Make It Rain - Tom Waits

I haven't done much writing since coming to Japan. My skills have definitely gone down hill since arriving but I guess that is to be expected...I apolgize if I leave out important things like particles or misspell a lot of words. Give me a break I spend most of my days teaching things like "Have you ever been to China?" Anyway I thought I'd share some thoughts I have on Japanese Education and the role of the "English Guidance Assistant" a.k.a. people with my job. Im sure this will sound quite bitter, but I'd first like to say that I love living here and have been having an excellent time. Ive learned so much and still have so much to learn. I love seeing the kids and talking to them outside of class. Interacting with them is certainlly the best part of my job. Of course there are good days and bad days but overall I really like how bright and creative my students are. Not a week goes by that I'm not amazed by something one of my students does or says. I just have a few thoughts on why I can't continue to have the job that I do now.

The education system here is really starting to get to me. Mainly because it has nothing to do with Education. I've come to the conclusion that compulsory education in Japan isn't really about learning traditional things like Science or Math or History. Granted, these subjects are all taught in school. And the students still have tests, homework, assignments. That much resembles a traditional American education. Its the actual content that is driving me mad. Its all very very elementary stuff. When kids start junior high school they begin to learn not about the world, or how to do sums and what the capital of India is, but about how to be good Japanese citizens. They learn about and develop important relationships that they will have in real world situations. They learn about group responsibility and how to treat people in a group. They learn that how you do something is as equally important as what you do. Sometimes what you do doesn't even matter, it's simply a matter of whether you did it in the right way.

For me, this can be quite frustrating at times. I'm here to promote internationalization in a very homogenous culture. To expose children to things they might not learn unless they speak to someone from a foreign country. These things I can do no problem, but I'm also here to teach English. Now, most students attend school from 8-4. They then have a club activity they have to attend from 4-6 or so. Students then go directly to cram school. Cram school can go until 11pm in some areas. It's in cram school that the students memorize the important things they need to know for passing entrance exams into high school. At 'regular' school they hang out, they talk to their friends, they practice the things they learned in cram school last year. Most students aren't interested in actually learning anything new at public schools.

So much pressure is put upon the student themself that public school becomes a break. You want to pass your entrance exams and get into a good high school? Go to a good cram school. You want to get into a good college so that you can get into an equally good company after graduation? Go to a good high school. So little emphasis is placed on that in public schools that it's hard to take learning seriously.

This is starting to be a problem. Its hard to keep caring about students who aren't interested in learning. Its merely an excercise. Its babysitting. Last year when I first arrived a 65 year old English teacher told me that we were simply babysitters. She was on her last leg of the school year. She'd been teaching for about 40 years. I didn't know if that was her "im ready to get the fuck out of here" attitude or if she was actually conveying some wisdom to me. After spending the last year and a half in the classroom I would have to agree with her. Yes, the students do learn and of course there are many eager students at my school, but most of these eager students are young learners who are excited simply because everything is so new. By the time they have reached third year they have learned what school is about. They know that most of the information they 'learn' in public school isn't about facts. Its about how to act in society. Its about what will be expected of them in the future.

Its very interesting but as someone who knows little about how to be Japanese its a bit of a problem. Im not sure what kind of advice to give to kids because I'm not Japanese. I'm not allowed to discipline technically; it's a clause in my contract. On top of this is the fact that I will always be viewed as an outsider. No matter how good my Japanese becomes or how long I have lived here I will be forever viewed as someone foreign and therefore someone who will never understand what makes a good Japanese citizen. So even if I do give advice and it's solid information, it will never be taken seriously simply because I'm not Japanese. There is an article about this I recently read. Granted the English is a little strange at times, but keep in mind it was written by a guy who lives in Japan. The website hosting it is pretty lame but there is some good insight in this article that goes into more detail about the issue surrounding foreigners living in Japan.

I know not all fields are like this in Japan, but I think it's interesting that the Japanese government has set up an 'internationalization' program in junior high schools. Junior high schools: the last stance for compulsory education. Students who graduate and go on to high school will have more of the same. The students who don't go on to high school become 7/11 and gas station employees.

Anyway, it's been quite a trip. I've learned so much. I've enjoyed it. But I have to say I'm glad that my time at Niiza Shi Ritsu Dai Ni Chuu Gakko will be up come July.