TGIF - again, another Met thing
Please bear with me gentle reader: these musings are directly specifically at the staff of the Met in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island.
Ohayo gozaimas! (Good morning!) 7am on Friday morning in the City of Arao, in the Kumamoto Prefecture, on the Kyushu (que-shew) Island, sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Verde. The overwhelming color theme is green...could you have guessed?
I've been rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, fitting for a number of reasons. First, Zen is a flavor of Buddhism that developed in Japan, with the belief that enlightenment could be achieved within a single lifetime; I am currently in Japan. Buddhism and enlightenment are very much internally-focused; when I travel, inevitably 51% of the learning I do is about myself and very personal. I miss my bicycles deeply; a bicycle is kinda like a motorcycle. The author talks in the style of a Chataqua (I may have butchered the spelling), telling a long, winding story; I feel I could do the same with my learning while I've been here. Finally, the author makes a statement just after the title page, which I'll paraphrase here: 'This book is not a fair representation of the body of thought which is Zen Buddhism, and it isn't very accurate about motorcycles either'; likewise, this portion of my Chataqua isn't a great representation of what I've learned, and it isn't very accurate about Japanese culture either. Still, Pirsig and I have both made honest attempts. Reading Zen on the plane got my head into the space of a Chataqua - almost as a motorcycle trip would (oh, and I want to move to Japan and buy a Confederate Hellcat).
Beginning, as Pirsig did, with surface-level observations, it seems at first that Japan and the US exist as a world of dichotomies. As if I were making a Venn diagram, I'll start with the center piece. Our educational systems are very similar: students attend three schools through their career (elementary, junior high and senior high schools); teachers get frustrated with students who aren't engaged, aren't thinking creatively, budget restraints, families who aren't supportive enough, not being paid enough for the amount of time spent working; teachers hope for the best for their students; there is a desire for reform, but no definite plan for how to make that happen; there is an attempt at balance between academic demands and the desire to allow students to grow as people, enjoying their lives and education, and growing at their own pace.
Differences seem to be much fewer: Japanese teachers and schools seem to get much more respect than in the states (but when we meet with parents we may see a set of different feelings); the schools we've seen (and this may be a function of visiting Arao, a largely rural area, or that I've taught in Baltimore and Providence, two rather urban areas) place importance on the physical space of the school, including green, landscaping and the quality of the building spaces; students here engage in daily cleaning of the school space, as a way of building community and taking responsibility. A really fantastic idea.
Today we're at Arao Third Junior High School, aka Arao Daisan JHS (san is three). In order to make things fluid for myself, and readable for you, throughout this post I will be taking notes from the meetings we have with faculty of the school, and will be formatting those in italics.
The school motto here is: 'Beautiful Flowers Always Have Brilliant Roots', and they strive to deliver 'Education Centering on Fundamentals and Basics.'
Schools often say that discipline is a very important issue in education; I wonder if this is a reference to teacher-imposed discipline, or if it is rather self-discipline which they want to instill in students. A statement was just made that they work to instill discipline by various school functions such as trips to climb mountains and camping; challenging students to pull through difficult situations would seem to imply a focus on self-discipline, which supersedes teacher-inspired discipline. I should try to remember to ask that later.
Looking into deeper places...
Japanese culture places strong emphasis on duty, harmony, and peace. School culture is built around small duties given to students - such as cleaning, taking care of plants and greeting visitors. (Present at the Met, but not everywhere.) There is an obvious dichotomy between individuals and the society which must be wrestled with: youngsters have a desire to express themselves, but society frowns on that; even when kids have been seen to have freedom (like walking around in Shibuya in Tokyo) they still conform to certain standards...boys wearing jeans and torn or weathered suit coats, and girls in short skirts with calf- or knee-high boots...these outfits are so ubiquitous to be entirely conformist.
The focus on conformity has some really interesting effects on the education methods I've seen in classrooms. Largely, a lecture style of teaching is used. A math class, in the first 30 minutes, students said hello to the teacher, and then for about 2 minutes, after he'd been talking for a while, he asked students to reinforce the learning with each other; definitely a great technique, but it doesn't go far enough.
Kumamoto style of education: thorough and pro-active. The school uses no bells to indicate end of courses; instead, they want students to develop self-reliance. A book I must read, TR Reid's Confucius Lives Next Door.
So there are some things I'd like to make clear, and may be, in doing so, wrapping up today's Chataqua. First, I am quite enamored with Japan and its culture: dichotomies thrill me, and this is an onion which allows, even asks itself to be peeled back, revealing yet deeper layers and hidden secret; tatami mat rooms and rice-paper walls and sliding doors and natural light and natural wood colors all make me feel happy and serene; the architecture here is simple and calming and focusing, even when it is mixed with modern materials and building techniques. And their educational system hasn't had it easy: we destroyed the country's infrastructure during WWII (most of which was decimated even before the two atomic bombs were dropped), and then we helped them rebuild from there. There is a natural evolution to an educational system, and I wonder if WWII didn't change it in some way, taking it from what it would have been now, putting it off course. A few years ago there was educational reform in the country, resulting in the shortening of the hours students spend in school, with the hope of families having more influence over students; in the view of our handler/wrangler, Naoko-san, it was a failure.
Tomorrow is, for me, the pinnacle of this journey. We begin our home stay...at 1030 we have a tea ceremony with our host families, then at 1300 we depart with them for 26 hours. I am absolutely thrilled. I know that tomorrow I'll wake nervous and scared, but that will wane quickly and I'll be excited as all get out.
Thoughts of my students run rampant, even and especially here. There are so many things said about the Japanese school system, and children here, that are addressed by things at the Met, and some concerns are exactly the same. I wonder how well students get socialized here. Boys will be boys, and girls, girls. Which means that boys are often roughhousing with each other, and you can see some who are clearly a bit more mature and stand back just a little bit. And girls get giggly...that's their initial reaction to most stressors it seems. There is so very little student input during class - entirely teacher-centered - and the kids are well-behaved enough that it probably seems like it works. But even here, in a society which prefers peace and homogeneity, where we're told that the saying 'the nail which sticks up gets hammered down' still stands, kids who stand out in class are encouraged or forced to remain silent. Kids who don't get it or are falling behind do, and those who have the opportunity to excel and move beyond the limits of what the teacher is presenting at that moment don't, probably get bored, eventually frustrated, and probably don't meet their potential. I don't know how to ask about that and be politically correct (ie. be ye not the nail), elsewise I would.
So, the question which begs to be asked....would it be possible to open a Big Picture School in Japan???
I kid you not...I can see it now...
Advisory on tatami mat floors, eveyone wearing slippers, leaving their street shoes at the entrance way; real world learning for all of us - language for the BPOL coaches and internships and independence for students and families, and continuing the culture of community and harmony while building up the individual's sense of responsibility... A beautiful blending I can envision as beautiful and effective.
And now, just about two weeks into the trip, I must admit I'd give my arm for a think slice of multigrain break from Seven Stars, organic and unsweetened peanut butter from Whole Foods, and tomato-basil soup of ingredients from Scratch Farm, grown in Cranston. But tonight will be basashi (raw horsemeat), sushi, and a wonderful mushroom-rice dish. I'll go easy on the basashi.
Peace-
Kippu
Ohayo gozaimas! (Good morning!) 7am on Friday morning in the City of Arao, in the Kumamoto Prefecture, on the Kyushu (que-shew) Island, sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Verde. The overwhelming color theme is green...could you have guessed?
I've been rereading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, fitting for a number of reasons. First, Zen is a flavor of Buddhism that developed in Japan, with the belief that enlightenment could be achieved within a single lifetime; I am currently in Japan. Buddhism and enlightenment are very much internally-focused; when I travel, inevitably 51% of the learning I do is about myself and very personal. I miss my bicycles deeply; a bicycle is kinda like a motorcycle. The author talks in the style of a Chataqua (I may have butchered the spelling), telling a long, winding story; I feel I could do the same with my learning while I've been here. Finally, the author makes a statement just after the title page, which I'll paraphrase here: 'This book is not a fair representation of the body of thought which is Zen Buddhism, and it isn't very accurate about motorcycles either'; likewise, this portion of my Chataqua isn't a great representation of what I've learned, and it isn't very accurate about Japanese culture either. Still, Pirsig and I have both made honest attempts. Reading Zen on the plane got my head into the space of a Chataqua - almost as a motorcycle trip would (oh, and I want to move to Japan and buy a Confederate Hellcat).
Beginning, as Pirsig did, with surface-level observations, it seems at first that Japan and the US exist as a world of dichotomies. As if I were making a Venn diagram, I'll start with the center piece. Our educational systems are very similar: students attend three schools through their career (elementary, junior high and senior high schools); teachers get frustrated with students who aren't engaged, aren't thinking creatively, budget restraints, families who aren't supportive enough, not being paid enough for the amount of time spent working; teachers hope for the best for their students; there is a desire for reform, but no definite plan for how to make that happen; there is an attempt at balance between academic demands and the desire to allow students to grow as people, enjoying their lives and education, and growing at their own pace.
Differences seem to be much fewer: Japanese teachers and schools seem to get much more respect than in the states (but when we meet with parents we may see a set of different feelings); the schools we've seen (and this may be a function of visiting Arao, a largely rural area, or that I've taught in Baltimore and Providence, two rather urban areas) place importance on the physical space of the school, including green, landscaping and the quality of the building spaces; students here engage in daily cleaning of the school space, as a way of building community and taking responsibility. A really fantastic idea.
Today we're at Arao Third Junior High School, aka Arao Daisan JHS (san is three). In order to make things fluid for myself, and readable for you, throughout this post I will be taking notes from the meetings we have with faculty of the school, and will be formatting those in italics.
The school motto here is: 'Beautiful Flowers Always Have Brilliant Roots', and they strive to deliver 'Education Centering on Fundamentals and Basics.'
Schools often say that discipline is a very important issue in education; I wonder if this is a reference to teacher-imposed discipline, or if it is rather self-discipline which they want to instill in students. A statement was just made that they work to instill discipline by various school functions such as trips to climb mountains and camping; challenging students to pull through difficult situations would seem to imply a focus on self-discipline, which supersedes teacher-inspired discipline. I should try to remember to ask that later.
Looking into deeper places...
Japanese culture places strong emphasis on duty, harmony, and peace. School culture is built around small duties given to students - such as cleaning, taking care of plants and greeting visitors. (Present at the Met, but not everywhere.) There is an obvious dichotomy between individuals and the society which must be wrestled with: youngsters have a desire to express themselves, but society frowns on that; even when kids have been seen to have freedom (like walking around in Shibuya in Tokyo) they still conform to certain standards...boys wearing jeans and torn or weathered suit coats, and girls in short skirts with calf- or knee-high boots...these outfits are so ubiquitous to be entirely conformist.
The focus on conformity has some really interesting effects on the education methods I've seen in classrooms. Largely, a lecture style of teaching is used. A math class, in the first 30 minutes, students said hello to the teacher, and then for about 2 minutes, after he'd been talking for a while, he asked students to reinforce the learning with each other; definitely a great technique, but it doesn't go far enough.
Kumamoto style of education: thorough and pro-active. The school uses no bells to indicate end of courses; instead, they want students to develop self-reliance. A book I must read, TR Reid's Confucius Lives Next Door.
So there are some things I'd like to make clear, and may be, in doing so, wrapping up today's Chataqua. First, I am quite enamored with Japan and its culture: dichotomies thrill me, and this is an onion which allows, even asks itself to be peeled back, revealing yet deeper layers and hidden secret; tatami mat rooms and rice-paper walls and sliding doors and natural light and natural wood colors all make me feel happy and serene; the architecture here is simple and calming and focusing, even when it is mixed with modern materials and building techniques. And their educational system hasn't had it easy: we destroyed the country's infrastructure during WWII (most of which was decimated even before the two atomic bombs were dropped), and then we helped them rebuild from there. There is a natural evolution to an educational system, and I wonder if WWII didn't change it in some way, taking it from what it would have been now, putting it off course. A few years ago there was educational reform in the country, resulting in the shortening of the hours students spend in school, with the hope of families having more influence over students; in the view of our handler/wrangler, Naoko-san, it was a failure.
Tomorrow is, for me, the pinnacle of this journey. We begin our home stay...at 1030 we have a tea ceremony with our host families, then at 1300 we depart with them for 26 hours. I am absolutely thrilled. I know that tomorrow I'll wake nervous and scared, but that will wane quickly and I'll be excited as all get out.
Thoughts of my students run rampant, even and especially here. There are so many things said about the Japanese school system, and children here, that are addressed by things at the Met, and some concerns are exactly the same. I wonder how well students get socialized here. Boys will be boys, and girls, girls. Which means that boys are often roughhousing with each other, and you can see some who are clearly a bit more mature and stand back just a little bit. And girls get giggly...that's their initial reaction to most stressors it seems. There is so very little student input during class - entirely teacher-centered - and the kids are well-behaved enough that it probably seems like it works. But even here, in a society which prefers peace and homogeneity, where we're told that the saying 'the nail which sticks up gets hammered down' still stands, kids who stand out in class are encouraged or forced to remain silent. Kids who don't get it or are falling behind do, and those who have the opportunity to excel and move beyond the limits of what the teacher is presenting at that moment don't, probably get bored, eventually frustrated, and probably don't meet their potential. I don't know how to ask about that and be politically correct (ie. be ye not the nail), elsewise I would.
So, the question which begs to be asked....would it be possible to open a Big Picture School in Japan???
I kid you not...I can see it now...
Advisory on tatami mat floors, eveyone wearing slippers, leaving their street shoes at the entrance way; real world learning for all of us - language for the BPOL coaches and internships and independence for students and families, and continuing the culture of community and harmony while building up the individual's sense of responsibility... A beautiful blending I can envision as beautiful and effective.
And now, just about two weeks into the trip, I must admit I'd give my arm for a think slice of multigrain break from Seven Stars, organic and unsweetened peanut butter from Whole Foods, and tomato-basil soup of ingredients from Scratch Farm, grown in Cranston. But tonight will be basashi (raw horsemeat), sushi, and a wonderful mushroom-rice dish. I'll go easy on the basashi.
Peace-
Kippu
posted by kip at 01:41
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