Differences Between Japanese & U.S. School Systems

In Japan and Korea public school teachers, administrators and other staff don’t have much choice in where they work.  The prefecture’s Board of Education hires and places them where they are needed.  Also, the BOE moves them every three years.  Because of that, most schools have new staff members every school year.  The only people exempt from this yearly staff reshuffle, from what I’ve noticed, are custodians and lunch workers. 

Some advantages to this system are: 

-Schools aren’t stuck with bad teachers/administrators for too long.

-“Undesirable” schools are always staffed

-You get exposed to different styles of teaching and management.

-It makes it impossible for anyone to get too set in their ways.

Some disadvantages to this system are: 

-If you live in a large prefecture, and get a faraway placement, you’re forced to either move or deal with a long commute.  

-You may not get to see your students graduate.

-A school’s culture may change constantly.

-There isn’t much stability or continuity.

People who want to become public school teachers in most of the U.S. must complete a teacher training program at an accredited college or university, then take Praxis tests, a series of teacher certification exams that test content knowledge and pedagogy.  Like the SAT, these exams are recognized nationwide. Each state decides which tests and what scores are required of teacher applicants. (There’s also something called reciprocity for those already teaching in one state who want to teach in another, which doesn’t require re-taking Praxis tests.)

In Japan, the equivalent exam is not nationwide.  Each prefecture has its own exam.  There are 47 prefectures in Japan.  If one wants to move to another prefecture for whatever reason, one must take that prefecture’s exam. That’s inconvenient. Each U.S. state used to have its own exams, but most switched to nationwide exams in the 1990s.  Coming from the U.S., where people are more mobile and may live in several states during their lifetimes, this system seems archaic.  People are less likely to be born, live, and die in the same little corner of earth in the 21st century, even in many developing countries.   

Imagine if the United States had the same system as Japan. Say, for example, a person grows up in Rhode Island and attends university in Colorado.  She takes the Colorado teacher certification exam and begins working there.  She falls in love with a man from Nevada, gets married and moves.  She has to take Nevada’s teacher certification exam in order to work there.  Her husband earns a job promotion, and they move to Virginia.  She must take Virginia’s teacher certification exam.  Later, they move to Rhode Island to be closer to her aging parents.  She must now take RI’s teacher certification exam.  This same scenario, using the U.S. system, she’d take the exams one time and receive reciprocity in each new state.  Simple and inexpensive.  I don’t know how much the Japanese exam costs, but if it’s anything like the Praxis, that’s an added expense you don’t need on top of moving expenses.