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Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

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Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#21

Post by minebreaker »

cat_plus_plus wrote: post #16
minebreaker wrote: post #11

Just a rant. I hated this as a Japanese kid. Why the hell should I clean up the mess created by my classmates? Because kids are supposed to obey their elders. This is the continual tradition to nurture soldiers (literally) from before the war, and even the traumatic defeat hasn't changed that. Embodiment of submissiveness...

I didn't hate this as a Soviet kid, despite hating a great many other things as a Soviet kid. The idea has never been that another kid spit on the floor and I should clean up his spit, that would have been handled differently. More like that it's our place and in the course of normal use it gets messy, so we should all also participate in cleaning it up. So we all got wet cloth and wiped our assigned floor squares ab…

> The idea has never been that another kid spit on the floor and I should clean up his spit, that would have been handled differently

OK, that's the difference between USSR and Japan.

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#22

Post by [deleted] »

mullingitover wrote: post #18

This is why Japan can have nice things. Seriously, as a society we should have it ingrained in us from a young age to take personal responsibility for our space, and not pawn it off on someone else. It's depressing that we have so many people trashing our shared spaces and feeling absolutely no shame about it. This is also why I feel like everyone should work in some kind of service job for a year or two. It makes yo…

[deleted]

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#23

Post by macksd »

iambateman wrote: post #20

I live in the US and I doubt the student cleaning tradition ever gets imported…but it reminds me… I’ve always wondered why we don’t ask sufficiently old children to make their own lunch at school. Surely a sixth grader is capable of making their own lunch and it’s a huge opportunity to learn about nutrition and basic kitchen skills. I obviously don’t think that a 12-year-old child should be deep-frying french fries b…

I don't think a 12-year-old should be eating deep fried French fries as a regular part of a school lunch either... Nothing wrong with a sandwich.

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#24

Post by bananatype »

When I was a student, this was the norm for all students from elementary to high school in the Philippines. We even have a rotation of who will redecorate the classroom bulletin board. At times, a section/class in the school will get assigned to clean up the entire schoolyard. I also remember replanting a long-ish plantbox for our Home Economics subject. This, by the way, is in a private school with its own janitors. Nobody complains, not even the parents, because that is just part of what your responsibilities are as a student.

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#25

Post by calamari4065 »

minebreaker wrote: post #11

Just a rant. I hated this as a Japanese kid. Why the hell should I clean up the mess created by my classmates? Because kids are supposed to obey their elders. This is the continual tradition to nurture soldiers (literally) from before the war, and even the traumatic defeat hasn't changed that. Embodiment of submissiveness...

>Why the hell should I clean up the mess created by my classmates?

Isn't that the entire point? To teach you that the "someone else" who cleans up your mess is actually one of your peers, a person just like you.

Asked another way, why the hell should one of your classmates clean up your mess? The answer to both is you shouldn't leave messes for others to clean. Making kids clean up messes from their classmates teaches everyone to clean their own mess.

Whereas in the US, all schools have a janitorial staff. In general, janitors are looked down on as the absolute lowest of social class. It creates this mentality of not giving a single fuck about the mess you create because "someone else" will clean it up. And because they're a lower social class they somehow deserve the mess you make.

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#26

Post by ethbr1 »

mullingitover wrote: post #18

This is why Japan can have nice things. Seriously, as a society we should have it ingrained in us from a young age to take personal responsibility for our space, and not pawn it off on someone else. It's depressing that we have so many people trashing our shared spaces and feeling absolutely no shame about it. This is also why I feel like everyone should work in some kind of service job for a year or two. It makes yo…

> This is also why I feel like everyone should work in some kind of service job for a year or two.

100% agreed. Especially front of the house food service.

It's illustrative to learn that the person in front of you is probably not the person who made a mistake or has any authority to fix it... but often takes the yelling.

There a difference between firmly asking that something be corrected and being an ass about it -- it's called class.

I love the story I heard about an actor (or founder?) interviewing prospective agents (or VCs?) and judging them by how rude they were to wait staff. Because at some point they might not need anything from you... so how they treat the least needed people matters.

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#27

Post by bananatype »

iambateman wrote: post #20

I live in the US and I doubt the student cleaning tradition ever gets imported…but it reminds me… I’ve always wondered why we don’t ask sufficiently old children to make their own lunch at school. Surely a sixth grader is capable of making their own lunch and it’s a huge opportunity to learn about nutrition and basic kitchen skills. I obviously don’t think that a 12-year-old child should be deep-frying french fries b…

[dead]

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#28

Post by ethbr1 »

tjpnz wrote: post #9
canacrypto wrote: post #6

Absolutely yes. A bunch of rich, entitled parents will inevitably complain about it but it's so worth it.

The rich, entitled parents send their kids to private schools which employ janitors.

Gotta learn "Looking Down on Those Beneath You" 101

Re: Should children clean their own schools? Japan thinks so

#30

Post by sriram_malhar »

suyash wrote: post #8

I think it's bit too much, once a while neighborhood or school cleaning makes sense but it shouldn't be part of a typical school day. Along the same lines, lack of trash cans in Japanese streets and classrooms is also a source of frustration, most people have to carry their trash in their pockets which is weird.

I disagree. Being taught to clean up after yourself and to share in the clean up is more essential than learning about igneous rocks and Magna Carta. So many women (esp.) are miserable in their marriages because their husbands have never learnt to keep their home clean.
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