Editorial: Japanese Students Need Self-analysis

In Japan, many people want to work in an office for several decades, but these days, the turnover rate of young workers has been increasing. I think this problem is connected with Japanese university entrance system not asking to state the motivation for applying for the university.

Different from world standard, students can pass usual Japanese university entrance examination only by paper test score. This system takes away the opportunity for students to examine “Why this university?” “What subject do I want to major in?” and “What do I really want to do in the future?” These questions are important for students to really think about since they cannot easily switch major or transfer to a different university. Indeed, universities try to make new entrance exam systems evaluating other factors, but these new systems are still imperfect. Japanese universities should have students write their motivation for the university when sending their application.

Because of this entrance system, Japanese students do not know how to analyze themselves until job-hunting season comes. To work in an office for a long term, people have to make sure what they want to do and what the company actually does matches. This lack of opportunity to analyze themselves and the company they are applying to leads to the problem of increasing turnover rate of the young workers. The new graduates do not realize the miss match until they start working, causing them to become frustrated with the situation. As a result many quit.

In order to change this situation Keio University should, as a start, require students to turn in an essay stating what they desire to learn with the application. As a student newspaper, Mita Campus will continue to cover this topic.

Editor in chief Koki Kinoshita

Japanese version