The Ghetto School: On Ice!

***The Higashi Chu Crew Proudly Presents***

The Ghetto School: On ICE!

They are so freakin` cute! Hugging....

Holding hands...

Crazy Takeshi

Thanks for always making me laugh!

Higashi Chu grad girls, on their way to the world of cell phones, short skirts, and super huge socks. 

One of the coolest kids of all time, Mr. Yuki Nakabayashi...I'm definately gonna miss this one! 

Freedom inspired foolishness...the East side crew strikes a pose for the camera. 

Graduation: Japanese Junior High Style

Kiritsu! 起立す！

Rei! 礼！

Shot like cold bullets from an assault riffle, the commands to 'Stand at attention' and 'Bow!' made my first Japanese Junior High Graduation Ceremony seem more like a trip to boot camp. Solmen and quiet (aside from the incessant shouting to stand, sit and bow), the chill of the unheated gym was intensified by the formal, militaristic overtones of the ceremony.

Cold and rainy, clouds clung to the mountainsides surrounding Ena as they slid down into the city, and seemed even to haunt the quiet halls of Higashi Chu. In America, graduation was always a joyous occassion, despite the fact that life long friends would be going their separate ways. Friends and family cheered as students entered the ceremony. They cheered throughout the ceremony. They cheered even when they weren't supposed to and the principal asked them not too! The point I am trying to make is that they cheered! There was no stopping the shouts of congratulations from the stands as each student made their way across the stage (sometimes with some sort of gymnastic feat (cartwheels come to mind) or joke), and many of the speeches, though moving, made us laugh. They inspired us. And when it was all over, we leapt for joy, threw our caps in the air and partied on! My graduation and senior year memories are some of the best of my life.

Well, this was the exact opposite of what I just described. Depressing. Dreary. Dull. Dead silence.

After arrving at school I slowly slid thru the door to the teachers room, where all the 3rd year teachers, wearing Hakama (formal kimono), were busy getting ready for the main event. Being very impressed by the Japanese-ness of it all, I turned around and saw the principal, dressed in a coat-tailed suit and wearing white gloves, and waddling around like a penguin. How can Hakama and coat-tailed suits coexist without anyone blinking an eye! What an interesting coincidence of opposites....

The rest of us filled the gym, waiting for the grand entrance of the third year classes, led by their homeroom teachers. In Japan, students do not change class rooms. They are with the same kids for every lesson, all year, as teachers move from room to room. It is the homeroom teacher, whom they see every morning before school and in their kaeri no kai (going home meeting) who becomes their advisor, mentor, and friend, competing in sports day with them, helping the students to fill out their high school applications, and even taking them to their tests. They are councilors and confidants, and know much more about these kids than their parents do.

As the teachers led them in, slowly walking down the aisle, my eyes filled with tears. My students looked so much more mature than when I arrived in September. They have grown up so much! Higashi was my first school, the one I spent the most time at, so I feel very attatched to the students here, especially the 3rd year students. All the good memories of Sports Festival and the Chorus Festival, of the boys shouting out 'I love you' and the girls screaming 'Kawaii!' in the middle of class, snowball fights at recess, and 'cleaning' time flashed before my blurry eyes.

Then the 'important people' started talking, and my blurry eyes were sucked dry! Who were those guys? They were all from the BOE of Ena or some prefectural education office. None of them had anything inspiring or useful to say. None of them even knew the students. It was such a waste. And it went on for what seemed like for-ev-er.

Finally it was time for the students to recieve their graduation certificates. As they shouted out each name the students stood up with a loud "Hai!" until the entire class was standing. But to my suprise, only the student leaders of each class were called up to acccept the certificates from the principal. It shouldn't have beens suprising at all. This is Japan! The group is always acknowledge before the individual. I guess I just cant shake my own cultural bearings. In America, we had no loyalty to any class group. I think we had homeroom but I dont remember anything about it. I do know that the most important part of graduation was making the trip across the stage, alone, being recognized as an individual for your individual accomplishment. Sure, it took some time, but it was much more meaningful than a bunch of political windbags talking about nothing and putting people to sleep!

Blah blah blah, more horribly boring sleep inducing speeches from God knows who (aforementioned important people, AKA political windbags)...

Until finally the 1st and 2nd grader students rose to their feet. The 3rd years turned back to face them, at the command of the MC ofcourse, and a 2grader wished them luck and thanked them for their friendship and guidance during the past 2 years. Then they began to sing a beautiful, moving song about all the memories they had made, and how hard it was to say goodbye. I've heard them practice singing it a million times, but without the voices of the 3rd years it sounded so .... different. Many of the 3rd years, who had been pretty strong about not crying up to this point, busted out into tears.

Then Misa Adachi, one of the most brilliant students in Ena and class president, stood up to give a speech. Misa was one of the first students I met. She came to the office during the summer with the other girls that had gone to Austraila, and made Colin and I peace cookies. She often told me that she wanted to be just like me when she grew up, teaching in foreign countries and having adventures. Just seeing her walk to the podium almost made me cry. Another one of my favorites, Yuki Nakabayashi, walked up with her, climbing a small podium to lead the 3rd years in song as a conductor.

Her speech was awesome, full of good memories, challenges , triumphs, and hope for the future. Everyone was crying: 3rd year boys, teachers, and parents. As the 3rd year student sang to the 1st and 2nd years, they too began to cry. It was the most moving part of the whole ceremony. It should have ended there. But ofcourse it was followed by more boring speeches and silent intervals before the 3rd year students were officially graduated and filed out, class by class, down the isle of weeping mothers and underclassmen.

Each class went back to their homerooms, where the teachers handed out their certificates and were presented with gifts and thank you cards made my their students. I went to Kojima's class, the best teacher at Higashi, not to mention one of the best English teachers in Ena. He prepared separate speeches for each of his students, so that as he gave them their certificate, both of he and the student would go from laughing to crying as he reminisced about their 3 years together. It was so real...Thats how the ceremony should have been. The teachers who actually know the students up there reminiscing, congratulating, challenging and inspiring their kids to move on to bigger and better things.

I got to hang out with the kids as they slowly made their way out of Higash Jr. High for the last time. Their tears had dried and they were shooting peace signs and taking pictures. What a great group of kids...I will never forget them! I wish I had more time to get to know them, but hopefully I will still get to see them walking around Ena in their cool new high school uniforms.

Juken: Japanese Test-Taking Hell

What if you took one test that would determine the fate of your future: every aspect of your life, from where you went to high school, what kind of subjects you could study, whether or not you could go to college, and if so, where... Do you think you might be a bit stressed about it?

Now imagine that you had to take that test at the tender age of 13 or 14.

Welcome to the reality of every junior high school student in Japan-- an alternate universe which I lovingly refer to as as Hell on earth.

Two of my favorite boys from Higashi, rebelliously allowing their white shirts to stick out from under their seifuku uniform. After I took this picture they were reprimanded and forced to tuck their shirts back in before being allowed to leave school premises.

As if these students don't have it hard enough as it is. For one, they go to school all year round. I could be off by a few days, but I think their longest break is three weeks. Before you start muttering to yourself about how you had to walk up hill to and from school, in ten feet of snow with no shoes, keep in mind that during their 'break' they are still required to suit up in their notorious seifuku (literally sailor clothes, school uniforms modeled after western miliary uniforms during the Meiji reforms in an attempt to modernify Japan), and report to school for various club activites, as well as complete a tonne of homework and study.

They also have to walk up hill to school both ways in the freezing cold, and although they have shoes, coats are not permitted unless they are an officially sanctioned part of the school uniform. Oh, and girls are required to wear skirts all year round.

Higashi Jr. High girls, soon to graduate, modeling their seifuku. Note the mandatory skirts, lack of coats, and snow on the ground.

If you think thats bad, until three years ago school was 7 days a week--no weekend whatsoever. Can you imagine a world with no weekend? These days students still go to school on Saturdays for various commitments, forced 'volunteering' and club activities. And even though Sunday is supposed to be a day off, I never fail to see students in seifuku suspiciously close to school grounds.

Secondly, Juku. May I introduce to you the devil himself: Cram school. School after school. Here's the deal: Kids go to school all day, stay after for club, and then head for these evil little crams schools, which cost a small fortune, to learn everything the school system is failing to teach them. Coming back from Osaka I have seen students leaving them as late as 10 o' clock, and now that its test season, many are open until midnight.

Seniors at Higashi Jr. High wearing in-school uniforms. That's right. Seifuku is only worn while traveling to and from school and during tests, in order to prepare students for entrance exams. I'm going to miss them! Such cool kids!

Which leads us to that special time of year when hell spews up onto earth's surface like lava from a volcano, destroying everything in its path.Juken season-- a student's final chance to prepare for the high school entrance exams they have their spent their entire educational experience being groomed for. Everything the students learn, from the moment they enter the educational system, is geared towards passing this one test. Nothing else matters-- not how well they do in school, not how involved they are, and certainly not how well they understand the material. As many students will tell you, they simply memorize information for the test, and regurgitate without any real understanding at all.

Can you imagine the stress and strain this would cause a responsible adult, let alone a teenager? Not to mention the pressure of dishonoring one's family. Were you ready to decide the path your life would take when you were that age?

Where would you be had someone decided for you? Because that is exactly what happens. Based on how well you do preparing for these tests, you can either apply to an academic high school, an agricultural high school, a commercial high school, or just forget about high school all together and get a job.

Maybe I'm wrong. I mean, these kids looks like they're ready for it, don't they?

Based on your results you are accepted to or rejected from your choice of high schools, the academic level of which is clearly defined in Japan, meaning it is an almost certain indicator of whether or not you will be accepted to college. If you are deemed worthy enough to continue your education, your test results will decide the acadenic level of the colleges you can apply to.

Many students that want to study academically are discouraged if their teachers do not believe they will pass the test, and from my experience here, teachers constantly underestimate their students. Its better to succeed at a low level than to fail aiming too high. Not to mention their perception of intelligence, which seems to be based on whether or not the student conforms, is respectful of tradition, and obediently, blindy accepts whatever is fed to them, no questions asked. Creativity and individuality are stifled, frowned upon and referred to as 'problematic' or 'troublesome'.

So there you have it. Shot down before they even get off the ground, students who want to go to university are doomed to a life of planting rice...Not that there is anything wrong with that, if it is what you want to do! But to be told that that is all you are capable of based on your academic performance at the age of 14...Its insanity!