More Drama At School

This story could really fit under the category of “Drama at School” or more “Thoughts on Discipline in Japanese Schools”. You can take your pick really.

The Japanese teacher and I were beginning an 8th grade English class. Class in Japan always starts out very formal. Stand up. Greet. Bow. Sit down. Begin class. It’s like you’re in the army almost. A very, undisciplined, rowdy army maybe, but they still keep around a lot of the symbolism from the old days nevertheless. The school uniforms are based on military uniforms as well.

Anyway, I was standing around waiting for the Japanese teacher to go through all that stand up and bow stuff. The Japanese teacher was busy chasing two students around the classroom.

These two were boyfriend and girlfriend. There aren’t a lot of couples in the 8th grade, but the ones that are there tend to be very high profile. And these two are always causing problems. They’re both problem kids to begin with, and it’s very common to see one of them running through the hallways with a teacher in pursuit.

And their romance is tumultuous as well. There’s always some sort of crisis between them that the teachers have to help sort out so that a big scene doesn’t get created in the middle of school.

All this is to say, I was very used to seeing the Japanese teacher chase them around the room, and didn’t really think too much of it. Barely noticed it really. I was busy talking to another student.

The boy wasn’t even in that class. He was part of another homeroom on a different floor of the building. He was trying to attack the girl for whatever reason. The Japanese teacher, a petite Japanese woman, was trying to get between them. She grabbed the boy by the wrists to stop him. He just pushed the teacher back, and she fell backwards into the row of desks.

At this point I decided it would look very bad for me to continue to stand around with my hands in my pockets while this was going on. Although as much as possible I like to stay out of the way when the Japanese teacher is disciplining the kids. It’s not my job for one thing, and I don’t know what the rules are or what is appropriate. I have no authority over the students, and I’m not sure my help would even be appreciated by the Japanese teacher.

There’s also a long section in the employee manual dealing with violence in the classroom. “In the event there is a fight in the classroom, do not get involved. While it may seem dreadful, if there is an injury, your intervention in a classroom altercation can cause problems for insurance....In the case of classroom violence a foreign ALT [Assistant English Teacher] must not get involved in the situation. While it is understandable that mature adults cannot stand around while a child is subject to violence of any kind. In many ways, the laws of the land have determined that this is the correct response….It may not seem right, but only by non-involvement, verbal warnings, and alerting the other teachers can an ALT try to combat classroom violence....If you were to get involved in the situation and someone were to sustain an injury, you... could be held liable.” etc.

But despite all that, it just seemed really bad for me to just stand there when the Japanese teacher was getting pushed over.

I walked forward to intercept the boy. The girl, seeing my intention to get involved, decided to pull the old “hide behind the American” maneuver. “Joel, help me,” she said, as she ran behind my back.

This was not what I intended. It would have been a lot easier to just intercept the boy. Shielding the girl turned the whole thing into more of a circus. Besides it still left the Japanese teacher to deal with the boy.

I tried to move forward, but the girl had grabbed onto my sweater. I took a few steps forward anyway, dragging her along with me, before she let go of me. The boy was coming at the girl anyway, so it allowed me to just grab him easily.

The boy was a typical scrawny 8th grader. He could knock over the female teacher, but he didn’t have a lot of weight on me. The question was what to do with him once I had him. How long should I hold him? Should I keep a tight grip no matter what? If he started hitting me, is it acceptable to pound him back? All in all, I felt really uncomfortable about the situation I was in.

The boy tugged to get his arm free, and muttered something under his breath which I’m sure wasn’t complimentary to me. Occasionally he would make wild jerks to free himself, but that was about as far as it went fortunately.

The Japanese teacher sent one of the students running to the teacher in the next classroom for reinforcements. I tried to calm the boy down by saying things like, “Okay, why don’t we go back to your own class now, hey?” I really didn’t know what else to say. Oh, and also I forgot to speak in Japanese, so he didn’t understand a word of it anyway.

The other teacher arrived, and the boy was coaxed into returning to his own class. There was of course, no disciplinary action taken afterwards.

In the interest of being fair and balanced though, I’ll add this little tidbit in defense of Japanese schools. As I’ve mentioned before, most of the discipline techniques revolve around internal motivation and social cohesion. It can fall apart very easily, but when it works it’s a beauty to behold. Because of teachers’ meetings, I had to teach a number of the 9th grade classes by myself last week. The way the class leaders keep the rest of the class in line all by themselves is amazing. I barely even had to do anything.

When it works, it’s a wonder to behold. When it falls apart, you’re pretty fucked.

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