Introduction
Nowadays there has been internationally a growing interest
in “Tokkatsu”, a course of national curriculum, which features Japanese
education. This was so natural for the Japanese that few research was conducted
up to today and it has rarely been introduced abroad. This task discusses it in
terms of leading learners, from my five-year working experience as a public
junior high school teacher at the center of Tokyo.
What
is “Tokkatsu”?
Tokkatsu, the abbreviation of “Tokubetsu katsudo” has been
stipulated in the national curriculum for more than half a century, though it has
changed slightly according to the revisions of national curriculum. The goal is
to develop well-balanced mind and body of individuality through participation
in the group, which helps build personal relationship with others and nurture
positive and active attitude toward improving life. It comprises mainly homeroom
activities, student councils activities, and school events.
Homeroom activities play the central part of elementary,
junior high, and senior high schools of Japan. Homeroom has generally two
roles, as a group of learning in collaboration and a group of living together. In
my opinion, Japanese homeroom values the latter more. It includes morning
activity such as reading, doing exercise, or lunchtime, and cleaning, etc.
Everything related to life is connected with education in school. For instance,
lunchtime is not only for having a meal, but also for learning. Students assigned
to the school lunch duty, serve all students’ meal. It is difficult even for
adults to distribute each food equally for 30 students and just, not to be
leftover. Eating the same thing together in a group is important opportunity to
learn good communication and strengthens the relationship. Teachers and
students of school lunch duty don’t allow them to eat just food they like, in
order to realize them the blessing of food and to show the gratitude toward the
cooks. In my school, classes competed in the quantity of leftover. In addition,
twice a year special lessons were held to teach them the importance of
well-balanced nutritious food, inviting local professional Japanese food chefs
and nutrition managers as guest speakers. Against the background of westernized
food culture, the government has tried to reemphasise the value of Japanese
traditional food with well-balanced nutrition, because it is definite that
well-balanced meal makes people healthy and improve the quality of their life.
The second item of Tokkatsu is school events. Every school
has generally a sports day, culture festival, job experience or volunteer
activities, and field trips. These are mainly organized by the student council
members. They decide the theme of the each event and manage them by themselves
as much as possible. Research suggest that when schools meet children’s basic
psychological needs for autonomy, belonging, and competence, students develop
an attachment to school (Lewis). In sports day, for example, almost all
students are assigned to any role of the management of the event. Teams
composed of different grade classes cooperate with each other and compete for
the first prize. Older students learn how to take care of younger students and
lead them. Though these events were formerly opened for the community, recent
schools don’t open because of security and privacy. However, I think Tokkatsu
also would be good occasion to make students feel the bond with the community
Though Tokkatsu, thus, contributes significantly to the
development of Japanese students in terms of all-round education, two main
problems are often raised recently. One is the problem of over-workload of
teachers, which has been a serious issue these years especially in junior high
public schools. While students are in school, it is thought to be natural for
teachers to stay with the students all the time, and sometime discipline them
and sometime play with them. It is only before students come to school or after
they go home that teachers can do their own job such as preparation for lessons
or paperwork. In addition, Japanese public schools have lots of school events,
which are included in Tokkatsu. Teachers have always been overwhelmed with
preparing for events following one after another. I agree that school events
are definitely cornerstones of those schools education, but the responsibility
teachers have to take was too much. The other problem is that because of these
events, academic lessons are cut down. Though the numbers of each subject
lesson a year is stipulated by the national curriculum, it was almost
impossible for my school to follow the law unless we didn’t do lessons on
holidays.
The Japanese education represented by Tokkatsu, focusing on
all-around education has been sustained by well-motivated professional teachers’
culture. However, as the same as other countries, under the large influence of
international tests and the economic situation, schools have been pressured to
be more accountable. As a result, school events, whose effects on students are
difficult to measure compared with academic scores, have been reduced in many
schools. It is easy just to cut down some of Tokkatsu and increase academic
lessons instead, but principals should consider well enough not to regret the
decision.
In conclusion, though the outcome of Tokkatsu is difficult
to measure unlike academic achievements, just reducing it might lead to the decrease
in quality of learning. The government and hands-on teachers need to consider
well-balanced education .
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