Satomi Jr. High/Ota Daiichi High School
Timothy Dobbins
High and High School!
One thing that is very different from the U.S. in regards to these two
schools: Japanese students are required to attend 9 years of school.
The are grades 1-6 in elementary, and grades 7-9 in middle school, or
Jr. High. High school, or upper secondary school as it is called here,
is not compulsory. However, over 98% of students go on to high school,
and over 90% of those go on to University afterwards.
One other subject of note: entry into high school is not guaranteed.
The middle school students must pass an exam that the high schools
look at to determine enrollment. There are private and state run high
schools, but all look at the test scores from middle school. There are
different "levels" of high school, just like there are different
levels of Colleges in the U.S., and student often apply to a school
only to have to choose another based on acceptance.
First of all, the visit to Satomi Jr. High. Let me say up front that
this is the most beautiful and well planned school I have ever set
foot in. The building was just completed in January of this year, and
the entire campus had been planned with a very different feel than
that of other schools in the area. It is completely subject focuses,
with specific rooms and areas of the two floors being dedicated to a
particular branch of study. For example, the science rooms are just
that - science rooms. They are equipped with all the things one would
need to teach a hands-on science class, from sinks and workcenters, to
gaslines and everything else.
The entire school experience here was outstanding, from the early
morning greeting, to the late afternoon send off by the school band.
The school itself shines with polished local wood floors and walls,
and the classrooms have almost full length windows on the walls and
shoji type doors. I will post some pictures later so hopefully you can
get a feel for the school itself.
One of the highlights was talking with the students taking English.
English is a required subject in both middle and high school, and
students end up taking at least 5 years and most times 6 years of
English. The students were so eager to try out English phrases on us,
and we were happy to cooperate! They had planned sentences and
questions to ask us, but the conversations of course went everywhere
after that. Wonderful interaction! We were able to observe all the
different class rotations, including lunch and cleaning time. Lunch
was perhaps the one time so far here in Japan that I hit a barrier as
far as food is concerned. Lunch consisted of a bowl of seafood (fish
of some sort, squid and octopus - cold and smelly), a salad of seaweed
and some other...thing, rice and piece of fried chicken (not so bad at
least). I tried everything, being a good sport, but could not palate
the cold squid and octopus. It was just TOO smelly and fishy for me.
This, however, was not the "highlight" of the meal. The local
specialty is something called natto. Natto is...get ready for
this...fermented soy bean curd. Yeah. Sticky. Smelly. Apparently a
great delicacy and very good for you. Absolutely disgusting!!! I did
eat a few bites, which delighted the kids to a great degree, and then
had to pass on the rest. Blech.
The highlight of this day came at the end, though. We got to observe
the student "club" activities. School actually ends around 3:30, but
no one goes home. Of the 115 (Yes, that's all at this school)
students, 114 stayed for clubs. I have no idea what that one poor
student does. Anyway, clubs are anything from band to Kendo (Japanese
sword fighting), Judo to baseball, and everything in between. The best
for me was observing the Kendo class, as I have a great interest in
this particular martial art. We were then off to the Judo class, in
which a few of us volunteered to spar with the sensei (teachers and
masters of the art). This was quite the experience and they were great
sports, letting us throw them a few times and not completely
dominating us. There was one point where my opponent did lift me
totally off my feet, but he was kind and didn't throw me. Wow. Hands-
on learning indeed!
The visit to Daiichi High School was superb! The teachers there were
very welcome. One thing we had to get used to was how they refer to
students in Japan. In elementary schoo, you are in first through sixth
grade. Once you enter middle school, you start again as a first grader
(7th), then second (8th) and finally third (9th). In high school you
start AGAIN and you are in first grade your first year in high school
(10th). It really takes effort not to snicker when they are referring
to a bunch of "3rd graders" who are 18.
We got to observe many classes here also and interact with students!
The most fun, of course, were those who really wanted to try out their
English skills with us, and were in turn very understanding of our
limited Japanese. We were actually hosted for lunch (bento box lunch)
by the members of the English "club" - an after school club that
studies English in addition to English classes that are required. The
behavior of these students was interesting. They seemed very jovial
and at ease most of the time, but we all knew that they were under
constant pressure to perform on yet another test that would determine
where they could go to college. It is the same system as from middle
to high school, and the better you do on the test the better schools
you have to choose from. Tokyo university is the premier college in
Japan, but only a very select few get to attend.
The students were very nice to us, although there were looks, giggles
and finger pointing that has accompanied us this whole trip. High
schoolers were a little more apt to poke fun at the wierd Americans,
but we never felt uncomfortable at all. They were just being...kids.
One great spot of the day for me was when I got to play some table
tennis (ping-pong) with the girl's team. Yes, they have table tennis
teams, and they are a very serious business. I got worked, but did get
ina few points!!! I was complimented by the coach, which I'm sure was
just to make me feel better! I also got to try out Japanese
calligraphy, which is writing the kanji symbols. I was aided by a
wonderful student and even the teacher herself (who is a master) gave
me a hand. Tough stuff! There are literally over 5,000 kanji or more.
A normal elementary student learns about 1,000, 2-3,000 for middle
school, and upwards of 4,000 for a graduating high school student!!
Can you imagine?? Even Japanese language teachers do not know ALL the
differerent kanji meanings because some are so obscure.
That's all for now! Time for bed and getting ready for the next three
days. I leave tomorrow for my home stay with a Japanese family. After
that, it's off to a ryokan (a Japanese inn and hotspring) to relax
after this taxing week. Back to Tokyo for debriefing and reports for
three days after that..and then home !