Comments on: War Stories

By: Deas

Deas — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:59:57 +0000

Shaun – not in the books I’ve read. Though, obviously, that’s a really small amount. And to be honest, once in a while they will have a kid befriend an American photographer / soldier / etc. too. I really like the way that you put it – you can’t teach humanities like you teach math. Well put! I’m going to steal that for use in conversation sometime. Ha ha.

By: Shaun

Shaun — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:41:32 +0000

When they mention the ground war in Okinawa, do they reference the atrocities done by Japanese soldiers against Okinawans? Doubt it, but anyway…
National curriculum causes lopsided knowledge. You can’t teach humanities (many answers to one Q) like you teach math (one answer to one Q). But I’m sure you’ve already gotten a sense of this…
Right-Wingers in Japan often cite this kind of pacifist/victim curriculum as continuously self-imposing an inferiority-complex on the Japanese psyche, and I can understand that viewpoint. Their solutions though, also lopsided.

By: Hakata | Worlds Biggest Cities

Hakata | Worlds Biggest Cities — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 02:55:10 +0000

[...] War Stories [...]

By: claytonian

claytonian — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 04:40:28 +0000

We had this story when I was an ALT. About a girl whose hair was falling out. I would choke up while we read it, but the kinds didn't even get the English of the story, so they would just kind of look at me odd. claytonians last blog post was: It's All About Me Me Me

By: Nick Ramsay

Nick Ramsay — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:01:06 +0000

Unfortunately, there’s lopsidedness in our own education systems, too. For example, I was never taught about Britain’s war crimes during its occupation of Germany after World War 2.

By: billywest

billywest — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:08:17 +0000

It’s tough to discuss topics like that with kids, especially if they’ve been educated in such a way that their world view is fairly one-sided.

But, it’s easy to see why some of them tend to have a slanted view when you consider some of the horror stories they’ve likely heard from family members and/or other adults who lived through the period.

billywests last blog post was: 2016 Tokyo Olympics?

By: James

James — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:24:28 +0000

It’s a planned effort to turn kids into pacifists. The history books at the junior high school I was the ALT for mentioned the suffering inflicted on Asia, but teaching them about how people in their own neighborhood were burning to death or starving probably has a stronger effect.