I am thankful to my alma mater, the University of Tokyo, for educating me for 8 years. I recall that I wanted to study at national universities because its tuition was lower than private ones. When we apply to national universities, we have only 2 chances to take an entrance exam for each school. Choosing UTokyo exam was challenging in my first admission. I failed, so I spent one year at a prep school. Second try was successful. I could take an exam for other schools which are much easier to get into, but I wanted to have better education.
I was surprised many times during the first month after enrollment. I often found that my friends were from wealthy or intellectual backgrounds. It was my first time to meet with a person whose parent's occupation is university professor. Since then, I’ve been interested in the role of family background in creation of inequality.
UTokyo is obviously the top elite school in Japan. It was established in 1877 to create national elites. Now its admission is open to everyone, although opportunities to take and pass the exam are not equally distributed across different socioeconomic strata. As a first-generation college student from working-class background, I was able to experience upward social mobility via education at UTokyo. I was fortunate that I studied at UTokyo in my undergraduate and graduate. In this sense, I believe in the value of meritocracy. Regardless of its origin, opportunities for better education should be open to everyone.
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