Delayed University Enrollment and Conceptions of Ability: From the Interviews with ‘Perennial Ronin’ in Japan

Transitions across educational stages are basically made in a manner that corresponds to age and grade in Japan, because the dropout and repeat-year rates in secondary education is relatively low and recurrent education is not so widespread as Western countries. However, in the transition from secondary to higher education, there are ‘ronin’ who failed to pass the university entrance examination and are studying to retake the exam the following year, and there are also ‘perennial ronin’ who remain ronin for several years. The choice of ronin may be open only to a small socio-economically advantaged segment of the population, as it requires parental understanding and financial support, especially to be a perennial ronin. Furthermore, in Japan, where there is a strong sense and norm of age, the delay of achievement manifested in deviations from the standard number of educational years could be important in terms of self-confidence in their own abilities.

Therefore, this study examines the process of decision making of perennial ronin students based on interviews with those who have experienced the failure of entrance the exam more than twice, with a particular focus on their internalized conceptions of ability. In doing so, we will discuss the difficulties in the transition to higher education in Japan, especially how delayed achievement could negatively affect to self-confidence in their own abilities that are manifested in being a perennial ronin.