The other day, one of my colleague said,
"Hey Run, When did you go home last night?"
That is a question. Basically, I do not want to say "I am studying - hours a day." or "I did not sleep too much." The pace of study or time of sleep vary from person to person. In addition, my schedule is flexible and cannot say specific time for particular things. Moreover, "staying overnight" or "studying long hours" sometimes comes from bad scheduling or lack of management skills. I do not think that time of sleep and time of study do not always correspond to one's ability.
However, I cannot tell a lie to my little friend*1.
"I...............................stayed over night."
"ARE YOU CRAZY?"
Of course, I am not crazy so far, hopefully.
"This is typical style of Japanese graduate students*2."
Then She said,
"Do you think US students are lazier than Japanese students?"
This is an interesting question. I need to explain the difference of academic culture in USA and Japan.
When I was in Japan, working hour in my lab was not so strict. I would rather say that my previous advisor do not require specific working hours. In addition, researches of Japanese graduate schools often do not have topics on project base. Therefore, regulation of graduate school is not so strict and students have to decide their research topic by themselves.
This is not the case in Japan. When I talk with a professor from Australia, he said that the education of graduate schools in Australia is similar to most of Japanese graduate schools.
Of course, this is case by case. Education level of Japan is so high that some researchers succeeded in their researches. Several scholars got Nobel Prize. If you have a chance to ask their supervision, they must have excellent research topics and require some amount of regulations. However, most of Japanese laboratory guarantee freedom of students though they often do not have so much money and projects.
I would like to remind you of self-organize of students in USA. Most of graduate students come to school 8-9 a.m. and go back to their home around 5-6 pm. They may not stay overnight. On the other hand, every students are so enthusiastic their study. Most of the students do not hesitate to ask questions. It is hard to see someone sleeping in classes. They may not stay overnight and may not come to school holidays so often. However, they are motivated and have a specific vision to their future. My previous institution was one of the representative institutions in Japan, but the motivation of students was far less than that of graduate students here.
One difference of attitude to study may come from entrance exams of universities in Japan. If you are in USA, exam of universities may competitive. Japanese entrance exam for universities, however, is very competitive. For example, if you want to be a doctor, you need to pass the exam for medical school because you have to choose major before you start undergraduate. Some people have to become doctor and it takes a few years for them. Some student become 30 years old when they pass the exams. To say honestly, it took a year before I entered my previous institution.
On the other hand, the grading is not so strict once you are enrolled in the universities. Therefore, however you studied hard, that is not so highly evaluated. The ranking of universities is more important. These days, the attitude of companies are changing and they try to evaluate students based on what they have done, but grading are not important. Some students of Tokyo or Kyoto universities lost their motivation after their entrance exams. The social background results in the decrease of motivation of most of (not all!) students and that is true to graduate students.
Attitude to freedom, educational system, cultural back ground sometimes affect our behavior. Working hours vary from person to person. If you think, however, the origin of attitude to their jobs, you may notice some important background of people.
