Just an update. School observations, lot of discussions. Bonus: teachers from the EU traveling Japan. Good conversations. Everybody is interested in the Finns. Me too.
The quick and short: Social promotion seems to be a global phenomenon. Rationale varies. In Japan the short answer is that the tests sort it all out. In Ireland, there's an initiative to decrease the importance of the single (fatal) exam... Sounds like the typical local school reform that seems reasonable but like 'typical school reforms' over the years, probably not tested, not based on repeatable results.
This is rushed but I'll wing it. When the police interview victims of a crime seeking the details that will help them catch the perpetrator should the police be nice or nasty?
Of course, you can see this coming. You're supposed to say, they should be nice and comforting to people who've just been traumatized. Of course they shouldn't be nasty (that word is just a set-up). I has however been proven that when police are not warm, but a bit cold and skeptical they get better and more useful information. It's the nurse saying, this is going to really hurt, but this is the best way to--rip! off comes the bandage, "I wasn't even ready!" you feel like passing out, and then you're looking at the nurse and wondering why he or she is so cruel. But it's over with. Done.
Well, rip off that bandages is in the end less painful and traumatic. With cops, "OK, you're upset, I get it, but what shade of red sneakers was the perp wearing?"
And social promotion instead of leaving a15 year old in 6th grade until he or she learns the times tables, may in the end not be at all successful. I think it causes more harm and interferes with learning. And I haven't seen anything to support social promotion for children outside of birthday parties and playing poker with grandma. I could argue 'are students there to learn or to be comforted? Ignorance does not lead to security and comfort. But this too is the same reasonable argument instead of scientifically testing the method.
The schools in Japan are very neat and tidy. Students clean them up. The classrooms belong to the class, the teacher is there to present the lesson. I'm quite adept at removing my shoes now. I rigged up some 1/8" or smaller shock cord (bungee) that I quick wrap about my hiking boot hooks. It seems an obvious idea but Japanese tell me they've never seen it. I also carry a shoe horn. I've only got the hiking boots and a pair of Crocs--for when I spend all day at a school indoors.
Students are very polite, seem positive and stay after school to study. After school studying in a classroom doesn't require an adult to be present. I met some of the more difficult students. I'll see them again. This was a very interesting experience. The skeptical, critical, suspicious looks so often seen with adolescents in the states? This group had them. Most of the other students seemed very young for their grade levels and age and were very open and trusting.
One little guy yesterday at Niigata station, couldn't have been more than 8 years old, big boxy backpack, school uniform. I kept looking around for his mom or older sibling. Baz says, 'Nope he was taking the train on his own.' He was looking at the image of a whale on the tiled floor of the platform. So I found the video on my phone of the two blue whales and tapped him on the shoulder and then held it so he could see. Two minutes. When it was done, he nodded, looked up at me and then went back to waiting.
Being a traveler is not like being a tourist. Tourists are shown places, people, things and events. Travelers, being on their own are nosy, intrusive, we will look, walk in, stare or start taking pictures before being invited; poking our nose in places many of which we probably shouldn't be poking them. Sure there's a cachet and snobbery about being a traveler instead of a tourist--at least half of it is bunk. I'm not more adventurous and cool so much as exhausted, stinky and lost (and lost a lot). Yesterday when I went down to the Zenkoji Temple in Nagano to witness the Buddhist morning chant there was a group of Americans, I caught a few, 'hey, who is that guy?' looks. Clearly I was on my own and knew where I was headed--not because I'm part of something, but only because I was there yesterday and couldn't think of anything better to do at 5 am today. The day before it was stooges at the Temple. I knelt down in the wrong spot when the monks were walking out of the temple. The guard put his hands on my shoulders, I moved with his direction and started my most common chant 'gomenasai' (I'm sorry). A monk stepped forward, waved the guard off and set me down so the parade could pass. I got my bonk on the head, a blessing but also I think a reminder to 'pay attention to this moment.'
Buddhists seem pretty cool and forgiving.
Teacher in Japan are allowed to rap students on the head. I'm not sure but I think it's probably from this Buddhist practice.
The other thing we travelers fall into is pretending we're the only ones here. Everyone one of us at some point is guilty of pretending that only we are Marco Polo. Even Marco Polo wasn't alone, he just happened to spend some jail time with a writer.
English language learning in Japan seems to be very successful. Many people do not speak it of course, many people refrain from letting on that they speak it (or they might wind up with someone like me bugging them with a lot of questions), but those who speak it even at very basic levels are highly functional. Many people are in international business, an urban planner, international relations, so they learn it for their profession. English and Japanese are very different, so the level of communication is surprisingly good.
Also, like many places some people will just repeat it in their language several times. So long as people are friendly about it, whatever information is then exchanged is positive and probably answers at least part of the query. (They don't get loud about it like many Americans and Brits).
A woman on a bicycle yesterday started speaking to me when I was almost to my son's apartment. I'd been gone for two weeks in Kyoto and climbing Mt Kita (Kita Dake) [but not the 4-5 peaks south of it I'd over optimistically planned to transit]. It's a small city, not too many foreigners, so she was curious. I'm not sure what she was asking or saying, but she was quite verbal. So I told her I was an American teacher, Los Angeles...what else might she be asking? Maybe she wondered if I was lost. I showed her Google Maps on my iPhone with the dots leading to my destination. Then she pointed at my backpack, "force, you force.' Someone earlier when referring to the mountain we'd just climbed said, "We fight. Fight." They weren't throwing down, they were saying 'we struggled.' So I showed her the photo of me standing next to the Kita Dake 3193 meters sign.
One of the great things about Japan which can make it a bit more difficult is literacy must be well over 99%. Many signs and indicators are all text. I was trying to buy bleach in a store and I had to unscrew the lids and sniff them (never stick your nose into the bottle unless you know what's in there, because you've read the label.)
OK. Too much. My head hurts.
More school stuff this week. More castles. Not enough geology--everything is so green here there's not a lot of bare rock. In the Southern Alps Minami, my first impression is that they may (MAY) be like the Santa Monica Mountains. Shale with a silt or sandstone top layer. I've spotted a nice example of a hanging glacial valley, but everything else I've seen appears to be stream cut. There were snow patches from about 2000 meters up to the 3000 meter ridge, July 1-so well into summer. These steep mountain valleys had to have been glacial in the most recent ice age. They're trying to keep their snow all summer even now.
Later
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