of students studying together in a smaller, somewhat "cozier" space. However, what struck me the most were the ways in which the students' behavior seemed different from typical behavior in the school classroom. In the junior high school, while most of the students are generally well-behaved, there are often some students who are noisy or disruptive, who talk to their friends instead of doing class work, and/or who don't pay attention when the teacher talks or gives instructions. However, at the juku, while the noise and energy level was high as in the classroom, the students seemed more focused, really trying to do their work, and seeming to really want to learn and understand the material. To that end, they also asked many more questions and asked for help much more frequently than is typical in the school classroom, and seemed appreciative of my and the other teacher's suggestions and corrections. Of course, each individual student is different, and I am only speaking from my own experience, but the apparent contrast in the overall behavior of the students in the classroom versus in the juku was very interesting to me. This has led me to some questions on which I am still reflecting. Do students really care more about studying and try harder at their studies in juku than in their regular classroom? If so, then why? Also, why is it that juku are so prevalent and important in Japan? To contrast this with my own experience as a student in my own country, in America cram schools are pretty rare, and extra tutoring is usually only sought by students who are having trouble with a subject. Further, most American students would be very resistant to the idea of having study classes in the evenings. Of course they have homework to do, but other than that, they see after-school as a time to relax and have fun, perhaps to do a part-time job, not to do more schoolwork! Yet the Japanese students didn't seem to mind going to juku in the evenings, and perhaps even saw it as more of a time for study than school. And even students who are doing very well in school in Japan often go to juku. So, what is the real role and purpose of the juku in Japan? If students learned more in their regular schools (which of course depends on the teachers, the students themselves, the school curriculum, and many other things), would juku then be seen as unnecessary? Would parents and students in Japan like for juku to become unnecessary? Or does juku serve another role beyond simply furthering academic learning-for example, to train the student in devotion to rigorous study, to develop in the student a strong work ethic with regard to studying, to give students confidence by making them feel that they are working hard and getting extra learning, or even to raise one's status or prestige as a student or community member? I would like to hear what people think about these questions, and I hope there will be more dialogue about juku among educators, those who care for children, and more widely in Japan. Let's Talk!

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