Strengths and weaknesses violently clash in Japanese school system

Press, 24 April 1986, Page 14

Strengths and weaknesses violently clash in Japanese school system

By

MICHAEL REID,

head of department of

social sciences at Riccarton High School, who describes some of the “realities” of the Japanese education system he witnessed during a six-week Rotary study tour.

Racks of shoes stacked neatly in rows greet the visitors in the foyer of any school in Japan. Pupils and teachers both start the day by exchanging their street shoes for tan vinyl scuffs. One size fits all, or so it seems, and there are always plenty of spares for visitors. First stop on any school visit to the Principal’s office where the etiquette of exchanging business cards and drinking green tea is practised with time-honoured solemnity. There is a sense of order and routine here, as everywhere.

In most schools, children wear uniforms. The practise extends to some kindergartens and universities. I visited a number of secondary schools on Japan’s main island, Honshu, and saw the same basic uniform everywhere; black trousers, white shirts, and black high-collar naval jackets for the boys; blue pleated skirts, and waist-length jackets over white blouses for the girls. The style is more than a century old. It derives from the

Meiji period when Japan’s quest for modernisation was in full swing. Of all the European education systems, the German model appealed most and became the basis on which Japan’s schools were remodelled. After more than 100 years, the Ger-man-style uniform remains.

To avoid the confusion of which pupil belongs where, uniforms sport name tags and badges identifying both student and school. For the frustrated individualist, socks provide the only outlet. Strangely enough, their colour does not appear to be specified in uniform codes, so anything goes. Bismarck would turn in his grave to see the stark, crisp lines of his naval uniform broken by shocking pink or luminous green socks poking out the bottom of trouser legs. Classroom behaviour is generally more formal in Japan than in New Zealand. Perhaps it has to be, because most classes I visited had upwards of 40 to 50 students shoe-homed into a room. Children stand to greet

teachers and visitors with a formal bow. They stand to answer questions. As the teacher lectures or writes on the board, they listen attentively. After school, in the absence of a cleaning staff, Japanese teenagers don aprons and sweep out the classrooms and corridors. They marvelled when they hear that New Zealand teenagers wear uniforms of a rainbow-like diversity, wear shoes in the classroom, and do not go to school on Saturday morning. Applause! For fear of sowing too many seeds of discontent I thought it politic not to divulge that their New Zealand counterparts would not react kindly to regular afterschool cleaning chores. October-November is touring time for Japanese high school students and therefore we had a good opportunity to observe pupil behaviour in a setting outside the classroom. They travel in their thousands, criss-crossing the country by bus and train, on week-long excursions. As every New Zealand teacher knows, that sort of class trip with a bus-load of teenagers is ulcer country. We saw impeccable behaviour. Fifteen-year-olds paraded in semi-regimented fashion behind their flag-waving guides; they queued patiently in the heat and bustle of overcrowded railway stations; and they stood quietly in orderly ranks assembled while

their teachers bellowed the delights of today’s scenic attractions through megaphones. The reputation Japan enjoys for a well-disciplined student population seemed confirmed. It is not clear, however, whether Japanese school-children are well disciplined because their schools teach them to behave or because Japanese society itself is that way. Etsuji Yokoyama, with whom I stayed in Hiroshima, has three school-age children, and is unequivocal about the origins of pupil behaviour. "Most discipline is learnt from parents before start school. Children are taught from infancy to respect all older people; that is why they respect the teacher when they go to school.”

Like most parents I met, Etsuji sees strengths and weaknesses in the Japanese school system. “The weaknesses receive less publicity. Part of the reason for this is cultural. In Japan it is important that the appearance of harmony is preserved. Because of this problems may not be aired. There is sometimes a reluctance even to admit problems exist, let along solve them.” Etsuji’s assessment was con-

firmed each time I met a headmaster. Their keenness to discuss local matters of school organisation and administration was balanced by a reluctance to paddle in the deeper, and murkier, waters of national issues; examinations, curriculum reform, discipline problems. That all is not well with Japanese education is evident from the frequent references to education issues in the media. The "Mainichi Daily News” reported on October 10 that the Ministry of Education sought urgent action from cabinet on the problem of bullying in schools.

“Prime Minister Nakasone said at the meeting that dealing effectively with bullying, which recently claimed another suicide victim, requires a nationwide effort by all teachers.” On October 14, the “Japan Times” published an editorial expressing concern about the ranking mechanism that creates problems for lowly ranked schools. All Japanese schools are arranged in a pecking order within each city or district, with private schools usually at the top, and commercial, industrial, and trade high schools at the bottom. The middle-order schools, prefectural and municipal high schools, like the, lower-ranked schools, are public institutions. Because schooling is compulsory to age 15, public junior high schools cannot expel troublesome

students. The editorial describes the situation thus: "Troublemakers must be kept in school and not sent home. To cope with this situation, some schools have made ‘special classrooms’ be their prison cells or just given up and let chaos reign. In the worst cases gangs of students roam the halls and invade faculty rooms to beat up teachers. Young female teachers have been raped, and there is no disciplining these hoods. Such ‘cases are very rare, but they are part of compulsory education in .Japan.” The key point made in the editorial is that private schools escape these excesses. They can shunt troublesome pupils back to the public system. The head teacher of an elite private boys’ school at Hiroshima put it bluntly: “We don’t have discipline problems here. We accept 200 boys each year from 1200 applicants. They are the academic elite, selected on the basis of a very tough entrance examination. Yes, we are a privileged school.” Competition to enter . such schools is keen, and not only among would-be students. Teachers, too, prefer to work in schools where the pupils are not only gifted, but are spurred along also by ambitious parents who pay dearly for the privilege of a private education. Hiromi Ono, who hosted my stay in Tokoyama, has two teenage girls at private high schools. He has no worries about discipline or bullying at his daughter’s school. What does concern him is the pressures they endure in what is a ruthlessly competitive school system. 4 "I employ 700 people,” Hiromi said, “but my 14-year-old daughter works harder than me.” Akito Ono is in her last year at junior high school. In some respects she could pass for a typical 14-year-old anywhere. She reads teenage magazines, idolises Duran Duran and, according to her mother, spends too much time on the telephone. Where Akito differs from the average New Zealand teenager is in the hours she puts into school work. Sacrifices are called for that many New Zealanders would find excessive. The piano in the Onos’ living room is a legacy of the five years that Akito took music lessons. She studied ballet too, but the slippers were hung up about the same time as the music lessons stopped. For the serious students, the last year of junior high school is too important to risk the distractions of time-consuming leisure pursuits. Akito hopes to attend the same senior high school as her sister, Kumiko. Passing the examination to get there is what it’s all about.

Bullying gets urgent action