Japan’s public > private dynamic is further fueled by the fact that public high schools are entirely admissions test based, and students may choose which school

Japan’s public > private dynamic is further fueled by the fact that public high schools are entirely admissions test based, and students may choose which school they attend. It is also non-compulsory (although >90% of students attend high school). You also only get 1 shot at applying to a public high school. So students tend to self-select (with some not-so-subtle nudging by their teachers) on the tier of public school they apply to based on various assessments of their own academic prowess. This creates a competitive environment for the top tier public high schools, which feature heavily subsidized and reduced tuition. Yes. You must pay for high school in Japan. And competitive high-performing high schoolers tend to apply for and get into competitive, top tier universities such as Tokyo Universities. Parents and high performing middle school children understand this acutely. So naturally, an entire industry of cram schools emerges to prepare these precocious 14 year olds to apply to the best high schools in their region so they can go to the nation’s best university so they can work at the nation’s best companies and live a life of middle class comfort. On the other hand, private schools largely will overlook test scores in exchange for the more expensive tuition collected. As far as I can remember, you were also only allowed to apply to one private. Not to say privates are bad, or that kids don’t want to go to them. But the high performers definitely were going for the publics with the private school being their backup. As a result, Japanese middle school students are some of the most stressed out teenagers I’ve ever seen.