So I work with twenty one Japanese teachers (not including the brass). That's a lot of teachers, and I feel it gives me a rather intimate view of teaching (particularly of elementary schools) within Japan.
I can honestly say, most are well-suited to the job. Those who are not well-suited, often try their hardest to make up for their obvious lack of ability. There is a fifth year class, whose teacher is the biggest pushover I've ever seen. The upshot? His class, (yes his) is one of the worst behaved in the school. He has been trying to reign them back in, however, and they have started to improve. He has two troublemakers, one of whom will be imprisoned within the next five years. Again, to point out the obvious, why is he in a comprehensive school? Obviously no one wants a world like the Batman metropolis (comic nerds, metropolis in this instance does not have a capital letter, so it's used as a generic term for big cities, not Supermans home. Sheesh.) where all the master criminals are locked up in Arkham Asylum, free to plot the destruction of mankind. Then again, no one wants a world where Two-face runs amok through the city either. The solution? Stop them from turning into supervillains, and catch them when they're young. Get to work, Japan.
Anyway, this pushover teacher is working his hardest, and he is a nice, if aloof guy.
What sparked this writing, is a class I recently finished. Basically, the fourth grade teachers are the worst in the school. They're callous, uncaring sub-humans (with the exception of one, who is just stupid) who have no right being teachers. Unusually, there are three of them. The fourth grade had a particularly large turnout for whatever reason, so instead of splitting the year in two, they divvied into threes. This had the effect of making each fourth year class relatively small (see: extremely small by Japanese standards) and I think, as a result, they've put the worst teachers into the classrooms with the smallest numbers of children. This is purely speculative, but they are truly terrible teachers, and I can't fathom a reason for them all to be in the same year. It could be coincidence, but on this large a scale? I don't think so.
Anyway, I taught two of these classes today. The first is the class of a chronic lifetime failure, whose only interest is in not doing anything. The other teachers help in whatever way they can - be it the occasional disciplinary action, helping individual kids with pronunciation; generally being useful. This guy sits around on his chair staring blankly out of the window, until the time is up. Then he jumps up and starts talking over me in Japanese. At this point I have to assume that's the end of the lesson, and leave. He doesn't help me take my shit off the blackboard, he doesn't let the kids do the same (which is customary in Japan, as certain students are assigned to such duties) and he doesn't say thank you or goodbye. He is, in essence, a waste of human life.
The second teacher, however, is more than that. She is malicious. She has an acutely disabled student in the form of a girl who can't really control herself. She occasionally squeels, always laughs and generally acts as any non-violent disabled student would. She is also the only happy kid in the class, and she always runs up to me and pushes me around, pushing me to the front of the class at the beginning, pushing me up and down the isles when I'm engaging kids individually, generally being a pleasant distraction from the blank faces I'm greeted with normally.
How she is still happy, is beyond my imagining. The other kids don't understand that she's different, so when she squeels they tell her to shut up. When she stands up, they physically push her back down. They bully her, and the teacher encourages it. When a kid shouts at her, she says in Japanese, 'listen to blah blah, he is quiet.' Far be it from me to dissuade such destructive, tortuous behaviour, but when the teacher starts manhandling said disabled kid because she won't sit down, you have to start looking at alternatives for that individual. For example, prison for the teacher, and a special school for the kid.
Why do I have such a downer on this particular teacher? Today, before class started, I told her 'wow Japan sure is hot,' in the kind of colloquial shallow way that indicates my tolerance of your existence, but nothing more. So she closes all the windows and doors, so there's no breeze.
Upon explaining a particularly challenging grammar point, the kids are failing to understand. To expedite matters I ask the teacher to explain in Japanese (something they are wont to do in all circumstances, requested, required or superfluous, as the case may be) to which she replies - 'this is English class.' After finally getting the kids to understand the point, some ten minutes later (sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and grind your way through a grammar point) she stands up, and in Japanese, explains what I just said. It took her fifteen seconds. Then she starts giving out instructions in Japanese.
I tell her that the class is too noisy, and I'm losing my voice because I'm shouting too much. She replies in Japanese, sorry, I don't understand what you are saying. She then eggs the class on during a game to make them produce more noise, and make it more difficult for me to quiet them down. When I am trying to quiet them, she talks to groups of students, diverting class attention and ensuring the noise takes an extra minute to die off.
I can only think an american naval officer did something terrible to her family, for her to have so much hate for foreigners.
P.s To bring balance to the force - next week I'm working with one of the nicest teachers on this earth, so, if I remember, I will write about how awesome she is.
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