Sendai: Things to Do?

v

 

I used to get that as well when I was an ALT. Apparently I wasn't speaking in the same manner that the teacher had taught the class that you're "supposed" to speak English in. I was sold my English was wrong. For F' sakes...

Did you know that if something is "under" an object, that it must actually be touching the object, while if it's below it must not touch it? Of course it's BS, but that's what they teach in schools here as fact. I was scolded for telling students that they were basically the same when I apparently didn't know better. The piss poor grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of the teacher is passed down to the students, and the cycle continues. All they care about is teaching the material on high school and university entrance exams correctly. It's no wonder that the English ability of the average Japanese (or Korean for that matter) is absolute garbage.

 

v

 

Oh, don't get me started on the piss poor excuse for English education in this country. About 10 years ago I worked for a private school where the bitch in charge had the cheek to say I couldn't even count in the correct manner. WTF! I'm English, the country that spawned the language. There was more too. In the end I told them to shove their job up their arse and left leaving them in a right mess with scheduals and no teacher, hahahaha. NO Japanese has the right to correct a native speaker unless that native speaker is a right dumb ass. The Japanese idea of English grammar is messed up at best most of the time. You only have to look at any packing to find that out.

yakumo

 

MUAHAHAHA..that was pure GOLD :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

I wasn't referring to English education. I'm referring to the whole thing. Basically your whole life is decided based on the preschool you get in to, BUT, you have to still work the system. Want to get into a good college (and to an extent, high school)? Well, study hard in the previous level of education, right? Wrong. They don't prepare you for that. You have to take this fucking juken thing that will make a certain percent of students kill themselves or crack. And of course, to do well on the juken you have to go to a juku after school and on the weekends.

I know what you're thinking. But the west (well, the US at least) has tests to get accepted to college, right? Yes, they do. standardized ones... two for undergrad and two for graduate level. You bust your balls for one or two tests, and submit that to multiple schools. Schools in Japan administer their own tests. Want to apply to 10 schools? You're taking 10 tests.

But all that studying to get in... must be hard once they're in school, right? Wrong. JPN university is known as a big fucking joke. Near impossible to get in, near impossible to get kicked out. Show up for class, don't be too hungover, and don't get caught taking pictures up girl's skirts and you're home free.

But... isn't all that studying good? If cramming facts and having no idea how they apply to real life situation is good, then Japan excels. This will get you into a Japanese company where you sit there and twiddle your life away on paper work. It won't take much searching to see how Japanese test scores a skewed.

Sorry for the rant. This is an issue for me though. It will be nice for my son to have a nice foundation of Japanese (including writing) but he needs to be able to think for himself. You don't get that in Japanese schools. The whole juku/juken thing to me, as a systems guy is completely and utterly useless. It's in my nature to look for ways to streamline things. A gene that is apparently recessive in Japanese.

EDIT:
I found this when searching:
http://www.myjapanphone.com/japan_t..._japan/The_problem_in_Japanese_education.html

Let's not forget the issue a few years ago when the Ministry of Education decided to cut all of Japan's pre-WWII shenanigans out of the history books because, "they were too violent for children". Needless to say, there were some pissed off Chinese & Koreans.

While I think the US has the best University program on the planet, their high school program pretty much sucks. Even so, I think I'd rather send the little punk to public US high school over Japanese.

 

The go by the book so f'ing much in this country. A bank machine once ate my bank card. I literally didn't even have enough money on me to buy a train ticket back home, so of course I go to the teller to manually get money (Mizuho bank). If you live in Japan, you can probably guess what happened next. I needed my hanko (gawddamn f'ing personal stamp that they require in this country for you to even take a sh!t with). I actually had my passport on me and of course my alien card, but no hanko. I had all the document needed to get myself a hanko, an alien card, and even to apply for a bank account, but of course if I want to get money from my own account, I need my f'ing hanko. They told me to get a new one from the 100yen shop, since apparenly they think my white, hairy chested self has a Japanese last name (after knowing damn well what my name is already). Idiots. I have to get one custom made, since I have a foreign name. It usually takes a few days. Hours at the minimum. Anyway, I told them I wasn't leaving the bank without my money. After a good half hour, they FINALLY got a manager who told me the same thing. I told her that I wasn't leaving without money. She eventually called the head bank to get "permission" for me to get money without a hanko. Three f'n hours to get money from a bank when I had my alien card, my bank book AND my bloody passport.

How does that story relate to the education system here? It's the exact same. If the curriculum says something, it "must" be done. If a textbook says something, no matter how old, outdated and full of error it is, it "must" be correct. No wonder people here think that Japan was "saving" the rest of Asia from itself in the Pacific war and that Nanjing never happened...

I work at a juku right now. I'm contemplating suicide. Give me eikaiwa over ALT or juku anyday (well... they're no better really, but that's not the point). At least you're usually left to your own devices there. Honestly though, the who education system here is from Pluto. It has no relation to earth at all.

*rant over*

 

The sad thing is, it's not the only part of the system that's broken. There's TONS of other shit wrong with. I mean, the whole bullying issue. What the fuck? Junior High students committing suicide? This is the 2nd largest economy in the world.

 

I'd love to add something here but yourself and GaijinPunch have pretty much summed it up. NOBODY can think for them selves in this country. Well, 90% of them at least. Oh and I got another fucking speeding ticket today for doing 58kmph in a 50kmph zone which is a fucking 3 lane carriageway! I mean, 50 f*ing kmph on a 3 lane road????? Shit, in the UK you'd be pulled aside for going that slow.

We live in 2009 you stupid pricks! Get real with the speed limits!OH: OH: OH: OH: OH: OH: OH: OH: OH:

yakumo

 

Then you ask them why they think Japan didn't do any wrong in China or Korea, why the speed limit is so f'ing low, or why elementary school kids don't make it home until 10 or 11pm because they were studying at juku, and the response is always "because we're Japanese."

F' you. You're human first and some nationality second. Don't use where you're from as an excuse for being an ignorant prick.

*good ranting here!*

 

it's time to let of some steam, peeps :lol:

 

Oh man, that is the most annoying shit they always say. It's either that or "It's the Japanese way" which is just the fucking same. I speak the truth when I tell you that I once told a co worker "It's the fucking retards that you are way". He didn't agree but what do you expect :banghead:

 

The worst is when you're wife says it.

Blah, blah, blah, I think that because I'm Japanese, blah, blah, blah


The one that really gets me is:

"blah, blah, blah, The Nanking massacre never happened because I'm Japanese, blah, blah, blah"

You're the man, Tats! An empty bottle of wine and a warm PC Engine controller are next to me, AC/DC is blaring, and I'm ready to tell it like it is!

 

This is a really interesting thread. Does anyone know what the private school situation is like in Japan? Are people still getting the same crappy education and just buying a name for the college app or do private schools provide a true alternative to the public system?

 

There's a few different types. There's at least one American school in Tokyo. There's one that boasts "bilingual" education. Then there's an all girls international school and an all boys international school...the latter being Catholic. Not sure about the former. Then, there's of course some other ones, including a very cheap Indian school, but it's not in the heart of the city.

Tuition for all of the above save the Indian school will run you somewhere around the tune of 2.5 million yen per year. Admission is way easier at the moment since foreigners have left en masse. Japanese want to send their kids there so their kids will speak near native English (and they do). They will generally be much more westernized which allows them to play both sides of the fence.

I know very little of Japanese private schools, but I am pretty sure they are just "higher level" version of public: same caveats, just smaller classes and more attention to the student. Take that w/ a shaker of salt though.

 

Pretty open question, as every private school is different! Some or horrible, some really try to provide quality education and they probably do the best that's possible within the messed up entrance exam system.

 

v

 

Basically Japan has created its own systems that "work", but only within Japan. So when anybody says "blablablah because I am Japanese", I say, "Do you ever plan to work/find a job/live abroad?" If they answer no, then you'll never reach them; if yes, then it'll be obvious that they have to do a lot better to compete. And the systems don't really instill that idea of fair (ie: not score-adjusted) competition.

Fortunately, I DO work for an Eikaiwa, so I do have almost full control of what/how I teach my students, as long as they are satisfied. I've never worked for a public institution here (and I'm not sure I'd want to), but I've heard rant after rant from my ALT friends. You know, the "gerrymandering" of test scores, making it possible for a student with a poor attitude and a 10% final score in English to pass the English class...

My wife mentioned that scores can be adjusted upwards because of the student's "good attitude" but what if the student in question has an especially shitty attitude? (Answer: it'll probably still go up.)

 

I once failed a student on a test because... well, she failed. Literally a 17% grade on the test! Her parents called the school to complain, and I was "informed" by that I had obviously made a mistake in my marking and that I had to give her a passing grade.

This is the Japanese system.

 

lol rolf..how is this just possible??? :lol: