I work in the Japanese school system and yes, it's terrible. Teachers and staff do things like cleaning gutters, cutting grass, and wiping windows despite the fact that we have a cleaning staff! This mentally of everyone cleans together needs to change! Taking care of kids is tough work. Especially dealing with kids who have autism, ADHD, and other mental issues. We don't have specialist at my school to deal with kids with needs and we can't tell parents that there kids are misbehaving or need professional help. We do need more foreigners but the pay and hours scare away many or most just quit after a few weeks. Don't forget that kids also come home late because after school, they hit private cram schools and come home around 7-8 pm and that includes weekends too!
I second this. I'd also like to note that it is different between BOEs or Board of Education in each city. Some are better than others when it comes to staffing. In the end, they are all severely underfunded.
In my head, I feel 2 things can be simplified: 1. Faculty Meetings : Abolish this and replace it with email notes. Thor from PirateSoftware touched on this. There some companies that I know have 1 hour meetings everyday, but some people are just not charismatic and drones on and on, or try to be encouraging while briefing the teachers. When they changed the meetings to short notes and then, Q&As via email, productivity increased among staff members. They had an extra time for themselves to mentally heal and breathe. For those who prefer the droning, a short 15 min in the staffroom for them to to hear leader or organizer talk in a small table is added as well. 2. Calls from parents. This principal hired a freelancer (on contract). He invited parents to place their calls, complaints and suggestions to this guy. The principal told the teachers not to give their personal number to the parents. Because they realize most calls from parents are just well, I'm not going to elaborate. You know, you know. So, the freelancers job is to listen to the parents talk and take down notes and then send them to the correct teachers via email in a condensed 'note'. If freelancer is occupied with call, parents can feel free to send messages to him too. This caused outrage at the first 2 months because mainly, parents lost direct access to the teachers. Mind you principal is extremely firm and scary guy (if you go up against him, he's very smart and know how to twist things around. The best metaphor is if you try to take him to hell, he smiles and able to maneuver you to a garden and you'll forget what you are doing in the first place). Some teachers caved in and still allowed the calls, but principal kept reminding teachers not to pick up parent calls, especially at 2am at night. It's still a work in progress and some trial and error. Like for example, this teacher knows that his art class next week need manila card. So teacher tells the freelancer that I have art class on this day with manila card. If parents from 3B class ask, tell them that yes, these are the materials needed for art class. So now communication is open both ways. Freelancer is also given flexible time to work as he cites that most calls and Whatsapp comes from evening and night. Mornings and afternoons are usually silent.
Need to change the work culture in Japan first. Everyone tries to stay late and tries for one job position for whole life. This work culture is the root cause of overwork for all kind of job positions. This work culture was definitely great during industry age; however, it is not so effective and not productive in current digital age.
@chinito77 That's really awful to know this .... Here in india my parents both are govt school teacher, school time in summer 7 am to 1 pm in winter 9 am to 3 pm, teacher in india paid highly & respected in society.
British ex-teacher here - this sounds the same for the UK too, and the reason I left teaching. Forgive this comment, I wrote it then came back up here after writing cause I clearly needed the rant. Thank you for this space to get this off my chest :) :) Apparently it still hurt. I never minded spending time making lessons, reflecting on my work, creating projects to help students because I loved my subject and cared so deeply for my students and want to help them learn and grow, but all the extra work handed down by management was impossible! No breaks because whenever the students are on break we "supervise", running multiple extra-curricular clubs in lunch and after school, doing extra tasks. For me I ended up helping with advertising, promotional work, setting up IT computers, projectors etc and being on hand to fix them, running interviews for prospective students and open days, helping set up the schools intranet and website, being made the first aider (not qualified but apparently that "didn't matter"!) and running school trips, and the endless endless last-minute changes to "policy" that must be so urgent it has to be done right now to just be dropped within a week or two. Like "let's add a mustard yellow banner that's 1cm tall to the bottom of every powerpoint slide to reinforce school spirit" (sure okay that'll just take a couple of hours per week to add in and I'm sure the kids will LOVE it) or "let's set aside 10 minutes with each pupil every term to discuss how your subject can help their career decisions" (okay so I have 120 students, so now I need to make 20 hours per term to have these meetings when we chat about this in class anyway) or "let's set homework every day and get them to email it and record if they sent it in on time and the quality of their work or follow them up with an email then a phone call home if not received" (so come up with small homeworks that aren't too pointless or arduous for their tired teenage brains, then 120 students, 120 emails to open, check, mark as done on time and good/average/poor quality with written feedback or email or call to ask why it not done - takes at least 5 mins per pupil so at least 10 HOURS MORE WORK PER DAY LIKE WHO ON EARTH THINKS THIS WORKS WELL FOR THE STUDENTS OR TEACHERS oh yes, management, the ones who pay me). And helping with the students who are clearly in the wrong place or need specialist help, learning issues (if they didn't get GCSE english or maths why oh why did management put them in A-level or L3 BTEC Science?!), problems at home, angry parents, "why is my child not becoming a doctor yet" parents, having trouble hitting the teenage hormones, refugees dealing with what they saw in their own country or learning english (try being held accountable for the Applied Science grades of a girl who cant write her name yet! Yes of course I try to help but shouldn't there be someone better?), and of courser those many students who just send me an email at 5am because they just don't know how to cope anymore. I can't ignore that - who could? These are children! So it becomes my job. A part that eroded my soul every day. I wish these were the only things too. The only way I got through my first couple of years of teaching was brutal efficiency, cutting management corners and enlisting help of partner and family. The only people happy were those in charge able to brag about how amazing their fancy new schemes were to those higher up so they could get a promotion. I wish we could just have been left to teach.
A unified economic system with emphasis on profit and a deep mutual connection between the rich and the government makes it really impossible to fund any meaningful change. It's not just Japan but every country on earth following suit. But hey here's.......more consumer electronics! Are you happy yet?
@@CordeliaAurora You're right, but this system is even stronger in Japan than in my home country, France. I feel that sometimes the Japanese are too submissive to unfairness
Japan knows the answer but would rather sacrifice their children instead of actually paying their teachers. Like seriously, pay your workers. Those government officials aren't working 80 hours overtime.
You can notice the raise of private school in Japan. One of my Japanese friend works for one private international school. Fixed hour, overtime paid, and also both Japan national holidays + foreign national holidays Of course , for parents , cost is not the same as public. It’s like 1.2 M yens per year
"Of course , for parents , cost is not the same as public. It’s like 1.2 M yens per year" One of the things ive been curious about is those backpacks, why are they so absurdly expensive and why can't they just use any old backpack. What's so magical and special that you need a certain brand/price range to use for school stuff.
@@SvengelskaBlondie We are a two faced society. We believe in reuse and recycle but we dare not use second hand items for school or work. It's also a belief about new items for new experiences (school gear and work clothes for example) and not standing out from everyone else by using a non standard backpack for example.
@@SvengelskaBlondie The Randoseru backpacks are supposed to last all six years of elementary. The bags are so durable they can also be resold and reused after graduation. Many children in Western countries go through several backpacks within that time span, so the costs are not very different, and then they throw them in a landfill.
Agreed. The difference being that teacher's unions elsewhere in the developed world are a lot stronger and more willing to fight for their member's rights than Japanese unions are.
Just the fuck up with your grotesque Japan apologist non sense. What worldwide? It’s certainly not in my country, where nobody will accept this sort of massive bullshit. I have been living in a Japan for 22 years and I saw some real shit here that does no exist anywhere else in the world, including the how bizarrely the school system is organized here.
Teacher in the USA strike to teach students that science doesn’t exist, and doesn’t teach them common sense. Look at our university spawning woke ignorant. This is not the same bro
@Megamibunny Here in india only private school teacher is under paid & do over worked but the govt school teacher is highly paid & do less work like 1 or 2 class in whole day but 6 days
As far as work hours/days are concerned, American teachers are in no way "overworked". They wouldn't last one month if they had to follow the Japanese work schedule.
Work at a faculty of education in Japan training elementary school teachers, 20+ years here and can confirm almost everything said in this video is true with the exception of club activities; often these go far later into the evening than just 6:00 p.m.
I was an AET for about 9 years. Yes, I was always the last to arrive and the first to leave every school day. I was amazed at how much Japanese teachers had to work. This video explains the terrible situation of Japanese teachers. And then the government official complains about the low quality of the teaching applicants! Who in their right mind wants a job that requires so much overtime and in which you get abused by the children's parents?
Over the years, I've met more and and more people who are completely content with working basic janitorial or warehouse jobs with no intentions of moving up anywhere. Now I understand why. Some people just want a completely minimal effort and minimal stress life. Nobody is making it out of this life alive anyways, so what is the point of overachieving or accumulating accomplishments that mean nothing once you are gone?
So Japan has too few children but somehow also too few teachers?? And they want people to have more children?? My head hurts… and what are they spending the national budget on if not for education?
Japan’s ministry of finance is also wondering the same. The ministry of finance has been questioning why lower birth rates haven’t led to less work for the teachers 😭
Taught in public Japanese schools for years. I was the foreigner who taught English, so I just taught and left after I was finished. But the misery and exhaustion in the teacher's room is palpable. There was one teacher I taught with who actually worked abroad before coming home to teach in the homeland. Was worse for her because she experienced non-sadistic work conditions. And since she was new, she had to do extra work and take on the duties of supervising the volleyball club, a sport that she Never played. Said she came back to Japan to settle down and start a family. Pretty fucking hard to do that when you have no free time.
why does it looks like everything is failing in japan. every segment of society has this weird extreme solution. it show how hard it is for japanese government that is filled with old people have a very hard time to ADAPT , they always stick to the old ways of working even if they clearly can see that its failing .
Teachers shouldn’t be in charge of clubs. Most of the time it’s not in their field of study. It should be done by assistant/substitute teachers/coaches. I think it’s a good idea that complaining parents should be allocated to counselors. Lastly, no school should have class on Saturdays, even if it’s not every week. Teachers won’t get enough rest days.
I have worked as a teacher in the UK, but gave it up due to work load. There is a teacher shortage in some subjects, but the workload sounds much worse in Japan .
....and the worst part of it is that high school graduates can't handle junior high school third year level math, science and Japanese tests when they try to enter the B tier and below universities. Even though the kids go to juku for extra practice, the success rate is still pitiful. The education system in Japan exists to socialize people, not educate them.
facts, the education system there exists to socialize people and not to educate. that’s such a good and true line that’s exactly how i feel about it too
Actually cleaning of the schools is done after lunch not at the end of the school day. Also another administration duty allotted to teachers is contacting students’ families about inadequate funds in their bank accounts to pay for school fees and school lunches. Not to mention that there are no school counselors at any level in most schools in Japan. Teachers have to see to not only teaching, but helping with counseling students and families on multiple issues.
Because they join club activities. In Japan, participation in club activities is not compulsory, and students who participate in club activities do so because they like it. I finished my compulsory education in Japan, but I did not participate in club activities, so my school hours were from 8:45AM to 3:30PM
Many people don't know this, but we Japanese don't spend all our time in studying. Besides studying, we do a variety of things, such as club activities, extracurricular activities, volunteering, cleaning, etc. On average, we probably spend about 5 hours studying a day at school. And there are events every month, such as cultural festivals, sports festivals, and school trips. Unlike the Chinese and Koreans, we are not forced to study in classrooms all day.
@@ALLKASDLLS-mg4lu Yeah but the fact that most kids come home around 7-8pm because their parents force them to go to cram schools is terrible. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, I always see kids doing something school related then go to cram schools on the weekends as well. What for? To become a convenience store worker or work as a salary man or OL?
You see it in many industries in Japan > long hours > broad responsibilities > work generally difficult > low pay > forced to switch job locations every few years (in the case of teachers) > "We don't have enough XYZ!" The solutions are not difficult to figure out but improvements move at a glacial pace
Could stop using 2 teachers to teach one English class 🤦🏻♀️ leave English teaching up to the ALT (foreign) teachers and the JP teacher could go teach a different class. 🤷🏻♀️ Thats a least 1 extra teacher to teach the whole day at least 1 day a week.
I worked for the Ministry of Education. one time I showed up at 6:00 a.m. to a South Osaka School. The teachers were already there. This implies they arrived ealier most likely at 5:00 a.m. Crazy.
the minister of education has no idea how to fix the issue? How about bettering their working conditions and decreasing their workload? More people would apply, the unemployment would go down and the problem would fix itself. But either way, I feel so educated thank you for the hard research! also that middle school teacher who says what bothered him the most that he couldn't answer student's questions after clas? Thats such a wonderful and sad thing to say, like this person was working in the 7th ring of hell and what bothered him the most was he couldn't do more for the students??? ARE YOU KİDDİNG ME GET OUT THATS TOO CUTE
You need to be a demon to be able to work 12-14 hours a day and then call to annoy a poor teacher I work way less yet I bother literally nobody And when I'm a full time housewife I sort of understand how the boredom and isolation could make you snap but I still can't imagine caring that much My past makes me put way more emphasis on sustainable habits and relative happiness+freedom (rather not have my dear ones spend 80% of their waking time being a cog)
Difference to a German teacher: not the same activities in the morning, but the beginning of lessons in german school is much earlier and we do all the lesson preparing and other stuff after school. The working hours are nearly same and if you are class teacher you work even longer.😅
Parents pretends it's not their job to thought their children at least what's considered as basics acceptable human behavior? The mentioned kid who walk into empty house (it was unlock?! O_o) and made a mess? Those parent are responsible, that's the thing you learn at home. Moral, manners, table manners, basic social interactions etc I learned at home. It seem that in Japan (and probably world wide nowadays) respect for the teacher is lost... And yet, what would we do without them.
Obviously government must put more money into education and hire more teachers and ancillary workers to do tech jobs counseling and so on and more generously pay teachers by hours for overtime
Japan “we’ve done nothing and nothing works!” 😅 Like honestly let’s start with morning and weekend clubs - why can’t that be outsourced? For lunches why not a canteen staff or in elementary a parent come in and help? (Many Japanese moms are stay at home and I’m sure some would volunteer, may be embarrassing for a kid though past elementary age) Why don’t all districts have a parent phone in line? Why not just put more money towards education to begin with so many tasks can be outsourced? Why not eliminate the expectation of home visits, or have social workers do this across the country and not the teachers? With more money specialist music, PE and Art teachers in every year, mandate those classes until kids are a certain age and this acts as a teachers prep period. Accounting after hours??? Where is the school / district hired accountant? Gotta love Japanese politicians just shrugging and saying they can’t solve the problem. Like dude… why are you in that position then?
Parents are always the worstvpart of teaching anywhere and everywhere. Parents need to take an interest in raising their own kids better and cared a bit more about their own kids. They dont want to be parents and it shows!
As someone who watches japanese social documentaries a lot, it's really sad and tragic how youtubers and influencers like you always focus on the negative aspects of the society or what is supposedly "dark sides" of Japan. There's a lot of good human stories, dramas and resilience stories out there which shows how amazing japanese people can be. But I guess most of the people on the internet just want to see and hear what fits their narrative, which is a erroneous image of Japan being a hellish place to live lol
@@Hay8137g There's plenty already and lot of them talks about the same repeated stuff. If you want to hear "dark sides" of a country there's more unsafe, corrupted and disfunctional countries for you to search for. Look at the current situation of Haiti for example. There's also Cartel activities on Mexico and crime related stuff on South America. Go get a reality check.
Guys, don't become a teacher in Japan! No matter what, don't do it. Don't you dare!... So that there'll be more demand for teachers, and I can fill in the spot with ease.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The school board I did my teaching practicums a in Canada had a average career lifespan of five years die to similar issues. I doubt you would last five months.
@@a.girouard2988 Trust me I, know. However most Japanese deal with it or claim mental break down and still get to keep their job. Foreigners don't have that option. If they complain, it usually falls on deaf ears and/or paints that person as just another lazy foreigner. Also, most cultures are quick about speaking their mind and quit if they don't a job.
@@junrosamura8121 I would agree; foreigners are probably more willing to fight for their rights or quit of they feel they are being abused. Not always, because they are living in a foreign country in a culture that is not their own and a legal system they probably don't understand but generally I agree.
God loves you and sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die as payment for our sin on cross. God Jesus Christ became a man, crucified, died, buried, is risen, will return to judge all. all have sinned by breaking God's law, deserve death and eternal torment in lake of fire. God did all to save us from sin and hell. what must we do to be saved? repent, believe, obey God Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour to be saved. this is truth and gospel. Amen.
This is why, traditionally, the profession of teachers in Asia is so revered. They're role models, mentors, and sometimes parents to the young students. Their job is a lot. And a lot of them do this as a labor of love/calling. Maybe that's why Japanese ppl are so well liked globally and their name is synonymous to "high quality". Their education system must be doing something right. I truly admire teachers who work this hard for their students. It's not a job for the faint of heart.
@@ChristopherCricketWallace I absolutely agree that we don't pay teachers what they're worth. It doesn't mean that they were not highly respected in the community. Like I said, a great teacher is someone who's doing it as a calling/labor of love cause you do not get compensated enough for what you do. I personally think we should pay teachers more than lawyers and doctors.
This is unadulterated nonsense. Clearly you didn't listen to a word that was spoken in the video. The point is that a combination of public entitlement, parental interference, abusive working conditions and extremely poor pay means public school teachers ARE NOT RESPECTED in Japan. If they were, those conditions wouldn't exist or would be greatly mitigated. Source: I have been living in Japan the past 20+ years and I teach at a faculty of education training elementary school teachers.
You don't have a choice here. It's also the way of thinking. We try to help out even if it is not our responsibility. There is always a sense of guilt if we go against the flow.
@@junrosamura8121work against the sense of guilt i'd say then, i know easier said then done however nobody will thank you if you work yourself to dearh.
I work in the Japanese school system and yes, it's terrible. Teachers and staff do things like cleaning gutters, cutting grass, and wiping windows despite the fact that we have a cleaning staff! This mentally of everyone cleans together needs to change! Taking care of kids is tough work. Especially dealing with kids who have autism, ADHD, and other mental issues. We don't have specialist at my school to deal with kids with needs and we can't tell parents that there kids are misbehaving or need professional help. We do need more foreigners but the pay and hours scare away many or most just quit after a few weeks. Don't forget that kids also come home late because after school, they hit private cram schools and come home around 7-8 pm and that includes weekends too!
I second this. I'd also like to note that it is different between BOEs or Board of Education in each city. Some are better than others when it comes to staffing. In the end, they are all severely underfunded.
cleaning gutters?? that is just awful. sucks to be them
In my head, I feel 2 things can be simplified:
1. Faculty Meetings : Abolish this and replace it with email notes. Thor from PirateSoftware touched on this. There some companies that I know have 1 hour meetings everyday, but some people are just not charismatic and drones on and on, or try to be encouraging while briefing the teachers. When they changed the meetings to short notes and then, Q&As via email, productivity increased among staff members. They had an extra time for themselves to mentally heal and breathe. For those who prefer the droning, a short 15 min in the staffroom for them to to hear leader or organizer talk in a small table is added as well.
2. Calls from parents. This principal hired a freelancer (on contract). He invited parents to place their calls, complaints and suggestions to this guy. The principal told the teachers not to give their personal number to the parents. Because they realize most calls from parents are just well, I'm not going to elaborate. You know, you know. So, the freelancers job is to listen to the parents talk and take down notes and then send them to the correct teachers via email in a condensed 'note'. If freelancer is occupied with call, parents can feel free to send messages to him too. This caused outrage at the first 2 months because mainly, parents lost direct access to the teachers. Mind you principal is extremely firm and scary guy (if you go up against him, he's very smart and know how to twist things around. The best metaphor is if you try to take him to hell, he smiles and able to maneuver you to a garden and you'll forget what you are doing in the first place). Some teachers caved in and still allowed the calls, but principal kept reminding teachers not to pick up parent calls, especially at 2am at night. It's still a work in progress and some trial and error. Like for example, this teacher knows that his art class next week need manila card. So teacher tells the freelancer that I have art class on this day with manila card. If parents from 3B class ask, tell them that yes, these are the materials needed for art class. So now communication is open both ways. Freelancer is also given flexible time to work as he cites that most calls and Whatsapp comes from evening and night. Mornings and afternoons are usually silent.
Need to change the work culture in Japan first. Everyone tries to stay late and tries for one job position for whole life. This work culture is the root cause of overwork for all kind of job positions. This work culture was definitely great during industry age; however, it is not so effective and not productive in current digital age.
@chinito77
That's really awful to know this .... Here in india my parents both are govt school teacher, school time in summer 7 am to 1 pm in winter 9 am to 3 pm, teacher in india paid highly & respected in society.
British ex-teacher here - this sounds the same for the UK too, and the reason I left teaching. Forgive this comment, I wrote it then came back up here after writing cause I clearly needed the rant. Thank you for this space to get this off my chest :) :) Apparently it still hurt.
I never minded spending time making lessons, reflecting on my work, creating projects to help students because I loved my subject and cared so deeply for my students and want to help them learn and grow, but all the extra work handed down by management was impossible! No breaks because whenever the students are on break we "supervise", running multiple extra-curricular clubs in lunch and after school, doing extra tasks. For me I ended up helping with advertising, promotional work, setting up IT computers, projectors etc and being on hand to fix them, running interviews for prospective students and open days, helping set up the schools intranet and website, being made the first aider (not qualified but apparently that "didn't matter"!) and running school trips, and the endless endless last-minute changes to "policy" that must be so urgent it has to be done right now to just be dropped within a week or two.
Like "let's add a mustard yellow banner that's 1cm tall to the bottom of every powerpoint slide to reinforce school spirit" (sure okay that'll just take a couple of hours per week to add in and I'm sure the kids will LOVE it) or "let's set aside 10 minutes with each pupil every term to discuss how your subject can help their career decisions" (okay so I have 120 students, so now I need to make 20 hours per term to have these meetings when we chat about this in class anyway) or "let's set homework every day and get them to email it and record if they sent it in on time and the quality of their work or follow them up with an email then a phone call home if not received" (so come up with small homeworks that aren't too pointless or arduous for their tired teenage brains, then 120 students, 120 emails to open, check, mark as done on time and good/average/poor quality with written feedback or email or call to ask why it not done - takes at least 5 mins per pupil so at least 10 HOURS MORE WORK PER DAY LIKE WHO ON EARTH THINKS THIS WORKS WELL FOR THE STUDENTS OR TEACHERS oh yes, management, the ones who pay me).
And helping with the students who are clearly in the wrong place or need specialist help, learning issues (if they didn't get GCSE english or maths why oh why did management put them in A-level or L3 BTEC Science?!), problems at home, angry parents, "why is my child not becoming a doctor yet" parents, having trouble hitting the teenage hormones, refugees dealing with what they saw in their own country or learning english (try being held accountable for the Applied Science grades of a girl who cant write her name yet! Yes of course I try to help but shouldn't there be someone better?), and of courser those many students who just send me an email at 5am because they just don't know how to cope anymore. I can't ignore that - who could? These are children! So it becomes my job. A part that eroded my soul every day.
I wish these were the only things too. The only way I got through my first couple of years of teaching was brutal efficiency, cutting management corners and enlisting help of partner and family. The only people happy were those in charge able to brag about how amazing their fancy new schemes were to those higher up so they could get a promotion. I wish we could just have been left to teach.
That’s brutal! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Japan will do anything but change.
Because japan will never changes
Japan. Japan never changes. *Fallout Japan Intro starts playing*
SA KO KU JAPAN 🇯🇵
A unified economic system with emphasis on profit and a deep mutual connection between the rich and the government makes it really impossible to fund any meaningful change. It's not just Japan but every country on earth following suit.
But hey here's.......more consumer electronics! Are you happy yet?
@@CordeliaAurora You're right, but this system is even stronger in Japan than in my home country, France. I feel that sometimes the Japanese are too submissive to unfairness
The parents can be a nightmare. They're called "monster parents".
Japan knows the answer but would rather sacrifice their children instead of actually paying their teachers. Like seriously, pay your workers. Those government officials aren't working 80 hours overtime.
You can notice the raise of private school in Japan.
One of my Japanese friend works for one private international school.
Fixed hour, overtime paid, and also both Japan national holidays + foreign national holidays
Of course , for parents , cost is not the same as public.
It’s like 1.2 M yens per year
Very true, most parents send their kids to private schools do the poor quality of public schools. However, the pay is VERY low for foreign workers.
"Of course , for parents , cost is not the same as public.
It’s like 1.2 M yens per year"
One of the things ive been curious about is those backpacks, why are they so absurdly expensive and why can't they just use any old backpack. What's so magical and special that you need a certain brand/price range to use for school stuff.
@@SvengelskaBlondie We are a two faced society. We believe in reuse and recycle but we dare not use second hand items for school or work. It's also a belief about new items for new experiences (school gear and work clothes for example) and not standing out from everyone else by using a non standard backpack for example.
@@SvengelskaBlondie The Randoseru backpacks are supposed to last all six years of elementary. The bags are so durable they can also be resold and reused after graduation. Many children in Western countries go through several backpacks within that time span, so the costs are not very different, and then they throw them in a landfill.
This is a worldwide problem. Teachers always go on strike in the USA. It ya the most underpaid job yet it’s one of the most important.
Agreed. The difference being that teacher's unions elsewhere in the developed world are a lot stronger and more willing to fight for their member's rights than Japanese unions are.
Just the fuck up with your grotesque Japan apologist non sense. What worldwide? It’s certainly not in my country, where nobody will accept this sort of massive bullshit. I have been living in a Japan for 22 years and I saw some real shit here that does no exist anywhere else in the world, including the how bizarrely the school system is organized here.
Teacher in the USA strike to teach students that science doesn’t exist, and doesn’t teach them common sense.
Look at our university spawning woke ignorant. This is not the same bro
@Megamibunny
Here in india only private school teacher is under paid & do over worked but the govt school teacher is highly paid & do less work like 1 or 2 class in whole day but 6 days
As far as work hours/days are concerned, American teachers are in no way "overworked". They wouldn't last one month if they had to follow the Japanese work schedule.
Wow. Anything to not hire more professionals such as accountants, physiologist, designers, assistant teachers, excetra
To be honest, the same phenomenon happens in North America as well, but not quite to the extent that it does in Japan.
There's a saying in japan: how many Japanese are required to change a light bulb? No one, cuz no one ever changes anything in Japan
@@nevion5533In the context of this video: One teacher
Work at a faculty of education in Japan training elementary school teachers, 20+ years here and can confirm almost everything said in this video is true with the exception of club activities; often these go far later into the evening than just 6:00 p.m.
I found this very
Helpful. Well written and researched. Thumbs up to you. Thank you. This is very good
I was an AET for about 9 years. Yes, I was always the last to arrive and the first to leave every school day. I was amazed at how much Japanese teachers had to work. This video explains the terrible situation of Japanese teachers. And then the government official complains about the low quality of the teaching applicants! Who in their right mind wants a job that requires so much overtime and in which you get abused by the children's parents?
Over the years, I've met more and and more people who are completely content with working basic janitorial or warehouse jobs with no intentions of moving up anywhere. Now I understand why. Some people just want a completely minimal effort and minimal stress life. Nobody is making it out of this life alive anyways, so what is the point of overachieving or accumulating accomplishments that mean nothing once you are gone?
So Japan has too few children but somehow also too few teachers?? And they want people to have more children?? My head hurts… and what are they spending the national budget on if not for education?
Japan’s ministry of finance is also wondering the same. The ministry of finance has been questioning why lower birth rates haven’t led to less work for the teachers 😭
From schools to corporations, Japanese-run organizations are a nightmare
Taught in public Japanese schools for years. I was the foreigner who taught English, so I just taught and left after I was finished. But the misery and exhaustion in the teacher's room is palpable.
There was one teacher I taught with who actually worked abroad before coming home to teach in the homeland. Was worse for her because she experienced non-sadistic work conditions. And since she was new, she had to do extra work and take on the duties of supervising the volleyball club, a sport that she Never played.
Said she came back to Japan to settle down and start a family. Pretty fucking hard to do that when you have no free time.
Not only in Japan. For a year i teach math in Junior High School and being a homeroom teacher is such a hardwork.
it’s crazy how common this is in so many countries. glad these vids and algorithm boosts are raising awareness at least
why does it looks like everything is failing in japan. every segment of society has this weird extreme solution. it show how hard it is for japanese government that is filled with old people have a very hard time to ADAPT , they always stick to the old ways of working even if they clearly can see that its failing .
When you die someone will replace you the next minute. Love yourself first teachers
according to 8:18 it will take a month to someone to replace you
so don't die no one want to replace you
If you (a society) want a high quality of education you have to be willing to pay for it.
Teachers shouldn’t be in charge of clubs. Most of the time it’s not in their field of study. It should be done by assistant/substitute teachers/coaches.
I think it’s a good idea that complaining parents should be allocated to counselors.
Lastly, no school should have class on Saturdays, even if it’s not every week. Teachers won’t get enough rest days.
teacher shortage in a country that has declining birth rate 😮
You can earn as much as teacher putting in 14 hr days simply working 8 hrs at the combini (convenience store)
The answer is obvious.
I have worked as a teacher in the UK, but gave it up due to work load. There is a teacher shortage in some subjects, but the workload sounds much worse in Japan .
....and the worst part of it is that high school graduates can't handle junior high school third year level math, science and Japanese tests when they try to enter the B tier and below universities. Even though the kids go to juku for extra practice, the success rate is still pitiful. The education system in Japan exists to socialize people, not educate them.
my thought exactly ! the whole kanji system is an invisible caste system
facts, the education system there exists to socialize people and not to educate. that’s such a good and true line that’s exactly how i feel about it too
There are recruitment ads for assistant teachers, with a timetable made of Swiss cheese and a wage barely above the legal minimum.
When I was traveling in Kyoto, I saw how tired these teachers looked. This has to stop.
every where teaching is same. but in Japan worst
China is worse
Been in the public school system in Japan and it is ridiculous. Never again.
Reminds me of a documentary I saw about teachers' suicidal rate in South Korea due to parent's bullying.
Terrible. Younger generations these days are just absolutely terrible.
Policies are created by the old. They are indeed terrible.
Oh hell nah I thought we had it bad in The States 😭 parents calling until 10PM?
😭
Japan gives me the impression of a very clean, responsible and polite hell on earth.
Irresponsible and tidy not clean,
Actually cleaning of the schools is done after lunch not at the end of the school day.
Also another administration duty allotted to teachers is contacting students’ families about inadequate funds in their bank accounts to pay for school fees and school lunches.
Not to mention that there are no school counselors at any level in most schools in Japan. Teachers have to see to not only teaching, but helping with counseling students and families on multiple issues.
damn i'm thinking about the students... 7:30am arrival with them leaving at 4-5pm is crazy
Happens in the USA but class was 6:30am to 4:30pm
Just wait until you hear how long school hour in South Korea or China
Because they join club activities.
In Japan, participation in club activities is not compulsory, and students who participate in club activities do so because they like it.
I finished my compulsory education in Japan, but I did not participate in club activities, so my school hours were from 8:45AM to 3:30PM
Many people don't know this, but we Japanese don't spend all our time in studying. Besides studying, we do a variety of things, such as club activities, extracurricular activities, volunteering, cleaning, etc. On average, we probably spend about 5 hours studying a day at school. And there are events every month, such as cultural festivals, sports festivals, and school trips. Unlike the Chinese and Koreans, we are not forced to study in classrooms all day.
@@ALLKASDLLS-mg4lu Yeah but the fact that most kids come home around 7-8pm because their parents force them to go to cram schools is terrible. Even on Saturdays and Sundays, I always see kids doing something school related then go to cram schools on the weekends as well. What for? To become a convenience store worker or work as a salary man or OL?
Excellent video
The Japanese educational system is terrible.
You see it in many industries in Japan
> long hours
> broad responsibilities
> work generally difficult
> low pay
> forced to switch job locations every few years (in the case of teachers)
> "We don't have enough XYZ!"
The solutions are not difficult to figure out but improvements move at a glacial pace
News flash: teaching job is brutal no matter the country
Could stop using 2 teachers to teach one English class 🤦🏻♀️ leave English teaching up to the ALT (foreign) teachers and the JP teacher could go teach a different class. 🤷🏻♀️
Thats a least 1 extra teacher to teach the whole day at least 1 day a week.
I worked for the Ministry of Education.
one time I showed up at 6:00 a.m. to a South Osaka School.
The teachers were already there.
This implies they arrived ealier most likely at 5:00 a.m.
Crazy.
the minister of education has no idea how to fix the issue? How about bettering their working conditions and decreasing their workload? More people would apply, the unemployment would go down and the problem would fix itself. But either way, I feel so educated thank you for the hard research!
also that middle school teacher who says what bothered him the most that he couldn't answer student's questions after clas? Thats such a wonderful and sad thing to say, like this person was working in the 7th ring of hell and what bothered him the most was he couldn't do more for the students??? ARE YOU KİDDİNG ME GET OUT THATS TOO CUTE
In India, teachers' job is 6 to 8 hours, around at 3:00 PM teachers leave the school every day. Even in working hours teachers don't work.
You need to be a demon to be able to work 12-14 hours a day and then call to annoy a poor teacher
I work way less yet I bother literally nobody
And when I'm a full time housewife I sort of understand how the boredom and isolation could make you snap but I still can't imagine caring that much
My past makes me put way more emphasis on sustainable habits and relative happiness+freedom (rather not have my dear ones spend 80% of their waking time being a cog)
Don't forget that many women in Japan are housewives and frankly I don't think they are that extremely busy.
Difference to a German teacher: not the same activities in the morning, but the beginning of lessons in german school is much earlier and we do all the lesson preparing and other stuff after school. The working hours are nearly same and if you are class teacher you work even longer.😅
Cept I get you get paid for it. The extra hours are not paid at all.
Parents pretends it's not their job to thought their children at least what's considered as basics acceptable human behavior? The mentioned kid who walk into empty house (it was unlock?! O_o) and made a mess? Those parent are responsible, that's the thing you learn at home. Moral, manners, table manners, basic social interactions etc I learned at home. It seem that in Japan (and probably world wide nowadays) respect for the teacher is lost... And yet, what would we do without them.
Gosh that's horrible...
Obviously government must put more money into education and hire more teachers and ancillary workers to do tech jobs counseling and so on and more generously pay teachers by hours for overtime
Japan “we’ve done nothing and nothing works!” 😅
Like honestly let’s start with morning and weekend clubs - why can’t that be outsourced? For lunches why not a canteen staff or in elementary a parent come in and help? (Many Japanese moms are stay at home and I’m sure some would volunteer, may be embarrassing for a kid though past elementary age) Why don’t all districts have a parent phone in line? Why not just put more money towards education to begin with so many tasks can be outsourced? Why not eliminate the expectation of home visits, or have social workers do this across the country and not the teachers? With more money specialist music, PE and Art teachers in every year, mandate those classes until kids are a certain age and this acts as a teachers prep period. Accounting after hours??? Where is the school / district hired accountant?
Gotta love Japanese politicians just shrugging and saying they can’t solve the problem. Like dude… why are you in that position then?
just raise the salaries, decrease their working hours
It's actually equal to *change the traditions*. Could you image such a thing in Japan? ;)
Parents are always the worstvpart of teaching anywhere and everywhere. Parents need to take an interest in raising their own kids better and cared a bit more about their own kids. They dont want to be parents and it shows!
why bother when you can outsource unnecessary work to cheap labour from different countries.that too offline
That is so dumb. Japan economy is still in shambles and the jobs are non existent after graduation 😂😂😂😂😂
blaming the teacher for a childs mess? jfc the system over there is terrible
under paid over worked. The teachers should be responsible for the kids while they are at school only. The teachers should go on strike.
there is no soul left in most of those people.. they just robots
Basically the same with South Korea...
People will still say Japan is a great country.
The cleaning is important than your life.
Japan should just go away
As someone who watches japanese social documentaries a lot, it's really sad and tragic how youtubers and influencers like you always focus on the negative aspects of the society or what is supposedly "dark sides" of Japan. There's a lot of good human stories, dramas and resilience stories out there which shows how amazing japanese people can be. But I guess most of the people on the internet just want to see and hear what fits their narrative, which is a erroneous image of Japan being a hellish place to live lol
Nope not enough dark or real side of Japan.
@@Hay8137g There's plenty already and lot of them talks about the same repeated stuff. If you want to hear "dark sides" of a country there's more unsafe, corrupted and disfunctional countries for you to search for. Look at the current situation of Haiti for example. There's also Cartel activities on Mexico and crime related stuff on South America. Go get a reality check.
😢😢😢😢😢
Bro.
Guys, don't become a teacher in Japan! No matter what, don't do it. Don't you dare!...
So that there'll be more demand for teachers, and I can fill in the spot with ease.
You clearly have no idea what you're talking about. The school board I did my teaching practicums a in Canada had a average career lifespan of five years die to similar issues. I doubt you would last five months.
@@a.girouard2988 Yeah, I've seen many foreigners come and go at Japanese schools. The stress here can break any weak person.
@@junrosamura8121 Not just foreigners, it can and does break many Japanese as well. Don't fool yourself into thinking it doesn't.
@@a.girouard2988 Trust me I, know. However most Japanese deal with it or claim mental break down and still get to keep their job. Foreigners don't have that option. If they complain, it usually falls on deaf ears and/or paints that person as just another lazy foreigner. Also, most cultures are quick about speaking their mind and quit if they don't a job.
@@junrosamura8121 I would agree; foreigners are probably more willing to fight for their rights or quit of they feel they are being abused. Not always, because they are living in a foreign country in a culture that is not their own and a legal system they probably don't understand but generally I agree.
God loves you and sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die as payment for our sin on cross. God Jesus Christ became a man, crucified, died, buried, is risen, will return to judge all. all have sinned by breaking God's law, deserve death and eternal torment in lake of fire. God did all to save us from sin and hell. what must we do to be saved? repent, believe, obey God Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour to be saved. this is truth and gospel. Amen.
This is why, traditionally, the profession of teachers in Asia is so revered. They're role models, mentors, and sometimes parents to the young students. Their job is a lot. And a lot of them do this as a labor of love/calling. Maybe that's why Japanese ppl are so well liked globally and their name is synonymous to "high quality". Their education system must be doing something right.
I truly admire teachers who work this hard for their students.
It's not a job for the faint of heart.
If it was so revered, that would be paid more and treated better.
@@ChristopherCricketWallace I absolutely agree that we don't pay teachers what they're worth. It doesn't mean that they were not highly respected in the community. Like I said, a great teacher is someone who's doing it as a calling/labor of love cause you do not get compensated enough for what you do.
I personally think we should pay teachers more than lawyers and doctors.
This is unadulterated nonsense. Clearly you didn't listen to a word that was spoken in the video. The point is that a combination of public entitlement, parental interference, abusive working conditions and extremely poor pay means public school teachers ARE NOT RESPECTED in Japan. If they were, those conditions wouldn't exist or would be greatly mitigated.
Source: I have been living in Japan the past 20+ years and I teach at a faculty of education training elementary school teachers.
Just dont do overtime work
You don't have a choice here. It's also the way of thinking. We try to help out even if it is not our responsibility. There is always a sense of guilt if we go against the flow.
@@junrosamura8121work against the sense of guilt i'd say then, i know easier said then done however nobody will thank you if you work yourself to dearh.
@@junrosamura8121that's a mess😢this mentality needs to change
*Japan. Palestine of East Asia.*
Weird comment