‡C Comparisons pertaining to Schooling and Education per se

4-1 Field of Interests, Self-Evaluating Grades, Academic Aspirations (Q. 5, 6, 7)

With regard to 'Field of Interests', it is interesting to see that Japanese high school students define their present self-made status as being their prospective field. Japanese students are sorted out strictly according to the score they have when they finish junior high school and enter senior high school. As a result, they end up going to the high school which they can enter, not necessarily the school of their own choice. The high school is often highly structured in terms of its reputation, curriculum and eventually the availability of a future career. Knowing the societal expectations and cultural reality, they also feel a glass ceiling, which might be the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In labeling one's field of interests, we often employ either a science / math or humanities / social science classification. Such a dichotomy is no longer a popular notion in the US, and multiple phases of educational opportunities are being offered. As a matter of fact, one third of NW High School students chose "other" field, and the figure amounts to 43% at I High School. We hope to see similar shifts in choosing interdisciplinary fields instead of the Japanese confining themselves in the conventional manner.

					Japan	US
Science/ Math					161	124
Humanities/ Social Science					181	132
Vocational/ Technical Education					144	68
Other					58	128

In "Self-Evaluating Grades", we notice American students are more inclined to evaluate themselves as above average than their counterparts despite the fact that both countries employ absolute evaluation above high school levels. One third of Japanese respondents consider themselves as C or C-minus students, while the ratio of American counterparts is less than half. Additionally, those who see themselves as being B+ or above are double the Japanese figures. Giving positive feedback is definitely one of the main characteristics of the American educational style. Providing students with a notion that they are above average can help build higher self-esteem and positive attitudes toward school and education.

[How would you evaluate your overall academic performance?]

When asked "What level of higher education are you interested in achieving?", we see notable differences between their interest in going to graduate school. Had we included more prestigious high schools in Japan, the difference might not have been so striking (Japan 2%, the US 34%). In many ways, we can tell that the door to graduate studies is wide open in the US, since 28% of NW High School students, a rural school, and more than one third of M college students, a less competitive academic institution, are considering attending graduate school.
Furthermore, 90% of I High School students want to go to college, with half of them interested in going beyond a B.A. Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that their high school is in a university community. In any case, it is obvious that there is a remarkable difference in how Japanese and American high school students see graduate school as an attainable alternative in their education.