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  amerijap at 06:21 AM JST - 29th July

  "citing her inability to speak Japanese"

  Did the school principal meet the student and her parents before? And how can the teachers pass the judgment on her language proficiency in the first place??

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  bcbrownboy at 06:27 AM JST - 29th July

  I can understand all these comments, but having watched my son's public school teachers for 8 years, I can understand their point of view. They can hardly survive this draconian education system at the best of times. They are worked like dogs, until late at night, with hardly a day off. School vacations are reserved for special classes, and club activities. So many teachers end up taking time off for mental issues, adding to the burden on the surviving teachers. I doubt whether any of these poster could/would do this job. So adding this kind of extra burden would put many of them over the top. I don't think they are lazy at all, simply over-worked. I can guarantee then none of them would have time to read these posts, let alone have time to post themselves. Walk a mile in their shoes, and I think you might be more sympathetic. Of course the situation is not so nice for this girl, but until the Dep. of Education supports the local schools with JSL programs, the teachers can't do much. They are between the gov't rock and the public hard place. I for one would never want to have to do their job. I couldn't, and I doubt any of you could either.

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  Icewind007 at 07:04 AM JST - 29th July

  advised the girl to attend the sixth grade in elementary school, citing her inability to speak Japanese

  What kind of excuse is this? It sounds like they just want to delay having to deal with this. Just because she cannot speak Japanese does not mean she doesn't know the subject matter (math, science) as well. And why would an elementary school be better equipped to deal with the issue? I think it's just a lazy way to avoid dealing with this situation.

  I've heard of more than a few instances where Japanese will try and avoid confrontation with a non-Japanese for their fear of communicating, either by ignoring the person or by saying they can't handle it. A friend of mine when through Japan once (midway stop in flight) and he waited in line at the Tokyo airport to have a small money exchange. When he got to the front of the line (a small distance behind the waiting line) the Japanese girl at the desk called on the Japanese guy behind him to the front. At a TOKYO AIRPORT. He simply walked up after that guy (as she was calling out to yet another person) and gave her the money, pointed to the correct exchange, got the exchange, and left. No problems, no hand waving and no spoken language and no time at all. How painful that must have been for her... right...

  Of course there is the exact opposite in Japan too. Some, mainly youth, will walk right up to you because you look like you might speak English and try speaking in English to you! I hope that this generation can help break that barrier down.

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  DS at 07:30 AM JST - 29th July

  I would have been happy to see the teachers "band together" and demand that the Board of Education provide them with the necessary tools to do their job properly. I have worked in JHS, and it is a very high pressure environment. A LARGE part of the teachers' work is getting students ready for high school entrance exams. The reputation of the JHS depends on this. Plus, they are brutally overworked compared to teachers back home.

  Let's face it, school administrators and systems are not designed to help exceptional students of ANY kind. JSL classes, if they exist, are at best 2 times a week and are often more like counselling sessions for the student than actual teaching. Regular students, for their part, take their cues from the teachers and administration. If new students are presented as opportunities for everyone to learn a little about the world, students respond well. If new students are presented as merely a problem.... well we all know what will happen.

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  elbudamexicano at 09:53 AM JST - 29th July

  I hope the mayor, Mr. Hashimoto can help, the Osaka school system. It sounds like it is in horrible shape!

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  illsayit at 10:04 AM JST - 29th July

  Isnt it interesting all the aspects, I feel for the little girl at the center of this all. I wonder, seeing the name of the school is with held, whether it is lifestyle orientated too.

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  Kreza23 at 11:11 AM JST - 29th July

  nigelboy - "You're absolutely right. In 2008, the same district enrolled 150 foreign students dispatching translators throught the schools and establishing Japanese Language learning center at eight locations throught the municipal district."

  Thank you for backing up my point. One bad school in the bunch, and people start blaming the entire country and its values.

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  DenDon at 11:37 AM JST - 29th July

  One bad school in the bunch,

  could always use 'reason' and assume more than one school would do it. throw in some ifs. ask nigel

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  TSRnow at 03:17 PM JST - 29th July

  Icewind, I can understand the "advised the girl to attend the sixth grade in elementary school, citing her inability to speak Japanese" part perfectly.

  Like DS said, a lot of the Junior high schools in Japan is just there to prepare students for the Senior high entrance exams. Elementary schools are much more easier to start with, and can be much friendlier.

  But of course the Elementary schools with their monster parents and monster kids... well, they're probably going to have a hard time anywhere...

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  Klein2 at 06:25 AM JST - 30th July

  So the thread starts out with the foreigners complaining of racism, then the taxpayers get a chance to point out the freeloading involved. What I like to watch is the gymnastics of people who are so against raising taxes and limiting government duties. Here they want to say that Japan is racist and needs to take care of its guests. I would have thought the party line would be pooh-poohing this immigrant family's "poor choices."

  Guess what. Japan does not have unlimited resources. Its teachers are being responsible, notifying all concerned that they do not have the resources for this kid. As we know, once the kid enters, she becomes everyone's responsibility. A similar case occurred at a local school recently. A student who had been previously enrolled at a private school (all English) decided to jump over to public school because of the tuition/recession problem the family faced. Who picks up the tab for that freedom of choice? The teacher who is already overburdened, the students, and the taxpayers. Responsible people making the right choices from the beginning are being asked to shoulder unreasonable burdens.

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  Redeemed at 03:37 AM JST - 1st August

  The school would have been a good place to learn the language. Peers are sometimes the better teachers. When I was in Junior high school we had a student from Spain. She was given language lessons but she learned more from fellow students.

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  Dewaashita at 04:39 AM JST - 2nd August

  Give the kid a chance to learn the language. We all start somewhere.

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  scoobydoo at 02:12 PM JST - 2nd August

  Japanese kids don't learn any thing useful at school, just complicated maths even scientists don't use and how to pass tests so they can do the same in uni any way so whats the big deal with not understanding in the first place?

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  ivarwind at 11:53 PM JST - 3rd August

  "I can only imagine what this girl and her family must have felt, being told to go back to elementary school as though she suffered from a learning impairment rather than just speaking a foreign language."

  Well, not understanding anything of the language at all, that is a learning impairment, it is a very severe learning impairment. It is also one that can be got over completely, but while getting over it, you'll drop behind on every other subject, unless you're way ahead to begin with.

  When moving to countries where you understand nothing of the local language (i.e. not an English-speaking country), it is perfectly normal to drop behind a year. If you don't do it deliberately, you'll do it when you fail.

  As for all the "my [friends/students/whatever] came to [English-speaking country] and could hardly speak any English at all, and they just enrolled and everything was fine." Even if they didn't happen to "just enroll" a year behind, the difference between "hardly knew any English at all", and "knew absolutely nothing about English at all (for this comparison to be fair, not even the alphabet)" is much greater than between "hardly knew" and "spoke fluently."

  Attending a year at elementary school getting to know the Japanese language, after which she could enroll in middle school much more as just another kid, sounds like good advice with respect to the well-being of the child academically as well as socially, rather than making her the specially treated child in a class she probably can't keep up with no matter how many translators they station at her side.

  All assuming she really doesn't know Japanese and isn't more than exceptionally gifted.

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  sfjp330 at 02:54 AM JST - 4th August

  Japanese have sterotype of low expectation from Southeast Asian and other countries. In reality, the integration of kids from another country to their "own" school will enrich their boundaries. Every child is different, and some do need special care, but in most cases, kids adjust well and and pick up Japanese language skills quickly. However, Japanese are very domestic and are not flexable when dealing with other cultures. The teachers become highly critical of the shortcomings and magnifies areas that are unrelated. In U.S., if your not comfortable with other cultures, they keep to themselves, but in Japan, they talk openly thinking this is a acceptable without knowing this is a racist behavior. Japan will not change.

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