Gary
sumojoesays.com

I get what you’re saying, and kudos for keeping me on my toes about generalizations. But my statement about American middle schools being the “trial by fire where all the worst aspects of American society is forged” relates to my statement in part one: American Middle Schools are an unguided melee of children given far too much free time and not enough gentle supervision. The result is that a bunch of kids, just as they are constructing their own identities, are constantly being torn down by others, and learn that the way to build yourself up is to deflect from yourself (or tear others down). This fosters a terrible sense of insecurity that manifests itself in my least favorite adult behaviors; so often I see some grown man acting like he’s in middle school.

This is not to say I disagree with you; the political conventions are, in my opinion, no different than the bullies fighting the nerds (you can assign the role to whichever parties you like). It all goes up to getting wedgies in middle school, man. I promise!

Regarding Japanese behavior: “…let’s not universalize this outside of an educational context…”

Followed by immediately, in regard to American middle school: “…a trial by fire where all the worst aspects of American society is forged.”

From this it seems like you probably had about as horrendous an experience in middle school as I did; there’s not much other reason for this bit of hyperbole. Normally I’d just smile at the overstatement and push down some nasty memories, but in this case it comes hot on the heels of an (admirable and appropriate) attempt at keeping the commentary in perspective.

Aside from being inaccurate*, it’s an unbalanced and unnecessary dig that doesn’t really help frame the information you’re presenting.

All that said, thanks for presenting this, particularly regarding the Ministry of Education’s positions and the conundrums faced by both students and teachers. It seems like an interesting approach with (like anything else) mixed results, and it gels very well with what little Japanese culture I’ve actually been exposed to.

* All the worst aspects of American society are actually floating around in the interpersonal ether until the major political election conventions come up every four years, during which the forging and re-forging truly takes place.