Paul Lindberg

May 10 The New Temple School
05-30-06 | 11:25

We visited a special after-school program, which is actually anti-modern school system which uses a traditional Japanese style to counter this current system.

Chidi and I traveled with Mr. Watanabe, a student of Mr. Miura’s for over an hour to this remotely located area in the countryside. This trial school was taking place and this school’s story is an important part the melding of modern and traditional in Japan.

We filmed a meeting about the school and then visited the school. The kids were cutie and another Japanese reporter was visiting and did a story about the school and our project too.

The school was very interesting but I believe the philosophy behind the school is the most important thing.

Now, some basic information about Japan is that the old school system was formally a very strict form of education.

But after World War II, the school system became more Americanized or westernized. The system was based on respecting the students and caring for students.

This after-school program is the brainchild of Mr. Miura, the professor who I interview a few days before. His theory about education is that Japanese families are naturally too nice and protective of their children in the home. It is this over-protective nature of the culture, which is not going to change. Mr. Miura’s point is that too over-protective in the home and in school is handicapping the children and making them unbalanced.

This after-school program is named Terakoya, Temple Children’s House. In the medieval period in Japan, there were schools run by Buddhist monks and masterless samurai. They educated the peasant youth, which was an uneducated class. The samurai elite was the only part of society, which received an education.

Using this antiquated name, Mr. Miura wants to reintroduce the Japanese culture of discipline, which is truly lacking in the youth.

The next day an article about the school was in the Asahi newspaper across the southern part of Japan in Kyushu.