If you think your school is bad...

Then you should take a look at my host sister’s school. The stories she tells around the dinner table are horrific. Edogawa Gakuen (literally the Edo River Acadamey) is a private school just down the road from my house. It is very well known in my area for being the best high school around. It sends about a dozen students a year to Tokyo University, the Harvard of Japan. That’s just one school; it sends far more to all the other prestigious schools in Japan. It has a repuation for collecting students with no social lives and unhuman intelligence. Both of the Ibarakis teach there or did at one point. Living at their house I got the impression that Edogawa students were self-selecting. I thought you didn’t go there if you wanted to have a normal life. But living here with a student of Edogawa I’ve gotten a different perspective. The school works very hard to keep kids in line. Here are a few of things Megumi has told me.
1. Students are not allowed to wear their uniforms when hanging out with friends. This may seem like a silly rule because who wants to chill in a school uniform? But lots and lots of students in Japan live far away from home. My commute is just under an hour most days. So returning home to change would be a real pain in the neck. Not only that, students aren’t allowed to go into convenient stores with their uniforms on. You might think what I thought, that’s all grand but how in the world can they enforce something like that? Edogawa sends teachers to the train station, convenient stores, karaoke joints, games centers, bookstores, and anywhere else a high school kid might go to have fun. They wait and watch for Edogawa students to break the rules. First offense: a warning. Second offense: dismissal from school. You can get kicked out for buying a candy bar at Seven Eleven on your way home.
2. Their uniforms are ugly as can be. Who decided all green would be a good color for a suit? Green pants even. I wouldn’t want to go to school dressed like the Riddler. They’re hideous. Along with the awful clothes, boys must keep their hair above the ears and eyes, and no sort of styling is permitted. Girls must have their skirts go beyond the knees and no styling of the hair is permitted.
3. Megumi told me she has a teacher who makes kids stand during class. One kid didn’t know the answer to a question and she made him stand for the remaining seventy minutes of class. Not only that, he stood every day for two weeks.
4. Their principal is a nut job. He won’t take exchange students because, “what would happen if one of them brought a gun to school?”
5. The number of hours an average student spends doing homework or studying is outrageous. Something like four hours a night and more on weekends.
Listening to these stories makes me glad I go to Eishin where things are more laid back and I have a lot of freedom. It feels odd saying this because compared to ETHS, Eishin is a prison but it feels normal now. In the beginning I got anxious sitting through lectures all day because I wanted some conversation. It really bothered me that teachers hardly ever asked questions of students or tried to engage the class. Now the lectures feel normal. It helps that I can follow along. I much prefer teachers who write notes on the board while they speak so I can look up words. It helps me follow along.

This semester, I’m expected to pay attention in all my classes. Quite a change from last year where I ended up sleeping or reading through pretty much everything. My homeroom teacher has a lot to do with that. She’s very considerate of my needs and what is useful for me. I now get free periods all the time. I don’t take modern or classic Japanese. It’s nice to get the time off during those periods. I go to Ishy’s room and study Japanese in my own way. About two months ago I got completely sick of flashcards and textbooks. I can’t stand word lists, kanji guides, grammar exercises, or anything traditional like that. Instead I’ve found ways of studying that are fun. I read manga to work on my kanji and speed up my reading. I look up every word I don’t know and I’m learning a lot that way. The trick was to find manga that I really like so it doesn’t feel like studying. I’m keeping a diary on my computer and one at school. My homeroom teacher, Ms. Adachi, and I pass it back and forth. So I’ll write an entry in Japanese and she’ll correct my grammar, kanji, whatever, and respond to it.

I’m definitely settling into a new rhythm at school. This new school year is a lot better than last year. I definitely feel like I’m getting something out of it. And whenever class gets really boring or I feel despair creeping in, I just think, “two months left” and that usually kicks me back into gear. I figure I can push the last two months. Right now it’s fun but I’m so ready to be done with high school. My highlight this week was correcting my social studies teacher on a kanji during class. That felt cool.

I didn't really have any direction for this post after talking about my host sister’s school. Don’t know if you can tell. The biggest thing coming up for me is my track meet tomorrow. It’s a big one and lasts three days. I have a very tough schedule. I’m running the 4x100 relay, the 4x400 relay, the 800m dash, the 1500m run and the 5000m run. It’s over three days but I run several of the events twice or three times depending on how well we do. I’m looking forward to it because I haven’t competed in a long time but I’m also very nervous. Okay, off to bed because I have to get up early.　お休みなさい。