Gender Differentiation in the Process of the Selection of Universities
An Analysis of “Tracks” Embedded in the Entrance Examination System
1998 Volume 62 Pages 43-67
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1998 Volume 62 Pages 43-67
Since the 1970's both male students and female students have been involved in the, so called, “examination hell.” However, it is not clear whether female students have experienced the samd “Juken-taisei (examination ordeal)” as male students have. Especially it is very doubtful if female students have competed with male students for the same goal in the same tournament.
In fact, female students and male students might have different experiences in the choice of universities or colleges, and in the use of the ways for admission. For example, women's colleges and junior colleges cannot be included in the male students' choice, and to be “Ronin (high school graduate who is waiting for another chance to enter a college)” should be critical especially for female students: it means that the tournament cannot be consistent with the pyramid which is ordered by “Hensachi (the deviation value of trial examinations).”
In this paper, we focus on entrance examination for college as a system which itself brings about competitive and differential phases among female students and male students, and how it affects the selection of universities and colleges. Based on the above discussion, the following points are analyzed:
(1) Firstly, we take up female students' high schools and male students' high schools and examine how they use “the admission by school recommendation” as one of the means to enter a university. Moreover, we analyze the difference in the use of “the admission by school recommendation” between female students of female students' high schools and female students of coed high schools.
(2) Secondly, the “Ronin” norm among female students is analyzed in choosing universities, to suggest that the “Ronin” norm has functioned to lead female students to lower-ranking colleges (as “real ability” estimated by Hensachi rank) or to a women's college or a junior college. More importantly, the “Ronin” norm itself has survived by taking advantage of the feminine track which is made by the entrance examination system.
