When I was 13 on a Boy Scout hiking trip in New Mexico, the group I was with closed each night with an activity called 'thorns and roses' where we sat around and said one highlight and one challenge we had encountered that day. Two days ago at a work meeting, we did a similar sort of activity reflecting on highlights and challenges of the past year. Though I could have named many different thorns and roses regarding my work experience in Japan, nothing came to my mind so clearly as the thorn, or challenge, of dealing with the disciplinary system I've seen in these schools.
Maybe yesterday's lessons are a good starting point. Yesterday one of the ni-nensei (8th grade) classes had to give short speeches concerning one of their favorite experiences, sports, movies, etc. This particular class has a few kids who are regularly disruptive and rude to other students and whoever happens to be teaching. Yesterday was no exception. They began the class by interrupting me as I was trying to explain the difference between saying 'good morning' as a polite greeting among colleagues and 'morning' as a greeting among friends. After the JTE (Japanese English teacher) said something to him, one of these students muttered something about not being able to understand me as his reason for interrupting me as he did.
During the speeches, the two boys, who sit next to each other, continuously interrupted the other students as they spoke; they kept laughing among themselves, and even made fun of some of the students as they were speaking. I was at the back of the room while the JTE was at the front and we were both trying to evaluate the students' speeches. About halfway through the speeches, after noticing the JTE wasn't doing anything to quiet them down, I moved closer to where the boys were sitting so I could get them to shut up. I had to keep hushing them up for the rest of the class period because they would only be quiet for a few seconds and then resume their chatting and laughing.
Neither of these students did a speech because they had spent the entire previous period messing around while the other students did their speech preparation. Really, I don't think them acting as they did is what really bothers me, though at the time it bothered me a great deal. Rather in a deeper sense what bothers me is how their sort of behavior gets dealt with by the school. The easy fix in my mind would be to separate the two boys so they don't sit next to each other and get each other going. But as far as I can tell, they've been sitting next to each other for a while now and there are no immediate plans by any of the teachers to separate them; and because in Japan the teachers, not the students, move classrooms, they continue to sit next each other for almost every class and subject, covering most of the school day.
The same day in another ni nensei class, two students, friends, were sitting behind a new student, making fun of him, throwing bits of eraser at his head, and trying to tick him off. This student is new to the school and to my surprise the JTE did nothing to stop these kids from bullying him. During class I literally had to walk over and tell the two boys to sit down as they were getting in his face and taunting him. After class I told the English teacher about the bullying I saw and mentioned that the three students should be separated. She gave me her usual nod and smile and that was the end of our conversation.
Though in this particular instance I think the JTE was wrong to not stop the two boys from bullying another boy, most of the time she seems to be doing the best she can with the situation she's in. She's not a teacher who has by any means 'given up' trying to control her students. Often it seems to me she's acting with prudence, having little to no good alternatives. There's no detention at these schools, nor is there much in the way of expulsions. Compared to my middle class suburban junior high, at this middle class suburban junior high fighting and horseplay tend not to be as big of a no-no. Also I have a strong suspicion that the parent teacher conferences tend to supress these problems because the teachers avoid direct confrontation with the parents about their kids.
Discipline is more indirect here. When I'm in class I feel like there are unspoken rules being followed by the really bad students, depending on their relationship with the teachers. These, as opposed to set in stone 'school rules' more or less dictate the boundaries of how they can or can't act. Also I've heard that in most junior high schools (around here anyway) the teachers move ahead in grades along with the students, so if they teach ichi nensei (7th graders) this year, they will teach the same students as ni nensei (8th graders) the following year. By the third year of junior high school, the same teacher will have taught a group of students for three consecutive years. The teachers tend to really get to know the students and vice-versa in ways that transcend professional boundaries and lean more towards familial relationships.
It's been a real challenge trying to understand and cope with such a different disciplinary system. It aches me to realize that in the hundreds of classes I've been a part of in Japan, working with 14 different teachers at 6 different junior high schools, I've never once seen two troublemakers get separated by a teacher during a class. Nor have I ever seen a student get kicked out of class for being too disruptive. When I was living in Iizuka, one of the JTE's told me that the climate of learning in one of her classes all revolved around one student's mood. 'If he's in a bad mood he'll turn 3 or 4 other students against me, and class will be ruined.' `But,` she said, 'If he's in a better mood those 3 or 4 other students will actually pay attention and class goes alright.' No wonder these teachers so often let rotten students sleep in class.
Overall I wouldn`t say the disciplinary system is broken, but to allow some students to, from class to class and day to day, ruin a junior high education for others simply because they happen to be in the same class as them seems to me an instance of total failure.
Anyway hopefully I can get on with some of my roses in my next post.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Two highlights from last week
Last Friday I went to the school gym to watch the first year students participate in an event called 'Hyaku nin isshu.' This roughly translates to '100 persons' poems.' The students got into groups of 10, with teams of 3 on 3, a judge, and scorekeepers. They sat on the gym floor with each team facing each other, in between them lying 100 cards the size of playing cards. The cards all had the second half of a Japanese poem called a 'waka' written on them. The whole waka was read out by a teacher on the stage with a microphone, and when the students were able to recognize which was the second half of the waka among the cards, they slapped or took the corresponding card in front of them. With about 240 students and 10 students per group, the entire gym floor was covered with small groups of 13 year-olds, all taking turns getting poised, searching quickly with their eyes and slapping the gym floor.
There was a big drum called a taiko on the stage next to the teacher reading the waka. Before the next poem was to be read, a different teacher would hit the taiko with a drum stick, making a deep BONG! sound that echoed throughout the gym. And the wakas were read with a certain tone and rhythm that made their 900 year old roots come more alive for me. When I saw the principal walking around observing the kids I asked him what the meanings of the poems were, and he told me he didn't know because they were written too long ago. In fact all the writing on the cards was in hiragana, the phonetic alphabet used for Japanese (as opposed to foreign) words; another teacher told me this is because the original Chinese 'kanji' characters they wrote the wakas in aren't used at all anymore.
Some of the kids were really fast. If the teacher read just a few syllables from the waka these students could grab the corresponding card almost immediately. It was fun watching these kids, often grabbing or slapping a card on their opponents' side after hearing just a few of the beginning sounds of the waka. A teacher told me that the students could officially start practicing as early as December for the event. But he also said some families play or practice it at home, and a few of the wakas are exceptionally well-known to Japanese people.
Watching this event was a great highlight for me. This game was not something I would expect as part of a curriculum at a junior high school. In that way, and with the drums, old poetry and rhythmic reading of the poetry it all seemed so Japanese. And after the event came another weekly highlight. After all the games were finished, one of the teachers took an opportunity to address all the first year students regarding recent complaints from teachers.
Apparently some students had been using the classroom key to lock teachers out of the classroom when classes were about to begin. It was interesting hearing this teacher speak because I found myself following his Japanese much better than I expected. I found myself understanding him explain to the kids that they shouldn't do that sort of thing cuz they wouldn't like it being done to them. He spoke at a medium pace and his pronunciation was very easy to follow. This same teacher had just spent time reading poems for the kids during the previous games and there his voice was very full and clear as he followed the rhythmic and tonal pattern of the wakas. I thought his voice much, much clearer than the other teachers' who had also read some poems. I decided if I had the chance I'd compliment him.
At the end of the day as he walked by my desk in the teachers' room I said to him (in Japanese) 'You know your Japanese is easy to understand.' Immediately he smiled, said thank you and something like 'wow, that makes me happy.' Right after I said this to him two things happened very quickly. First, I happened to catch the vice principal staring at me from across the room as if he were following our conversation. This immediately brought to my mind the sound of his Japanese, from day one slurry, usually indecipherable, and in total contrast to the Japanese I had just heard spoken in the gym. Second, right after he said this another teacher happened to walk by and asked him what he was so happy about. He smiled and said 'Paul told me my Japanese is easy to understand. I've gotten praised!' At this time, the teacher who asked him why he was so happy I remembered had just given a speech to the students as well, and done it in pretty clear Japanese too. So I said to him 'Oh and your Japanese as well. It's also easy to understand.' He smiled. 'Oh me too? Thank you very much,' he said, as the vice principal continued to stare with a curious look.
After this I packed up my backpack and began my daily walk out of the teachers' room. As I passed by the vice principal sitting at his desk I said my habitual goodbye phrase regarding honorable work being completed. I noticed that funny look he had in his eye, but ignored it and headed towards the door. Then I heard him say (in Japanese) 'Is my Japanese hard to understand?' I turned around and sort of cocked my head a little to the side like a dog and said back to him (in Japanese) 'uhh it's a little...' He said 'You just told Takenaka sensei and Kobayashi sensei their Japanese is easy to understand. What about mine?' He was smirking. I had no excuses to give him. Since last April I've had many uncomfortable conversations with this tall man that ended with 'Sorry I don't understand,' sentences left unfinished or ended only because we had been interrupted. Then he asked 'Is it too fast?' This made me think of his particular pattern of speech where I thought his words were not spoken too fast but all blended together as if he were chewing with a mouth half full every time he spoke. I lied. 'Yes, too fast' I said. Standing there not knowing what to say next I said, "Well, I'll just have study more huh.' Maybe knowing I was in a tight spot he repeated the phrase about honorably finishing work which any other day meant 'good job today' but the way he said it and flicked his hand I'm pretty sure this time meant 'Just go home ya little smartass.'
There was a big drum called a taiko on the stage next to the teacher reading the waka. Before the next poem was to be read, a different teacher would hit the taiko with a drum stick, making a deep BONG! sound that echoed throughout the gym. And the wakas were read with a certain tone and rhythm that made their 900 year old roots come more alive for me. When I saw the principal walking around observing the kids I asked him what the meanings of the poems were, and he told me he didn't know because they were written too long ago. In fact all the writing on the cards was in hiragana, the phonetic alphabet used for Japanese (as opposed to foreign) words; another teacher told me this is because the original Chinese 'kanji' characters they wrote the wakas in aren't used at all anymore.
Some of the kids were really fast. If the teacher read just a few syllables from the waka these students could grab the corresponding card almost immediately. It was fun watching these kids, often grabbing or slapping a card on their opponents' side after hearing just a few of the beginning sounds of the waka. A teacher told me that the students could officially start practicing as early as December for the event. But he also said some families play or practice it at home, and a few of the wakas are exceptionally well-known to Japanese people.
Watching this event was a great highlight for me. This game was not something I would expect as part of a curriculum at a junior high school. In that way, and with the drums, old poetry and rhythmic reading of the poetry it all seemed so Japanese. And after the event came another weekly highlight. After all the games were finished, one of the teachers took an opportunity to address all the first year students regarding recent complaints from teachers.
Apparently some students had been using the classroom key to lock teachers out of the classroom when classes were about to begin. It was interesting hearing this teacher speak because I found myself following his Japanese much better than I expected. I found myself understanding him explain to the kids that they shouldn't do that sort of thing cuz they wouldn't like it being done to them. He spoke at a medium pace and his pronunciation was very easy to follow. This same teacher had just spent time reading poems for the kids during the previous games and there his voice was very full and clear as he followed the rhythmic and tonal pattern of the wakas. I thought his voice much, much clearer than the other teachers' who had also read some poems. I decided if I had the chance I'd compliment him.
At the end of the day as he walked by my desk in the teachers' room I said to him (in Japanese) 'You know your Japanese is easy to understand.' Immediately he smiled, said thank you and something like 'wow, that makes me happy.' Right after I said this to him two things happened very quickly. First, I happened to catch the vice principal staring at me from across the room as if he were following our conversation. This immediately brought to my mind the sound of his Japanese, from day one slurry, usually indecipherable, and in total contrast to the Japanese I had just heard spoken in the gym. Second, right after he said this another teacher happened to walk by and asked him what he was so happy about. He smiled and said 'Paul told me my Japanese is easy to understand. I've gotten praised!' At this time, the teacher who asked him why he was so happy I remembered had just given a speech to the students as well, and done it in pretty clear Japanese too. So I said to him 'Oh and your Japanese as well. It's also easy to understand.' He smiled. 'Oh me too? Thank you very much,' he said, as the vice principal continued to stare with a curious look.
After this I packed up my backpack and began my daily walk out of the teachers' room. As I passed by the vice principal sitting at his desk I said my habitual goodbye phrase regarding honorable work being completed. I noticed that funny look he had in his eye, but ignored it and headed towards the door. Then I heard him say (in Japanese) 'Is my Japanese hard to understand?' I turned around and sort of cocked my head a little to the side like a dog and said back to him (in Japanese) 'uhh it's a little...' He said 'You just told Takenaka sensei and Kobayashi sensei their Japanese is easy to understand. What about mine?' He was smirking. I had no excuses to give him. Since last April I've had many uncomfortable conversations with this tall man that ended with 'Sorry I don't understand,' sentences left unfinished or ended only because we had been interrupted. Then he asked 'Is it too fast?' This made me think of his particular pattern of speech where I thought his words were not spoken too fast but all blended together as if he were chewing with a mouth half full every time he spoke. I lied. 'Yes, too fast' I said. Standing there not knowing what to say next I said, "Well, I'll just have study more huh.' Maybe knowing I was in a tight spot he repeated the phrase about honorably finishing work which any other day meant 'good job today' but the way he said it and flicked his hand I'm pretty sure this time meant 'Just go home ya little smartass.'
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