Archive for February 2004
Trip to Okinawa
I went to Okinawa with my students from February 17th to 20th. I enjoyed the trip much more than my students, I'm sure.
During this trip, I was impressed by many things, especially the nature and the island's culture and history. I was moved by the beautiful sea and mangrove forests, but I heard that the coral was in danger of dying. We need to protect the environment.
Okinawa was an independent country a long time ago. It had its own king and a flourishing trade, so the buildings there will remind you of China and other South Asian countries. They were amazing.
One of the most important things about Okinawa is the war. Many people, not only soldiers but also civilians, many of them young students, were killed. There is a memorial hall where you can learn many things. I really thought that I should show the compositions exhibited there to many people and let them realize how miserable and tragic war is.
No Lack of Diversity
In Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr looks at Japan's schools and finds a "denial of differences and an embrace of sameness" (290). He claims that Japanese students lack diversity because "schools teach children to behave and conform" (293) and because "obedience is largely what Japanese education is about" (293). I disagree with this assessment for various reasons.
First, I have no experience of teachers promoting "a denial of difference and an embrace of sameness". True, harmony is important for running a classroom, but in the classroom discussions I have experienced, both the teachers and the students respected minority opinion. Following the Japanese proverb San-nin atumareba monju no chie (Two heads are better than one), we gathered many opinions about a matter before we reached a conclusion. I have always respected everyone in my class, and I think I have been respected by everyone else.
Teachers also evaluate the characters of their students. In the tsuuchihyou, the report card, teachers note their pupils' strengths -- like he or she comes to school early, and waters the flowers every day -- and weaknesses -- like he or she is late for class many times -- in which case they admonish them to get up five minutes earlier.
Second, I don't think it is fair to criticize the exam system in Kerr's manner:
To pass examinations in Japan, students must learn facts, facts that are not necessarily relevant to each other or useful in life. The emphasis is on rote memorization. The Ministry of Education reviews all textbooks and standardizes their contents so that pupils across the country, both in public and private schools, read the same books. (295)
Memorization is an important element, and the contents are highly standardized across the country, but things don't stop there. In recent years, the students' personalities have also come to be emphasized. In university entrance examinations the description questions are gradually being increased, both at private and national universities. At education departments, for example, students are asked to analyze problems like bullying. Students are respected for their diverse individualities. Also, I think we cannot develop our characters without much knowledge, so knowing the facts is not as bad as Kerr implies. I think much knowledge also makes people's hearts rich.
Third, a single visit to a school will confirm that students really are quite diverse. They have various hobbies: Some like drawing pictures, some like playing sports or listening to music. Also in sports, some like playing baseball, and others like playing basketball. In the high school I graduated from, students can choose whether they enter clubs or not, and all the activities in the clubs depend on them. I belonged to the soft tennis club; we always decided ourselves when to practice, we chose what to do in the activities, and there was no pressure by our teachers. We enjoyed club activity and it is one of my best memories.
Also in the classroom, there are many students who have unique personalities. I have many friends who have unique characters. Classroom is not the place where teachers control the their students but where they foster their personalities. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, but in the classroom, we helped each other by exploiting both our merits and demerits. So students understand not only their own personality but their friends' personalities as well.
Bullying in Japanese Education
In his widely read book on Japan, Dogs and Demons, Alex Kerr claims that students only learn behavior and conformity in Japanese schools, and that, because of this, the educational system creates violence:
The acceptance of violence against those who are weaker than you is a part of Japan's educational process, as it enforces group unity. Given the intense pressure to conform from kindergarten onward, Japanese students frequently turn to bullying, known as ijime. (291)
I beg to differ.
We are certainly required to keep harmony with many people around us in schools, companies, offices and so on. Many Japanese think it is not good to disturb the piece, so we learn a kind of obedience besides politeness, decency, and courtesy. Therefore "the acceptance of violence against those who are weaker than you" is not what Japan's schools are about. We are taught that it is a bad thing to bully someone.
Kerr also thinks that school teachers tacitly support bullying: "While teachers take an official stand against ijime, they tend to encourage it indirectly, through their own emphasis on obedience to the group" (292). But it is not enough observation. There may be some teachers who encourage students to bully, but they are very few, and most teachers don't tolerate violence and bullying at all. When I was an elementary school student, one of my classmates was bullied by some girls. She was distressed by the experience, so she talked with her teacher about it. The teacher confronted it seriously, and after this, he had a talk with her and the girls who bullied her. They talked things through, and finally the girls stopped bullying. They came to fully understand that bullying was a really bad thing.
In support of his claim that teachers encourage bullying, Kerr brings up a statistic:
In a nationwide conference of the Japan Teachers' Union in 1996, most teachers agreed: "It can't be helped that in severe cases of bullying the bullied student skips school for a while." But only 11 percent thought it was appropriate to suspend the bullies" (292)
This may be true, but I don't think it's particularly relevant. Suspending the bullies is punishment, but it doesn't change anyone's behavior. So, if the bullies are suspended from school, they may not come to realize why bullying is a bad thing, and when they return to school, they may repeat the same mistake. If the majority of teachers don't believe that suspending the bullies from school is an adequate response, it doesn't mean that they support or encourage bullying.
Kerr also exaggerates the alleged racism in the Japanese educational system as a cause of bullying: "Students who have studied abroad are obvious targets; so alien is their upbringing to that of their classmates that educationalists have created a new word for them: kikokushijo, 'returnees'" (292). But the kikokushijo are not always bullied in Japanese schools. The elementary school which I went to for six years had foreign students. There was no foreign student in my class, but there was a class that included a kikokushijo. She didn't seem to be bullied by her classmates, and she looked happy mingling with her new friends. Kerr's analysis simply doesn't square with my experience.
I don't think bullying has much to do with the emphasis that Japanese education places on harmony. Kerr sees only the worst in Japanese education and Japanese teachers, yet there are many teachers in this country who strongly oppose bullying, so if he'd widen his view and look at things from different sides, he might change his opinion.
On Campus Earlier Today
Shingo-kun saw me take the water tank picture. He thought I was crazy.
Maybe he's right.