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Sekolah Tadika Yang Menyeksakan Part 2

Sejahteralah ke atas kamu...

Entry aku yang sebelum ni berkenaan Sekolah Tadika Yang Menyeksakan tu mendapat maklumbalas daripada pembaca yang rata-ratanya tidak mahu menghantar anak mereka ke sekolah tadika tersebut. Memang tak mungkin dapat hantar pun sebab sekolah tadika begitu hanya ada di Jepun. Ye Jepun. Negara yang rakyatnya terkenal dengan budi bahasa dan disiplin yang tinggi. 

Aku sebenarnya mencari, di mana hebatnya pendidikan negara Jepun sampai bangsa Jepun jadi begitu hebat. Bagi aku sangat hebat sebab mereka langsung tak bergantung kepada Barat untuk maju, mereka tak pandai berbahasa Inggeris pun, negara mereka hancur teruk selepas pengeboman di Hisroshima, negara mereka juga tiada sumber asli. Yang mereka ada hanya teknologi yang mereka jual. Mereka maju. Dalam masa yang sama attitude mereka kelas pertama. Maka aku menggali. Bagaimana cara mereka beri didikan kepada anak-anak mereka. Apa yang sekolah mereka ajar. Sehinggakan nilai2 murni 'mengikut' mereka sehingga mereka tua.  Ternyata.... bukan satu tugas yang remeh. 

Beberapa isi penting yang aku kongsi dalam entry aku sebelum ni, ialah diantara 12 perkara yang amat mengkagumkan seorang ibu berbangsa China yang menghantar anak beliau bersekolah tadika di Jepun. Semuanya seperti kejutan budaya untuk beliau. Namun akhir sekali beliau sedar semua peraturan yang ditetapkan itu hanya untuk mendidik anak supaya menjadi lebih kuat dan berdisplin. 

Sesiapa nak baca, boleh baca dan berasa kagum seperti aku; Artikel ini aku ambil daripada China Smack
Nama anak dia TianTian. Yang no 12 tu kalau nak implement kat Malaysia, mungkin boleh tukar lawatan ke masjid ke. Tapi.... Rasanya kalau tadika kat Malaysia buat macam ni, memang takde mak ayah yang nak hantar anak ke situ. Ataupun kalau ada, nanti tadika tu pulak yang disaman sebab mendera kanak-kanak. Aku, kalo yang no 1 tu aku memang suka. Boleh menjahit beg. Hehe.

12 things about Japanese kindergarten [preschool?] that have stunned me as a Chinese mother

Before coming to Japan, Tiantian had already gone through a year of kindergarten [preschool? nursery school?] in Beijing, so you could say that we are no strangers to kindergarten. But there are some things in Japanese kindergartens that have stunned me [are really weird/strong]. Let me share them with you.
1. The Ridiculous Number of Bags.
On the first day, they explained to us that we needed to prepare a certain number of bags of various sizes:
A schoolbag, a blanket bag, a bag for eating utensils, a box for eating utensils, a bag for clothes, a bag for for changing clothes, a bag for clothes after they have been changed out of, and a bag for shoes. Then that bag A had to be of such-and-such a length, bag B had to be of such-and-such a width, bag C had to fit in bag D, and E in bag F. I just couldn’t believe it.
Some kindergartens even ask mothers to make bags themselves!

blanket bag
Blanket Bag

clothes bag
Clothes bag

book shoe bag
Book bag (left) and shoe bag
After two years we’re used to it, and the kids become very good at putting things in their right place. I often think that the reason that the people of Kyoto don’t mind sorting their rubbish might be because they’ve been taught this kind of thing from a young age.
2. All These Bags Carried by Children, While Adults Carry Nothing.
This is a sight that really shocked me: when dropping kids off or picking them up, I noticed that the other Japanese adults, be they mother, father, or grandparent, were carrying absolutely nothing, while all those bags of different sizes (at the very least two or three) mentioned above were carried by those little cuties. What’s more, they were running really fast!
But us? Maybe out of habit, maybe because of a cultural thing, but I carried the bags, and Tiantian carried nothing. A couple of days later the teacher came and had a chat with me: “Tiantian’s mother, Tina does everything herself at school…” Japanese people have a habit of saying only the beginning of a sentence, and letting you work out the rest yourself. I immediately realized that she was asking about the situation at home, but seeing me thinking it over, the teacher continued, “… carrying her schoolbag for example …” After this tactful reminder, I let Tiantian carry her own schoolbag.
When the time came for a parents’ meeting, I told everyone that in China the custom was for parents to carry everything. It was the Japanese mothers’ turn to be dumbfounded. As one, they asked: “Why?”
Why? Is it because we Chinese love our children a little more?
3. Changing Clothes Over and Over Again
Tiantian’s kindergarten has its own uniform; when she arrives she has to take it off, and change into overalls for playtime. She has to take off her shoes and put on white ballet shoes, when she goes into the exercise yard she has to change her shoes again. After their afternoon nap the kids have to change clothes again. A real pain.
uniform
When Tiantian was in Chrysanthemum Class she used to be so slow changing clothes, and I couldn’t help but give her a hand. But I soon noticed that all of the Japanese mothers were standing to one side, not helping at all. I slowly saw that this business of changing clothes educated the children in living independently.  Through things like their experiences at school, changing, sticking their daily sticker, and hanging their handkerchiefs, these kids start from when they are two or three years old to learn the habit of keeping things orderly.
4. Wearing Shorts In Winter
Children in Japanese schools wear shorts in winter, no matter how cold it is. My daughter’s grandparents in Beijing were very worried, and said that I had to talk to the teacher about it, because Chinese children can’t stand the cold.
Japanese mothers with children at school.

Wouldn’t you know it, when we had just started kindergarten, practically every day she got sick. But when I talked to the Japanese mothers about it, their answer amazed me. “Of course! The reason we send our kids to kindergarten is to get sick.”
Seeing the healthy energy of the children charging about like little rockets, greeting me, it occurred to me that we shouldn’t spoil our kids too much.
5. 0-Year-Old Infants Competing in Athletic Events
All classes are named after flowers. Tiantian was a chrysanthemum, then a lily, now she’s one of the “older sisters”, a violet. But the little babies who haven’t reached their first birthdays are all in the “Peach Blossom” class. In Japanese they’re called ã‚‚ã‚‚, which sounds like 毛毛 in Chinese [and 'mo-mo' in English]. Japanese kana all come from Chinese characters.
These mo-mo, who haven’t even reached their first birthday, have not only already started going to kindergarten, but take part in all of their major activities, like sports competitions and performances. Seeing these little mo-mo crying while crawling forward, I usually feel bad for them.
get me outta here
6. Girls Playing Soccer
When children reach their middle year of kindergarten in Japan, they start taking weekly “Jumping” lessons, similar to our Physical Exercise lessons back home; when they get to their senior year, there is a soccer competition. When they’re not practicing their drumming all day, they’re practicing soccer. And they really play too, they even have competitions with other kindergartens. Tiantian has bruises from playing but her strength and bravery have been brought out.
soccer for girls
To tell the truth, when we first came to Japan, Tiantian’s performance was really shameful. Japanese kids usually start shooting up at about three or four years old, before that they are a lot shorter than Chinese kids. In Tiantian’s class she was a giant, but was in actual fact quite weak. The Japanese kids would run about outside, but Tiantian? She’d get a grain of sand in her shoe and would have to tiptoe to walk. Once there was an excursion where they went up a mountain, and she could only come down with two short Japanese kids supporting her. These uncomplaining three-year-olds, who didn’t have the experience of allowing her to travel on foot up a mountain for an hour. She’s better now, last year at Shangrila, in that low oxygen environment she walked for four hours without any problems.
7. Mixed Education
When we were in China I saw Tiantian’s kindergarten a few times. Each class would have its classes separately, but in Japan this isn’t the case.
Before 9:30, and after 3:30, the entire school plays together. And in the yard big kids hold little kids, little kids chase big kids, they carry on like crazy. They get to really experience having “siblings”. Their feeling of growth is obvious.
For example in Tiantian’s and the other senior year’s last assembly a few days ago, after performing their taiko piece, they said something that made all the parents cry.
“In today’s assembly we’re very happy, because the children from lower years performed so successfully. This is our last assembly, and when we start junior school we’ll be sure to remember our friends and our kindergarten.”
8. Education: All “Smiles” and “Thank you”.
In this kindergarten, it seems like they don’t care at all about the children’s intellectual education. They don’t have textbooks, just a new sketchbook every month. In the school’s education plan, there aren’t any subjects like mathematics, kana, art, or music. Don’t even ask about English or the International Math Olympiad. They don’t learn roller skating or swimming.
When you ask what they teach, you’d never guess what the answer is: “We teach the children to be all smiles!”
In Japan, no matter where you are, or to who you’re talking to, “being all smiles” is most important. An girl who is “all smiles” is most beautiful.
What else do they teach? — They teach children to “say thank you”.
In everything there are things that they stress here that they don’t in China. But after three years I can see that Tiantian has improved in things like music, art and reading, and these improvements are from a comprehensive education.
9. The Number Of Activities
Looking at my calendar I can see the days when I need to make lunch for Tiantian to take to school. These are the days when she has excursions. I can’t count how many times she climbs mountains, how many lakes she’s seen, or how many animals or plants she’s gone and looked at.
Apart from that, she’s also gathered acorns, made cakes, been to sports carnivals, performed for community events, had sleepovers, celebrated festivals, been at assemblies, attended temples, exhibitions… let’s just say that there have been a lot.
A cute bento box for Japanese children.
10. All The Holidays Chinese People Don’t Celebrate — – Japanese Kindergarten Celebrate
This really floored me too. Like I mentioned above, Japanese kindergartens celebrate their own traditional holidays, Girls’ Day, Boys’ Day, Hungry Ghost Festival…. Not only this, they also celebrate Renri (held on the 7th night of the lunar new year, how many of you know about this festival?), and Qixi.
Today she came back, and said “Today, teacher asked how we celebrated these holidays in China, I said I didn’t know”. What a disgrace! Mommy doesn’t know either.
silly-earrings
11. Teachers’ Abilities
In one Japanese class there are ten to thirty students, but only one teacher. In the beginning I had my doubts, if she was able to keep her eye on all of them she’d be pretty good. Then I found out that I had underestimated these Japanese kindergarten teachers. With just this one teacher, thirty children’s artworks, the lead for their drumming pieces (so professional), thirty children’s art, music, reading, thirty children’s birthdays, their major assemblies and sports carnivals are all organised methodically and thoroughly.
Look at the teacher, and she’s always cool and relaxed. And she’s about 50-years-old! I salute her!
Japanese preschoolers on stage. Performance or graduation?
12. Buddhist Influences
Kyoto has probably more temples than any other city in Japan, it has a kind of monastic ambiance. Tiantian has to go to temple every week for instruction. In the most important festivals she has to bow to Buddha, and there are activities on every Buddha’s Birthday and Nirvana day.
Japanese preschoolers performance or graduation ceremony.

Tiantian is graduating soon, yesterday she went to Nishi Honganji temple to make a wish. Tiantian was the class representative and gave Buddha some flowers. I asked her what she wished, and she said “To always trust in Buddha, to always treat others with a thankful heart, and to always heed others’ words.”

Comments

  1. mmmm..
    kalau ciksu pon suka yang no 1 buat beg tu.cayalah

    ReplyDelete
  2. berpinar2 mata I baca, and am happy to read it. just for sharing since I malas nak tulis2 entry hehehe actually cara dorang ni almost 80% same with here. Kat sini we parents still tolong the kids bawa bag dukung lagi kadang2 budak ni, and also changing their clothes pun kami banyak tolong, tapi dorang ni kalau parents takder, pandai buat sendiri tau.
    Also, kalau tengok kat playground dorang, baby yg baru merangkak tu semua main dalam pasir biasa jer, explore kata depa. And kalau setakat demam sikit2 or ujan sikit2, pun depa redah keluar main. nak bagi kuat immune sistem kekdahnya. Owh Japan ni mmg terkenal dengan disiplin pun kan, tren dornag pun gerak tepat2, not one second late. German ada jugak seminit dua lewat kadang2. Tapi comel tau tengok budak2 ni beratur cuci tangan and ada towel masing2 siap ada gambar, kena letak balik not simply buang merata. Cukup panjang tak ulasan I ni, kata malas nak buat entry sendiri hehehe.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Seksanya nak hidup...

    Patutlsh kat jepun byk kes bunuh diri...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sebab tu lah Jepun maju, mereka berani berubah dan berani berfikir di luar kotak...

    ReplyDelete
  5. penat membaca walaupun baca dalam hati,maklumlah dalam BI...hehehe,saya dulu waktu kat Jepun tak tau pulak tadika dia camni,sebab saya tak g tadika...hehehehe...memang tegas dan berdisplin ni...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sori lyd,full story tak sempat nak baca since suntuk masa wpun teringin nak baca..anyway dah agak daa mesti bkn calang2sekolah tuh..kalau dlm islam pun umur anak2 tadika tuh usia tuk bermain2..bila dah reach 7 baru mula belajar...tp kita kan sll nak advance..

    ReplyDelete
  7. info menarik yag dikongsi ni Lyd. mungkin boleh dipraktikkan di mesia juga!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Peh!!! Betul teaser yg saspen. Syllabus yg tak byk pelajaran. Menarik perhatian sdgkan kat Malaysia ni, lebih menekan pd exam oriented. Mmmm...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Cissss...kat japang rupanya. Wakenabeb ☺☺

    ReplyDelete
  10. bila baca part 1 ngan 2 nih, aku faham la kot sket2. mgkn ini cara diorang didik anak2. utk diorang, mgkn tu sumer perkara biasa. tp bg kita, akan jd culture shock.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rata-rata komen daripada pembaca menolak untuk punya tadika seperti itu di Malaysia..cuba baca blog yatiechomeyl.blogspot.com...cari topic nursery in Japan..
    Apakah pendapat anda pula?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pendapat saya, saya memang setuju dgn sistem pendidikan yg Jepun amalkan ini. Kalau ada kat Malaysia dan saya mampu bayar, insyaAllah saya akan htr anak saya juga.

      Delete

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