Hanamaru – School Grades

One of the things that confused me when my son started elementary school in Japan was the way teachers grade homework and schoolwork.

Where I come from, when the answer was correct it was usually marked with a ✔ . Here in Japan they use this same mark to make the student notice that the answer is not correct and should be revised, like this

There is no letter or number grade (A, B+, C or 10, 9, 8, etc.) In elementary schools in Japan, the way to grade a school assignment is with a stylized flower, the Hanamaru, where “hana ” means flower and “maru” means round or circular.

Depending on how well the work is done or how much effort went into it, the flower is more complex:

There is also an “official” way of grading in elementary schools and that is by using a triangle to mean that the student needs to put more effort into their schoolwork, a circle to mean that the student is doing well but can do better, and a double circle to signify that the student did their best.

Something good about this way of grading is that it motivates the student to improve without negative signs ^^