japanese middle schoolers and uniformity

if you're wildly opposed to generalizations and stereotypes, then please read no further.

despite being in a very neutral mood right now, i feel the need to share my thoughts on japanese middle schoolers, and my occasional frustrations with them.

but first, think back to your days in middle school and high school. if you semi-cared about what the teacher was talking about, what would you do? you'd nod, right? or squint a little if you didn't know what was up? or if the teacher asked a question, and you weren't positive your answer was right, but you wanted to take a chance anyway and be heard, you'd raise your hand and answer the question, right?

that's what i feel class should be like. you pay attention, send the teacher signals that you're understanding what's going on or not, and on occasion, dare to be different, raise your hand, and try answering the teacher's question. at least that's what i feel classes in the States are like.

but not in japan. at least not in junior high school. maybe it's just because i'm teaching the foreign language class that i get so many blank stares and non-moving bodies aimed in my general direction. it's so frustrating to know that most likely half or more of the class knows the answer to my question, but no one dares to speak up.

which brings me to the point of this rant: uniformity is [in this case] bad.

let me explain a bit more. seeing how i'm constantly jumping around from school to school and classes ranging from 1st grade in elementary school to 9th grade in high school, i've gotten a little sample of what classroom atmospheres in japan can be like. from the time japanese kids are in their beginning years of elementary school, they're taught to be a part of the whole. to be one in a unified mass.

there are 3 things i can think of off the top of my head that i feel are unique to the japanese student experience. the first is cleaning. everyday, every school will have a "cleaning time" where every student and teacher has to clean a certain part of the school, from wiping windows, sweeping or mopping floors, emptying garbage... everything but scrubbing toilets. everyone has to work together to clean the school; hence, everyone's role is equally important.

secondly, there's the recent development of kyuushoku (給食）, which is the school lunch that's served in the classrooms. each student helps in the picking up of the class's food, delivering it to the classroom, serving food, cleaning off desks if necessary, bringing trays of food to each person's desk, and bringing dirty dishes and utensils back to the distribution point where they picked up the food to begin with. so no cafeteria; you eat in your classroom with your classmates and homeroom teacher. again, everyone has to work together to pass out food and clean up. plus, you can't start eating until everyone's ready. you start and end your meal together with unified chanting of set phrases.

thirdly, in at least middle schools here, you don't move around from classroom to classroom for every subject. instead, your teacher comes to you. soo, your classroom is your home. you and your classmates have the same schedule. you take the same classes, move around as a flock, eat together, breathe together, work together; everything but sleep together (that's not meant to be dirty).

with that said, back to my point. uniformity is sometimes bad. why? at least from my perspective from the front of the classroom, it looks like if everyone doesn't know the answer together, no one can know the answer individually. this is a grave overstatement, i know, but i sometimes get that feeling from some of my schools.

similarly, i was in one of my second year classes the other day, and i asked them, "What to you want to be?" and to say one more thing in addition to what you chose, but they all lacked creativity in their answers. They dont quite get yet that in a foreign language class, you can make up stuff. lie like crazy. have wild answers. that's what makes a foreign language class fun. I was trying to give them examples like, "I want to be a baseball player so i can be famous," and "I want to be a cat so i can sleep all day." instead, they bit off the example i put on the board (I want to be a nurse so i can help people), and was getting answers like "i want to be a taxi driver so i can help people," and "i want to be a police officer so i can help people." frustrating i tell you.

i just think back to one of my first days of class with one of my junior highs. i was doing my intro, and said, "this is my mother. what is 'mother?'"

*silence*

moments like that just made me want to HULK SMASH! them all. you're telling me a room full of 3rd years who've studied English for 3 years didn't know the word "mother?" i'd think we have more serious issues than learning to speak up.

days where students either dont know how or dont try to make crazy/amusing statements, or even try to break away from the mold on the board and experiment with the new grammar point, make me long for the days when i was in a language class. i can understand if you haven't a clue what's going on and don't raise your hand, but kids, look alive sometimes. nod. or blinker faster. give me a little hope. dare to be different once in a blue moon. individuality isn't such a bad thing. a little confidence sometimes doesn't hurt.