Japanese students devote a lot of time preparing for the entrance exam. But once they get into the university, their motivation to study well is usually low. There is an impression that students would graduate whether they study or not. However, as pointed out by this Japan Times article,
The low quality of Japan’s higher education system is inextricably tied up with the country’s job-hunting system. When job-hunting activities start in the second-semester of their third year, absences become common. However, this is of little consequence to employers, which have absolutely no interest in grades (companies do not ask to see academic transcripts during the hiring process). In fact, employers hire graduates not on the basis of academic performance but largely on the reputation of their university. Thus, Japanese university life is frequently characterized as “leisure land,” a four-year moratorium of rest and relaxation between “examination hell” and entry into society. In other words, Japanese students are, in general, not motivated for the simple reason that there is absolutely no need for them to study: A straight-A student who graduates in four years has little or no advantage over the student who scrapes through in five or six.
The underlying issue has more to do with the consequence of job-hunting, and thus, education reform must take it into account to be able to be successful. After all, modern day educational system is still primary geared toward providing workers to the economic system.
Read more: Students choose failure over uncertainty (Japan Times (online), 19 April 2011)
