[jasonbvr]

I actually don't know that much about graduating from high school, but if it is anything like junior high everyone graduates regardless of skill or grades.

Note that on the graph, it states that 69% finish high school rather than that same percentage entering college. Which for most Japanese is enough education to make a successful life for themselves.

The thing about getting into high school is that in junior high, all the students in a city or area compete for entry into the top high schools in the area. Where as in the US, you finish junior high and then move on to the next school in the system automatically. In order to enter high school, the students take the high school entrance for the particular school they wish to attend. They have basically two to four chances to get into a high school at the end of their three years in junior high.

Some will test for a number of school's while others will take two shots at getting in the same one. A lot of them take extra tests for English or math like a student would do in the US to differentiate themselves from other applicants. Following the tests the students have interviews with a prospective school and the result of the interview is, I think, shared between all the schools they apply to because there is only one interview.

Its my understanding that there are basically three types of high schools in Japan. Ones that will get you into college based on the school's reputation, ones that will prepare you for a decent career, and the others which are just to show that you kept going to school. High schools are ranked according to the number of graduates accepted into universities.

When I talked to my students from last year, in a class of forty kids about five of them were not even going to take the test. Another five or so took the tests twice and couldn't get in so will go to jukyu (cram school) and retake and apply until they find one they can get into. Then there were a good number around 20 to 25 who take the tests and pass on the second time and get into the lower two tiers of schools. Then the last five to ten kids who pass the tests with top marks and got into the best schools in the city. Out of those five to ten if you asked them if they thought college would be in their future, one to two may give you the slight head tilt and "hmm" noise which for Japanese means either "I hope, maybe or probably not." The others simply say, "Oh, no. Not me."

Needless to say, education is tough. I forget how many zillion of pages ago on this thread, but there was someone with the same question about getting in as a transfer student. Nyororin had posted something about coming in as a curtural volunteer or something, but I really forget the details.