The K Experience

Tireless Teachers

Past - Japan

Tuesday, 26 February 2008

Japanese Teachers

Being a secondary school/highschool teacher is a tough job. One of the toughest jobs there is. Doesn't matter what country you're in, or what you teach, it's tough. Even though it's important to recognize those people that do such a job, more often than not, they go unmentioned. So here's to you guys. Wherever you are in the world...

The guys in this picture are some of the teachers that I taught with in Japan. I only remember the three in the middle as I worked closest with them. The guy on the bottom left is Takahara Sensei, the lady to the right of him is Kano Sensei, and the lady above them is Awahara Sensei. They worked tirelessly for the sake of their students, and I take my hat off to them.

It's difficult to actually become a fully qualified teacher in Japan. The number of tests that you have to take and the difficulty of the tests put many Japanese people off, and the pay before they fully qualify was not that great when I was teaching with them. In fact, I think I was earning more than they were. Also, due to the Japanese culture, the younger teachers, like those shown in the picture, were expected to work much harder than the veterans to prove themselves as worthy, and they did just that.

Takahara Sensei and I spent some time together, and I got to know just how much stuff he did for the kids. He would take them out on trips, meet up with them outside school hours to do activities with them (in a non pervy kind of way) like selling tea at his market stall. He also spent time once a week to go to a Japanese orphanage to teach as part of a "Big Brother" organization that he was with (different from the reality TV thing, and the 1984 George Orwell thing). If it wasn't for his influence, I don't think I would have had the idea of doing the same thing in Ghana.

It has been quite a while since I last wrote an entry here. Mainly because I have been working on papers and presentations for the PhD in Education that I am currently doing. Here I am researching how students and teachers can be better served inside and outside of the classroom. Remembering those teachers, and all the other teachers that I have worked with, motivates me to do what I am doing. I find that a lot of what is researched does not find its way down to the teachers that need it, and this is a dilemma. I miss being in the classroom, and am eager to get back, but I know what I am doing is important, and I wanna make sure that the research I do makes a difference.

So here's to you teachers, guys and girls around the world that have dedicated your lives to helping the young ones around us, wherever you are, keep doing what you do.

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