Job Discussion Forums

[SeasonedVet]

Random Obsevations and Musings about Public High schools In Japan:
(at least the ones I've worked at)

Schools: Alot of them are quite big and well equipped (students don't seem to realize this. My high school back home didn't have a language lab with computers with speech equipment which was separate from two other computer labs each of which could hold 75~100 students. cool)

Schools in the countryside are spacious and have nice gardens. City schools tend to be squashed between apartment blocks, businesses and even bordering or in red light districts.

Students: Tend to be noisy (especially girls). Boys tend to be reticentor cool (in both meanings of the word). One thing I found different (or opposite) from back home is that the noisiest girls (seemingly troublemakers) are usually the ones who volunteer the most, answer the most questions and surprisingly they study.(well some of them). It is also that type of girl that can keep the momentum going in a class where students are shy or just not interested. At first I used to be think that that student needs some kind of discplinary action but I noticed that teachers would harness that student's "ability"? It worked for me too. I found that that student would rope in the disinterested students to speak up and act as a teachers' assistant. (She can also think critically)

Teachers: are the same in every country. I can find an almosty perfect match for teachers I worked with back home here in Japan.
many teachers still use the lecture method here in Japan but I have noticed some female Japanese teachers of English are trying out more interactive approaches no doubt due to the influence of ALT's as well as workshops they have been attending as well as the new more interactive textbooks being produced (some of which aren't half bad, others are. I mean the books)
Those teachers are sometimes in their late 50's. Kudos to them for trying out new stuff at that age.

Things I can't fathom: Student sleeps in class all term (all year too). Around exam time the student approaches the teacher and asks what does he/she have to study for the exam. The teacher tells the student what to study. There, problem fixed

Night schools: can be quite interesting. Imagine pairing the 16 year old with the 60 year old lady who sits at the front of the cllass. Hmmm
There tends to be a variety of ages and mixed abilities at night schools. can be challenging, can be difficult, can be fun. Here you get to meet the "yankees" and the grandmas.

To be continued? maybe ...

[flyer]

yes, I can't understand the allowing to sleep in class thing

[Lyrajean]

Hmmm... the facilities at one of my schools are deplorable. The prefecture thought they were closing it, so let the maintenance slide for 10 years. you can see places where the roof has leaked in the past. the wat fountains are so old and rusty they're scary. When it rains the bathrooms smell like a sewer. There are holes in the flooring, cracks in the concrete walls, etc...

The school is scheduled for "reconstruction". They tore down the gym this fall and were supposed to rebuilt it, but there has been a delay... Now construction won't start till next fall.

The fact that this school is an uber low-level, HS of last resort for students who can't get in elsewhere, does not inspire me to think that anyone really cares what happens to these students. We have empty classrooms while the HS down the street has over 1500 students.

[Quibby84]

Maybe junior high is different but what I HATE about it is that they baby them to much. Kids sleep or talk during class but yet they PASS! It is nuts, even the worst student will come out with a C because they dont want to give Fs because it might make them feel bad. They should feel bad! If they didnt sleep they might make a good grade!
I also hate the whole slow learner idea. Sure, there are students that are not as fast of a learners but that is not the excuse for every child that doesnt make good grades, a lot of them are just lazy! I think that they should just teach, or maybe let students work together (and make sure they dont cheat!).
Also, I hate the idea that they cant study at home or do things on their own. For speech contest the kid stayed at school until like 8 every day rehearsing his speech. The vice principal would have to stay. I asked why he couldnt do it at home in front of a mirror and the principal said that there are to many distractions...please!
So all in all, my biggest complaintent is the whole babying thing...argh!!!!

:steps off of soapbox:

[G Cthulhu]

[markle]

[Quibby84]

haha...
I see encouraging and babying as really different things. I think that the Japaense should encourage more and baby less...so instead of having a meeting about bad kids and talking about how they are slow learners etc they should take the kids aside (maybe suspension) and tell the kids what they are doing wrong and what they are doing right and how they need to fix what is wrong in order to go back to class...
I almost never see encouragement..so I try to do it as much as I can...

and about the going down the hill thing, it is funny..parents do do that...but I have a feeling it will all make sense when you have your own (and I will understand it when I have my one too...hehe)

[southofreality]

[Brooks]

G always has to put in something he doesn't like about the US.

I agree Quibby. If kids are allowed to pass with such low grades, that is why a lot of them don't bother. They can get away with it.
Imagine if more schools had real standards.
And then foreign teachers like myself sometimes are considered too strict.
At least I want my students to learn. I am not a babysitter.

[Quibby84]

Amen!

[SeasonedVet]

G Cthulhu:

[Gypsy Rose Kim]

Maybe Japanese parents and teachers "baby" their kids and students. Maybe. I do kind of know what you mean.

But you know what? Japanese kids grow up to be SERIOUSLY nice, well-rounded, and intelligent adults. So, I guess there is something to be said for this "babying" business of which you speak.

[gaijinalways]

Except for the NEETS, the hikikomori, the permanent part-timers (though not always their choice) and the criminals, but I never see those types...no....

Yes, of course many people 'seem to be' okay, but there seem to be more slipping through the cracks recently.

[Alberta605]

seems that many school children and particularly university students are overcome by some sort of mysterious sleeping sickness soon after taking their beds (seats).
A solution I find to have been effective is to bang the desk as hard as you can with your fist. They don't like it.

[G Cthulhu]