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Kids and School
Japan's birthrate has hit an all time low 1.43 births per woman. Because of the cramped living conditions and the cost of a first class education deters many Japanese from having a large family. Because college is the greatest determinant of a child's career success, educational competition begins in preschool. Parents press their children to get into the "right" kindergartens so they are on the right track for admissions to the top universities.
In additional to regular school kids attention cram schools to get an edge in taking exams. To get into better middle and high schools as well as universities kids got through examination hell. If a student fails to gain admission to a good university, rather than attending a second-rate one, he or she may choose to spend a year of intensive study at a test preparation school and retake the exam the following year.
About 40% of high school graduates go onto colleges, universites and junior colleges. Even though it is difficult to gain admission to top Japanese universities, once admitted, most Japanese say university life is considerably less rigorous than high school. College is regarded as a four year rest after examination hell and before a lifetime of work.
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