A tragedy in process
Setsugyoshiki... sutsuyoshiki... aw boy, I have a real problem with that word... I learned it wrong and I haven't been able to un-learn it... it means "Graduation".
That's it for my third years, the wonderful kids who were last years' second years with Mr Woods (My last-year second grade teacher).
Some of the greatest kids were in there; Mr. "Oh Oh Oh Me Me Me! Pick ME!.... I have no idea!" was in there, as well as Doe Eyes (Miss Kendo), and a plethora of other characters that I have neglected to write about here, but I have logged elsewhere (On my little computer). They are all gone now.
And the school feels a lot emptier.
Sure, I have a new batch of second years lined up to be third years in a month... but for one I really just have a problem with many of them. They have, as a group, learned that we teachers can't do anything to them if they are bad (the PTA here is the same monster it is in the US), so they are completely out of control. The rooms are a mess, they read books, sleep, talk in loud voices, throw trash during class. There is only a handful of kids left who even study. The numbers are down all across the board on their tests... To say that next year is going to be a tragedy is quite an understatement. They are easily falling behind my first years. I feel that next year at Interactive Forum, I might just ask for an all second year team... because my third years just might not be up to the task. The worst part is that they are contaminating all the good kids, pressuring them into being bad as well. I started talking to one of my favorite kids, a boy who tried very hard to be at Forum, and a good English speaker, and he looked at me and said, in a rude voice, "(Japanese) I don't understand you, teacher." They have gotten to him as well.
Remember, the make-or-break point for a Japanese teenager is third grade junior high... you make a mistake here and it's McDonalds for the rest of your life... but they don't seem to care...
It's a tragedy in process....
I hope next year we put the toughest teachers in with the third grade. It's their only hope.
posted by Aabh @ 9:46 PM
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