Continuing from November 26th...the story I really wanted to tell was about the ridiculous rigidity of the test-focused education system and how it often affects English students (which includes all jr. high students). I'd heard multiple stories from Japanese friends describing the same scenario I'm about to describe, and I was always baffled in disbelief. But when I actually experienced it myself, it was SO appalling and frustrating. It really makes me wonder how this place stays in business. Well, I guess as long as they stay in the testing business, they'll come out on top.
The day the 8th grade English mid-term was handed back, I stopped one of my students, Ken, in the hall and asked him how his test was. He said, "I hate Japanese English." At the beginning of this school year, Ken and his family moved back from Washington, where they had spent about 2 years. Having gone to American school and learning English as a Second Language-- as opposed to English as a Foreign Language, as kids in Japanese schools do-- Ken speaks and writes English naturally. Better than the English teachers. Much better. He shouldn't even have to take the standard English class but there isn't a differentiated (leveled) program, so there's no other class he can take. Poor kid! When I ask him what he means by saying that he hates Japanese English, he shows me one of his test questions that was marked wrong, but that he believes is actually correct. Aah, "I hate Japanese English" means 'I hate English that is awkward and rigid and used to pass tests, not to communicate.' We had recently studied map/directional related words, like: right, left, beside. On the test, students were supposed to write the Japanese word that means "across". Ken's answer was marked wrong because he had written the Japanese word that indicates being diagonally across, rather than the word that means directly across. Although the word catty-corner/kitty-corner exists, it's not like we use it all that often...AND the word "across" could obviously be used to describe something that is catty-corner to something else. I tell Ken that I agree that his answer is correct. He has already talked to the Japanese English teacher about it, but she disagreed. He asks me, "Can you talk to her and get me some points?" / "Yes!" I respond with determination-- hearing the words of Roy, my principal in America, resound in my head: "We do what's best for kids"...while, in the same instant, recognizing that I'm not at Antelope Trails anymore, and these words that I believe with all my heart aren't so easily carried out here. Of course I will go advocate for Ken. But I'm afraid. I shouldn't have to fight this hard with other teachers (!!) to do what's best for kids...but I do. I do have to fight hard because this is a system that is about test scores more than it is about kids as individuals. To people outside this system, this probably all sounds pretty dramatic for something as inconsequential as "across" vs. "catty-corner", but it's not just about this incident. It's about this system that creates this incident again and again in school after school, sending the message to kids that what matters is thousands of memorized words and formulaic, right vs. wrong English on written tests-- not using English as a tool for communicating with people and understanding media. So, I take a deep breath, put on my game face, and go into the staff room and approach Ken's English teacher. I try to be confident inside, while showing humility in my approach. I am on the low rung of the ancient ladder of Japanese school hierarchy. Despite being a native speaker (the only one in my school) and a trained, licensed teacher, with an educational emphasis in ESL (English as a Second Language), my knowledge (I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything!) and opinions have no bearing in this system. I'm abandoning my post on the bottom rung by approaching this veteran Japanese English teacher to question her decision to count a correct answer wrong. (Even now, a month and a half later, just thinking and writing about it makes me sigh with tension.) I use my gentlest, indirect English to bring up the issue with her. She explains that the word Ken wrote means diagonally across, not across. I listen and use my Japanese listening sounds and pause and then finally say that I think (ha! "I think") in English, "diagonal" can also be expressed using "across". She says, with firm frustration in her voice and countenance, "I know". "But in the textbook it says..." "We taught [this meaning]."
Are you kidding me?!?! You are counting this proficient English speaker's correct answer wrong because he didn't write the answer that you taught from the textbook??!! RI-DICULOUS! And even though he knows he can use English-- which is what matters-- he's now in this system where test points matter, so he's distraught over those missed points. I have to go back to Ken and say that I'm very sorry but the teacher won't give him credit for that answer. I try to reassure him that what is important is that he can speak English; at the same time, I acknowledge that I realize that as a student those points matter to him. I try to encourage him by pointing out that in the course of his academic career-- intense as the Japanese jr. high career is-- those few points won't make a difference. I just don't get this teacher's kind of thinking at all. I don't think she's a bad teacher either. She explains grammar clearly and tries to make learning engaging. But this prevalent philosophy of only accepting the answers "we taught" is a crime.
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