I wasn't too sure how to title this blog, but I find it really interesting how laid back my schools are. So I guess it is more appropriate to say, it's amazing how much the schools get away with. If the same practices were to happen in an American school, it would have to close down due to being sued every week.
Thankfully in Japan, no one sues each other. What happens is just a part of life and you have to suck it up. Take the jungle gyms for instance. Built on top of hard earth (no sand) and around 10 feet high, as the kids navigate these monstrosities of iron (no plastic here), it reminds me of a level from Mega Man, where one slip has you falling to your death on a bed of spikes.
In Kijoka (the small area of Ogimi that I live in), there is an old Swedish man who has built a log cabin from materials he shipped from Finland. It is one of the most surreal things I have ever seen, and for that reason, it makes a great field trip. So when I arrived at my Tuesday school, I was approached by my 2nd grade teacher if I would help drive the kids there after lunch.
That's right, no parent permission slips in Okinawa. After lunch, all the girls got into the teacher's van, and all the boys got into the Wonder Wagon. There were 5 of them, one in the front who I made buckle his seat belt, and then four sitting in the back seat belt-less.
And that's it. Just a moment of, "This would never happen in America." while at the same time thinking, "Maybe we just need to chill out."
Putting the 大 in 大宜味.
Friday, December 19, 2008
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2 comments:
Don't forget all the Saturday school events. Can you imagine your hometown school (in America) saying 'alright, this week everybody will come to school for [x] on Saturday and you'll just replace that by having next Monday off.'
now imagine having to go to work on saturday for an event and then the school forgetting to tell you to take monday off. that was me. today.
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