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Persistence of Shadow Education

The Insecurity Factor: Why Shadow Education Remains Strong

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Shadow Education and Social Inequalities in Japan

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the Continuity dimension outlined in the Shadow-Education-Inequality-Impact (SEII) Frame, specifically addressing the question whether educational and thus social inequalities in present Japan have increased due to increasing insecurities concerning educational credentials and their returns, which in turn affect families’ educational decision-making processes. Following rational choice and relative risk aversion theories and focusing on the first major transition point in students’ school life course, families’ decisions for high school and shadow education prior to high school transition in the 1990s and 2000s are analyzed particularly emphasizing the role of insecurity for families’ choices. Comparative calculations based on the Hyȏgo High School Students (HHSS) surveys from 1997 and 2011 show the following main findings:

  1. (1)

    Since the 1990s, the likelihood to pursue shadow education prior to high school transition of insecure or high ambitious students from disadvantaged educational strata has generally increased.

  2. (2)

    However, the likelihood of these students to enter top-ranked high schools has actually decreased since the 1990s – in spite of shadow education investments.

  3. (3)

    Additional investments in shadow education have become a must-have for those who try to avoid social downward mobility and therefore hardly serve to achieve a higher social status but rather maintain an accomplished social status. As a result, the latest wave of educational expansion in Japan is gradually coming to a halt. Shadow education has become an institution that regulates access to schools and by this strongly determines access to educational credentials and future social status.

“One attends a first-class juku, passesthrough first-class middle and highschools and enters a top university. If onehas achieved this, then one can enter afirst-class company and have a happy life”(‘The Future of Mass Education Society’, by Kariya1995: i).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term NEET describes 15- to 34-year-olds who are “not in education, employment, or training,” as well as not officially seeking a job and neither married nor included in work at home (Eswein and Pilz 2012: 511-512, see also Toivonen 2012).

  2. 2.

    Freeter (Japanese: furītā) are 15- to 34-year-old “free Arbeiter,” meaning free worker using the German word “Arbeiter.” Freeter are involved in part-time jobbing or other forms of work and are generally not attached to an education institution or work at home (Eswein and Pilz 2012: 511).

  3. 3.

    The term parasaito shinguru, meaning parasite singles, refers to young adults who still “live with their parents and rely on them financially” (Brinton 2011: 1).

  4. 4.

    Hikikomori are socially isolated young adults, mostly men (Brinton 2011: 1).

  5. 5.

    The wākingu puā (“working poor”) are often young people who are financially disadvantaged despite working (Brinton 2011: 1).

  6. 6.

    Net-café refugees are often young homeless people living in Internet cafés (Brinton 2011: 1).

  7. 7.

    The term rōnin actually means masterless samurai of the feudal era and is used today to describe students who prepare for university or college entrance but have already graduated from high school and are thus without official affiliation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Education, Social Science Educational Research, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Steve R. Entrich

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Appendix

Appendix

Fig. 7.4
figure 4

Percentage of new graduates entering employment according to educational degree and non-regular employment ratio, 1960–2013 (JILPT 2016; MEXT 2017)

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Fig. 7.5
figure 5

Percentage of public and private school students whose parents paid for private tutors or correspondence courses, 1998–2012 (MEXT 2014)

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Entrich, S.R. (2018). Persistence of Shadow Education. In: Shadow Education and Social Inequalities in Japan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69119-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69119-0_7

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