Wait, what?
So the teachers have been asked (at gunpoint) to select their favourite songs, to then be played at lunchtime for all the children to listen to. This is a vain attempt at staving lunacy, and one I fear will not work.
To put some perspective on matters, every school in Japan is identical. The buildings are identical, the classrooms are identical, the teachers are identical, the subject matter for every discipline is identical between schools, there is no variation. Continuing this theme, every day a jingle is played while eating lunch. The word jingle doesn't convey the filthy sweetness that pervades every note. I have cavities from merely listening to this shit. The number of italicised words in the preceding sentences serves to illustrate how much I loathe this act of insanity, and how much it destroys the soul.
At this stage, I feel it worth noting that I work with two very elderly teachers, employed in an advisory capacity (ala american military speak). One is/was an English teacher, the other a scientist. They are both completely indoctrinated in the world of schools and education. I suspect, without asking, that their entire lives have been spent in such formalised settings - seemingly without a glimpse at the outside world.
When the bell rings, they instinctively stand up and do something, whether it be cleaning or bowing, they have cornered the market in instinctive Pavlov reaction. The thing that I find curious is the evident lack of immediate reward. The dog received food and a test tube in the gob, what do these guys get?
They have even been trained to sit on the floor with the kids, come cleaning time. Now, ordinary teachers don't partake in that nonsense, so this pair are obviously seen as being less important than the 'real,' teachers. In an interesting foot-note, the principal teacher of the third years wanted me to sit on the floor with the kids, while he lorded over us. I flatly refused, which has caused polite ructions between us. I asked all the English speaking teachers whether I should sit on the floor with the kids, and they all said it wasn't the done thing, but I could see where pomposity might overtake reason - he has been at a relatively lowly position within the schooling system for his entire life and frustration must be setting in. A perennially overlooked lower management type, begrudgingly sharing his space with a stupid foreigner who invades my country etc. At least I've had the acknowledgement from other Japanese teachers that he's a dick. So it's not just me.
Why bring this up? If someone asked these elderly folks to mop the floor with their teeth, they would. I think the matrix famed idea of being 'inerged,' in a system is a perfect contemporary comparison to draw. They have spent their lives ordering and being ordered, and they seem so devoid of life and spark that I am genuinely worried. Everything about them screams 1984.
It begins with the education system, it continues through their working life, and even into retirement. Their pop music is the very definition of generic (whether you like it or not, it is empirically impossible to deny that the next song to be released will be as near-identical as it's possible to be to the song on the radio now, without technically infringing on copyrights and patents) with the sound not having changed in over a decade, they all eat watermelons in August, and cold noodles in September (dates pulled from my behind, but the principle holds true) with everyone working in private industry 'enjoying,' mandatory fun drinking sessions called enkai every week.
Even the rebels and societal outcasts dress the same and act the same way. They drive bikes with open exhausts, or cars without mufflers, or dye their hair red and wear makup if your a man, or none if a woman. That's it. That's the extent of rebellion. It's a socially accepted form of rebellion.
My point in all this? It's not negative, as it may at first appear. The simple fact that everyone and everything is the same gives rise to unfathomable opportunity. It's literally unfathomable for the average Japanese person, because they all conform.
Opportunity how, I hear you cry. Well, for one, what would happen if you came here with a hair dye that wasn't red? Pink hair dye would sell a million units in a month, and you would be a millionaire.
Or, if you were a retired worker earning 20,000 yen (150 GBP) a month advising teachers and said, nuts to this - if I worked part-time in a store I would earn four times this much, you would be much happier. There is life outside these here walls, you just need to go and find it.
P.s I happen to know that 20,000 yen is the going rate for the elderly advisors to teachers. They work two or three full working days a week. This ends up being 312 yen an hour. That's 2.40 GBP an hour, calculated to a 2 day working week.
UK minimum wage:
- £5.93 - the main rate for workers aged 21 and over
- £4.92 - the 18-20 rate
- £3.64 - the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18
- £2.50 - the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship
These elderly folks are sure as hell not apprentices. Remember folks, criminal extortion doesn't just exist in drug rings, governments practice it too!
P.P.s While researching this entry, I googled 'inerged definition.' I suggest you do the same and look at the first link (and the second for that matter).
This makes me suspect that inerged isn't actually a word, just a matrix inspired stroke of genius. I will lobby in a quiet unassuming way for it to be included in the English Oxford dictionary, and I will continue using it whether it exists or not. The sound of the word encapsulates the meaning perfectly. Very rarely do I have the feeling that the definition of a word is inextricably linked to the sounds produced when saying the word, but this is one of those cases.
Inerged (adj.) - Description of a human being. Indoctrinated into any man-made system, parliamentary, scholastic, governmental etc. Ex. He was inerged in the system, and could not see its inherent flaws.
syn. Invested, (needs more synonyms, can't think of any (which, incidentally, bodes well for inclusion in the English language!)
Etymology - Science. Describing process of submerging solids, usually in liquids. Also describes unreactive materials. Origins unknown.
that is a superb entry
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