We went looking for strange rules at schools around the world and discovered that at Longhill
High School in the UK the rules are nothing out of the ordinary.
Students aren’t allowed to smoke in school, no running in the halls, etc.
But things get stricter when we hear students can’t wear jewelry, nor can they use their
phones unless it’s break, or lunchtime, and they are in a “Phone Zone.”
Westlake high school in New Zealand tells its students they can’t have visible tattoos
and they shouldn’t bring knives or pornographic material to school.
N.K.
Public School in Jaipur, India, doesn’t want its female students to wear fancy ribbons
in their hair- and just in case anyone still owns these things- bringing CDs, VCDs, or
DVDs to school is forbidden.
But as you probably know, the Japanese often do things differently.
Today we’ll find out how, in this episode of the Infographics Show: Most Insane Japanese
School Rules.
Respect It’s a Japanese custom to show respect,
and that certainly counts in the classroom.
When students greet a teacher they must bow, which isn’t really anything unusual if you
know Japan.
But there are unwritten rules, such as students can’t sit on tables as that is impolite.
One former English teacher wrote in the Irish Times that you must learn etiquette in Japanese
schools, and that includes using a more formal Japanese when you meet the bigwig, the principal.
He said his students were always courteous and polite and the worst thing he ever had
to deal with was students falling asleep.
This is a far cry from most schools in the west.
No subs In the west students often take advantage
of their substitute teacher, either by not studying or just being a pain in the backside
for the poor sub.
Well, in Japan you will rarely see a substitute teacher.
If a teacher doesn’t turn up students are expected to sit quietly and study.
According to some sources, that’s exactly what they do.
While not an insane school rule, it certainly seems pretty crazy for most Westerners.
Everyone’s a Cleaner In most schools around the world you might
catch a glimpse of the janitors as they arrive after school, but in Japan the students are
expected to get down on their hands and knees and clean.
The Japan Times tells us cleaning or “o-soji” is something all students must do, though
the school still hires professional janitors.
The writer says that while the kids do an ok job, they don’t clean so well that you
could eat your lunch off the floor.
The writer, a former teacher in a Japanese school, said student cleaning happened 4 times
a week and each session lasted for 20 minutes.
Student’s don’t just clean their own class either, but are expected to clean other areas
of the school as well.
Shoes Off A student’s cleaning job might not be that
hard, because in Japanese schools you should take your outdoor shoes off and exchange them
for your indoor shoes that you keep in your locker or on a shelf.
It’s the same when you go to the gym, you must have a separate pair of indoor gym shoes.
Hmm, that could get expensive.
Get Smart Ok, so many schools have rules about appearance,
but Japan takes it a step further.
It may change from school to school, but one blogger wrote that when she taught in a Japanese
school students had to follow very strict rules regarding how they looked.
It goes without saying that uniforms must be worn, and they must not look ragged- even
when you are wearing your uniform outside of school.
If you are a boy, you cannot have long hair, even in the back- so no mullets!
Girls can’t wear scrunchies and hair bands can never be tied around the wrist.
On top of that, no makeup, no hair dye, no nail polish, no colored contacts, no plucked
eyebrows, and definitely no wearing of necklaces, rings, watches, or earrings.
It gets crazier.
In 2017 The Japan Times wrote that one 18-year old girl was suing her school because the
school had threatened her with expulsion if she didn’t dye her naturally brown hair
black.
The school thought her natural hair was already dyed.
Don’t fall in love One American blogger who worked as a teacher
in a Japanese school said his school banned “romantic involvements.”
The Japan Times writes that this was a rule for a long time but it didn’t stop Japanese
school kids from dating.
In fact, surveys show that many students were at it.
Sometimes these relationships weren’t great, with women’s rights organizations saying
a lot of these affairs involved “violence, coercion and restrictions.”
One survey found that “27 percent of the female students said they suffered psychological
violence such as verbal abuse.”
Maybe dating should be allowed, but teachers and parents should talk to kids about how
it should be done.
No Late Nights In Japan students have curfews, and that usually
means they cannot be outside on the streets after 10pm.
In Tokyo it’s 11 pm, and the police will pick you up if you violate curfew.
According to the Japan Times many of the arrests (picked up but not charged) were of foreign
kids that just couldn’t follow the rules after coming from countries where staying
out late is a given.
The paper wrote in 2015, “Last year, in karaoke parlors alone, Japanese police picked
up more than 18,000 minors and brought them in for guidance against smoking and staying
out too late.”
If you are young and going to Japan, you might want to read up on the rules.
Be on time Arriving late to school in Japan, even by
a couple of minutes, is a much worse offense than it is in most western schools.
Each school has its own rules, but if a student comes late a few times that could mean being
given a week of very early morning cleaning duties.
Sit straight and eat up In Japan lunch is usually served in the classrooms.
And while Japan is famous for serving excellent nutritional food (maybe that’s why Japanese
people live so long) students are also made to follow standards of etiquette and are expected
to finish their well-balanced meal.
That’s not a rule, but wasting food is looked down on.
One website writes this about lunchtime, “All of the students come prepared for lunch with
reusable chopsticks, a cloth placemat and napkin, a cup, and a toothbrush.”
Yep, you have to clean those teeth as well as clean the room.
Overtime Until 1992 students were going to school six
days a week, Monday through Saturday..
The 6-day week was still a thing with some students after 1992, but it wasn’t by law.
Japan Today wrote in 2013, “Nationwide, 1,100 elementary (5.7%) and 590 junior high
schools (6.4%) are conducting classes on Saturdays.”
However, Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, has
over the last few years been mulling over a reintroduction of the 6-day week for everyone.
Would that suit you?
Get off your phone Throughout Japan most schools will not allow
students to use a phone inside the school.
They can have them and use them outside the school, but certainly not indoors.
Some schools have banned even just bringing phones to school..
One city, Kariya city in Aiichi prefecture, took that a step further, banning any student
under the age of 15 from using a phone after 9pm anywhere in the city.
You’d be in a lot of trouble there if caught out after 10pm taking a selfie of your newly
plucked eyebrows.
Do you think you could live with these rules?
Which would be hardest not to break?
Are they a good thing or a bad thing?
Tell us what you think in the comments, and as always, please don’t forget to like,
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