The first few English classes at Sano Junior High in the fall trimester were the teacher inviting me to talk to the kids about America. When I tried to talk to them in English, they acted like if they did what I asked, they would be doing something wrong. Since I mentioned the students, I should mention what they are like. They are always attentive, never looking off the teacher. They memorize long speeches as homework. And then there's their uniform. The boy's uniform consists of a black blazer with brass buttons and a high neck, black pants and a pure white shirt with no wrinkles, no decoration, and no buttons on the collar. The girl's uniform consists of matching navy blue skirt and blazer, and the same white shirt. After my tryings to teach the Japanese students in the short amount of time I had, I went to my enkai. An enkai is like an acceptance/introduction where people drink heavily. I'm not allowed to talk about what happened at my enkai or after, because it would break my morals.
Then the sports festival happened. After the sports festival, I learned that women are a lot like children. Women are kept in order by somebody, and generally not allowed to wander without somebody to watch over them. In Japan, women are generally only good for cooking and cleaning, which would probably make them upset, but they don't voice their opinions, just like I realized at the sports festival. Girls were unhappy because they didn't get to do the pyramids, and boy's were unhappy because they DID get to do the pyramids. They didn't speak up, and when I did, the principal gave me some wild excuse about gaman, which means to persevere.
Then came leave watching which was uneventful and boring, so I will not talk about like I did with the enkai. I will say, however, that I questioned the relationship between Cho and Chieko.
I only reason I believe that these students are kept in such order is because adults are afraid. Afraid that some child might disappoint them. Afraid that some girl will not become a good wife, or that some boy will not turn out like his father. Adults are afraid that children will leave their homes in Japan and go west. Parents are afraid that their children will be like a westerner, and not be able to eat sushi because it's made of Japanese eel, or not be able to use chop sticks. America is not a very good example of what happens when you have children being free in schools, because half turn out to be high ranking officials, and some turn out to be workers in a candy making factory. But take that good half. These people did fine in a free school. With that said, what other reason is there to have a strict school?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
First Day's
My first few days have got me thinking.
Why would Sano need one part of their school to be one place, and another part in another place? That does not seem logical to me. Unless you needed to separate some kids because they misbehaved, I do not see why one part of the school would be separate from the rest. And why is part of the school in the government building? I understand that the school is government owned and operating because of the government, but why in the government building? I believe that would send a bad message to children.
What about Japanese wealth? Why is Tokyo so rich and Sano so poor? My apartment is supposedly the best in town, but it doesn't even have a seat for the toilet. Wealth in smaller cities like Sano would make it so people could travel to Tokyo, and spend their money there, making Tokyo just as rich. After just a few days, I am not looking forward to my stay in Sano.
I do not get why the Japanese people feel the need to ask such stupid questions. Everything I saw about Japan was nice, orderly and smart. I understand that these people have never seen a white man before, but is it really necessary to ask, "can you eat a Japanese rice cracker? It's made of Japanese rice." Those kinds of questions make your race seem pompous, jerky, rude and arrogant. Who can't eat a specefic type of food if your not allergic to it? The only question that might be asked in America was, "do you like sex?" I don't want to seem cocky or anything, but these people need to go to some other country, because they don't understand that their culture is very similar to ours.
Good bye from Sano. I'm going to teach my first class today.
Why would Sano need one part of their school to be one place, and another part in another place? That does not seem logical to me. Unless you needed to separate some kids because they misbehaved, I do not see why one part of the school would be separate from the rest. And why is part of the school in the government building? I understand that the school is government owned and operating because of the government, but why in the government building? I believe that would send a bad message to children.
What about Japanese wealth? Why is Tokyo so rich and Sano so poor? My apartment is supposedly the best in town, but it doesn't even have a seat for the toilet. Wealth in smaller cities like Sano would make it so people could travel to Tokyo, and spend their money there, making Tokyo just as rich. After just a few days, I am not looking forward to my stay in Sano.
I do not get why the Japanese people feel the need to ask such stupid questions. Everything I saw about Japan was nice, orderly and smart. I understand that these people have never seen a white man before, but is it really necessary to ask, "can you eat a Japanese rice cracker? It's made of Japanese rice." Those kinds of questions make your race seem pompous, jerky, rude and arrogant. Who can't eat a specefic type of food if your not allergic to it? The only question that might be asked in America was, "do you like sex?" I don't want to seem cocky or anything, but these people need to go to some other country, because they don't understand that their culture is very similar to ours.
Good bye from Sano. I'm going to teach my first class today.
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