We’re about a week into the new school year, and last friday our school had our “Club Activity Orientation” assembly, which involves kids in each of the school clubs and committees campaigning to the new first-year students to join them. The members get up in front of the first-year students and give a quick presentation about the club with the intention of gaining new members. The presentations range from silly skits to demonstrations or just a quick speech. It’s completely planned by the club members. Actually, like most school assemblies, the entire event is organized by the seitokai (生徒会) or student council. Yes, we let our students organize and run a whole assembly (yes, there is teacher support and mentorship, but they are doing the bulk of it). And they do it. This the kind of stuff that I love here, and something I’m ever sure would happen in the states on such a scale. We assume our kids can’t do this kind of stuff (and to be fair, kids here are given responsibilities like this starting from Elementary School), but with the right support they can and do. The net result? A strong sense of ownership in their school.
I wanted to talk about school clubs here for a while, the sports clubs especially. School sports are so radically different here than in the states, and sometimes I wish I had grown up in Japan because I might have actually ended up liking sports. Here clubs are inclusive instead of exclusive. There are no barriers to entry; no try-outs our screening process where you’re asked, “Are you good enough for us?” Instead you get, “Our club is really fun and we hope you’ll join!” Yes, that’s the kind of stuff that they do say, and it sounds silly in English, but it’s perfectly fine and genuine in Japanese.
Since no experience is required to join a club. It’s the responsibility of the 2nd and 3rd year students to get the new members up to speed. If you’ve never played tennis and you join the tennis club, the other members will teach you tennis. You practice six days a week for about 2 hours each day. That’s a lot, but the kids love it. Their clubs are also where they build some of their strongest friendships. There is a huge amount of support inside these groups. Compare this to America where unless you start playing from a young age, expect to be way behind the skill-curve of your peers and probably be made fun of. You get ostracized and pushed out, here you get pulled in. The team rises and falls together and everyone gets held accountable. It’s a tough love, but it’s love.
Going back to the assembly, each of the first years get a little booklet at the assembly with information on each bukatsudo (部活動). Every club gets a half-page space that they write a little “ad” in. Again, this entire book is produced by the students, cover to cover. One of my favorite spots this year is from our Judo club, which you can see above with my translation. The club has only two members this year, Kana and Minori who are both 2nd-year girls. Kana is probably the shortest girl in our school. She’s also the National Junior-Wrestling Champion for her weight class. She can actually flip my body over and pound it into a floor mat. She’s also one of the nicest kids ever and is always smiling.
Cute Japanese note: They actually spell out “Orientation” in phonetic Japanese: オリエンテション. It’s a borrowed word from English, same meaning.
クレヨン / crayons
hanging around after school.
these kids are organized like woah
The yearly school festival is swiftly approaching, which I will surely be posting more about. Sakura Middle has been preparing diligently the past few weeks. This is a daily chart of all the different committees and what they’re doing for the day. All of the prep happens after classes, and goes well into the evening.
The amazing thing though, is that while this is guided by the teachers, it’s the students that put this thing together. They organize each other, they plan out what needs to get done and how it needs to get done, organize their peers, and do it! This board? Students did it. All the decorations, signs, events — all put together by the students. The level of ownership the kids have in this is pretty awesome. It is their festival. They make it awesome or they make it suck. Mine are probably going to make it awesome.
Elementary school kids are the best artists
I love Elementary School in Japan. It’s a fascinating polar opposite to middle school here. I’m no expert on this, but I feel like the Elementary School years here are focused on helping children cultivate their individuality, while the Middle School years focus on forming them into a functioning member of society. I don’t mean this in any kind of derogatory way either, they just seem to be distinct social decisions that lead to a desired outcome. In the states we try to guide our kids into becoming civil, compassionate, contributing human beings. It’s the same here, though the Japanese vision of a healthy member of society is a little different than ours maybe? Anyway, this vision permeates everyone done in those buildings — how discipline is done, how students move through the spaces, how they use their time, and how they are listened and responded to.
You find a lot of really awesome art around Elementary School buildings too, and dang these kids are good with media. At the start of the year each kid in the class made these awesome facsimile paper faces and put them up on a banner in the front of the room. I can’t read what the motto below it says, but I love that giant “YES!”
