An Educated Tragedy

There is a joke that circulates among ex-pat teachers of English in Japan (though Japanese never found it funny):

On the Titanic, moments before it sank, there were special announcements.

“Attention all British citizens. Women and children first. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do.” And all the British men replied with “here, here,” and “I say, cheerio, good chap.”

Then another: “Attention all American citizens. Women and children first. Be a hero.” And all the American men replied with “Hell yes, damn right, USA! USA!”

And another: “Attention all German citizens. Women and children first. Your fuhrer demands it.” And all the German men saluted and marched.

And finally: “Attention all Japanese citizens. Women and children first. It’s what everyone else is doing.”

I suppose it’s a stereotype to say that Japanese people are all the same – a nation of followers. But I say with confidence, experience, and evidence:

Japan is wasting its educated, affluent population by suppressing ingenuity and training a nation of 100 million followers to think collectively and robotically.

I pay (most) of my bills reading and grading an average of 20 English essays a week – all written by Japanese, most post-graduate professionals looking to improve their English for job opportunities or to enter graduate school in the US or Britain. (Before that, I spent more than a year teaching Japanese students conversational English in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka.)

The essay prompts are similar for all students:

What country would you visit for a two-week vacation?
What will the 20th century be remembered for?
Create your own holiday to honor or celebrate a person or event.
What is the most endangered resource and how can we protect it?
How can Japan address its aging population?
Etc., etc.

And miraculously, for the past year, I have received virtually the same answers from dozens of students:

• They only want to go on vacation to a country they have already been to. Going somewhere new is entirely out of the question.
• The 20th century will be remembered for technology. Then follow three body paragraphs about how “technology” is good (though I never get an actual definition or example of what kind of technology…)
• Everyone wants to create a holiday “for relax.” No real reason, no person or event to honor, and no creativity. Just “for relax.” Isn’t that what a Sunday is?
• The most endangered resource is our forests. Of course, “protecting them” just means having international conferences – you know, that Kyoto thing. That Japan is responsible for a fair portion of the Amazon deforestation to make hardwood furniture has never come up. Neither have the millions of disposable wooden chopsticks the country runs through every day.
• And always, without fail, Japan needs to address its aging population with “government measures.” No clue as to what those “measures” might be…

So to sum up what the basic values and ethics the Japanese education system teaches, based on their essays:

Stay in your comfort zone, technology is good, recognizing individual achievements with a holiday is unnecessary, international conferences without action will solve global problems, and government measures are best left to the bureaucrats to figure out.

These monotonous ideas and expressions are coming from one of the richest, most educated, and affluent populations on earth. Japanese have one of the highest life expectancies and most comfortable living standards in the modern world. They have a quasi-socialist state that assures everyone receives a great education, a healthy diet that has virtually eliminated obesity, mega-cities where random acts of violence and crime are almost non-existent, and a culture of alcohol that knows how to enjoy a beer (usually several) without getting “angry drunk.”

Yet with all these advantages, Japan can’t produce people that can think for themselves.

One student, after being repeatedly advised that they needed to take a clear position in issue essays and express their opinion with evidence, actually replied with: “You mean I should express my own opinion?”

I have been debating with co-workers where this collective “don’t abandon a sinking ship, just let everyone drown quietly” mentality comes from. We considered the geographical isolation that comes with being an island nation, Confucian traditions that demand respect for the elderly, and the same ethic that led the nation to blindly follow their emperor to the kamikaze ending of World War II. Too often, I think, we incorrectly chalked it up to “the Japanese (and perhaps East Asian) Way.”

Masaru Tamamoto wrote an interesting op-ed in the New York Times yesterday that has a different take. Not willing to accept notions that assume “to be Japanese is to be a follower,” Tamamoto thinks the post-World War II reconstruction of Japan built the bureaucratic wall that has stymied progress.

[W]hat most people don’t recognize is that [Japan’s] crisis is not political, but psychological. After our aggression — and subsequent defeat — in World War II, safety and predictability became society’s goals. Bureaucrats rose to control the details of everyday life. We became a…large middle-class population in which people are equal and alike.

Conservative pundits here like to speak of this equality and sameness as being cornerstones of “Japanese” tradition. Nonsense…

[O]ur economic success has relied on the availability of outside models from which to choose…Japan’s rise to economic greatness was basically a game of catch-up with the advanced West.

So what happened once we caught up? Over the past two decades, the answer has largely been paralysis. Japan’s ability to imitate outside models was mistaken for progress. But if progress is defined by pursuing a vision of a desirable future, then the Japanese never progressed. What we had was a concept of order and placement, which is essentially stasis…

Japan desperately needs change, and this will require risk. Risk-taking is not common among the bureaucratically controlled. You won’t find many signs on Japanese beaches saying, “Swim at your own risk. No lifeguard on duty.” If that sign were to appear, many Japanese would likely ask the authorities to tell them if it is safe to swim. This same risk aversion translates into protectionism and insularity…There is not nearly enough critical thinking and dissent in the Japanese news media…

Japan’s passiveness today is in large measure a calculated and reasonable reaction to its behavior during the Second World War. But today, this emphasis on safety and security is long [outdated]…

Japan needs more critical thinkers like Tamamoto, and they need them in their education system, where they can stimulate debate among the next generation of leaders instead of churning out more followers.

Otherwise, Japan faces a future of vague, theoretical sameness, and solutions that do little to move their people forward. A stagnant Japan will offer little to the rest of the world. For an educated country with such potential, maintaining the status quo is tantamount to failure.

And, incidentally, why can’t I, just once, have a student that thinks like Tamamoto?

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