The fact that I’m shocked not by the occurrences described by the above articles but by the fact that they’re happening in Japan probably speaks to my tendency to think of the Japanese education system (and by extension, Japanese people as a whole) in the traditional, stereotypical sense. Granted, most of my exposure to the Japanese school system has been through reading manga, which probably shouldn’t be taken as a reliable source, but even talking to fellow students who come from Japanese families, I got the impression that education was a pretty serious business in Japan. I’m not suggesting that it isn’t taken seriously by students, but the shenanigans that are being described above are something that I would expect to happen here in the States. In fact, I had several classmates in high school who routinely had their parents bully teachers into submission.
I’ve had several discussions in my freshman seminar that come back to the point that my generation is what’s called the “me” generation - we want everything our way, and we want it NOW. I had the impression that this was a mostly American phenomenon, but after reading through all the above material, I’m convinced that it’s not, even though the description of changing values to include emphasis on individuality and the right to an opinion still feel distinctly American to me. It makes me wonder if everyone my age behaves this way, or if the “me” generation is limited to certain cultures, and if this behavior was influenced by the Westernization trend that has been going on in Japan since World War II.
I felt the most interesting part about the Times article, specifically, was reading the comments posted about them on the news sites by people from around the world. Opinions seem to range from apologetic of the system (mostly by Japanese posters) to outrage (mostly by Americans), and quite a few posts by Japanese teachers that express the difficulty of the situation. Many of the other posts place the blame for the situation on America, apparently drawing on the same ideas that I went over in the previous paragraphs.
Whatever the cause of this situation, I find it utterly sad, and I feel for the teachers who have to deal with this on a daily basis.
Many of the culture blog posts that have been put up have made me realize that my view of Japanese culture and people is a bit dated, at best. I was aware of some of the little particulars of Japanese society, which seem to be rooted more firmly in tradition, but contemporary culture has changed to move outside the realm of what I deemed "Japanese" and has become instead more... Western?
I don't want to sound ethnocentric, and I'm not trying to, in comparing so many aspects of Japanese culture to very similar trends in the United States, but for some reason, I'm seeing clear relationships in most, if not all of the blog posts. I'm certain people from other countries see clear relationships between their homeland and the aspects of Japanese culture that are brought up in the blog, and perhaps that's the point of the blog, but as it is, I feel like I'm spending most of my time talking about the United States in replying. That, in particular, is one thing I wanted to avoid, and I'm having trouble.
However, that strong relationship is the reason I chose this particular post - some of the situations, bizarre though they are, have either happened or come very close to happening to people I know here in America. I had always thought of the American primary school system as kind of a joke compared to foreign schools as far as curriculum and discipline, so to see events that I had associated solely with my schools happening overseas was a major shock. It really forced me to take another look at culture in Japan, this time through a contemporary lens, so I could understand the bigger phenomenon and where it came from.
Many of the culture blog posts that have been put up have made me realize that my view of Japanese culture and people is a bit dated, at best. I was aware of some of the little particulars of Japanese society, which seem to be rooted more firmly in tradition, but contemporary culture has changed to move outside the realm of what I deemed "Japanese" and has become instead more... Western?
I don't want to sound ethnocentric, and I'm not trying to, in comparing so many aspects of Japanese culture to very similar trends in the United States, but for some reason, I'm seeing clear relationships in most, if not all of the blog posts. I'm certain people from other countries see clear relationships between their homeland and the aspects of Japanese culture that are brought up in the blog, and perhaps that's the point of the blog, but as it is, I feel like I'm spending most of my time talking about the United States in replying. That, in particular, is one thing I wanted to avoid, and I'm having trouble.
However, that strong relationship is the reason I chose this particular post - some of the situations, bizarre though they are, have either happened or come very close to happening to people I know here in America. I had always thought of the American primary school system as kind of a joke compared to foreign schools as far as curriculum and discipline, so to see events that I had associated solely with my schools happening overseas was a major shock. It really forced me to take another look at culture in Japan, this time through a contemporary lens, so I could understand the bigger phenomenon and where it came from.