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Taiwanese students studying English in an evening cram school

Cram schools are specialized schools that train their students to meet particular goals, most commonly to pass the entrance examinations of high schools or universities. The English name is derived from the slang term "cramming", meaning to study hard or to study a large amount of material in a short period of time.

Education[link]

Cram schools usually specialise in a particular subject or subjects. Cram schools that prepare students for high school and university entrance examinations are also frequently specialised to particular schools, and the staff may have access to previous years' examinations. Special cram schools that prepare students who have failed their entrance examinations (known as rōnin in colloquial Japanese) to take them the following year are also common. Such students may spend up to eighteen hours a day studying to retake their tests. Students who attend regular after-school cram schools may study four hours or more.

As the name suggests, the aim of a cram school is to impart as much information to its students as possible in the shortest period of time. The goal is to enable the students to "parrot," that is, to unthinkingly repeat, information that is deemed necessary for particular examinations. Cram schools are sometimes criticised, along with the countries in which they are prevalent, for the lack of training their students' critical thinking and analysis. However many believe that they are necessary to compensate for the formal education system's inability or unwillingness to address particular individual problems.^{[citation needed]}

By country[link]

Australia[link]

Cram schools are referred to largely as "coaching colleges", they are used primarily to achieve the necessary results for the entrance exam for selective schools in NSW. They are also used extensively in mathematics courses for the HSC and other high school leavers exams.

Brazil[link]

Cram schools are called "Cursinhos" (lit. Little Courses) in Brazil and are attended by students who will be taking a vestibular exam.

China[link]

Cram schools are popular in China due to the importance of standardized exams, such as:

• High school entrance exam (after junior high, at 9th year of school).
• The National College Entrance Examination, mandatory for college admission.
• English language exams. Passing the College English Test (CET) band 4 and 6 is sometimes a prerequisite for bachelor's degree, and the certificates are often important to finding employment. The TOEFL and GRE tests from ETS are required for studying abroad in English-speaking countries.
• Entrance exams to domestic graduate program. Over recent years the competition has intensified, partially because many new college graduates fail to find satisfactory jobs and seek post-graduate education instead.

Mainland China has a test-driven system. Education departments give entrance examinations to sort students into schools of different levels. Examinations like the National Higher Education Entrance Examination (gaokao) are cruel and vital. They decide the academic future of the participants. This education system cultivated the cramming style of teaching. Schools and teachers regard grades to be the primary goal. Teachers impart exam skills instead of knowledge and inspiration. But as the population of students decreases each year and admission to domestic universities expands, the pressure of the Entrance Exam has been reducing.

France[link]

5% of the French students go into classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles (prep school) for two years which prepare to the entrance exams of prestigious schools, like École Normale Supérieure, HEC Paris, École polytechnique or Télécom ParisTech.

Hong Kong[link]

Cram schools in Hong Kong are called tutorial schools. These cram schools put focus on the two major public examinations in Hong Kong, namely HKCEE and HKALE, and teach students on techniques on answering questions in the examinations. They also provide students tips on which topics may appear on the coming examination (called "question tipping"), and provide students some sample questions that are similar to those that appear in the examinations. Some cram school teachers in Hong Kong have become idolised and attract many students to take their lessons. These teachers are called "King of tutors (補習天王)".

Cram schools in Hong Kong are famous because of the stresses from Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination (HKALE). These cram school teaching includes practicing exam questions and grammar drills. Moreover, they provide model essays for English language exam. However, some schools are not licensed, and few educators have teaching qualifications. Their education is fun to appeal to the students but little useful for these students.

India[link]

Like in other Asian countries education plays a very great role in the lives of the young. And given the intense competition that young Indians experience because of the country's huge population, the need for a degree takes on a whole new perspective. Numerous cram schools—referred to as tutorials in India—have sprung up all over the nation. Like elsewhere here too these tutorials have become a parallel education system with the aim of getting their "clients" through various competitive exams to enter prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology. These exams are necessary to get into not only fields like engineering, medicine and law but also into India's civil services.

Ireland[link]

"Grind schools", (possibly connected with Gradgrind, the headmaster in Dickens's novel Hard Times) as they are known in the Republic of Ireland, prepare students for the Leaving Certificate examination. Competition for university places (the "points race") has intensified with recent years: students wishing to study medicine, law or veterinary science in particular must achieve five or six "A" grades to be accepted. Some grind schools, such as The Institute of Education, Ashfield College and Bruce College, teach full-time. Many others offer weekend or night-time classes for students in subjects in which they struggle.

Japan[link]

Cram schools, called juku, are common in Japan, especially eikaiwa English as a foreign language schools.

Korea[link]

It is common for Korean school-children to attend one or more institutes after their elementary school-day is finished. Some types of institutes include math, science, art, and English. English-language institutes are particularly popular.

Usually, in Korea, the education system method is memorization. In Korean school, students are staying in one classroom, and teachers are going around classrooms. Each teacher crams each student’s head with knowledge. Korean students learn Korean history, World History, Korean, Math, Science, and foreign languages. Korean students only have midterms and finals. They just have written tests with those subjects. Distinct feature of cramming teaching method in Korea is extra curriculum for tests. After school, generally, most of the students are going extra tutors which are call as “Hakwon” in Korean. Teachers just provides knowledge to students and students are memorizing for tests and going to “Hakwon” for good grades.

Peru[link]

In Peru, cram schools, known as "Academias", are institutions which intensively prepare, in about a year, high school graduates to gain admission to either University ("Academia Pre Universitaria"), or Military Schools ("Academia Pre-Militar").^[1] Cram Schools in Peru are not an admission requirement to enter to any Tertiary Institution; however, due to fierce competition, preparation in a cram school allows the candidate to achieve the highest mark possible in the entry exam and so gain entry to their desired Tertiary Institution.

Taiwan[link]

Cram schools in Taiwan are called buxiban (補習班 "tutorial class") and are not necessarily cram schools in the traditional sense. Almost any kind of extracurricular academic lesson could be termed buxiban, such as music, art, math, and science, even if students do not attend these classes specifically in order to pass an examination. It's a traditional belief that parents should send their children to all kinds of cram schools in order to compete against other talented children. Therefore, most children in Taiwan have a schedule packed with all sorts of cram school lessons. But when they study English, often with a "Native Speaker Teacher", they are actually studying at a private language school. Furthermore, since this study is ongoing, they are not "cramming" in the traditional sense of the word, and therefore, these language schools are not cram schools by strict definition.

Cram schools in Taiwan also focus on motivating students to study harder. They prepare many hand-made posters and print motivational messages on study notes.

Taiwan is well known for its cram school. Nearly all students have some kinds of cram school to improve their skills. The meritocratic culture, which requires some skills testing for passports to college, graduate school, and even government service, is dominant on Taiwan’s policy.

Thailand[link]

Cram schooling in Thailand has become almost mandatory to succeeding in high school. Cram schools in Thailand are called "Special Tutoring" or "Special Classes". They are widespread throughout Thailand. Mostly cram schools do not contain class rooms in a traditional sense. Students received their tuition via television sets, which can either relay a live session from another location or replaying a pre-recorded session. Parents generally encourage their children to attend these schools and they sometimes can be perceived as pushy. The system of cram school is currently blamed for discouraging pupils from independent studies.

Turkey[link]

The "dershane" system is the Turkish counterpart of cram schools. Students, typically in week-ends (in many instances, also after the school hours, especially in the last year), are drilled on various aspects of YGS, "Transition to Higher Education Examination" and LYS, "Undergraduate Placement Examination".

United Kingdom[link]

Crammers first appeared in Britain after 1855 when the Civil Service Commission created the Administrative class of government employees, selected by examination and interview rather than patronage. Crammers offered to prepare men of 18 to 25 years old, mainly in classics, economics and foreign languages, for success in these examinations and entry to civil service or diplomatic careers. Terence Rattigan's 1936 play French Without Tears is set in a language crammer typical of the period. These civil service crammers did not survive the Second World War.

Crammers in England and Wales today are almost entirely concerned with preparing teenagers for A-level and GCSE exams, to improve their examination results and get admission to university. Some are residential; few if any have sports facilities. All are expensive, compared even to prestigious public schools such as Winchester and Eton, which also provide many extra-curricular activities. The English cram school, on the other hand, achieves results through focus on academic work.

United States[link]

The phrase "cram school" is considered pejorative in the United States^{[citation needed]}, so similar businesses are called "tutoring services" or "test preparation centers." Some well-known businesses of this type are Kaplan and Sylvan Learning. Generally, such supplementary instruction is only^{[citation needed]} used in the United States as a way to assist students who have learning disabilities or are struggling academically in a particular subject. They are also used by some GED candidates^[2] and by upperclassmen in high schools to prepare for the SAT, ACT, and/or Advanced Placement exams. Unlike their Asian counterparts, however, these schools tend to stray from rote memorization and more towards vocabulary drills, practicing essay composition, and learning effective test-taking strategies. College graduates and undergraduates near graduation will sometimes attend such classes to prepare for entrance exams necessary for graduate level education (i.e. LSAT, MCAT, GRE).

Review courses for the CPA examination (e.g., Becker Conviser, part of DeVry University) and the bar examination (e.g., BarBri) are often taken by undergraduate and graduate students in accountancy and law.^{[citation needed]}

References[link]

External links[link]

• "School Daze", Time Asia

Akiho Yoshizawa (吉沢明歩, Yoshizawa Akiho^?), often known simply as Acky (あっきー), is a Japanese adult video (AV) and pink film actress.

Life and career[link]

AV debut - Alice Japan & Max-A[link]

Yoshizawa was born in Tokyo, Japan on March 3, 1984^[2] and after working as a gravure idol, made her AV debut in 2003 under contract to two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A.^[3] Her first video as an AV performer, Angel, was released by the Alice Japan label in March 2003.^[3] Her second video 18-Teens was made for the Max-A Samansa and she continued alternating performances between the two studios through the middle of 2006 usually making one movie a month.^{[citation needed]} By 2005 Yoshizawa was starring in many of the typical genres of Japanese porn.^{[citation needed]} In 2006 Yoshizawa starred in the three-part erotic drama series Maison Akiho. She also appeared in the historical costume drama set in the Edo period, The Inner Palace: Indecent War, released by Max-A under the DoraMax label in July 2006. In addition to the hardcore video (labeled DMX-001),^[4][5] the movie was also released in a shorter softcore R-15 rated version (Pure Max PMX-005). A sequel The Inner Palace: Flower of War was also released in hardcore (DoraMax DMX-002)^[6] and softcore (Pure Max PMX-006) versions.^{[citation needed]}

Maxing & S1[link]

By the end of 2006 Yoshizawa was released from her contracts at the two studios, Alice Japan and Max-A, that she had been making videos for since 2003 and she now began working for two new companies, Maxing and S1 No. 1 Style.^{[citation needed]} She appeared in her first video for the new start-up studio Maxing, Sell Debut Love Acky,^[7] in that company's first set of videos released on October 16, 2006.^[8] She debuted with S1 in January 2007 with Hyper-Risky Mosaic Akiho Yoshizawa directed by Hideto Aki.^[9] She has been active with both studios since, appearing in about one movie a month for both studios.^{[citation needed]}

Yoshizawa's work in AV for the 2007 year was acknowledged by several awards. One of her S1 videos, the May 2007 release Hyper Risky Mosaic - Special Bath House Tsubaki, featuring S1 stars Sora Aoi, Honoka, Yuma Asami and eight others was the studio's entry for the 2007 AV Open contest where it took the 1st Place Award.^{[10] [11]}

At the end of 2010, Yoshizawa starred in her first 3D video, Maxing 3D! for the Maxing studio.^[12] Adult videos in this format for the 3D televisions produced by Sony and Panasonic had first appeared in June 2010.^[13] A month later, in January 2011, she appeared in another 3D video, 3D Evolution - New Dimension, this time for S1, which had pioneered the genre.^[14]

Other activities[link]

In addition to her hardcore AV videos, Yoshizawa has also has had a significant career in mainstream movies and softcore V-Cinema and pink films including the August 2004 horror movie Koibone^[15][16] and the May 2008 science fiction comedy Shin supai gâru daisakusen known in English as Spy Girl's Mission Cord #005 where she plays an evil alien seductress.^[17][18] Koibone was later (June 2005) released as a DVD by Taki [THD-14161].^[19] In another genre, Yoshizawa played the female ninja (kunoichi) Kasumi in the erotic action V-Cinema September 2007 release Lady Ninja Kasumi Vol.4 (Kasumi: Tanjou! Sarutobi Sasuke) based on a manga by Youji Kanbayashi and Jin Hirano.^[20]

She also starred in the 2005 pink film Fascinating Young Hostess: Sexy Thighs (悩殺若女将　色っぽい腰つき​, Nōsatsu waka-okami: iroppoi koshitsuki^?) which was ranked as the Best Film of the year at the 2006 Pink Grand Prix.^[21] Yoshizawa won the third Best Actress award at the same ceremony for her role in the movie.^[22] In an interview,^[23] Yoshikawa said she first met the director of the movie, Tetsuya Takehora, when he directed her in a V-cinema production Erotic Fountain (エロビアの泉) for the TMC studio in 2006.^[24] She was given a Best Actress award for her work in the pink film genre at the 2006 Pinky Ribbon Awards.^[25]

In September 2008 she had a major role in the film drama Madobe no honkîtonku (窓辺のほんきーとんく)^[26] which was also released as a DVD in November 2008.^[27] In another adult manga-based movie, the November 2008 TMC release Irokoishi : Horo-hen kabuki-cho zecchotaiketsu!! (艶恋師 放浪編 歌舞伎町 絶頂対決！！), she plays the heroine Rie. In this third movie in the Irokoishi series called in English Irokoishi3: Wandering – Kabukicho Ecstasy Battle!!, Rie is the victim of erotic hypnosis by the evil Ishida and is rescued by the hero Kikunosuke using his superior sexual techniques.^[28][29]

Yoshizawa's TV appearances include the TV Tokyo production Jōō (嬢王^?) which aired in 12 episodes from October to December 2005. Fellow AV Idol Sora Aoi was also in the show.^[30][31] Yoshizawa returned in a special guest appearance in the 2009 sequel to the show Jōō Virgin (嬢王　Virgin^?).^[32] From April 2008 she was also a cast regular on the late night TV Osaka variety show Please Muscat ( おねがい マスカット, Onegai Muscat^?) which also included other S1 actresses such as Sora Aoi, Yuma Asami, Rio (Tina Yuzuki) and Mihiro singing and performing comedy skits.^[33]

Along with two other idols, Mihiro and Kaho Kasumi, Yoshizawa also ventured into another medium with the 2005 UMD format video English Cram School where the three actresses give lessons in English. The softcore video, published as GBTU-002 by Success, is for the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).^[34] Another PSP video and game was the December 2006 All Star Yakyuken Battle, a striptease version of "yakyuken" or "rock-paper-scissors" where Yoshizawa joined with AV actresses An Nanba, Kaho Kasumi, Kaede Matsushima, Mihiro, Ran Asakawa, Rei Amami, Sora Aoi and Yua Aida. The game and video were released for the PSP and in Blu-Ray for the PS3.^[35][36]

Partial filmography[link]

2003[link]

2004[link]

2005[link]

2006[link]

2007[link]

2008[link]

2009[link]

2010[link]

2011[link]

References[link]