In America, a teacher holds the power and the authority to affect the future of a student by giving poor grades that will determine what school a student may attend later, by failing a student and not allowing that student to enter the next level of education, or by determining which opportunities within the school a student can access. Such a power relationship has the potential to corrupt both the dominant adult and the subordinate youth. In Japan the important evaluation points for students are entry exams to the next academic level, not, as here, the exit exams after a course of study. While grades and report cards are taken seriously in Japan as indicators of success and where further efforts are needed, they don't have other consequences. Nobody repeats a year.
Nobody is denied participation in activities.
Hence, the antagonism that American students often develop for their all-powerful teachers is far less prevalent among Japanese students, who are more likely to direct their frustration towards the big bad national Ministry of Education. As the teacher is perceived as only trying to help all of her students over of the various hurdles set by these anonymous examiners, there is less teacher-student hostility in the classroom, which yields an atmosphere more conducive to learning. This examination process of course produces its own frustrations and anxieties, but they are distinct from those generated by the grading system in American schools. Teachers also adopt a series of interactional strategies to make their own role in learning less heavy-handed. They skillfully avoid telling individual students whether their answers to questions are right or wrong, and instead encourage other students to perform this evaluation.