Few questions about schools

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Few questions about schools

Postby three headed dog » Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:18 pm

Is it mentioned anywhere as to whether Furinkan is a public or private upper secondary school?

Private schools are slightly more common (55% of them are private) for upper secondary school (for lower grades public schools are far more common 91%). There are differences between them. Private school administers have more leeway and can add and enforce more rules (such as requiring that students wear their uniform everywhere not just on school grounds). Public schools have gotten rid of Saturday classes since 2002 but the majority of private schools decided to keep them. Considering that the Kuno's are well off (the Tendo's at least in the manga also appear to be) and that Tatewaki goes there I find it likely that it is a private school (also being a private school would let Principal Kuno get away with more stuff than he would if it were public particularly if he is also the owner or has controlling interest in it).

How would a school in a different country such as say England or the USA deal with a student transferring from Japan? More specifically what grade would they put the student in? Japanese schools start the year in April whereas England/USA starts the school year in September. I've heard that some schools based it on the birth date which led to the student being entered into a lower year.

A record transfer from the old school would be almost useless since grading criteria and evaluation methods are different. Also the subjects taught are different for example Japanese history is taught, the literature taught is different (Tales of Genji required reading for all secondary school students in Japan), the pace at which the subjects are taught differs (Japan is on average 2-3 years ahead in math and science to both the USA and England), etc.

What is the most likely way that the schools would go about getting the student acclimated with all the differences?
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Re: Few questions about schools

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Wed Apr 27, 2011 9:58 pm

Unless it was written in Japanese on some sign, I don't recall Furinkan being referred to as either public or private. If I had to guess, I'd say that it would be public, simply because I assume that the prestigiousness, and/or deviation in customary management, would inevitably present itself. The only sign of either of those things are Tatewaki and his father, but their behavior in general leaves them as dubious examples, which is compounded by the likelihood of Kodachi really being in a private school (since I'm accustomed to non-coed schools being private). Also, as far as I can tell, the Tendo family aren't rich, and private schools (if I remember correctly) are more expensive. Especially nowadays, since I think upper secondary was made tuition-free recently.

There's not much that I know about this subject, so I decided to see what I could find at Wikipedia. The first thing that I found was this, which has some statistics more relevant to the time that Ranma 1/2 had begun (eighties). It says there that twenty-four percent of upper secondary schools were private. I also looked at what schools are currently in Nerima here, which shows ten public versus four private upper secondary schools.

I hope that helps to some extent.
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Re: Few questions about schools

Postby three headed dog » Wed Apr 27, 2011 11:53 pm

assume that the prestigiousness, and/or deviation in customary management, would inevitably present itself.


We don't really see much of the school so it really can't be said.

since I'm accustomed to non-coed schools being private


Most nowadays that are non-coed are private I don't know about then. Though recall Ranma (and Ukyo) went to non-coed all boy schools prior to Furinkan.

The place I got the statistics for was a 2006 article about Japanese schools. I looked at wikipedia and the Wikipedia article Education in Japan has different statistics from the article Secondary Education in Japan.

Also, as far as I can tell, the Tendo family aren't rich, and private schools (if I remember correctly) are more expensive. Especially nowadays, since I think upper secondary was made tuition-free recently.


They were made free extremely recently as in just this school year is the first. Private schools did cost about twice as much as public before though. As for the Tendo's being rich I don't see anything in the manga pointing to them not being well off (maybe not rich but still at least middle class) - they do live in a place that is huge by Tokyo standards which taxes on it would be more than sending them to a private school. They also are able to afford repairs and some of the characters like Akane have tons of not inexpensive clothing (we see them walking around in Kimonos which cost a lot).
Last edited by three headed dog on Thu Apr 28, 2011 1:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Few questions about schools

Postby TerraEpon » Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:47 am

On the other hand, in the Nadoka cooking OVA Soun makes a point to prevent Nabiki from ordering take out because of money....so who knows.
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Re: Few questions about schools

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Thu Apr 28, 2011 12:58 am

three headed dog wrote:We don't really see much of the school so it really can't be said.

There is that. Though if there's so little importance placed on the things we're looking for, it's more likely that it's normal and average for the culture and educational system at the time, and I believe that there were more public schools when Ranma 1/2 first came out.

Most nowadays that are non-coed are private I don't know about then. Though recall Ranma (and Ukyo) went to non-coed all boy schools prior to Furinkan.

If it costs any significant amount of money, whether public or private, I can understand Ukyo being able to go to the school that she went to. Genma and Ranma are often portrayed as living quite meagerly (especially in the anime, with the quintessential example being the time when Genma conned Ranma away for a fish, rice and two pickles), and with no obvious sign of revenue... Which isn't all that relevant to what you said here, but is for stuff a bit further down. Otherwise, I wish there was more to be known about the middle school that Ranma went to.

The place I got the statistics for was a 2006 article about Japanese schools. I looked at wikipedia and the Wikipedia article Education in Japan has different statistics from the article Secondary Education in Japan.

I'm assuming that it's due to referencing different time periods. The latter one, that seems to be referring to 2005, seems to match the fifty-five percent you got from the 2006 article. The former, when it mentions twenty-four percent, seems indicative of 1989. It is extremely likely considering the amount of focus on the eighties in the part where it's mentioned.

They were made free extremely recently as in just this school year is the first. Private schools did cost about twice as much as free ones before though. As for the Tendo's being rich I don't see anything in the manga pointing to them not being well off (maybe not rich but still at least middle class) - they do live in a place that is huge by Tokyo standards which taxes on it would be more than sending them to a private school. They also are able to afford repairs and some of the characters like Akane have tons of not inexpensive clothing (we see them walking around in Kimonos which cost a lot).

Well, the repairs can be accounted for by the author's whim, being a gag manga and all. (In the same way singed clothing spontaneously fixes itself.) The clothes can be the author's whim, too, since it's easier to dress them up in whatever you want than put aside a wardrobe list and follow that. (In the same way that Genma and Soun wear the same thing almost all of the time. It doesn't have to make sense or have any real impact on reality.) But I generally agree that there must be an ample amount of income for them to live where they do, and also because no apparent financial trouble is shown. (Although that's a different story for the anime; I remember several instances when they were low on food and/or money. EDIT: TerraEpon mentions one of those times.)

The question then becomes: who's footing the bill? Would Soun? Because I don't expect Genma to have that kind of money (with or without his spending habits, which puts him into debts that he doesn't pay back (if he can get away with it)), in part because the end of the storyline with Kumon Ryu illustrates that the Saotome family is poor. Having three children, and having to pay nine years worth of high school, must be expensive enough for Soun, regardless of whether it's public or private, so...

I apologize for going a bit off-topic. I wish I had more relevant stuff to say, but I don't. ;/
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Re: Few questions about schools

Postby three headed dog » Thu Apr 28, 2011 2:37 am

with no obvious sign of revenue


There are a few obvious signs of revenue. Recall Genma did have a job working for Dr Tofu and there is nothing to say that he ever stopped working that job. We also see that Ranma, Genma, and the Tendos do work as monster hunters (they get called or asked to do that a few times). Though the biggest sign of revenue is that Genma is a thief - we are shown repeatedly that he is a thief - inventing two schools of martial arts based on theft, being a safecracker, stealing Ukyo's family cart, etc. What I see as most likely is that Genma steals to acquire money but is really bad at managing money and ends up using most of the money he acquires paying off debts (with the acquired interest), bribes (I find it extremely likely that Genma has bribed people such as police officers at times), and sending some of the cash he gets back to his wife (she did somehow acquire the house she was living at after they left -we know that she did it after they left on the training trip because she tells Ryu when she thought he was Ranma that the house they were living at long ago was torn down, and she somehow has money to support herself and buy gifts for others -such as her shopping trip with Ranko to get a new bra which ended up with entire outfit, going out to eat, and a trip to the spa). So theft (stuff sold at below market value since it is stolen)+temp jobs (like his job with Tofu) = Money. Money + poor money management skills + sending money to wife + debts acquired + expenses (clothes, school, places they stay at on occasion - we are shown that they occasionally did stay at houses such as when Ranma was in middle school it is clearly stated Ranma lived in a house at that time, whatever maybe he gambles it away) = No money and explains the shown instances of the Saotome's being poor while still explaining how they can afford expensive things occasionally (Ranma is displayed to have much better money managing skills than his father at least in the manga where he has displayed sadness at wasting money, happiness at saving money, is displayed to always have some money - anime is a different thing all together where Ranma is shown to borrow money from both Akane and Nabiki and never seems to have any money).

Got off topic a bit though. I suppose that I can reasonably assume that the manga never brought up as to whether Furinkan is public or private and that either are plausible given how little evidence for and against is shown.

Still looking for info on how schools in the USA or England deal with transfer students from Japan though.
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