Childhood Vs America

As the topic of discussion, I decided to ask my grandmother about her childhood, the differences in school between Japan and America, as well as the expectations placed on women after they graduated from academics. My grandmother was born on August 23, 1941 in Tokyo, Japan. Growing up as the only daughter out of five children, she was rather a tomboy and often ran and played with the boys rather with the girls. She reminisced the times when the boys would catch bugs, play baseball, or have a shoe throwing contests, while the girls made flower wreathes with Chinese milk vetches, and during the rare times when both groups gathered together they would dissect out-of-range golf balls to pull out the rubber ropes packed into the balls. Although she lived by the Tama River all throughout her childhood, pollution and lack of water treatments lead to the waters becoming too dangerous to wade in and by the time she was in 4th grade, …show more content…
Comparing to the general American grade system where elementary school is 6 years including kindergarten, middle school is 3 years, and high school is 4 years, Japanese grade system is 6 years in elementary (excluding kindergarten), 3 years in middle school, and 3 years in high school. Like American colleges, attending high school in Japan is not mandatory, although beneficial to the student’s future, and enrollment requires application and standardized entrance exams. Further discussion about Japanese high school entrance exams revealed that they have existed before my grandmother attended school. Japanese high schools back then had two courses available for the Seniors: vocational classes for those who want to advance to college and achieve skilled trades, or general education classes for those to want to enter the workforce immediately after high school graduation. My grandmother chose general education and upon graduation, she immediately started working at a