Senogawa Junior High

We were in a different world today. Yes, these were definitely junior high kids -- you only had to watch them during their free time to see that -- however, the school had a completely different atmosphere. I don’t have many pictures because we were told not to take photos if it would disturb the class. All you have to do is point a camera, and all the students are making faces and high fives -- a clear disruption of class. I did get a snap of a girl playing keyboard when they had free time as lunch was being served (by the students and the homeroom teacher).
She was quite talented. Music is required through middle school and all students learn basic keyboarding in elementary school. When I asked the rest of the eighth graders at lunch, they all said they played an instrument and played a sport. Students stay after school for “activities”, which includes clubs and sports. All teachers are required to sponsor an activity as part of their contract and must stay at school until 5:10.
The elementary school teachers yesterday had planned for our visit and had included us in the activities in many classes. Not so in junior high. Students are studying for the exams that will determine their track when they finish junior high. Teachers had set curriculum and if visitors were scheduled for today, that was fine, but they could be satisfied by watching students take a test if one was scheduled.
Therefore, I was surprised to see several teachers using Cooperative Learning groups. Other classes were taught by rote repetition and lecture. Given the press for success, it was most ironic that most teachers did not seem at all concerned if students were not listening. Often boys (rarely girls) were talking and clowning around or sleeping and the teacher just kept talking. I think it’s part of the philosophy that it’s the students’ responsibility to get the knowledge and the teachers’ job to make it available.
We had several lively question and answer periods with the principal and teachers. They had many questions for us, too.
A speaker we heard in Toyko, Tomoko Yanagi, is a high school English teacher here in Hiroshima. At the Peace Education seminar, she told the story of her father who is a A-bomb survivor -- a Hibakusha. Several of us contacted her , and she’s meeting us for dinner tonight. I’m looking forward to that conversation.