A Comparative Sociological Study of Japanese and Taiwanese Upper Secondary Education

Abstract

This paper addresses the following two research questions: What role does senior high school choice play, in terms of the choices between public and private and between academic and vocational education in Japan and Taiwan? How do senior high school students matriculate to tertiary education in Japan and Taiwan? Japan and Taiwan have both experienced a rapid expansion of upper secondary education in the process of late industrialization. In these two societies, senior high school tracking decides students' educational careers. In addition, people living in these two societies have been inclined toward the belief that national and public schools are more prestigious than private schools. Therefore, the role of private senior high schools is different in these societies than in Europe or America. In both Japan and Taiwan students with higher grades tend to attend public academic senior high schools, whereas students with lower grades tend to enroll in private senior high schools. During the educational expansion in both societies, private senior high schools have provided opportunities for students of lower grades as well as lower social status. This research confirms the existence of a new trend in private school education: the rise of private academic education in the younger cohort. We need to continue to monitor this trend not only in these two societies but also in other East Asian countries. Keywords: senior high school; tracking; private schools