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[Go_Ly_Dow]

do they get paid for that extra time with a higher salary? or, what are they doing for those extra 2-4 hours?

i'm kind of expecting the answer to be no to the first question and 'nothing they couldn't do the next day' to the second one.

No.

Being stuck in meeting after meeting to discuss things that aren't even relavent to all teachers.

For example, my school has 35 teachers, this school year 6 new teachers arrived. Instead of putting all the new teachers together and briefing them seperately on the school prodecures, they spent 2 days briefing the entire staffroom on the schools procedures, despite the other 29 teachers having been here for several years.

They also hold meetings about everything, even common sense shit like how to deal with personal trash etc....

They waste time making information printouts for things that don't need printouts to explain it.

Most staff are also forced in to "voluntary" school club commitments everyday.

 

[4Tran]

Easy solutions: raise the retirement age, demolish buildings.

They would have to demolish entire villages and towns. Raising the retirement age would mean even less opportunities for young people, and that is probably one of the biggest reasons that Japan has still never recovered from the 1989 crash. If there were any easy solutions, Japan would have implemented them decades ago.

 

[Valkerionseven]

No.

Being stuck in meeting after meeting to discuss things that aren't even relavent to all teachers.

For example, my school has 35 teachers, this school year 6 new teachers arrived. Instead of putting all the new teachers together and briefing them seperately on the school prodecures, they spent 2 days briefing the entire staffroom on the schools procedures, despite the other 29 teachers having been here for several years.

They also hold meetings about everything, even common sense shit like how to deal with personal trash etc....

They waste time making information printouts for things that don't need printouts to explain it.

Most staff are also forced in to "voluntary" school club commitments everyday.

This guy speaks the truth.

Around October we had a contest for local students, big venue for like concerts and what not. Went all out. Literally called all the staff on stage to brief us on what we would be doing that day despite giving us the low down a week before, but no problem double checking right? Thus leading into the biggest issue I've ever seen in anything ever. A 40 minute conversation between two members abut what side the students should exit the stage from... yeah. Left or right. Literally 40 minutes about left or fucking right. There is nothing on either side, and the venue is a equal loop so time getting back to their seat isn't an issue... "but last year they exited on the right." "ok, but the camera is on that side this time so it might be better to go on the left that way they don't block anything... but yeah the right is fine too." "hmmm maybe the right is better"

#japan

It's pretty rediculous. And like M Night, I'm in there slightly before my official work time about 10 minutes, and out of their asap unless I'm asked for help with something specific and can be done within a normal time frame.

 

[Gromph]

Well, about the work, i think is depend how you see it right?

I work 8-5, 2 days/week i work from home, i have 15 days remote work around the world, and i don't do overwork( for doing, if i need to stay i stay, but i'm not in the company to warm the chair). the only "thing" i have is a continuous 24x7 on call support and is rare a server crash.

So basically my life here in Japan is quite easy.

 

[Porcile]

Ah, the good ol' weaboo teacher discussion where they know how to get shit done correctly but everyone else is a fucking idiot.

Valkerionseven why do you write about school like you work in a real office? Let's not pretend you aren't just another expendable weeb teacher with no skills and qualifications like the rest of us. Come on now.

 

[orochi91]

Ah, the good ol' weaboo teacher discussion where they know how to get shit done correctly but everyone else is a fucking idiot.

Valkerionseven why do you write about school like you work in a real office? Let's not pretend you aren't just another expendable weeb teacher with no skills and qualifications like the rest of us. Come on now.

This post seems randomly...hostile?

 

[Porcile]

This post seems randomly...hostile?

I'm a weeb teacher, and accept my shitty place in Japanese society.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Ah, the good ol' weaboo teacher discussion where they know how to get shit done correctly but everyone else is a fucking idiot.

Valkerionseven why do you write about school like you work in a real office? Let's not pretend you aren't just another expendable weeb teacher with no skills and qualifications like the rest of us. Come on now.

Even tho you're not calling me out....

Having studied management to a degree level, worked at a postgrad business school at Cambridge Uni and then been a manager myself, I think I have some skills to recognize frequent cases of ineffiencent workplace practice. Thank you very much......

 

[Porcile]

Even tho you're not calling me out....

Having studied management to a degree level, worked at a postgrad business school at Cambridge Uni and then been a manager myself, I think I have some skills to recognize regular cases of ineffiencent workplace practice. Thank you very much......

Great. But I assume you're now just another unqualified teacher in a Japanese school. I hear this kind of stuff all the time from other teachers, yeah okay, you could run shit better maybe. But your observations just demonstrate how low on the cultural ladder you are, and how ultimately your observations just come off as little bit like a janitor telling a CEO how to run his company.

 

[PdotMichael]

The question would be how is that related with population shrinking?

There are countries with better working conditions like Germany and other European countries which have the same or similar low birth rate as Japan.

 

[Valkerionseven]

The question would be how is that related with population shrinking?

There are countries with better working conditions like Germany and other European countries which have the same or similar low birth rate as Japan.

Yeah like others pointed out, its something across the developed world. I think Japan is just noted first for it and continues to hold the torch despite having a good amount of people following them.

Ah, the good ol' weaboo teacher discussion where they know how to get shit done correctly but everyone else is a fucking idiot.

Valkerionseven why do you write about school like you work in a real office? Let's not pretend you aren't just another expendable weeb teacher with no skills and qualifications like the rest of us. Come on now.

Sorry your so down on yourself man.

And no I don't think im better than anyone nor do or did I offer any suggestions its not mine to change nor do I want it to be, fact remains, a 40 minute discussion about stage left or right is nonsense. Especially in a professional setting where we are on a time frame to record something for TV and radio where the announcer/interviewer is waiting 20 minutes for nothing when she could be getting her work done.

btw I do work in an office most of the week (sadly)

 

[HisImperialMajesty]

The question would be how is that related with population shrinking?

There are countries with better working conditions like Germany and other European countries which have the same or similar low birth rate as Japan.

Well off people generally have less children, because raising children is terribly time consuming, hard to manage when both the parents have demanding careers, and very expensive, especially if you're trying to provide them with the best in terms of education and other opportunities. Even within societies, in tends to be lower income people who have more children, compared to those in higher socioeconomic classes. Because Japan (and Germany and other European countries) are highly developed and well off, you're going to see lower birth rates. It's probably where humanity is headed as a whole in terms of birthrate, as the rest of the world develops.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Don't worry with all the radiation the mutant fish men population will boom.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

I honestly think discussions about work conditions for teachers in Japan ultimately comes from a well-meaning place, but seem to lack a true frame of reference to offer meaningful solutions.

I worked as a teacher here for about 3 years and saw plenty of inefficiency and thought the teachers were overworked, etc. That said, the situation isn't that much better for the majority of teachers in America (the only country I can really speak about).
I had a part-time teaching job while in University and a lot of the friends I met there went on to become full-time teachers. Every person's situation is different of course, but after talking with some of them in detail it really feels like they put up with the similar bureaucratic bullshit, aren't qualified for overtime, can be forced into extracurricular stuff, etc.

There are obviously plenty of cultural factors that leads to some specifically Japanese asinine situations which some people have given examples off. Not trying to brush away any criticisms, but I generally do wonder what educational system could be used as a good frame of reference. Are there any countries in Europe that are known for having great working conditions for teachers?

At the end of the day, I just count myself lucky I escaped that line of work years ago. My current company has a pretty great atmosphere in this regard. I recently moved to the console game division and have been surprised at how many people leave the office on time here. Of course there are still people who linger around, but it rarely feels like they are pressured into it. As someone else said, my situation at the moment is definitely an exception as I work in a non-traditional industry.

 

[I Stalk Alone]

Place is overpopulated. They love robots. Robot workforce.

 

[FreeMufasa]

No.

Being stuck in meeting after meeting to discuss things that aren't even relavent to all teachers.

For example, my school has 35 teachers, this school year 6 new teachers arrived. Instead of putting all the new teachers together and briefing them seperately on the school prodecures, they spent 2 days briefing the entire staffroom on the schools procedures, despite the other 29 teachers having been here for several years.

They also hold meetings about everything, even common sense shit like how to deal with personal trash etc....

They waste time making information printouts for things that don't need printouts to explain it.

Most staff are also forced in to "voluntary" school club commitments everyday.

lol I remember when I was doing that job and couldn't understand any Japanese. We had a 3 hour meeting after work once that was mad intense. After we got done I asked a teacher what it was about. Apparently one of the students dyed her hair dark brown.

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Great. But I assume you're now just another unqualified teacher in a Japanese school. I hear this kind of stuff all the time from other teachers, yeah okay, you could run shit better maybe. But your observations just demonstrate how low on the cultural ladder you are, and how ultimately your observations just come off as little bit like a janitor telling a CEO how to run his company.

Ok then, the next time in stuck in a meeting all day about stuff we already know, I'll remember that because I'm so low on the cultural ladder that I couldn't possibly understand the full benefits of said regurgitated information.

 

[Gromph]

Place is overpopulated. They love robots. Robot workforce.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords

 

[Lord of Ostia]

Ok then, the next time in stuck in a meeting all day about stuff we already know, I'll remember that because I'm so low on the cultural ladder that I couldn't possibly understand the full benefits of said regurgitated information.

To be fair, that kind of thing happens in the US all the time too.

 

[Stahsky]

i will fix this

 

[Porcile]

Yeah like others pointed out, its something across the developed world. I think Japan is just noted first for it and continues to hold the torch despite having a good amount of people following them.



Sorry your so down on yourself man.

And no I don't think im better than anyone nor do or did I offer any suggestions its not mine to change nor do I want it to be, fact remains, a 40 minute discussion about stage left or right is nonsense. Especially in a professional setting where we are on a time frame to record something for TV and radio where the announcer/interviewer is waiting 20 minutes for nothing when she could be getting her work done.

btw I do work in an office most of the week (sadly)

I'm not down on myself. Being down on myself would mean not making the positive steps in my life to become more integrated here, and to just be another lifelong teacher with no real cultural experience.

Last I remember you came to Japan as a JET, and I assume still are? So by office, you mean a staff room where 50% of your time is twiddling your thumbs while everyone else around you runs the place and does a real job? By becoming a JET, an ALT or an eikaiwa teacher you are basically accepting your place on bottom rung, and while your cultural observations are valid in a way, they are ultimately coming from an extremely limited view where you are the perennial outsider who will leave behind a very little footprint.

Ok then, the next time in stuck in a meeting all day about stuff we already know, I'll remember that because I'm so low on the cultural ladder that I couldn't possibly understand the full benefits of said regurgitated information.

How much is your opinion valued at these meetings? Do you have anything to say? Do they even let you say anything? No, is my guess.

Anyway, I don't need to get defensive about this because I understand where I fit in. You can keep moaning about these things if you want, but anywhere besides NeoGAF and we'd get laughed out the discussion.

 

[Wheatly]

This was just 20 years ago.

Tech will find a way in another 50.

 

[1st Course]

The world's economy is going to change drastically by 2065. Do you think the way the economy works now (constant growth in consumption and population) can continue? It's going to crash one way or another.

It should continue to grow as long as the population keep growing and there isn't a severe case of unemployment yes. This why basic income will probably be need to be introduced at some point.

You mean like the one child policy?

I guess it really is about if it is well planned and the pace and reasons behind a population decline, Japanese has one less tool to mitigate against it by restrictive and xenophobic immigration policies.

The one child policy have been disastrous for China. It have been hurting their growth rates, created a huge gender gap in population,and not to mention it will lead to China having a large group of elders that will be a burden on the economy in the future.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...chinas-aging-millions-see-bleak-future-ahead/

China abolished​ it for a reason.

 

[Rembrandt]

Hey Japan, the world loves you. Let them.

Japan's issue is so weird to me. Send all pandas to Japan and 😴😴😴

 

[JimmyRustler]

I don't see why people make such s big fuzz about it. They'll handle, I'm sure. The world is overpopulated as it is.

 

[1st Course]

I don't see why people make such s big fuzz about it. They'll handle, I'm sure. The world is overpopulated as it is.

This is not true.

 

[Alanood]

The real solution here is encouraging immigration, but Japan is too xenophobic to accept that

Pretty much this

 

[MadJackChurchill]

Time to get some more goddamned diversity. Your special snowflake "OUR country" attitude of cultural appropriation and then claiming it as your own has taken its toll. Open up.

 

[GameAddict411]

High cost of living and very strict immigration law is what lead to this. If they want to maintain their population, they have to introduce immigration. The problem is that they don't want immigrants in the country especially from other Asian countries. Racism and xenophobia is very common in Japan. They have to address these issues before it can be solved.

 

[TFlat]

Today's lesson folks, pass your JLPT N2 and N1s, get the fuck out of the English teaching business, and go work at a regular company. Surprisingly enough your opinion can actually mean something if you go somewhere where they actually give a shit about you. In fact, foreigners can rock the boat a lot easier and get forgiven for it more than any Japanese employee would.

P.S You can also go home on time too...

 

[Neo C.]

The question would be how is that related with population shrinking?

There are countries with better working conditions like Germany and other European countries which have the same or similar low birth rate as Japan.

It is related in different ways. For example it effects immigration: Despite xenophobia, there are many foreigners coming to the country, but many won't stay there for a long time (10+ years). In other countries, they do partially because the working conditions and the lifestyle in general is good enough for them to consider being a lifelong citizen.

As for birth rate and working conditions in other countries, I can't speak for Germany and the other countries, but I wish my country would do more for young parents. Especially women still have to decide whether they want an ambitious career or a kid, but rarely they can do both.

 

[AntraxSuicide]

This is not true.

I love trashy thrillers like Dan Brown stories, but I did not enjoy Inferno for this reason. The world's population is poorly distributed in places; it's not something that needs culling unless you're living in San Francisco and think everywhere else is like that. I'm a mathematician who's had population studies pass me (not my field exactly but related) and the "the world is too crowded" stuff is the stuff of conspiracies and doom sayers.

 

[JimmyRustler]

This is not true.

In my opinion it is. The population explosion of our planet in the past 50 years is more than just disturbing and I see little to no benefit of it to anyone.

 

[Übersandvich]

Even though living in Japan for an extended period of time is a (delusional weeaboo) dream of mine, the content of this thread certainly deters me; Japan's future does not appear great , I hope these issues are eventually fixed.

 

[shounenka]

Lol @ Porcile goin' off on everybody.

The population problem is real. My kid who just started third grade has 36 other kids in her class (mind you, she goes to a public, not private school). I'm doing myself the favor of not counting my national pension among my retirement earnings, because god knows if it will even exist in another 30 years.

Japan won't open its doors up to mass immigration until another American commodore with a funny haircut shows up in a black boat.

 

[Übersandvich]

dp

 

[freeofgreed]

It should continue to grow as long as the population keep growing and there isn't a severe case of unemployment yes. This why basic income will probably be need to be introduced at some point.

Funny enough both of these are likely to happen. Population will probably taper off within the next 100 years and automation will cause a huge portion of our society to be unemployed. and good look getting most of the countries on our planet to accept UBI.

In my opinion it is. The population explosion of our planet in the past 50 years is more than just disturbing and I see little to no benefit of it to anyone.

There is no "carrying capacity" for our planet. Most of our planet is sparsely uninhabited. Just because some metro areas have a shit ton of people doesn't mean that our whole planet does. ALso the population growth will cap off real soon. Like other people have been saying the more wealthy a society gets the less children they tend to have. That's why a lot of east asian and European countries have negative birth rates. When the rest of the world gets richer, the planets population will go down.

 

[BudokaiMR2]

Even though living in Japan for an extended period of time is a (delusional weeaboo) dream of mine, the content of this thread certainly deters me; Japan's future does not appear great , I hope these issues are eventually fixed.

I wouldn't pay it too much attention. There are of course plenty of issues which is the case in every country on the planet, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.


Even the immigration issues are blown slightly out of proportion by people who have no actual personal experience with the system. There are many issues in regards to unskilled workers(and with automation coming I honestly don't know how good of an idea it would be to open those floodgates now), but it's not the draconian system some of the hot takes would have you believe, at least in regards to skilled workers.

As I said earlier in the thread, one of the biggest complaints has always been the requirements for permanent residency and that was drastically reduced as recent as last month.

 

[Jake.]

i am completely shocked that a low birth rate and decades of xenophobic immigration laws are now having an even more obvious negative impact!

 

[system11]

This is not true.

This is on the same level, if not worse than climate change denial.

 

[Steejee]

There is no "carrying capacity" for our planet. Most of our planet is sparsely uninhabited. Just because some metro areas have a shit ton of people doesn't mean that our whole planet does. ALso the population growth will cap off real soon. Like other people have been saying the more wealthy a society gets the less children they tend to have. That's why a lot of east asian and European countries have negative birth rates. When the rest of the world gets richer, the planets population will go down.

Except there is? Carrying capacity is not 'how many people can you squeeze into a location' or where there's free space to put houses, it's how many human beings the planet can support at current consumption levels. The answer to that varies by baseline, and resource (some resources renew, some don't) but as it is our current world population is consuming way more than the Earth can provide year to year, and have made few gains in reversing that trend. Yeah there's a lot of unused space on the planet, but a lot of that space isn't particularly usable to begin with.

It's a two fold problem because post-industrial nations are huge resource consumers, using up more per capita and overall than developing nations (not you China, don't play the "We're still developing!" card). While those developing nations have much higher population growth, that growth is lower impact than the existing populations in places like the USA. One American kid has a much larger impact than one in a developing nation. The big "BUT!" is that those same developing nations also work to improve living standards (as they should), and as standards go up in most cases consumption skyrockets as well.

So we're already stuck with a world population that can't all live at USA standards, but where everyone wants to live by those standards, and we're not moving fast enough to make the standards we aspire to sustainable.

 

[Neo C.]

Even though living in Japan for an extended period of time is a (delusional weeaboo) dream of mine, the content of this thread certainly deters me; Japan's future does not appear great , I hope these issues are eventually fixed.

They will adapt. In fact, the numbers of immigrants are higher now than before, but the Japanese are still learning to live (and work) with immigrants together, while other nations have decades if not centuries of experience in integrating immigrants.

 

[freeofgreed]

Except there is? Carrying capacity is not 'how many people can you squeeze into a location' or where there's free space to put houses, it's how many human beings the planet can support at current consumption levels. The answer to that varies by baseline, and resource (some resources renew, some don't) but as it is our current world population is consuming way more than the Earth can provide year to year, and have made few gains in reversing that trend. Yeah there's a lot of unused space on the planet, but a lot of that space isn't particularly usable to begin with.

It's a two fold problem because post-industrial nations are huge resource consumers, using up more per capita and overall than developing nations (not you China, don't play the "We're still developing!" card). While those developing nations have much higher population growth, that growth is lower impact than the existing populations in places like the USA. One American kid has a much larger impact than one in a developing nation. The big "BUT!" is that those same developing nations also work to improve living standards (as they should), and as standards go up in most cases consumption skyrockets as well.

So we're already stuck with a world population that can't all live at USA standards, but where everyone wants to live by those standards, and we're not moving fast enough to make the standards we aspire to sustainable.

I'm strictly speaking of population. What you're talking about goes more into resource consumption which isn't tied necessarily tied to population. It's why for example you can have a country like Canada consume more energy then say Nigeria despite having a 5th of the population. The way we use resource has less to do with the amount of people consuming them and more to do with how we consume them. So I wouldn't say that is a problem inherently tied to population.

 

[SomTervo]

This is not true.

The population is a problem when you factor in how inefficient and wasteful the world's population centres are.

 

[Sotha_Sil]

Just think of those future housing prices. Retirement in Kyoto, anyone?

 

[zoukka]

Maybe if we changed our living habits, having less people on earth would be a good thing. Because it absolutely should be.

 

[SomTervo]

Just think of those future housing prices. Retirement in Kyoto, anyone?

Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

 

[Snkfanatic]

This is not true.

Based on what exactly?

 

[Audioboxer]

Isn't the biggest problem we have with the population on earth not deciding there's still land mass to fill with people, but feeding everyone?

What's the case with Japan showing as stupidly overpopulated? It is too many people in single areas versus being spread out across the whole country?

 

[Zaru]

It is too many people in single areas versus being spread out across the whole country?

I think this picture of Greater Tokyo speaks for itself