Japanese school life. (Article)

[ParaParaJMo]

Good article. I now work at three high schools in Japan (I live in Shikoku) and I've had some slightly different experiences based on the article. It's mostly the high schools that have the cafeterias and where students bring their own bento boxes from home. For the jr. high and elementary schools, the school provides a daily lunch to the students along with a a carton of milk. It can range from 3000 to 6000 yen a month depending on the school. I worked at two jr highs and eight elementary schools three years ago, and I had to eat the school lunch and students and teachers were discouraged from bringing their own food.

It is true in some schools you do have to change your shoes, but at the schools I work at now, students and teachers can wear their outdoor shoes inside, but they still have different shoes for PE. And after o-soji, students from what I've seen aren't usually officially dismissed, but still have an end of the day homeroom session just to reflect on what they learned. For the student population and class sizes, it depends on where you are in Japan. Because of the declining birth rate, student enrollment and population has been progressively dropping pretty much everywhere. Normally I have 20 students per class.

As for transportation, I have seen some kids ride scooters/mo-peds to school, but that's up to the individual schools of whether or not they can ride them.

On the subject of club activities, I know plenty of students who are in more than one club. The students I meet for English club are also either in chorus, brass band, orchestra, art, ikebana, tennis, and the volunteer club as well. For using public transportation, there is one school I go to where I take the bus, and I ride with the students at that school. We're the only ones on the bus most of the time and we're all sitting down.

A good percentage of private high schools are owned and connected to universities. So if a student graduates from that high school, they can automatically enroll to the university the high school is sponsored by. And there are some international schools mostly in Yokohama, Yokosuka, and Tokyo. Some are owned by foreigners, and some owned by Japanese, and are not at all connected to any foreign government. These international schools admit both Japanese students and foreign students (mostly military brats). The lessons are mostly taught in Japanese from what I've heard, and ALL the students are required to wear the same uniforms as other regular Japanese schools. Furthermore, I heard these international schools are very expensive.

Lastly, the article also forgot to mention the role of what teachers and administrators can have in which a non-Japanese teacher would and could never do. If a student is arrested or gets caught doing some havoc outside of school (EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!!), the school will be contacted before the parents to deal with the situation.