Graduation
With the Rising Sun flag as a backdrop, and not a Union Jack to be seen, the sixth graders walked in to a rousing rendition of Land of Hope and Glory. Shivering parents beamed with pride. The odd tear was wiped from the corner of an eye.
All graduating students received a certificate in what was an impeccably choreographed ceremony. There was lots of bowing. Lots of standing up, and sitting down again, too. You can get seriously dizzy at one of these events. The younger students all chanted a message to the graduating classes, and the graduating classes replied in a similar vein.
The speeches were mercifully short. It was music that was at the forefront of the morning. A mini-slideshow of baby pictures was shown to the accompaniment of a current pop song. We had Mascagni's Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and there was the national anthem, kimigayo, of course. This is always an interesting couple of minutes as kimigayo arouses violent passions in many people. Glancing surreptitiously around the room it's possible to identify among the apolitical masses the staunch nationalists, and the communists, too.
I'm not a fan of formal gatherings, and if truth be told, Japanese formal gatherings in particular. But a ceremony to mark the graduation of your child makes you pause to reflect on life. It was all very moving. I sat there, like many around me I'm sure, gawking at just how quickly my daughter has grown, and wondering just where the last six years had gone.
The most moving moment of all came at the end when the graduating classes turned around to stand face-to-face with the younger students. Then, as one, they sang the school song with a gusto that brought a lump to your throat. The education system in Japan takes a lot of flak, especially from the likes of me, but there's no doubt that our local elementary school has done my daughter proud.
posted by jh at 23.3.06
7 Comments:
Ahhh! A shogakko graduation ceremony. Truly one of those "Japan" moments. Possibly the best thing I've attended in Japan in nearly 20 years here.
Hello JB.
I have an altogether different graduation to go to in thirty minutes, and the speeches will be long and tedious.
Hoping for some fun and games from some of the participants to liven things up.
One year, one lad came dressed as Rambo (complete with toy machine gun) and shouted "No War" when his name was called.
We've also had multi-coloured Power Rangers. Fingers crossed for some eccentric behaviour this year, too. One can but hope!
Congratulations to your daughter. Although I grew up in a generation that pooh-poohed ceremony, I think we missed something by not having these ritual milestones. The Japanese do it so well. I remember much more fondly and with much more nostalgia the graduation ceremony at the high school that I taught at in Beppu-shi, than I do either my own or my son's American high school graduation.
MSS (Texas): I think you hit it on the head with the phrase "ritual milestones". Perhaps the adults enjoy these milestones more than their offspring.
Thanks for reading.
I think that in the States you probably pay more attention to graduation than in Britain where I grew up. I don't remember a graduation ceremony at elementary school or high school. Memory failure possibly, but I don't think so. Not sure what happens there these days, so perhaps things have changed.
How's it going? Many congratulations to your daughter! We never had a graduation ceremony at my school either, although we did have a prize-giving ceremony. (Modesty inhibits me from going into this into too much detail - apart from anything else I feel now it may have been the age - 16 - at which I peaked academically). Incidentally, one of things that was often said about education in Japan was that Elementary School was a period of relative freedom and pleasure, but once you get into High School, the Iron Gates of Misery come down and its just work, work, work. Do you have that sense?
At the school I work at now (in England) there is a graduation ceremony of sorts - in fact there are two. Just after Year 11 leave we have a "Certificate of Achievement Evening". The head makes a speech, the year head makes a speech, then each of the tutors makes a short speech about their tutor group. After each of the tutors make a speech, their tutees come up, shake hands with the VIPs and collect their portfolio of achievement or in some cases non-achievement. During the course of all this there is a break for some entertainment and afterwards there's the usual cheese and wine. Attendance is not complusory for students, but there's a three line whip for staff.
Certainly, the students and their parents seem to enjoy it and I get the impression they think it's A Good Thing. For example, the last time I was involved there was a student who had been a right pain in the neck during the past two years. She hadn't shown much interest in education and regarded school as a place to socialise. I received little support from her parents and they frequently took her out of school for extended periods to take part in competitions. Overall, you'd think that school and its primary function of education held little relevance for them. Yet, come the Certificate Evening, there she is dressed smartly in her uniform with her parents, who, puffed with pride, take a photo of her as she goes up to collect her Certificate. It seems that the symbolism and ceremony of it all was important to them and they wanted to be a part of that. I felt like going up to them and asking what on earth they thought the previous five years had been all about. Perhaps it's a bit like a Catholic who enjoys the communion, but spends the rest of the week commiting all sorts of sins, such as tieing fireworks to the tails of dogs and the like.
The other ceremony we have is in the January after the previous Year 11 have left. This is the occasion when they collect their exam certificates. It usually takes place in the rather impressive Priory Church. It is a formal occasion and lasts about an hour.
The point made about "formality" and "milestones" etc. is an interesting one and I'm not sure if we've worked out what's the best thing to do. There are, I think, some deep-seated prejudices about formality and ceremonies based on long-term historical factors.
Our head made the point at one of our Evenings that in our country we do a disservice to the youth of our country by not marking the significant stages of growing up and I think she is right. The ceremony itself, all the people gathered there - parents, VIPs - all dressed up, all the preparation and work that has gone into its production, says to the child what you have achieved is important and that you are important. Time is taken out of the stream of life's events to create and occasion where we can all pause and reflect and allow our chests to swell with pride. The message is that education is important and not something to be treated lightly along with all the other events in your life. By the time you get to the High School graduation it's also about marking the transition from childhood to adulthood and about conferring new freedoms and responsibilities. I guess the idea with a Ceremony is that it will impress upon a young adult much more the importance of this.
All this is well and good, but there is a suspicion about these sort of ceremonies in Britain. Firstly, I think it stems partly from our individualistic culture which generally resists getting together and doing things unless its getting pissed or supporting a football team . There is a reluctance amongst young people to identify themselves so openly with communities beyond their own peer group and culture e.g. school, town, country. In short, it's "uncool". The sense of pride that many Japanese students have in their schools and the tendency for students to be so closely identified with their schools, doesn't happen here so much.
Secondly, there's a feeling perhaps that the sort of emotionalism generated by Ceremonies of this sort is perhaps intrinsically unhealthy. You have to subsume your individuality into a greater whole. It is a particular problem if you don't like what the ceremony represents. In Britain, this sort of thing smacks of the kind of mentality that likes to start wars and build empires. I've yet to meet a student though who's said his burning ambition is to invade Poland.
Finally, Ceremonies like this and the attendant formality are old-fashioned by which I mean are associated with the Pre-sixties and even Victorianism .Since the Sixties, everything had become very simple in Britain.Anything before the Sixities: Bad. Anything after the Sixites: Good. Ceremonies fall firmly in the first bracket, are not seen to be modern and so have generally withered away in the State education sector.
The problem is, if marking the milestones is a good thing, how do we create a ceremony that generates a sense of togetherness and tradition without it seeming somehow slightly ridiculous to young people or without it offending?
This was a problem at my university graduation ceremony. There were all sorts of people from all different cultures and "God save the Queen" was played at the end. A lot of people didn't stand for that and it was somewhat embarrassing. But looking back I'm not sure what they could'be played instead. It looks like your daughter's school tries to strike a balance between the old and the new, but as you say Kimigayo is still controversial. What alternatives are there? My own school strikes the right tone I think, but it's a pity that we don't have a song. I like a good rousing hymn - but what would make a good song to sing at graduation that every would know and be happy to sing - "The Sound of Silence" from the, er, Graduate?
A final point about formality in general. I always found the Japanese formality helpful. It give you a set phrase and a set way of doing something or saying something and obviated any potential embarrassment. In UK, if you are being introduced to a new group of people - say you're a new member of staff at a school - it's not clear what you should do. Should you stay sitting and raise your hand? Should you get up and smile? Should you get up and say a casual "Hi!"? In Japan its clear: stand up, bow and say "Yorishiku onegaishimasu." And that's that.
In the UK, when you move into a new neighbourhood, how do you go about introducing yourself to the neigbours if indeed you particularly want to? I have tended to hold this moment off for as long as possible, waiting until I'm sure all is clear before leaving the house. In Japan, though, you take round a present such as tea-towel. This gives your neighbour a pretext to talk to you and after that you'll be getting along like a house on fire. Anyway, formality like this and clear rituals can be very helpful.
Hey, yonban. How are you?
I also peaked early academically ... at about 11 if I had to guess.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to write such lengthy comments.
As for the "Iron gates of Misery", well, we should find out if it is true or not pretty soon. Entrance ceremony tomorrow for the junior high school.
Lots of interesting points that you make.
I agree that the formality phrases are helpful at times, but I do find that sometimes I would actually like to glean a little more about someone from the things that they say. If they are just spouting set phrases then it is difficult to get past the veneer.
Really interesting to hear the latest news on what is happening in the English state school system. Sounds like lots of new initiatives compared with my day.
Interesting to see you picking out the three factors (in England) against ceremonies, namely 1. suspicion of celebrating in a community 2. emotionalism being unhealthy, and 3. ceremonies being old-fashioned.
From what I have seen here in Japan of graduation ceremonies at elementary school and university levels, I would say that I haven't seen much suspicion of celebration at all. And emotional outpourings are all the rage at these events, especially in the post-ceremony huddles, huggings, and photo-shoots. As for the olf-fashioned bit, I think a lot of university students find their graduation ceremony tedious, and I have a feeling they would prefer a more interesting format. Having said that, perhaps they would be shocked by any change from the "formal norm". Still, at the university level there is room for a little madness amongst the formality. This year it was provided by one student turning up dressed in a Pikka-Chu full body suit and answering everything in the cartoon Pokemon voice. Not sure that would happen in England!
I have to admit, you seem to have a very well put together blog here!
Regards,
Bar Mitzvah Camera
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