★ Overview of the Japanese School of Detroit
The Japanese School of Detroit was founded In 1973 by the local Japanese companies with only 23 children with the wish of giving those children supplementary curricula so that when
they return to Japan, adjustment to their lives would be as smooth as possible.
The purpose of the Japanese School of Detroit is to provide Japanese children with opportunities to learn the supplementary curricula of the Japanese education in the Japanese language while they stay in the U.S., so that children will adapt themselves back into the Japanese educational environment without much difficulty when they return to Japan.
Today we have grown to a huge school with about 800 students from kindergarten through high school. There is a principal and 2 assistant principals who are assigned to our school by the Japanese government. During their 3-year term, they take leaderships as administrators to maintain the school with support from many volunteer parents.
Classes are held on 42 Saturdays a year at the Japanese school. On a typical Saturday, the 1st hour starts from 9 in the morning. There are more than 6 periods a day, and there are a few recesses and a lunch hour that children enjoy very much. They are dismissed after 3. Children, who attend the Japanese school on every Saturday, are driven by their parents as far from Windsor, Canada, Ann Arbor, Lake Orion and there is a family even from Midland.
They study mainly the Japanese Language and Math at the lower elementary level. The social studies is added from 4th grade, and science is added from 7th and on. In high school, Math, English, History, Modern Japanese as well as Classic Japanese are offered.
School events that are unique to schools in Japan are important for them to experience at our school while they are away from their home country, such as Sports Festival, Ceremonies of the first day and the last day of school, and the Graduation ceremonies.
Therefore children have opportunities not only to acquire academics while being away from their home country but also to learn the important values of Japanese society and observe Japanese holidays and cultural events that tend to be forgotten. Above all, it is a place for them to enjoy their successes and achievements in learning in their mother tongue, which is something they struggle with at local schools, and
also to enjoy friendships with other Japanese friends sharing the same hardships and backgrounds.
(Please refer to School Handbook and Handbook for teachers of Japanese students for more information.)
Music concert
First day ceremony
Graduation ceremony
