It Can't Be Helped

Japan is somewhat infamous for the ridiculous levels of bureaucracy that seem to permeate many facets of work life. I never realized how very true this was until I started working at this Japanese school.

As I've mentioned, I have two jobs at the moment. Ironically, working in the office is not nearly as steeped in bureaucratic nonsense as the school where I teach.

When you are an AET/ALT at a public school, (at least in my case) you are essentially separate from the other teachers. So you don't have to go through all the things that they go through. Lately, I'm becoming good friends with the Music teacher there, and she tells me all about what she does. Essentially, there are the homeroom teachers and then everyone else.  In Japan, the teachers don't get the summer vacation off. They are allowed to take 5 days off, but that's it (as opposed to the 10 days paid vacation I get and the month unpaid vacation I get in the summer). "What will you be doing all summer while the kids are gone?" I asked her. "Preparing for the second semester...and next year." she said.

This made absolutely no sense to me. For one, everyone makes lesson plans every week...so why would you spend the summer doing something you already do every week anyway? Also, the school year in Japan starts in April...not September. So they will have already had the same class for about 4 months...and you're telling me you have to be there for the whole month to prepare for the next 7? The other thing is, in Japan, the teachers move from school to school every 3-5 years. So...a good number of these teacher's won't even be at the school next year. Also, not only do the teachers change SCHOOLS regularly, but they also change grade levels EVERY YEAR. And when do they find out what school they're going to or what class they'll teach next year? THE MONTH BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS...How does this make any sense? How can you plan for next year when you don't know where you'll be (thus, you don't know the policies at that particular school), or when you don't know what you'll teach (because there is a HUGE difference between 1st grade and 6th grade...which are the grade levels in Japanese Elementary school).

So I asked her these questions...and she said, the truth is, they will basically just be sitting there from 7 to 5:30 everyday doing nothing, but pretending to be busy. Yeah...that makes a lot of sense. Why not just give the teachers the month off (or at least 2 weeks, or a half-work day or something) to help them feel refreshed and appreciated? That is just my American thinking though.

The other thing is, one of the 4th grade classes (There are 3) has two extremely misbehaved kids. These kids are not only majorly disruptive talking, walking around during class, and randomly leaving to roam the halls, but they also get physically violent with the other students at the drop of a hat.  Sometimes, their homeroom teacher has something going on (an observation, a particularly difficult activity, etc) where she cannot handle them both being in the class, so one of the two goes to another 4th grade class. When the two are split up, it's so much better. While neither becomes a perfect little angel, without each's bad energy other to feed on, they pretty much leave the other kids alone and are much much more manageable. So, I suggested "Why don't they just split those two kids up?"
Everyone looked at me like I was the craziest person they had ever seen.
"It's already been decided. They are in 4-3 class" my music teacher explained.
"But the teacher is practically pulling her hair out everyday...other kids are getting hurt...and it all stops if those two aren't together." I shot back.
"Well...it's already been decided. It can't change. But next year they will be split up." she said.
"So...it's okay for the kids to go another 7 months feeling physically threatened and constantly disrupted during their class?" I asked, bewildered.
"Of course, it's not okay....but it's already been decided. It can't be helped" she said simply.

Does this make sense to anyone?

I don't want to disrespect cultural beliefs but it's just hard for me to wrap my head around these kinds of situations. Why not make things easier for everyone? This stuff is just the tip of the iceberg. Now I know why my husband says he doesn't want to work for a traditional/big Japanese company. Trying to help when "it can't be helped" and being considered radical must be stifling for a lot of people here.

Help To-ki and I Win a Honeymoon!

Since I've written before about how To-Ki and I are still saving up for a marriage ceremony, you can probably guess that we haven't been on a proper honeymoon yet either...but we heard about this contest on Facebook and it's a long shot of course, but we thought we'd give it a try. If you have a facebook profile, please vote for To-Ki's page here: http://www.onthegotours.com/facebook/winatrip2/index.php?s=profile&u=1026657963

This would seriously be a dream come true, and we would be SO GRATEFUL if you all could vote for us! And of course we would share pictures, videos and movies of the trip if we were lucky enough to win!!!

Thank you!!!!