足利学校 - あしかががっこう (Ashikaga gakkou) is the oldest school in Japan. Unfortunately, they don't all look this cool anymore. Or even function the way Ashikaga Gakkou did. Ashikaga gakkou was really a school for the scholarly elite priests, not exactly free and public education for all, but a good start nonetheless.
Most school buildings in use today were built in the 1950’s and 60’s following the second world war. They all pretty much follow the same set of blueprints:
If you’ve seen one school, you’ve pretty much seen them all.
In the Meiji era, Japan had some major education reforms, to start modeling their system after the (now defunct) Prussian system. This included everything from how the grades were divided to uniforms. High school boys’ high-collared ‘gakuran’ jackets with the brass buttons are modeled after Prussian military school uniforms.
Besides the public schools, there are exorbitantly priced private schools in Japan as well. Every school, private or public, must abide by the national standards set forth by the Ministry of Education.
Students go through the exact same number of years of school that students do in the U.S., the only difference lies in the division between the levels of school. There are even pre-school and kindergarten programs available in most places.
Here's a look at how schooling in the U.S. is divided up vs. Japan:
grade | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
Japan | しょうがっこう | ちゅう | こうこう | |||||||||
United States | Elementary school | Middle school | High school |
たとえば ( For example):
In the U.S., you might be a こうこう いち ねんせい
but in Japan, you would be a ちゅうがっこう さん ねんせい
Lastly, the names of the major divisions of school are pretty simple to remember.
小学校, shougakkou, elementary school, with the character 小 (shou) meaning “small”
中学校, chugakkou, middle school, with the character 中 (chuu) meaning “middle” or “center”
高校, koukou, high school, with the character 高 (kou) meaning “high” or “tall”
and even 大学, daigaku, university, with 大 (dai) meaning “big.”
I guess you are in the big school when you go to university ^_^