Meikei High School is one of over 40 academic institutions in Tsukuba Science City, northeast of Tokyo. A "fieldwork" program for each grade allows students to learn from firsthand experience. During the six years at Meikei, students thus not only accumulate facts but also learn to think for themselves.

Meikei High School

Where we're located, our history, and the kind of facilities we have

Meikei High School is located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. Tsukuba has a neighborhood known as Tsukuba Science City that's home to over 40 academic and research institutions, and Meikei High School is one of them. It's a private school with both a middle and high school. Founded in 1979, it currently has about 1,300 students, about 220 in each grade.

 
There is an interesting program that the school calls "fieldwork." The students step out of the classroom to learn through firsthand experience, actually seeing, touching, and hearing things. There is a different destination for each grade, and the students themselves choose what they do. The eighth graders, for instance, will go camping for three nights on Mount Tsukuba, which has an elevation of 876 meters and is located about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) away from the school. In groups of five or six people, they will find their own way to a camping site with a map and do everything from preparing meals to setting up tents. "Walking such a long distance may be exhausting," say the students, "but we'll be with friends, and it'll be fun to accomplish something on our own."

 


Other assignments include trips to destinations both in Japan and overseas and long-distance swimming in the ocean. In these ways, the students take part in fieldwork every year. "Fieldwork is tough. If you keep thinking about how tough it is, though, it'll really get tedious," advises one high school student. "So you've got to find ways to enjoy what you're doing."

 
After the students reach their destinations, they have fun solving problems that crop up. During the six years at the school, they not only accumulate facts but also learn to think for themselves. This may be the reason the students of Meikei High School are so enthusiastic.
Send your comments and questions here (meikei@jcic.or.jp).