I have been living in Cebu, Philippines for over 17 years, all the while working with Filipinos.
Also, I came here alone, so I got married here, and my marriage has been around for fifteen years this year.
Under such circumstances, working and communicating with foreigners is a daily routine and a matter of course for me, but my working environment is a Japanese company and the functions expected of me Is largely a coordination between the Japanese side and the local Futoff (Filipino), so I always work while feeling the gap between the senses and gaps between Japan and the Philippines.
Introduction
Well, people often hear about the terms culture, discipline, and education used in the title. I wonder …
I would have lived abroad for almost 20 years if I included overseas life outside the Philippines, but in fact, when I was in Japan and knew nothing but Japan, the terms I mentioned earlier In particular, it has now come to my attention that I did not know anything about the term “culture” because I knew it.
In other words, culture is the distinctive attitude of the people, Arikata, which spreads in that country or region, and transcends both good and evil. In other words, even if it is the same event, in other countries’ culture, I realized for the first time through my experience of living in a different culture that I could see it as good and in other countries it could be evil, and I came to understand the essence of culture.
Also, this culture, the country, the religion of the region, the climate and the history are strongly influenced, and to give an easy-to-understand example, polygamy is accepted in the Islamic state, but in the Christian sphere, That was denied …
Resources of Culture in Philippines
Philippines is a bit special
This country, the Philippines, is a very special category in Asia, with a Christian population of over 90% of its total population. Around 80% of the population belongs to Catholicism in Christianity, and despite having a constitution that declares the separation of religion and politics, in fact, the authority of Catholicism is enormous in this country, and the intention of Catholicism is political. The fact is that it is also affecting education and education.
And one more thing to say is that this country was in a state of occupation until the same time as Japan’s Warring States period, and for the first time after the Spanish invasion and colonization, the region was unified as a nation, Originally, the cultures and religions of the ethnic groups in the region were severely destroyed, and perhaps some of the remaining Muslims had faintly inherited the region’s pre-colonial culture. You. For this reason, the now minority Muslims who remain in the Philippines do not give up claiming to be the legitimate ethnic groups in the region, especially in southern Mindanao, where they still face conflict. Is not exhausted. (However, I don’t interact with Muslims, so please note that the Philippines culture here refers to the majority of Christian cultures.)
Fusion of Asian culture and Western culture
By the way, the Philippines is a part of Asia, and the family structure goes down to the lower level, leaving the large family system, which is the tradition of Asia, deeper, but it is one of the Western cultures called Christianity. It fuses with the Department in a very unique way to form a very unique culture.
In addition, there is no such system as the caste system in India, but in fact, the upper ranks have been rich in white blood since the reign of Spain and the United States, and after the Second World War, the Chinese Communist Party ruled The Chinese who fled here to the Philippines hated and joined the ruling group, and while formally becoming an independent state, they are actually still a colony. (As an aside, the remarks made by the current President of the Philippines, Mr. Duterte, who are leaning toward China are quite likely to agree with this fact.)
Their education of culture and training
There are many single mothers
It’s not a good word, but there is a word called colonial guts.
In English, it is called “colonial mentality”, but I first realized the meaning of this word when I came here.
To be honest, at present, I have been looking at Arikata, my home country in Japan, from a third-party perspective, with almost 20 years since he left Japan. A certain kind of colonial mentality might be being realized … I am worried.
It’s a bit off the beat, but I think the essence of colonial mentality can be summed up entirely by the words “irresponsible” or “dependent”.
To give a concrete example, there is a social phenomenon here in the Philippines where single mothers are abnormally high. The reason is that when boys and girls are sexually mature, basically, the relationship is free here, so that a spontaneous couple of men and women is formed, but under the strong influence of Catholicism (basic The basic teaching is “Birth, increase”), and while the use of contraceptives is denied in the church, as a corollary, pregnancy occurs with a fairly high probability. In principle, girls who have become pregnant are, in principle, forced to give birth as an option, as doing so is illegal (that is, not permitted by law).
And here and there is a big difference between Japan and the Philippines. In many cases, men here in the Philippines choose “run away”. In Japan, these acts are blamed for irresponsibility, and there may be some sort of social sanctions on the part of men, but here, in the first place, the definition of the word “responsibility” is questionable. “Escape” on the boys’ side is permissible, and in some cases, the discarded women’s side is even ridiculed for being “discarded because of lack of charm”. This is the cultural difference. However, not to mention this one point alone, it may be self-evident that, as a result of this rampantness and lack of responsibility, which is pervasive in this society, it is difficult for this country to grow in earnest. I don’t know.
Home education is important
After all, the big book on these issues is home discipline. Although discipline is a part of education, the key is to make the trainee (student) think, but on the other hand, discipline (especially for infants) is a stage before such general education, In analogy, it is like coloring a white canvas or pruning a plant. In other words, I think that it is disciplined to be able to wear good and bad things with force even without reason. In the first place, it is impossible to say to infants with poor language skills.
When I look at it from this perspective, I feel that discipline for boys is very weak here, especially in the Philippines. This can be said through various experiences, often seeing Arikata of boys or adolescents who grew up there a little, or seeing the home environment below the middle class.
In my family
To tell the truth about my family, I have my eldest daughter (currently 12) and my eldest son (currently 3) as I mentioned in the self-introduction section. Girls have grown up in nature with no serious problems. However, boys are still rough in nature, violent, naughty, and have a fear of not knowing what to do next. To avoid danger in particular, the frequency at which he sometimes shouts out and controls his movements is incomparably higher than his eldest daughter. Meanwhile, I declared to my wife (Filipino) when I knew the gender (being a boy) of the child below.
that is,
“For this child, I will do Japanese-style discipline properly.”
It was something like …
I am a generation over the age of 50 and have been carrying something different from the current image of Japanese discipline, but recently this has happened.
When I was sleeping on a futon on a holiday, my son, who got up early, kicked my sleeping head. I think it was probably no offense, and it didn’t hurt much,
“Hey! What are you doing!?!”
… And hit his son’s feet with his bare hands, and of course (although the tapping intensity was also adjusted properly), the surprised son cried out loud.
When he noticed it, he changed his blood and accused me,
“What do you do to such a small child!”
… and became hysterical. So I
“Because it’s small, it’s no good to learn things that you can’t do with your body!”
… and extorted my wife.
This exchange, maybe even in Japan today, may or may not agree, but in fact, this father’s behavior was a matter of course for our age. And now, if there is a state where this level of criticism is blamed, I sometimes think that it is a bit abnormal.
The reactions in our homes are some sort of Philippine standard. But what raises my question is that, as a result, the Philippine man Arikata, what is the social environment, or what is the current state of Japan? (Of course, it may be a bit wild to say that you concluded by giving only this one example, but it would be a book if you explain each case one by one…)
Reality of education there
What happens in slums
I’ve been involved in education-related NGOs since I came here, and when I came here, I was very impressed by the support we had provided to public schools in the slums. I have. It was an elementary school in the slum area. It wasn’t a very good educational environment here because of the background of 100% of the children in the slum area. There was no apparent phenomenon of class collapse.
Even in the Philippines, because of the family environment and cultural background mentioned above, especially for families and children living in the slum area, the discipline in the home is poor, and from the teacher’s side, children who cannot control There are many, especially boys.
And, like the state of Japan in recent years, the issue of corporal punishment is becoming very noisy, and at that time, an older teacher
“What should we do about this situation ?!”
… and complained.
The reason is that schools can eliminate such uncontrollable children.
School system in Philippines
How to eliminate it? … The system is simple and clear, because in the Philippines, even in elementary school, if you do not get a certain level of grades and credits, you will be allowed to repeat a year. The bottom line is that, despite being originally in fifth grade in elementary school, there is still a possibility that a third grader is still the result of repetition twice.
The teachers and schools are absolutely indispensable about the authority, and no claim can be made. Or become troublesome to come to school, and they voluntarily drop out of school. And even though compulsory education exists as a system in this country, there is no mechanism to enforce it, so students who drop out once will probably be voluntary Will never return to school.
Also, as a problem before that, it is difficult to send children to school economically because they are so eager to eat them, and furthermore, the value of sending children to school for education is not known. There are many families who have not sent their children to school … and there are still situations where it has been decided that the situation that would lead to class collapse is still barely possible here.
However, as a result of this situation, the above-mentioned ratio of boys enrolled in school is decreasing in higher grades, and more than 70% of college students There is a situation where women occupy and consequently women advance as a result in society.
Plantation spirit, education…
Now, this goes into a very delicate place, but based on the above, it may be possible to explain to some extent why this was once colonized and still in reality. not.
When thinking of national defense, there was once a samurai (Samurai) in Japan, and it was a rare nation that escaped colonization alongside Thailand in Asia in the Middle Ages. In other words, in other words, although it was a male-centered society, I think that a man was functioning as a man.
It may be a stinking phrase, but in such an emergency like national defense, it is literally that the man who stands on the arrowhead and sacrifices himself, but the wife and children behind him, and who protects the nation, Is it a role?
On the contrary, what happens when a man gets lost… This is very clear to me when I look at the current situation in the Philippines and listen to the situation in Japan these days It is a very disturbing place.
In the past, when I was still in my 20s, a man in his 60s said, “Boys are difficult to grow up without a male parent”, and at that time I did not understand the meaning well But now, through the experience described above, I really feel that the meaning of the word was deep.
… I don’t want to be misunderstood as male-female, but men and women have different functions, and if they complement each other, they will be in very good condition, but they will claim their rights and step up. Such a situation seems really bad. In short, taking discipline as an example, a man is usually rough and strong from childhood, which makes it difficult for a woman to control it, or she can’t understand the behavior of a boy and becomes emotional. I think that it will probably be negative for boys’ growth. However, if the male parent does not understand well around and is not firm, the result will be the same as in the Philippines.
Now, in Japan, I’ve heard that parents, such as monsters or Kramer, and their children have somehow scrapped school, but those parents probably have children born to their homes, Cannot be disciplined so that they can be properly adapted to society, others blame others for their children’s problematic behavior, and if they are not bad they will be rampaged, and in the end they will be in public places (school of learning, Classrooms will be destroyed as well … In this regard, Japan may be worse than the Philippines now.
I guess the discipline of a child is more important than the home, and the school is an ideal place to conduct education on the premise that there is such discipline.
Education at school is based on discipline at home, it is appropriate for the children gathered to learn sociality in a group, teachers supervise it properly, and top priority I think that is to teach academics and hone their skills.
It is important for parents to work and feed their children. However, it is just as important to nurture the children with proper discipline. And for that, you also need extra time.
Japan will fall from advanced countries (or possibly already) unless the government understands it well and leads education reforms and work style reforms, not only by individuals, but also by the government. ‘) Actually it seems like it.
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