Stable for the Masses, Competitive for the Elite: Japan's Educational Paradox

Day 732 of living in Japan.

My daughter came home from juku (cram school) this week, excitedly telling me: "Dad, I got 95 on my math test!" Thinking back three weeks ago when she couldn't even finish the problems, now she's keeping up with the pace—even she's surprised and delighted.

When I first enrolled her in juku, I worried too. Her Japanese was just beginning—would it be too difficult? Fortunately, the teachers were patient and progressive in their approach, and we constantly encouraged her at home: "Just do your best." Sure enough, she gradually adapted and even began to enjoy the challenge.

In Japan, there's a saying: "Stable for the masses, competitive for the elite." I didn't fully understand it at first, until I experienced the "dual-track" education of local elementary schools and juku firsthand. The difference behind it is indeed stark.

On one hand, "stable for the masses" is reflected in the accessibility and quality of basic education. Japan's elementary, middle, and even high schools cover nearly all children. Many Japanese parents say: "As long as children complete compulsory education, they'll gain a fundamentally solid knowledge base." In PISA tests, Japanese students' average scores consistently rank high, showing they've done well with the "stable" part on a large scale. The junior high to high school advancement rate of 98% ranks among the world's highest.

But once you want to enter the top university track, competition becomes extremely fierce. Juku and tutoring classes abound, with monthly costs ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of yen—not easy for ordinary families. The higher the household income, the more resources children can invest in exam preparation, gaining greater advantages at this checkpoint.

"Why make children so competitive?" This is a question I often ask myself.

Watching my daughter go from struggling to keep up when she first arrived to excitedly showing me her test papers, I gradually understood that what really needs solving isn't "compete or not compete," but how to find balance in a competitive environment. As long as children maintain interest in learning and can feel achievement and joy, "challenge" isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Stable for the masses, competitive for the elite" may be the true face of Japanese education: on one side, ensuring most students receive relatively equal basic education; on the other, facing intense intellectual competition for top universities. Together, these forces maintain Japan's overall high educational standards while also exacerbating inequality in family investment and admission opportunities.

For us, what matters isn't how high the scores are, but that children have sufficient motivation and happiness during their growth. After all, grades reflect momentary effort, while interest and self-motivation bring longer-term gains. Watching my daughter pull me aside to discuss why she got problems wrong and pondering how to do better next time, I feel it's all worthwhile.

Perhaps we'll encounter bottlenecks in the future, but as long as we see clearly our own rhythm and don't let anxiety overwhelm the child, we can let her continue forward with confidence. After all, the more competitive the environment, the more important it is to maintain composure and treat every bit of progress as a small milestone of growth.

Since this is the path we've chosen, we must walk it well.

这里是中文版。