[-1:-5.00]But they reasoned that it would be worth it
[-1:-6.00]if their children got into private schools early
[-1:-7.00]and did not have to worry about passing examinations later on.
[-1:-8.00]"It's not an ideal thing to send your kids to such a place,"
[-1:-9.00] said one mother,
[-1:10.00]asking not to be identified for fear of criticism from other parents.
[-1:11.00]She said she thought that her daughter
[-1:12.00]was having a good time in this school,
[-1:13.00]but continued,"If I told you I wasn't thinking about entrance examinations,
[-1:14.00]I would be lying."
[-1:15.00]10  Juku teachers and managers say that because their schools
[-1:16.00]are profit-making enter-prises,
[-1:17.00]they have to promise results to succeed.
[-1:18.00]The results are easy to measure,
[-1:19.00]because they depend on how many graduates
[-1:20.00]pass the examinations for private schools.
[-1:21.00]11  The "examination hell"
[-1:22.00]imposed on children is widely crticized in Japan.
[-1:23.00]In a recent survey,
[-1:24.00]two-thirds of parents said competitive examinations
[-1:25.00]were their worst problem in raising children.
[-1:26.00]But parents are also eager to give their children every advantage.
[-1:27.00]"Jukus are playing on the status anxieties of these parents,"
[-1:28.00] said Makoto Oda,
[-1:29.00]an author who taught in jukus in Tokyo for more than 20 years.
[-1:30.00]"All parents are terribly frightened that their children will fall behind."
[-1:31.00]12  Juku defenders say that students are only
[-1:32.00]gaining the discipline and the ability
[-1:33.00]to endure pressure that they will need in life.
[-1:34.00]But the very success of jukus in training youngsters
[-1:35.00]to pass exams has made the competition worse:
[-1:36.00]jukus help more students pass exams,
[-1:37.00]so the exams have to be made more difficult.
[-1:38.00]13  "Jukus are raising a generation of kids
[-1:39.00]who only know how to pass entrance examinations,"
[-1:40.00]said an official of the Japan Teachers Union.
[-1:41.00]"But the most important educational purpose
[-1:42.00]is giving children the ability to live in society.
[-1:43.00]That's being left out."
[-1:44.00]The Education Ministry has tried to combat the juku system
[-1:45.00]by improving public schools,
[-1:46.00]reducing class sizes, improving teacher training,
[-1:47.00]and making the curriculum more fiexible.
[-1:48.00]But ministry officials concede that those steps have not worked.

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