Academic acceleration systems, which enable students who excel in school to skip grades and study at a faster rate than others, have become increasingly commonplace globally. In the United States, around 180,000 students under 18 years old skip grades and enter universities early every year. But in Japan, the system has only been used by 130 students at nine universities over the past 20 years.
Educators and academics who see such acceleration as a significant way to maximize each student's academic choices emphasize that the system cannot become better utilized unless many restrictions, such as those related to age, are removed. They also say the system will remain stymied in Japan as long as the tendency remains in place to give more value to age-based grade categorization and universities' prestige rankings.
Under the current system in Japan, students can skip grades only after completing two years of high school. The only available accelerations are to skip the last year of high school to enter a university early or skip the last year of university to enter a graduate school.