A Response
A fellow Ehime dwelling JET, a CIR named Aaron who is a really cool dude, recently popped a note out on our email list linking us to an article featured in the Daily Yomiuri. It was written by a professor named James W. Porcaro, who teaches ESL at Toyama University. It was written as an opinion piece – decidedly anti-ALT. It was based upon an earlier interview with a different professor and former JET ALT – Michael Auslin, who teaches Japanese history and assorted seminars at a small college called Yale University. I was rather taken aback by Mr. Porcaro’s piece, and felt compelled to respond in a closed manner to those who read our email list. I also feel comfortable posting this on my own website. I may decide to refinish this rudimentary email and submit it as a response to the Daily Yomiuri, but I want to investigate how my host institution, schools, and supervisor would feel about that before I give it any serious thought. Anyway, in its current form, it is nothing more than a collection of thoughts written in about 5 minutes after having read both articles.
Background reading:
Mr. Porcaro’s article –
Speak Up / Time to end the use of ALTs
(February 9th, 2007: Daily Yomiuri)
Mr. Tom Baker’s interview with Mr. Auslin –
JET impresses a generation:
Yale professor lauds program for broad impact
(January 25th, 2007: Daily Yomiuri)
My initial reaction:
“I think it’s worth pointing out that while the name of the program is the ‘Japan Exchange & Teaching Programme,’ they make a huge deal out of how it’s really a grassroots international cultural exchange program. Note the lack of the words ‘English’ and ‘teaching’ in that description. [Incidentally, note in which order they appear in the title of the program itself.] I don’t feel like the critical piece really said much about the success or failure of the program as a cultural exchange program. I’d like to see numbers on how many Japanese students participated in study abroad opportunities prior to the advent of the program, compared with the present crop of student’s participation levels, for instance. I bet that has changed. What a grump. Also, the taxpayer money that he makes such a big deal of, while it is a phenomenal amount in and of itself, isn’t actually lost. I’ve seen figures that claim as much as 80% of all expenditures that the government makes on the JET program is retained because we spend 80% of our income in Japan, and feed it right back into the economy – providing a healthy invigoration, if you will. (Compare this to foreign labor in other countries where the money is primarily sent back to the workers’ home countries and the balance runs the other way…) Also, Mr. Auslin’s point about the number of former JET participants who become professionally involved with Japan after leaving the program is significant. I think Mr. Porcaro’s argument falls apart when you add up the rest of the pros compared with the cons. Sure, English may not have improved as much as was desired, but I firmly believe that the JET program does much more for Japan than make Mr. Porcaro’s job easier by the time the students have reached his level of study. If he is the tee-totaler he seems to be, surely he’s seen more of the good than he lets on. 
Lose the JET Programme, lose a really good thing.”
Needs work, huh? I know. And I’m not a blind fanboy who loves to suck up, either. But I really think Mr. Porcaro’s piece is unfair and incorrectly characterizes the ALTs. Anyhoo – you can weigh in if you feel like it. I dunno. Just surprised me to see that in a paper. Thanks to Aaron for the heads-up, again. His site is normally available here, but it seems that Wordpress has the hiccups. Upgrading to the new version, I bet. I feel your pain.
Um, in more boring news, I read essays about the following things today after I played a directions / drawing game with one class and a full-out game of Jeopardy with another:
- いいとこ取り Iitoko-Dori (adoption of foreign elements)
- 育児 Ikuji (childrearing)
- 謙虚 Kenkyo (“Japanese” modesty)
- 季節 Kisetsu (seasons)
- 根回し Nemawashi (laying the groundwork)**
- お見合い Omiai (arranged marriages)
- おとぎ話 Otogibanashi (folktales)
- 良妻賢母 Ryousaikenbo (“good wives & wise mothers”)***
** Nemawashi refers to a political, corporate, and cultural practice of consulting with all concerned parties to reach a consensus before a question is publicly addressed in any forum-type setting. Meetings do not occur for the purpose of deciding things, they occur to make the consensus known. That is an oversimplification, but a reasonable one.
***Ryousaikenbo is a phrase that translates as “good wives & wise mothers,” but the essay is about the social expectations for women in Japanese society and how they have changed (or remained the same) throughout various periods. Interesting, if predictable, read.
