OT: My Japanese students

(maybe I should have added. Latin WAS the language when I went to school. :( )


Kis
 
Danny, what would be your student's reaction to the book or a movie of Tom Sawyer?
 
Rusty,
they see all of our movies and TV.
They don't think of it as real. We are Americans, so we live in a magical non-real place.
Over here, every person knows that All Americans carry machine guns and have sex with 6 foot tall blue eyed blonde women who speak in squeaky high voices.
We all take drugs and have $$$ falling out of our purses.

There is this amazing "american culture" that they have constructed based upon what they see on television.
I have actually had japanese people correct me when I talked about my own culture.

They all knew how we lived, and when I said something different than what they expected, they were surprised and a little resentful!

It was like we were arguing over different versions of some classic book as opposed to a living, dynamic culture full of different people and different ideas.

When they saw my wedding pics, they all nearly passed out when they found out that we had two cakes! (one bride cake and one groom cake)
They all had arrythmias cause they didnt know about the groom cake.



I wish I could open every Japanese mind.
You wouldn't believe how many times a day I hear the words "impossible" or "I can't" or "tradition".
I want to change them by teaching them that things change.
 
In my school, Geek was the lang. offered to the most intelligent;)

Nay, I took 3yrs of Espanol in Hi school, etymology (latin and other roots discussed much, etc, Lit courses with all sortsa cool boox, Astronomy, Geology, Chem, Physics, Art of many types, shop classes, econ, computer lit (heehee Apple II's and IIc's..Remmeber coding in apple basic?) and so on...Beat the Hel outta the school system I moved away from in PA...

Heart wrenching stuff, Danny. Ye got yer work cut out fer ya.

Lots of people, world wide, do little more that act (or react) in the roles cast for them in the 'societal script.'

Free thinking has never really been embraced in the mainstream...
 
"I want to change them by teaching them that things change"

manson.jpg


... wouldn't they think that was a typical American with manson family values?
 
Danny,

I think that is the name of it, it is in Tokyo and you should visit. Interestingly enough when I was in Japan, that was the "young peoples " place as it was described to me . It was full of heavy metal , featish shops, tatoo places,souveniers and strangely enough mexican food. When I was there
The was a t shirt that was quite popular , it had a little designer label on the
( where designer labels go ) that said "#uck me" . I had to wonder if they knew what it meant. I guess some did and some didn't. I'm also guessing that none of them exected to find anybody they knew there either.

Needless to say,Harijiku was a very busy spot when I visited.
Lots of color, excitement and scantily clad young ladies( yeah it was fun).

I visited the Mexican restaurant one day, and I'm sure they were there for the
tequilla and not the food. Two of the table next to me order a whole bottle( for two or three folks per table). I believe that the Japanese do have a wilder side, they just don't want everybody to know about it. Business is Business and anything else is your own business. I think the statement from your student could have had that meaning.

I think uniforms would be best for kids here as well for a couple of reasons. First school should be about school and not about what Suzie( or Johnny) wears or who she snubs with her fashionable clothes or who she can enthrall. Secondly it helps to even playing field for the haves and have nots. I also think it creates a sense of unity, something americans need as well. School should be serious business, and I think the Japanese Know this, even the kids.
 
No, they dont know school is serious business.
School is a joke.
The college entrance requirements are based on college entrance exams, and practically nothing else.
They dont even ask you about your grades.
Public school mostly teaches conformity.
After school, kids go to "juku" cram school where they learn all the stuff they have to know to pass the college entrance exams.
High school is only a thing they have to do.

You may not know that, as long as a child is enrolled and present, they graduate. Aint that sweet?
Me, I had to pass my classes.

Not so in japan.

Please be careful with that "sense of unity" idea.
To some it might sound nice, but to many others, it sounds like racism, nationalism, at least discrimination.
Multicultural diversity and tolerance do not get along well with "unity."
 
Danny,

How do the attitudes of those at your dojo compare to the larger Japanese culture around them?
 
I did know about JUKU, it a big deal even here in the
states in the Japanese community.

I didn't know it was a slam dunk for graduation either, guess no one ever
mentioned that. I was in the comercial sector and knowedge gained had something to do with questions asked about the rest of the stuff.

I do know it is very competitive to get in college, and that's why a lot of
Japanese kids used to end up schooling in the states.

I agree care is needed on the unity stuff.
I wasn't thinking about unity in those terms, I was considering more of the
military concept of teamwork . If the kids worked more together , they can
develope skills used in the work place later kind of thing, not intending
the big brother idea at all. Concensus building in the work place is hard to
do and yet it is important. Call it learning to cooperate, not to be brain washed, there is a big difference between the two. How do you judge the two in training ? Not sure, but I'm sure there are experts somewhere that can tell us. It Could be we need some expert in the field even. I can tell you
that the ability to gain consensus and work together in the work place in japan is a huge advangtage especially in manufacturing.

But in the same breath, it did hamper the R&D stuff, as somebody has to come up with new ideas and that's hard if you don't have an opinion in the first place. So I guess your right it is bad some of the time.

I was alway amazed at how the Japanese always selected a group leader(even in social situations),unobtrousively of course. Every body usually followed the leader where ever. Group harmony was always the most important thing , over the individual. This even happened when a body went out to drink. Still the same today?
 
i missed half of my junior year of highschool, and ended up in a secondary school. had i tried, i could have finished my entire senior year in 2 weeks at the secondary school...

my freind was only present for less then 1/4 of his classes, and passed whatever else was needed through "computer classes" at the same school i went to. wich consisted of flipping through the pages without reading them, guessing the answers, and putting the right ones when the computer told you what they were.

sure, we learned some things, but not one of those things we learned were ever on a test.

a good example of that is that on tests, your more likely to be asked who one the battle of ghettisburg/other cities then why was the civil war important, or what are the effects of a union of states deviding themselves. all the worthless topical data, none of the meaning. (worthless when it doesnt have a meaning behind it).

i didnt have to pass my classes, i just had to be nice to the teachers. (southern california)
 
Seth,
that is almost how it is here at the REGULAR high school level.
Now that should scare you...
 
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