Taneichi-chu: farewell to a few

Tonite was the last of the going away parties. Taneichi-chu lost a whopping 6 teachers in the shuffle. Both the principal and vice principal and one of my JTEs pictured above in the middle, were all on the chopping block.

NOTE: Sawada-sensei is seated next to him.

We try to do the impossible & "team teach with 3 teachers".

Aside from my own opinions of the public education system in Japan, it was hard to see so many familiar faces leave at once; no valid reason other than that their number was up. They walk away without a say, as though its just another day...

Years spent working 10-12 hour days at this school, and a 25 minute school-wide farewell ceremony and 3 hour party was the only recognition given. I will never understand things like this in Japan.

Is this celebration phobia, the PTA trying to save a few bucks?

I have other questions to: School let out last week, why must teachers continue to go to school each day when they aren't even teaching? How can they expect teachers (or principals for that matter) to be prepared for a new school year when they just found out about their placement (sometimes 150 MILES AWAY!) 3 days ago? Why are teachers treated like robots? Why would anyone want to teach junior high school in Japan? To a foreigner who continues to struggle in understanding Japanese, it appears that no one is enjoying their monotonous and mundane jobs that offer no opportunity for creativity, change or variety. Aren't those the exact reasons why most people go into education in the first place? (L-R, me, Tuna, kocho and kyoto-senseis). And so another sad evening has passed and I will be forced to wait another 2 weeks to meet their replacements. It's a bit of a gamble, but I'm hoping for the best. It's been very interesting. Thanks for teaching and learning with me. Good luck next year!
The 6 people seated in the front row are the 'shuffled'. They are all headed in different places through out Iwate. Kishida, first person from left, is headed to Rikuzentakatta---that's a 5 hour car ride.

The next 3 people are going to Kuji...about an hour south.

Nakamura-sensei is going a couple hours south near Morioka and

Tuna, my former co-teacher, is heading to a nearby village.

I don't understand the shuffling system, but like most everything,

I don't have a say in anything anyway.

Try to make the best of it- you owe it to your students. Good luck!