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CHAPTER 5 EDUCATIONAL REFORMS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND THE FUTURE EDUCATION IN JAPAN
3 Future Education in Japan
(3) Improvement of the System of Entrance Examinations


Improvement of current entrance examination systems is requisite to promote education suited to the abilities and aptitudes of individual students in Japan. At present, selection of applicants for admission to higher educational institutions is the independent responsibility of each university. Admission to upper secondary schools is based on examinations conducted by each prefectural board of education.

Under the current entrance examination system, there has been unwholesome competition in the examinations because of the imbalance between the number of qualified applicants and the numbers permitted to enter individual universities or individual departments therein. This is particularly true of certain "prestige" institutions, both public and private. Admission is permitted only at the beginning of each school year. Applicants failing of admission must wait a full year before re-applying. Admission is based on the pre-determined numbers to be allowed admission. Consequently many full competent students are denied admission year after year. Such unsuccessful applicants for higher education are called ronin(unemployed).

In judging eligibility for admission to Japanese universities, little serious consideration is given to students' upper secondary school records or recommendation due to an almost complete absence of contact between the higher institutions and the secondary schools. The university admission systems of other developed countries, suggest some points for consideration for the improvement of the Japanese entrance examination system: (l) the emphasis is placed on assessment of ability to receive the university education;(2) the record of upper secondary education is fully considered; (3) the examination is generally basically uniform in universities of a country.

In Japan, the Education Test Research Institute has been conducting a study of common tests including both scholastic achievements and aptitude inventories and also initiated experimental application of these since 1963, with a view to improving both the present system of selection of university applicants and the future career guidance for upper secondary school students. The problems inherent in the university admission system do not apply generally to the system of admission to upper secondary school in Japan. The majority of applicants are admitted, though this may not be true in the cases of some "prestige" schools. Examinations conducted by prefectural boards of education as a basis for admission to upper secondary schools are uniform for all applicants, irrespective of the type of school or course to which they desire admission, and making no allowance for individual differences in abilities or aptitudes.


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