Interviewed 11th-grade students in the United States, Taiwan, and Japan. Studying, interacting with peers, and watching television were the most frequently reported activities in each location. Chinese students spent more time in academic endeavors, and Japanese students spent more time attending school, than did American students. American…

The author, an anthropologist, spent 14 months (1974-75) in the industrial port city of Kobe (Japan) observing a cross section of urban high schools, including Japan's most elite private school and a night vocational school plagued by absenteeism and delinquency. He reports on the character of the institutions and of the experience via…