in Japan is compulsory. All children begin first grade in the April after they turn six--kindergarten is growing increasingly popular, but is not mandatory—and starting school is considered a very important event in a child's life. History In the Edo period, some children attended terakoya or temple schools where they learned practical methods of reading, writing, and calculation. In 1886, the modern elementary school system started as compulsory education. Until 1947, only elementary schools were compulsory. Immediately before and during World War II, state education was used as a propaganda tool by the Japanese fascist government. Today, virtually all elementary education takes place in public schools. Tuition to these schools is free, although families have to pay for school lunches, supplies, and non-school expenses, such as extra books or lessons. Less than 1% of the schools are private, partly because of the latter's expense. Some private elementary schools are prestigious, and they serve as a first step to higher-level private schools with which they are affiliated and thence to a university. Competition to enter some of these "ladder schools" is quite intense. Elementary school classes are large, typically between thirty and forty students each. Students are usually organized into small work groups, which have both academic and disciplinary functions. Courses of Study The ministry's Course of Study for Elementary Schools is composed of a wide variety of subjects both academic and nonacademic. Academic subjects include Japanese language, social studies, arithmetic, and science. Japanese language is an emphasized subject due to the complexity of the written language and the diversity of its spoken forms in formal speech to seniors (keigo). The English Language is taught at some schools especially in the higher grades; it is now mandatory at 5th and 6th grade from 2011, as in 2002 TOEFL scores in Japan were the worst in Asia after North Korea. Nonacademic subjects taught include art (including Japanese calligraphy) and handicrafts, music, haiku or Japanese traditional poetry, homemaking, physical education, and moral education. Children also take part in "special activities," scheduled time each week to take care of class business, plan for field trips and ceremonies, and similar tasks. "Special activities" also serve as an arena for students to take an active role as members of the school community and to cultivate a sense of responsibility and willingness to work together. This is linked back to moral education classtime lessons, which are used