Published.

From the May 2008 Tokushima Kyouikukai:





Read on for the incredibly dull original text.

On Education

I must admit that being asked to comment on the state of education in Tokushima proposed a daunting and far-reaching task for me. As a first year ALT with access to only five of the city’s plethora of schools, I can’t help but feel that I am vastly under-qualified to make any such assessment. However, my naivety and fresh perspective on Japan as a whole, in addition to my background in education, puts me in a unique position. In the eight months since arriving at Tokushima airport, I have played witness to the ken as it is now – a snapshot of Awa life devoid of any and all preconceived notions. The following is, humbly, what I have found.

In my experience, good education begins with passion and communication. One must only peer into Inotani as it serves the lunch time rush or glance down the bustling streets of Shinmachi during Awa Odori to see that Tokushima has plenty of the former. But communication is an altogether trickier beast to tackle. In my work in the junior high schools and high schools of my hometown in America, communication between staff and students was often problematic. Many teachers lacked respect for the students (and vice versa), and the absence of a communal teachers` room only exacerbated the problem.

Thankfully, this appears to be a non-issue in Tokushima. By placing teachers in close proximity to each other and often by grade level, the schools in which I teach have created an environment in which true communication occurs. Frequent meetings between teachers also aid in this cause, and while the ALT-JTE relationship is the only one officially termed “team teaching” in the office, one could argue that, in fact, the entire staff teaches as a unified team every day.

Additionally, the implementation of cleaning time, a phenomenon that is regularly absent from American schools, develops in students a profound respect for the school and humility toward their role in the school community. The result is an environment in which both student and teacher respect and appreciate the other and the part that they play in the school. Perhaps this is why after working backbreaking hours (indeed, many teachers in America will simply refuse to work past 4 o’clock in the afternoon), most teachers can still be seen smiling at day’s end.

And still this says little of passion, which is so ever-present but equally vital in the effective running of the school. Perhaps the best example of this passion I was able to witness just last Friday at the graduation ceremony for Josei Junior High School. As the ceremony ended and the third grade students prepared to make their walk through a tunnel of friendly faces and on into high school, I marveled at the incredible number of first and second grade students who had showed up in support. When I asked my teacher why these students, who weren’t required to be at school that day, were at the school, she simply said, “Because they want to be.” I was touched by the students` dedication toward each other, and I have little doubt that this was a familiar scene across Tokushima on Friday.

So while there are perceptible problems with Tokushima’s schools that I fail to address here (some having to do with the implementation of ALTs in the English classroom), they are ultimately readily addressable because of the strong base of communication and passion that underlies our city. The state of education in Tokushima is strong, and as long as the community continues to support its schools, I am confident that any issues that arise can be remedied. It is often said that teaching is a winning profession because, unlike the banker or the stockbroker, one who teaches is investing in people, for which there is always a reward. If this is true, and I believe it to be so, then education in Tokushima will continue to prosper. For this is a community which has a firm investment in its youths, and I look forward in great anticipation to see its returns.