Abstract
This paper is based on interviews conducted at three Osaka Prefecture high schools which are regarded as “schools with educational difficulties,” in other words,“low-ranked high schools.” The aim of this research is to clarify the aspects of the educational difficulties in each school, the background to those difficulties, and the problems of career support which each school faces in the actual conditions. In conclusion, I will indicate that these schools, in spite of the earnest efforts of teachers and careful support for students, reveal the “critical point” of the contemporary high school system,
