Takeo High School

Today, Thursday, was our second visit to a school in Takeo. Instead of visting a middle school after going to the elementary school yesterday, we skipped right to visiting the high school. Takeo High School is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Like many other things in Takeo, it has been around for a long time. Before I tell you about my day at the school, I think I need to give you a quick summary of the structure of schools in Japan, and the Takeo schools in particular. As I mentioned yesterday, the elementary schools here are for 1st grade through 6th grade. Middle Schools have three grades, just like ours, but they are 7th grade, 8th grade, and 9th grade. High schools also have three grades: 10th, 11th, and 12th. Remember, students are not required to go to high school in Japan, but most students do. In addition, most students that go to high school, go on to college. In fact, the whole point of going to high school in Japan is to prepare for the college entrance exams.

The structure of classes at the high school we visited today was closer to how I envisioned Japanese schools. The students all wear uniforms and sit in neat, straigh rows in their classes. The students' day begins with Homeroom at 8:25 am. Homeroom in Japan is pretty much like Homeroom at William Penn. The teacher takes attendance, reads the announcements, and gives students information that must go home to their parents. One major difference between our homeroom and their homeroom is that Japanese students never ask if they can leave to go to their lockers. Do you know why? Because they don't have them! The students carry their books with them to class in backpacks. At 8:40 am, the first bell rings (it sounds like Big Ben!) to signal the start of 1st period. The first year high school students (10th graders) all take the same required courses. By 11th grade they either choose a Science course of study or a Humanities course of study. In 12th grade, each course of study is divided into even more specific classes, depending on the type of Science or the type of Humanities the student chooses as their focus.

As we observed various classes (mostly in the Science courses), we noticed that there were some classes that didn't have any girls in them, only boys! The Vice-Principal told us that these were the Physics and Math classes, and that girls usually didn't sign up for the science classes, except for biology. He asked us if it was the same way in the United States and we told him that it was not the same at all! Some girls in the United States are very interested in Physics and Math! Another thing that was interesting about the academic classes is that students never raise their hands. It's not because students in Japan are allowed to speak in class without raising their hands, it's that Japanese High School students don't ask questions in class! It is considered shameful to have a question or not understand the material. In fact, many students are bullied by their classmates in Japan for falling behind in their classes. Instead, the students will ask the teacher their questions in between classes or come for one-on-one help after school. Each student sat at their desk with their books open, listening to the teacher and taking notes. It really made me appreciate all of the great questions you ask in Social Studies!

Despite those differences from the elementary school, there are many similarities because the elementary school and the high school. For instance, the students take their shoes off when entering the building and put on slippers or house shoes. The students and teacher also begin each class by standing, saying "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon", and bowing to each other. Another similarity is...are you ready?...after lunch, the students CLEAN THE SCHOOL! Only in high school, the students have even more cleaning responsibilities than they did in elementary school. The students in the high school still have to mop, vacuum, and sweep, but they also have to weed the courtyard, rake the leaves, and take out the trash!

Of course, the day wouldn't have been complete without some incredible surprises. The first one came during the first period of the day when we went to observe a "Home-making" class (it's the same as our Family and Consumer Science classes). Instead of just having us watch the class, the teacher arranged for each of the teachers to join groups of students and learn how to make kuri manju (k00-ree ma-n-joo). Kuri manju are buns stuffed with a sweet bean paste and chestnut. These "bean buns" (as we've been calling them) might sound kind of gross at first, but they are actually quite oishi (delicious)! It was very interesting trying to communicate with the students and make the buns at the same time. After all of our hardwork, we had a chance to sit down with our new friends and enjoy the warm kuri manju with some green tea.

The next surprise came at lunch, when high school students came to eat with us in the conference room. Just like in the elementary school, the Japanese students eat their lunch in the classroom. The difference, however, is that high school students bring their lunch with them to school. I ate my lunch with two senior boys; one from the Science course and one from the Humanities course. I had a ton of questions to ask them, but it seemed to take a while to ask and answer each question because I don't speak any Japanese and they only spoke limited English. I did learn that they both like music. While they are familiar with American performers such as Madonna, Avril Lavigne, and Limp Bizkit, their favorite kind of music is "J-Pop".

After lunch and before the cleaning, we had an opportunity to walk down the street and see residents of Takeo prepare for their fall festival. This festival has taken place on the same day in the same location for the last 810 years! To start the festival, there was a tug-of-war competition in the center of town last night and a performance by the same drum troup we saw at the other festival the night before. The drums were just as amazing the second time around! The festival concluded today with yabusame, an archery ceremony involving archers mounted on horseback. In this competition, men wearing traditional costumes must hit a series of targets with arrows while sitting on top of a moving horse! The archery contest took place during a time when we had a meeting scheduled so we didn't get to see the actual competition, but we did get a chance to go outside after lunch (before cleaning) to watch the archers warm-up their horses.

The official school day for high school students in Takeo ends at 4:15 pm, after another short Homeroom period at the end of the day. The students' day, however, is far from over. After classes, the school sponsors clubs and sports, just like our school. The students can choose from Basketball, volleyball, baseball, tennis, judo, kendo, exam preparation, drama, science, fine arts, brass band, tea ceremony, and many, many more! About 80% of the students at Takeo High School participate in an afterschool club. We had a chance to observe a few clubs, but we were invited to participate in the Tea Ceremony club.

The Japanese word for the tea ceremony is sado. Although the origins of sado are rooted in Buddhist meditation, the ceremony is not a religious one, but a method of serving tea. Both men and women can prepare the tea, but it is thought to be one of the things a woman needs to know how to do in order to be a good wife. The ceremony starts with the eating of sweets. The green tea served in the ceremony is bitter, and eating sweets first makes it taste better. Next, the tea is prepared. The ceremony is very structured, and there is a proper way to do everything. There is a certain way each tool for making the tea should be held, a certain way to hold your tea cup, and there is even a certain way to fold your napkin when you are done with your sweets! There is also a lot of bowing in the ceremony, which is a way to show respect for your host and hostess.

School clubs end around 7pm, but the students' day is STILL not over. 10th & 11th graders have an average of 2 1/2 hours of homework a night, and seniors have an average of 4 hours of homework a night. On top of that, some students attend juko, or cram schools in the evenings to help them prepare for their entrance exams.

I guess the city of Takeo decided to save the best for last, because tomorrow I am visiting a middle school! I can't wait to see how middle school teachers help the students make the transition from elementary school to high school! I promise to tell you all about it when I get home! Meanwhile, I have a question for you: How would you order food in a restaurant if there wasn't a menu, there were no pictures of food, and no one in the restaurant spoke any English?