Peer Groups in Japan
Peer groups are everywhere, and high school students hang around within their peer groups. Such peer groups exist in both American and Japanese high schools. However, they are different in terms of the existence of hierarchy and territories.
According to Murray, American peer groups form a certain hierarchy, struggling to put down the status of the other groups. Each group has a territory where they hang around, and outsiders are not welcome to be there. In Japan, on the other hand, students are almost unconscious about the hierarchy even if any. Though students usually hang around within their peer groups, some get along well with students from other groups through club activities or privately. Japanese peer groups also do not have their own territory. Moreover, when it comes to school festivals or athletic meets, students dissolve groups to some extent temporarily, and cooperate with each other, aiming for their class glory.
The reason why American and Japanese peer groups are different in terms of things above mentioned might lie in the styles of school where students have spent so far since they were elementary school students. American schools do not have classrooms where students spend all day. Hence, each student takes classes and spends their free time somehow individually. In Japan, on the other hand, every student is divided into a classroom where they spend all day with the same members; they follow same schedule, have breaks, and have lunch together at the same time. Since they spend all day together, they have to cooperate and get along well with each other. This gives Japanese students a sense of unity as a class as well as peer groups, and it might make them different from those of America.
(293)
Peer groups are everywhere, and high school students hang around within their peer groups. Such peer groups exist in both American and Japanese high schools. However, they are different in terms of the existence of hierarchy and territories.
According to Murray, American peer groups form a certain hierarchy, struggling to put down the status of the other groups. Each group has a territory where they hang around, and outsiders are not welcome to be there. In Japan, on the other hand, students are almost unconscious about the hierarchy even if any. Though students usually hang around within their peer groups, some get along well with students from other groups through club activities or privately. Japanese peer groups also do not have their own territory. Moreover, when it comes to school festivals or athletic meets, students dissolve groups to some extent temporarily, and cooperate with each other, aiming for their class glory.
The reason why American and Japanese peer groups are different in terms of things above mentioned might lie in the styles of school where students have spent so far since they were elementary school students. American schools do not have classrooms where students spend all day. Hence, each student takes classes and spends their free time somehow individually. In Japan, on the other hand, every student is divided into a classroom where they spend all day with the same members; they follow same schedule, have breaks, and have lunch together at the same time. Since they spend all day together, they have to cooperate and get along well with each other. This gives Japanese students a sense of unity as a class as well as peer groups, and it might make them different from those of America.
(293)
4 件のコメント:
I thought what you wrote was very interesting about American and Japanese schools. The part about territories from Murray is not very true. I think that is very exaggerated. Also, students in high school only have so much choice in their classes that they take. They still wind up in the same class with everyone else from their class. It is very different from college, where the students really get to choose. From what I saw from Japanese tv shows about high school, I think it is the same in structure as in being in a class with the same students in American high schools. At least, I had the same students in my high schools classes all through school. They just divided us by our grade point average.
Also, there can be a sense of unity also in American high schools with a class or within a community. Of course, at larger high schools, this unity is probably divided into smaller groups, but I still don't think it is the kinds of groups that Murray talks about. The unity of group is connected by friends and families that goes beyond Murray's "groups."
英語はすごく上手ですね！
It's interesting that you talk about the territories of certain groups. I never really thought about this aspect of the group making process, so to speak. I don't think there was much of that in my high school personally, but I suppose now that I think about it there was a little.
クリス
I was in pre-IB classes in my high school. It's just like preparing us for IB classes, which just means it's suppose to be advance classes. The IB students were seperated from the regular students. The students became like a 2nd family, we were always there to help each other, because in all of our classes, it's usually the same students. So I understand what you mean by unity and I find that very important. Classmates who know each other better then just taking one class together, builds a different kind of friendship. Not only do we trust and depend on each other during school, but also we do outside of school.
それは面白い経験だと思う。
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