Juku

and Juku). (Okano, 1999) Cram schools (Juku) often specialize in a particular subject or subjects, with the intention of preparing students for high school and university entrance examinations. These schools offer after regular school hours, on weekends, and during school vacations. Certain cram schools are used to prepare students who have failed the previous entrance examination, which are called Ronin, and the students take the examinations the following year. (Cummings, 1997) The aim of cram schools is to impart as much information to its students in the least amount of time, to enable the students to pass, or obtain the required grade in the examination. There has been much criticism with these cram school, related to “examination hell” because students have been said to merely “parrot” the information, meaning they are simply repeating the information, without thought, and are said to lack the training of critical thinking and analysis. (Cummings, 1997) Cram schools, and supplemental tutoring in Japan has boomed into a vast commercial industry, where nearly 70 percent of Japanese students will experience going to an extracurricular school, by the time they leave middle school. (Cummings, 1997) This pattern of using supplementary tutoring continues while the students attend high school, but the pressures increase, as students prepare for university examinations, and the educational stakes increase. (Cummings, 1997) This is considered a stage of high-pressure of Juku,…