4 ms·

Japanese students probably do not work less hard than US students, or to greater effect. Wait wait, people really think American students do more work than Jap

by patio11 13y ago

Japanese students probably do not work less hard than US students, or to greater effect. Wait wait, people really think American students do more work than Japanese kids? HAH. HAH. HAH. HAH. That's a good one. Seriously: Japanese schools don't assign 3 hours of homework because that would conflict with the 3 hours of "not required but it will ruin your life if you don't do it and then fail your next admissions exam" cram school that the top 30% of Japanese kids/parents assume is inevitable. If you want I can run down to the train station and take a photo of one of our local cram schools. It's 8:45 PM right now so the middle schoolers should be just about halfway finished for the evening.

knowaveragejoe 13y ago
His phrasing was confusing, but I think what tptacek said agrees with you.
barry-cotter 13y ago
Damn, I thought there was some daylight between Korea and Japan in terms of messed up zero sum games cram schools. AIUI the pressure lets up rather a lot once one gets to university, yes? As in there is actual freedom to slack off and many do. Or is there no point between primary school and becoming a salaryman to chill out?
- bodhi 13y ago
  > AIUI the pressure lets up rather a lot once one gets to university, yes? The running joke that I've heard is that university is the only vacation that a Japanese person will get in their life.
  - mathattack 13y ago
    My experience in Japan was similar. "They're allowed a good vacation before school starts, and during college." The lowest University of Tokyo graduate has better placement options than the best graduate from any other school. Some of this comes from good reasons - the companies value teamwork and social skills, assuming they own the burden of training people. There are numerous downsides for this method though. (Miss out on good candidates, people could be learning in college, too much lifetime emphasis on one admissions test, etc.)
foobarbazqux 13y ago
A misunderstanding. >> Japanese students probably do not work less hard than US students !(work (J) < work (U)) --> work (J) >= work (U) --> work (U) <= work (J) > American students do more work than Japanese kids work (U) > work (J)

by patio11 13y ago

knowaveragejoe 13y ago

His phrasing was confusing, but I think what tptacek said agrees with you.

barry-cotter 13y ago

Damn, I thought there was some daylight between Korea and Japan in terms of messed up zero sum games cram schools. AIUI the pressure lets up rather a lot once one gets to university, yes? As in there is actual freedom to slack off and many do. Or is there no point between primary school and becoming a salaryman to chill out?

bodhi 13y ago
> AIUI the pressure lets up rather a lot once one gets to university, yes? The running joke that I've heard is that university is the only vacation that a Japanese person will get in their life.
- mathattack 13y ago
  My experience in Japan was similar. "They're allowed a good vacation before school starts, and during college." The lowest University of Tokyo graduate has better placement options than the best graduate from any other school. Some of this comes from good reasons - the companies value teamwork and social skills, assuming they own the burden of training people. There are numerous downsides for this method though. (Miss out on good candidates, people could be learning in college, too much lifetime emphasis on one admissions test, etc.)

foobarbazqux 13y ago

A misunderstanding. >> Japanese students probably do not work less hard than US students !(work (J) < work (U)) --> work (J) >= work (U) --> work (U) <= work (J) > American students do more work than Japanese kids work (U) > work (J)