5 seconds

5 seconds. 1......2......3........4............5. That's all it takes for a situation to turn ugly. And at one of my schools, that's all the time it takes for a situation to resolve myself. Not 10 minutes, I was sitting at the computer reading peaceful. My contemplative state was shattered however, when a teacher ran into the staff room saying that another sensei had gotten hit in the face. In a flash, 10 teachers went running out to the field where it had happened. I even kicked off my shoes to run faster. But we arrived only to find the teacher in question holding some toilet paper over his bleeding nose, with a group of students slinking away nonchalantly while the vice-principal looked on. Now, in the staff room, I have picked up snippets of the conversation. The teachers are huddling around, conferring over police action and a trip to the hospital for a broken nose.

Yet in a mere 20 minutes time, everything seems to be back to normal. There is the social studies teacher, munching on a carrot. There is the Japanese language teacher, preparing her lesson. I am frightened to think that the staff at this school has gotten so complacent, desensatized to these events, which are far too common. It feels like a criticism of Generation Y America, but it seems that this sort of thing can happen anywhere in the world. The children of Japan have lost the respect for their elders and their teachers, a trait that was renown throughout the world. When I ask my friends to conjure up images of the typical Japanese school child, they often respond with the kind of respectful teenager imitated in the Karate kid. Even I had visions of such a situation, that my pupils would be drilled rigorously, me the Sensei, and they, the young grasshoppers. But I have realized that this, like many stereotypes, may have had some grounding 50 years ago, but has since disappeared.

While my experience at other schools has been different, a general lack of respect seems to be inherent in the Japanese education system. I can only hope that the dinosaur that is the Japanese education system finds an impetus for change in the actions of these malcontents, but I have little faith that change is anywhere but far off.