PLEASE explain to me how Japanese school years work.

[Katsuya]

I searched it a couple of times and now im superb confused.

 

[EternalSunset0]

What aspect of it, specifically?

Well, after elementary, students have 3 years of middle school (sometimes called junior high) before 3 years of high school. So that's 12 years before heading off to college.

AFAIK only elementary and middle school are "compulsory," so that's 9 years.

 

[Katsuya]

What aspect of it, specifically?

Well, after elementary, students have 3 years of middle school (sometimes called junior high) before 3 years of high school.

Oops my bad, i meant like summer break, when semester starts when it ends, graduation, etc.(high school and middle school, mostly/in general.)

 

[EternalSunset0]

Oops my bad, i meant like summer break, when semester starts when it ends, graduation, etc.(high school and middle school, mostly/in general.)

School year begins in April. Summer break happens around July.

If I'm not mistaken, first semester typically goes from April to October, and it's October to March for second semester.

 

[Katsuya]

School year begins in April. Summer break happens around July.

If I'm not mistaken, first semester typically goes from April to October, and it's October to March for second semester.

I see. Thanks. wait, whats in between? is it just more classes?

 

[SakeVision]

as a foreigner, I always had questions when watching anime

-wtf is homeroom class, wtf is homeroom teacher
-how tf do classes work, is it always the same group of people going from class to class, or are people assembled randomly based on the subject?
-how tf do subjects work, can people chose what subjects they study in high school, or is it the same for everyone?
-what tf is the students council, what is the purpose of that
-what are school festivals, wtf
-what are school hobby clubs, we didn't have this in my country
-why do they all do these complex shit things like jumping backwards over the pole during PE classes
-ding dong characteristic sound of classes starting
-where are janitors

 

[KiraMinoru]

as a foreigner, I always had questions when watching anime

-wtf is homeroom class, wtf is homeroom teacher
-how tf do classes work, is it always the same group of people going from class to class, or are people assembled randomly based on the subject?
-how tf do subjects work, can people chose what subjects they study in high school, or is it the same for everyone?
-what tf is the students council, what is the purpose of that
-what are school festivals, wtf
-what are school hobby clubs, we didn't have this in my country
-why do they all do these complex shit things like jumping backwards over the pole during PE classes
-ding dong characteristic sound of classes starting
-where are janitors

Where I live it’s actually kind of similar to a degree. There sort of was a homeroom class, but that’s typically just whatever your first period class was for the semester. As for the first year(grade 10) the school sort of did their best to group most people together that have matching preferences on courses they want to take because most of them are mandatory anyway and need to be completed. So you’d see a lot of the same people in different courses. Sometimes for grade 10 the teachers just moved to the classes rather than the students to the teachers to decrease traffic in the halls. There are fewer electives required in the first year. As you go up in grades the classes become much more mixed and diverse as there are less mandatory courses for grade 11 and 12 and the possibilities for courses you can take branch out a lot more. For example grade 10 science allows you to go into physics, chemistry, and biology. You sometimes even saw grade 12 kids in grade 11 courses. It was possible to finish all your courses in grade 10 and 11 for graduation if you took full course loads. If not graduating you could take the AP courses or do the internship program they offered.

It’s just a gut feeling but I think some anime probably misrepresent or distort high school in Japan to a degree out of convenience since I’m sure AP courses are likely a thing in Japan as well. I don’t think I’ve seen an anime ever even touch on AP courses. Also, you often don’t get to watch a full day of high school in anime.

 

[DarkeReises]

as a foreigner, I always had questions when watching anime

-wtf is homeroom class, wtf is homeroom teacher
-how tf do classes work, is it always the same group of people going from class to class, or are people assembled randomly based on the subject?
-how tf do subjects work, can people chose what subjects they study in high school, or is it the same for everyone?
-what tf is the students council, what is the purpose of that
-what are school festivals, wtf
-what are school hobby clubs, we didn't have this in my country
-why do they all do these complex shit things like jumping backwards over the pole during PE classes
-ding dong characteristic sound of classes starting
-where are janitors

Where I live it’s actually kind of similar to a degree. There sort of was a homeroom class, but that’s typically just whatever your first period class was for the semester. As for the first year(grade 10) the school sort of does their best to group most people together that have matching preferences on courses they want to take because most of them are mandatory anyway and need to be completed. So you’d see a lot of the same people in different courses. Sometimes for grade 10 the teachers just moved to the classes rather than the students to the teachers to decrease traffic in the halls. There are fewer electives required in the first year. As you go up in grades the classes become much more mixed and diverse as there are less mandatory courses for grade 11 and 12 and the possibilities for courses you can take branch out a lot more. For example grade 10 science allows you to go into physics, chemistry, and biology. You sometimes even saw grade 12 kids in grade 11 courses. It was possible to finish all your courses in grade 10 and 11 for graduation if you took full course loads. If not graduating you could take the AP courses or do the internship program they offered.

It’s just a gut feeling but I think some anime’s probably misrepresent or distort high school in Japan to a degree out of convenience.

In my district, we only had homeroom in our middle school/junior high. We walked to different classes every period, and in middle school we didn't have any choice for classes. In high school we can take any electives we want, as long as we have space in our schedule. What usually happens is people take all their course requirements and electives they want in 9-11th grade then in 12th they'll have a lot of free periods, allowing them.to come.to school late or leave early.
Due to the electives, as well as kids in accelerated programs where they take classes of a grade up as well as going into AP(US national college-ish level) and IB(international college level) you'll see kids of different grades even in the core subjects like math and science. Not social studies though, and i think English also doesn't work out that way, just due to how the classes my school offers are structured for those subjects.

Also yeah, anime exaggerates Japanese high school alot.

And the janitors only show up in doujins and hentai.