Graduation

I'm into Japanese culture in my blog this past month it seems. I guess that was the purpose of my blog in the first place.
Today's lesson is the difference between a Japanese and American school system!

It's mid March, which means all my ninth graders have graduated. Last weekend was the weekend of graduation. My base school students graduated on Friday and my other Junior High School walked the stage on Saturday. I was teaching elementary on Friday, so I couldn't go see my one school, however; on Saturday, I woke up bright and early to check out my other school's graduation.

Junior High School (JHS) graduation's importance is equivalent to that of our high school graduation ceremony. In Japan, citizens only have the legal right to receive an education until the end of their ninth year in Junior High School. Throughout their last year of JHS, students are trying to decide on their next step in life - to move onto high school or to get a job. Many students are deciding which high school they want to attend. It's very similar to high school students in America deciding on whether or not they want to move onto college and then deciding on which college they would want to go.

Now, it's not as simple as choosing a high school and then going. When a high school is decided upon, the next step is having to take their entrance exam. That is what the ninth graders are preparing for all year - their entrance exams. The difficulty of the exam is dependent on what kind of high school you are trying to enter. Hence, you want to go to the best high school -you're exam will be harder. So, compare that to high school students wanting to go to Harvard - so they need to get really high scores on their SAT's. The difference here is that in America - if you want to go to Harvard, apply and then do poorly on your SAT's - you can retake them or you can go to your "back - up" choice college. Here - the student's choose one school and get one shot. If the school they chose was really difficult and they didn't pass the entrance exam - what that means to them is - sorry, you aren't going to high school. They have one school they can apply to and one exam to try for. If they do poorly, they have to wait until the following year to retake the exam.

As you can see, the school year here doesn't begin in August or September like us - it begins in April. The ninth grade students graduated so they don't come to school anymore. However, the 7th and 8th grade students still have classes for this week and all of next week. On March 23, the students will go on spring break. So, the 7th graders will leave on the 23rd and when their two week vacation is over - and they return on April 9th, they will be 8th graders. There are really no breaks here. There are - but not how we know them as breaks in America.

You probably remember leaving school in June and having months off for the summer and returning to your new grade in September. In Japan, the longest break they have is in the summer for 5 weeks. When, they return they are in the same grade. So, their grade change break is only 2 weeks long. Their winter break is also about 2-3 weeks long as well. However, during these breaks - the students still come to school. They still study and play sports and receive help from teachers. They just don't have any scheduled classes. So, essentially, breaks aren't breaks as we think of them.

As a result of this comparison of Japanese JHS to American high schools - the graduation was also quite different. When I think of graduation - I think of a really happy, proud moment. Our speeches are usually written with the idea of "we're moving ahead and we're going to accomplish many great things", etc.

The Japanese graduation was quite a somber event. The students wear their everyday uniforms, while the parents and teachers wear their best outfits. It's nice because all the students come watch the ninth graders graduate. In the front are all the graduates, behind them are their parents, behind the parents were the 7th and 8th graders. To the one side, are all the teachers and to the other side are important people like city officials, BOE people, elementary school principals, etc. The graduation proceeds with all the student's names being called as they walk up to stage to receive their diploma. One name is called, the student responds with hai or yes, walks over, bows to the people to the side (so if you are closest to teachers, you bow to them, if you are closest to the other officials, that's who you bow to). When they were on my side (teacher's side) we all bowed back. They walked in a particular march, reminding me much of how military people walk. There are always about 5 students waiting in line, perfectly spaced apart from one another. While one name is being called by the homeroom teacher, the student in the front of the line receives their diploma from the principal. The student bows to the principal with the student who is standing in line behind them. The principal then gives the diploma to the most foreward student. That student walks off stage and another name is called and then the next student receives their diploma. It goes on like this until all students have received their diploma.

All this time, you see the student's holding back as best as they can - tears. Most have already started crying at this point when they walked in. The homeroom teachers are also crying at this point, too. After all the students receive their diploma's, it's speech time. Speech time is when all the tears come trickling down. The principal gives a speech, an important official does, a student from one of the lower grades, the PTA president and the one that affects everyone the most is the speech from the graduating class president to the principal. During all these speeches, they have background music playing - as Meg says, "Full - house like." So, these speeches are different because they are more or less reflecting on their past 10 years in this school district. Not really giving motivational words as to their future. While these students are giving their emotional speeches, they have in the background emotional music. As Katie says, "to make sure everyone is crying." Oh, and throughout all this - it kind of reminds me of church. You are told to stand, to sit, to stand, to sit. I guess it was good though because a graduation ceremony in another language can get really boring, really fast. Additionally, the best outfit I had to wear was a dress that is meant for summer. The only type of sweater I had for it was also a summer sweater. I bought tights so my legs were alright, but my arms were quite cold. It was held in the gym, which is barely heated (more or less heated by body heat). So, this constant movement, warmed me up a bit.

Moving back onto the sobfest. The student who gave the speech to the principal was speaking between sobs and sniffling into the microphone for like the last 4 minutes. The principal is also up there crying their eyes out from the speech. All the teachers sitting around me were crying. It was hard for me to be on their level because I could only understand bits and pieces of the speech and really for me, I think of graduation and I think of happiness, accomplishment, celebration. I certainly don't think of graduation as a sad time. Cultural difference.

After all the speeches, the students sing. This is where it gets even worse. At this point, everyone is crying. The students are singing in front of everyone, some of them barely able to sing because they are crying so much.

Then, it's over. The end. I felt pretty cold-hearted because I think I was the only person not crying at some point. So, that my friends is how a Japanese JHS graduation ceremony works.

Dave's take on a high school graduation