Last year I had a wonderful experience. I went on a student exchange program to Japan. It was an exciting time of my life and I learned many things about the school system in Japan. I was in Grade 11, which is second year of high school in Japan, but I was younger than most of my classmates. That's because Japanese children enter first year of elementary school in April following their sixth birthday. I started school when I was still five years old.
In Japan, children attend elementary school for six years, where they study Japanese, arithmetic, science, social studies, music, crafts, physical education, and home economics (simple cooking and sewing skills). During their three years in middle school, English is added to this list. Most schools have access to computers and the Internet.
The classes in my school seemed rather big to me, around 30 students in a typical high school class. We ate lunch in the classroom, instead of a cafeteria and enjoyed a healthy, nutritious meal prepared by the school or by a local “school lunch center” instead of eating the same, dry sandwiches every day. I really like the Japanese interpretation of school lunches. I also enjoyed the field trips and activities. At Japanese schools, there are many school events during the year, such as field day when students compete in tug-of-war, field trips, and arts and cultural festivals.
