February 07, 2007

Student population overwhelmed

There's a bloke living in the town next to me who is employed under the JET (Japan Exchange Teaching - or something) scenario. Since that area is pretty sparse in the population area he goes around to several different schools in a week. One school he teaches at is on an island so he spends the whole day there. There are 10 students in the middle school and there are 8 staff members! How insane is THAT! In March the year 3 kids will graduate and move on to High School (off the island I think) leaving the student population at 6*, since there are no year 6 kids in the primary school currently to move up and increase the middle school population. How is this possible? How can a school for a mere 10 kids be running with eight staff members? Why does a school with a third as many kids as the average homeroom class need to have a principal, a vice principal, a maths teacher, a music teacher and office dogbodies? How much money does this country have, and why are they not using it for things like giving the kids grass to run around ( I mean LAWN, not pot, although that would also be quite an improvement on school life), or teaching the kids to stop doing the kancho**. I think this story goes a long way to proving that having more money in your budget does not necessarily mean doing a better job.

* Figures may vary from actual figures but you get the idea. Stories heard when drunk are never going to be retold with much precision.

** Kancho - Japanese child invention involving the use of the index fingers to poke adults in the arse when they have their hands full.

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