It was a bit of a crazy week since we were using class to try to pick someone for the recitation contest. There was less than perfect communication on the matter, so that added to some confusion and frustration on everyone’s part, but in the end it worked out okay. I have a different idea of what is fair and what makes sense, but I didn’t have too much trouble being submissive in this matter. It’s a good thing they give me so much freedom in class, though, or I’d go crazy!
Monday (Dec. 19th) in ICC we discussed ideas for next year, and it was good Nihongo practice for me. I understood some of it . . .
I believe it was Tuesday (Dec. 20th) that I found John Taylor Gatto’s book Underground History of American Education (which you can read online at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm) and I’ve gotten quite obsessed with reading it. I believe it was how I spent much of the evening on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I wasn’t good about writing down what I did, so I can’t remember . . .
Thursday (Dec. 22nd) I
went to the YMCA in
Friday (Dec. 23rd) is the Emperor’s birthday so it’s a national holiday, but Shirane had its last day of school anyway. They gave the next Monday off instead, which is nice, I think. I taught one class and managed to find my way to the closing ceremony, though in the confusion nobody had told me about it. It was in the gym, just like the opening ceremony that I gave my speech at when I first arrived. Only this time, instead of being miserably hot, it was miserably cold. I’d also failed to bring my gym shoes so I was standing on the cold gym floor in only my socks – brr!
Like before, we started by
practicing the school song, and as a testament to my progress in Japanese I was
able to sing the words when
Also in light of reading Gatto’s book, the picture of uniformity before me sent chills of another kind through my spine. At one point between speeches a teacher got up on stage and straightened out the lines of students. I had noticed the lines of students before, but this was the first time I noticed how they are formed. Each new class of students at Shirane is divided into five classes of 40 students and each is given a number. For classes like Oral Communication (OC – what I teach) each class is further divided into 20 students by means of separating the odd and even numbered students. Why? Because they are numbered boys first, then girls, so this keeps the classes mixed (though they don’t really mix anyway, so I don’t know why they do this). When they gather for assemblies they line up according to class. First there’s class 1-1 (first year, first class), then 1-2 etc., then 2-1, 2-2, etc. Each class takes two rows, one for boys and one for girls. They line up one behind the other and stand during much of the ceremony in this way. They are very disciplined. There is no rude calling or noise during assemblies. It’s been beaten out of them. I don’t think literally, but certainly verbally. Creating order among its citizens has been accomplished brilliantly by the Japanese. You decide if that’s good or bad.
Lest I leave school with a dark note, I mention that before I left school for the day I watched the kyudo club for a while. Kyudo is Japanese archery, and it is kakoi! That means cool and elegant, at least according to my understanding. Some of the students came and talked to me while they were waiting for their turn. As much as the life has been beaten out of them during school, they are full of life and excitement in their club activities. It is good for me to see students that are dull and miserable in my classes excited and smiling in their clubs. It’s a testament to our need for humanity and the amount of injury it can suffer and still live on. Let me be clear, the teachers and staff care for the students do what they think is best for them. It is the structure of the system that disturbs me so. Most people in the school are wonderful people and give graciously of themselves to fellow teachers and to students. I hope the reader can appreciate the distinction.
