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As the title says^^ I think 生徒 is for elementary school, what about the other
two?
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2013-04-13T09:35:27.570
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2019-03-23T16:06:07.007
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question
word-choice words
Difference between 学生・生徒・児童
Did you look this up in a dictionary? Even WWWJDIC has

> 学生 student (esp. a university student)  
>  生徒 pupil  
>  児童 children, juvenile

which is quite accurate I'd say. 生徒 is pupil, not just for elementary school.
If you want to be more specific about the level, there are

> 小学生 elementary school pupil  
>  中学生 middle school pupil  
>  高校生 high school pupil  
>  大学生 university (undergraduate student)  
>  大学院生 graduate student
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Students are 学生 for most of their educational life:

> kindergarten 幼稚園児(ようちえん･じ)  
>  elementary school 小学生(しょうがく･せい)  
>  middle school 中学生(ちゅうがく･せい)  
>  high school 高校生(こうこう･せい)  
>  university 大学生(だいがく･せい)  
>  graduate school 大学院生(だいがくいん･せい), 博士課程の学生(はくし･かていのがくせい)

I would always pass myself off as はかせかていのメンバー (member of the doctorate
course). I was never corrected on this.

The other two act as group descriptors, rather than something a student would
refer itself as:

> 児童 "children", up to including elemenatry school  
>  生徒 "a member of the body of students", middle school and up

According to Japanese animated television series, Japanese spend what is
called their life in school and then transform into a rigid plant-like
lifeform. Hence there are a lot of other terms describing that growth phase,
such as:

  * [弟子]{でし} (novice of some craftsman)
  * [在校生]{ざいこうせい} (enrolled high school student)
  * [在学生]{ざいがくせい} (enrolled student)
  * [書生]{しょせい} (scholarly student)
  * [学僕]{がくぼく} (student learning under and working for a teacher)
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# 日本語

I think 生徒 is for elementary school>>残念ながら、本来は違うんです・・・^^;  

大学で教育関係の勉強をしたときに、[文部科学省]{もんぶかがくしょう}の定めるところでは、

> 幼稚園では「[幼児]{ようじ}」、  
>  小学校では「[児童]{じどう}」、  
>  中学・高校では「[生徒]{せいと}」、  
>  大学以上では「[学生]{がくせい}」  
>

とされると知りました。だから、厳密には「高校生・中学生」は「学生」ではありませんし、「小学生」も「生徒」ではありません。  
  
でも！  
  
日本では多くの人が、日常会話でよく、高校生を「学生」と呼びます。（もちろん、中学・高校の先生は「うちの学生」ではなく「うちの生徒」と言いますが。）小学生を「生徒」と呼ぶ人もよくいます。（もちろん、小学校の先生は「うちの生徒」ではなく「うちの児童」と言いますが。）ニュースや新聞では、正しく使い分けられているはずです。  
  
また、「教師」に対して「教えてもらう側」という意味では、小学生・大学生・大人に対しても、よく「生徒」を使います。例えば・・・「うちの書道教室の児童」よりも「うちの書道教室の生徒」のほうが自然です。

# English

Translated Version:

"I think 生徒 is for elementary school"\--I'm sorry, but I don't think this is
right.

As established by the Ministry of Education,

> Kindergarteners are 幼児,  
>  Elementary/primary school students are 児童,  
>  Middle/secondary/junior high and high school students are 生徒,  
>  College and university students are 学生

So strictly speaking, 高校生 and 中学生 are not 学生; and 小学生 are not 生徒.

But!

In Japan, it is not uncommon in everyday conversations that 高校生 are called 学生,
and there are many people who use 生徒 for 小学生. (But of course, 中学・高校 teachers
don't say うちの学生, they say うちの生徒; and 小学 teachers don't say うちの生徒, they say
うちの児童.) As for things like newspapers, we would expect the words to be
correctly used.

Also, people who are under instruction, as opposed to providing instruction,
are frequently called 生徒. For example, the phrase "Our calligraphy class
student(s)" is more naturally realised as "うちの書道教室の生徒" than "うちの書道教室の児童".
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This is the clearest answer that I found.

学生 are who studies (at some institution). 生徒 are who are taught (from some
teacher).

I teach tai chi privately and therefore my students are referred to as 生徒.
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