The Best of Both Worlds

Today was the early graduation ceremony for the junior high third graders (9th grade in the US system).  This is the day of the year which usually brings out all the complaints I have with the Japanese school system.  I cant help wanting to leave in the middle when the emotional, piped in music begins to play, and on cue half the students start to cry.  Or when the whole elementary student body stands up and starts their chant about how cool these graduates are despite the fact that they barely knew them, and in fact were made to say such things by their homeroom teacher.  It is just so sappy to me.  I never enjoyed group emotional displays; whether it is singing “God Bless America” at the baseball game, or orchestrated group crying that goes on here at the gradation ceremony.  Cant people just express their feelings on their own?  Why do we have to do it together?  If a group of people get together, and they all are into it, then sure, why not?  But I cant abide when people force me into joining them. 

The other distinct characteristic of the Japanese graduation ceremony is solemnity.  I cant understand the seriousness of it all.  Again, yes graduation is important, but cant some spontaneous laughter be allowed?  It feels like their graduating not from a public school, but from a military academy.  There is too much emphasis placed on school, for me, and that is why graduation in Japan is something that I have found hard to take seriously (or at least as much as the other teachers).  It was fun to hang out with the graduates after the ceremony though, when we could talk loosely, without having to perform certain forms and rituals for the public.  I had a great group of students this year; it made my class so much easier, and fun to teach. 

As much as this was my students graduation, it was also my graduation from the Japanese education system.  More than ever, I feel that it is time to move on.  Before, there was always some reason I found to stay on for one more year– but not this year.  Leaving feels right, and so I will leave with no regrets.  I have learned a lot about Japan in these 4 years of work, but more importantly I have found a relationship that I hope to last a lifetime.  Nope, no regrets at all.