考え事

Listening to:
GO!GO! 7188
竜舌蘭
「考え事」

One interesting thing about the schools down here is that they have chorus competitions in which the classes compete against each other in the hopes of moving on to larger regional meets. For what it’s worth, I spend roughly the same amount of time in every class and should thus be unbiased when watching competitions that pit the kids against one another, but the reality is that I tend to like some students and classes more than others. Whether or not you perceive that to be a dent in my moral character is up to you, but I think it’s a little silly to pretend that teachers are above subjectivity. It’s our duty to give each student the same opportunity and the same degree of attention, but I think it’s unfair to expect instructors to be sub-human to the point that they don’t feel differently towards the students who make the most of those opportunities. To be perfectly honest, I still don’t consider myself a real teacher - at least not by the high Japanese standards - but I nonetheless like to think that I have a lot to offer the kids here. Anyway, one student that I’m particularly fond of was the conductor for her class during the aforementioned chorus competition. She’s one of my favorite students, not because she’s really great at English (she’s not), but because she makes an honest effort with her studies and unfailingly greets me with unbridled zeal when our paths cross. Her homeroom class, which I’m also quite fond of, had high hopes of landing first place and moving on to the regionals. The class unfortunately came up a little short, but she went on to receive an award for most outstanding conductor. She had tears in her eyes she went up to accept her award, but not tears of joy; she was absolutely crushed because her classmates weren’t being recognized with her. It generally takes me a while to get emotionally invested in anything, but it really broke my heart to see her crying when she conceivably had every right to be celebrating. Much like any other junior high, my school has its share of brats and bullying, but I’ve also seen a brand of camaraderie and warmth that I think is unique to the culture here.