What is a Cram School?
A cram school is a school which teaches a highly accelerated curriculum, with the goal of preparing students to take examinations. Typically, cram schools are designed to provide supplementary education, with students attending regular school during the day and going to cram school after school or on the weekends. You may also hear a cram school referred to as a grind school, test preparation center, learning center, or tutoring center.
Cram schools can be found all over the world, but they are especially common in Asia, where cram school attendance has become commonplace for students. Usually, the goal of a cram school is to prepare people for examinations through the use of a curriculum which promotes memorization and recitation of information. Test-taking skills are also often on offer at a cram school, along with numerous opportunities for practice tests.
A variety of students take cram school courses, ranging from elementary and middle school students preparing for middle and high school admissions tests to college graduates who want to ensure that they pass examinations required for admission to professional schools. Cram schools are especially common for high school students who wish to prepare for college, especially in countries where exhausting entrance and proficiency exams are a critical part of college admission.
Going to a cram school is usually quite physically and intellectually demanding. Students must cope with the regular curriculum from their day school on top of the accelerated material presented by the cram school, and in some nations, there is a lot of pressure for very high performance in cram school. Failure to do well on examinations can result in censure from parents and teachers, and a remedial course in a specialized cram school which caters to students who have taken and failed exams.
Cram school culture has been criticized by some educators. The concern is that the focus on memorization does not promote critical thinking and an in-depth examination of knowledge. While cram schools may teach students to perform well on tests, the students may struggle with real-life tests of their ability to process and analyze information. Teacher quality at cram schools is also quite variable, as generally local laws about training for teachers are relaxed for cram schools. The heavy load of cram school can also become problematic, with some students taking uppers and other drugs to push themselves to the limit in a cram school curriculum.
Written by S.E. Smith
