juku

American  

[joo-koo] / ˈdʒu ku /

noun

plural

juku

1. (in Japan) a school, attended in addition to one's regular school, where students prepare for college entrance examinations.

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Etymology

Origin of juku

1980–85; < Japanese

Explanation

If you’re a student in Japan, you might attend a juku in addition to your normal school. A juku is a private school that usually prepares students for the entrance exams to get into prestigious high schools and universities. Students, or their parents, have to pay fees to attend a juku, which is often called a "cram school." Because attending a juku is in addition to attending regular school, classes take place in the evenings, on weekends, or during school holidays — which means a lot of school! In most juku, students get extra instruction in core academic subjects like Japanese, English, math, and science. While some juku focus on the arts or sports, the primary purpose of attending a juku is exam prep.

Example Sentences

After several rejections, we finally found a juku that would take us in.

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018

The sports juku gave me a list of sixty things Taro should master.

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018

There was also a sheet that listed the juku rules that included this entry: “If Sakura concludes that the mother is emotionally unstable, we will ask you to withdraw.”

From Salon • Jul. 15, 2018

The key to success is the juku, an evening and weekend cram school where children from the age of four prepare for entrance examinations.

From Time Magazine Archive

One index of the increasing pressure on young Japanese to pile up an impressive gakureki is the phenomenal rise of after-hours or weekend schools known as juku.

From Time Magazine Archive