Rational Decision Making and School-based Job Referrals for High School Students in Japan

Drawing on a yearlong participant observation of students in two vocationally oriented high schools in Japan, this article explains how the formalized school-based job-referral system (JRS) affects a student's decision making by reinforcing or undermining his or her predisposition to chose a particular option. Under the JRS, each school provides job openings to students, almost all of whom obtain jobs through the JRS. The JRS simultaneously restricts some students' free choice through institutional constraints and assists others to undergo a rational decisionmaking process by offering a wide range of options and related information. In so doing, it achieves a more meritocratic allocation of jobs and a smoother entry into the workforce for high school students as a whole. Furthermore, given the typically low level of resources of non-university-bound students, the JRS promotes an informed and purposive decision-making process and consequently greater equity than would occur without it.