Sasebo girls' school to test chopstick skills of applicants

Well, nothing quite like getting the priorities right in education. This school sounds more like a finishing school with just a little mathematics thrown in than a real school.

 

There was an article in Flash magazine last week, with photos, showing "proof" that neither PM Abe nor his wife know the proper method of grasping chopsticks.

 

if people develop their own style of usage?? As long as you can eat efficiently.

 

about how you use a knife and fork in the UK too - my parents always complain that I hold my knife wrong, but hey it works! And when I pointed out that I learnt it by copying my mother...

I was told when I first arrived here that if a woman could tidily eat fish with chop sticks then she would make a good wife ?!?!?!

 

Who cares?
Well, as one who was raised in the 'snobby UK', I care. It spoils a meal if you're sharing it with a person who is a messy eater, whether they're using knife'n'fork or chopsticks.
I find it weird though that the school should use chopstick use as a criterion in the entrance exam. It's not as if this is something that cannot be easily taught by the school. I think it's probably more of a 'look how posh our school is' advertising ploy than a serious educational policy.
When I was at school we had dinner ladies who went round the dining hall during school lunch, rectifying upturned forks, one-handed eating and kids who were holding their knife wrong in imitation of their mother.
In Japanese schools, where kids eat at their desks using the infamous sporks (for efficient eating), it's no wonder even people like the PK and his wife don't know how to use chopsticks properly.

 

Oh well, I guess any would-be applicants with nerve disorders can forget about applying to this school.

If I was a teenage girl I'll bet I could get in this school - Japanese people are always telling me how good I am with chopsticks.
:-D

 

Wow, this is my kind of school. Cleo, it's Spork (trademark) or runcible spoon, right?

 

"When I was at school we had dinner ladies who went round the dining hall rectifying upturned forks, one-handed eating and kids who were holding their knife wrong in imitation of their mother."

I am so glad I didn't go to that school!
Are you sure the kids weren't holding their knife wrong in imitation of their father?
:-D

"It spoils a meal if you're sharing it with a person who is a messy eater"

I'd rather eat with a messy eater than a smoker.

 

is right. There are more import things they should be teaching. BASIC MANNERS for one.

 

In reference to Flash magazine's pictures of Prime Minister Abe, he only attended Seikei Gakkuen. That is/was not a strict school. The teachers there are no better (no worse) than the students.

 

ooh, I'll have to be on my toes if I ever have dinner at your house!!

 

Agree with your 'snobbery' Cleo. Good for Hisatagakuen Sasebo Girls' High School. It's the small things that count. You may not need to know when a hyperbolic function intersects the y-axis on a daily basis, but you (should) eat three times a day.

Accuracy in the basics and the rest will follow.

I, myself, am pretty good with the Ohashi.

 

Nice to see that pretentiousness can cross cultural boundaries. This is nothing more than a gimmick to try and set the school apart from other private institutions. It's contrived exclusivity that appeals only to the fools who believe money actually makes them "better" than other folks. What these prigs seem to forget is that no matter how much "refinement" we may have, we all come into the world the same way, and we all leave it the same way: With no control over our bowels.

 

I guess graduates Hisatagakuen Sasebo Girls' High School will be the best wifes.

 

I declare whatever gets to the food to my mouth as good!

 

is supposed to learn about academic subjects ... like mathematics, science, history ?
What in the world do chopsticks have to do with anything?
Are women here so marginalized that they have to prove their acamemic prowess ... with chopsticks?
It truly is a beautiful Japan - for Japanese males.

 

Sarge -
Any would-be applicants with any kind of disorder (including the disorder of having a Y-chromosome?) can probably forget about applying to this school.
Very many private schools in Japan (especially the faux-posh ones, like this seems to be) stipulate that all pupils must be able to 'participate fully in school life', which basically excludes anyone with any kind of physical disability,whether they're missing limbs or hard of hearing. You rarely see a wheelchair in a Japanese private school, for example.
The good private schools make no such stipulation, of course.

If Japanese people are always telling you how good you are with chopsticks, it could be that you're committing some faux pas that makes them notice your hands. If you're really good with chopsticks, you don't need praise from others. I'm good, and no one has commented on it in yonks.
:-)

Any fool who thinks it's a good idea to smoke at the table is a messy eater of the first degree.

Why wouldn't you want to go to my old school? Do you think it's a good thing to grow up not knowing how to handle your cutlery?
(in imitation of their mother was a little dig at DeepAir).
:-)

WMD -
You'd better believe it!
:-D

 

and ettiquite is called 'prententiousness' by those who can't be bothered to learn.

Nothing wrong with having good manners.

 

nice to know how the fees are being used.

 

And to think that a school values chopstick skills more than academics, is absolutely horrifying.

 

Cleo,
As long as the food isn't flying through the air and drool isn't rolling down the chin, does it really matter how one holds their cutlery? If seeing someone hold a knife or fork upside down (or chopsticks with the "pencil grip" as opposed to the supposed "right way") has the potential to spoil someone's meal, then it might very well be that someone has lost perspective of the actual purpose of eating. ;-)

Messy eating, I will agree with though. Eating with your mouth open, giving everyone a panoramic view of your just-masticated burger – yeah, that's gross. Throwing your food around, like a child, is also not very pleasant to watch. But eating sauce-heavy foods with your fingers, then licking the residue off afterwards – well, in some places, that's just how it's done. Am I gonna' push my plate away in disgust if I see it? Not likely. Picking your nose during a meal, yeah, that's a deal-breaker for me, right up there with passing gas at the dinner table. And I too can't stand smoking while I'm eating. Nothing torques me more than having to sit next to some selfish jackass who feels the need to light up while there are people still eating around him or her. Now THAT will ruin a meal for me.

 

Not to brag or anything like that but I've been told more than once that I use chopsticks very well!!

 

Let's see how long it takes before this enters the official, government-enforced curriculum.

This on top of Yomiuri Shimbun in full support of the 6-day school week. They'll need the extra time for bowing classes and flower arranging.

Super!

 

The mark of sophistication is being comfortable in any setting. A real lady or gentleman is at ease with chopsticks, formal western place settings, knife and thumb or bloodstained hands and jaw.

Teaching children the table discipline native to their culture is the first step. Real education is when they learn to apply this awareness where ever they go.

 

me too!!!

i think this chopstick test sounds like a tv game show in the making!

 

My question upon reading this article on top is this:
"Shouldn't manners and eating utensil skills be taught at home when children are young?"
Why are schools teaching this?
I thought this kind of stuff is to be taught at home.
And at the high school level?

That doesn't mean that all high schoolers know their table manners; I can understand someone teaching chopstick skills to a native Japanese person when they're a toddler from their parents, but it's utterly ridiculous when you have a school testing chopstick skills on teenagers.

 

...my wife had balancing on one leg with her eyes shut as part of the application process for a job a few years back. Apparently this is a key OL skill, or something, and may still be carried out.

As for manners, it does indicate one's upbringing, and a posh school perhaps wants to weed out some of the lower-class individuals. I do form opinions on people if we go to eat and they have elbows on the table, noisely shovelling food down their gullets, for example.

 

Right on! You're both in the bull's-eye. Honestly, I've witnessed hundreds and hundreds of failures at interviews (corporate and educatinal institutions)that were decided mainly on manners. In this country if you don't know how to hand something to someone, then it could easily spell your demise. Believe it or not, many Japanese don't even know how to bow properly--oh, it might not matter so much to everyday life in most cases, but when it counts, it had better be without flaw. Remember, most interviews are not interviews---they're elimination contests. Thousands of aspirants seek to enter the same place, the vacancies are limited, then how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? I could give your thousands of examples---for starters, nasal sounds could easily eliminate you. At least, you've got to be well aware of proper manners.

 

This school is for ojochans so they can have an oniai and marry a rich old doctor.

 

quite.

One of the best, most generally useful educations in social graces can be acquired in the traditional Japanese martial arts.
Anyone who has properly trained can frequently subsitute the heightened awareness, caution and modesty for specific knowledge of an unfamilar culture.

Half the battle (if not all) of making a good impression is showing the other party that you care enough to notice what they are thinking and doing.

These girls would benefit more from time in the dojo than at the table.

 

Think of it this way: When we grew (I'm speaking very generally here, BTW), we learned to use a knife and fork as a matter of course. We knew that the knife was for cutting the food and the fork was for eating. Recall our surprise when we found out that there were multiple forks and multiple knives, not mention an assortment of spoons to go with a "formal" meal. Along with this array of cultery was also a proscribed way of using each piece, including where to put what to indicate to the host that you were finished with your meal.

Now in Japan, yes, there is the bare fundamentals of using chopsticks. Put sticks between fingers, use them to pick up foods. Don't stab you food with 'em. Don't lick 'em. Don't stick them upright in a bowl of food. And never, EVER pass food from chopsticks to chopsticks.

But apparently, beyond these basic rules, there is actually a way of holding the sticks that is most "correct," and taking food into your mouth from the sticks that is most "correct," and a way of setting the chopsticks down in a way that is least offensive. These are the kinds of things girls at this school will be required to know as part of their test. And yes, it's silly. But no more so than finishing schools in the West, which is exactly what this Hisatagakuen Sasebo Girls' High School is. I mean, heck, look at what they teach: "The school ... has made art of tea ceremony and flower arrangement as part of required curriculum since it was founded in 1902. It is also known for its focus on basic manners and food education." Future leaders of tomorrow, these girls are not. Future housewives . . . Maybe.

 

using chopsticks should be part of a high school entrance exam, I've got to agree with cleo, takuan and dids. Manners, especially at the table, are extremely important. When I was working as a chef, one of our waitresses came into the kitchen and told me that some customers wanted to meet the chef and compliment me on their meal. I thought these people were wonderfully incisive(They had told the waitress that it was the best meal that they had had in a long time.) and very kind. When I caught to the table, it was a disaster. It seemed like half their meals had ended up on the table or their very expensive clothes. It completely disgusted me and made me change my opinion of these people.(My shortcoming I admit.)I just felt that if that couldn't care to eat properly, they couldn't judge the food properly. I know it sounds snobbish, sorry. BTW, they did, however, buy a round of drinks for the kitchen staff, so I changed my position a little.

 

etiquette (French)
pretentiousness (French root)

I am ready to fight you in chop-stick battle. Prepare yourself.

 

what a an absolute waste of space.. there must be a serious ammount of socially challenged people in charge of this school.