Ok so I read Totto-chan thinking it was an eye-opening, spiritual awakening, educational fiction book or something. Then I found out the events of the book actually happened in real life and that it was an autobiography. So it’s an eye-opening, spiritual awakening, educational non-fiction book. Which is very cool.
Anyway, what do I think of it? First I wanna say the English version is very good and not awkward to read at all, considering the original is in Japanese. Even with some confusing dialogue that would be difficult to translate (I could tell it would), it wasn’t weird or bad. So it’s a good translation.
Now on to what I think of it. I am very surprised that a school like Tomoe Gakuen existed, and existed in the same era as World War II. To think that such an open minded school was there at that time is amazing. I really think that Tomoe’s methods of teaching should be implemented into schools nowadays (maybe not all methods but most of them). The teaching methods that Tomoe used made the school not boring, made the students not want to go home after school, as opposed to your typical school where students rejoiced when it was time to go home. If the students aren’t bored, that would also make less “doing stuff because I have to” and more “doing stuff because I like it”. It’s like, for example, students cheating in an exam. They cheat because they only want to finish the exam and don’t care how, as long as they can finish it. But if they want to finish the exam for the sake of learning and getting better at subjects, it becomes a different experience. Same thing as doing a job because you want the money, and doing a job because you enjoy it.
I also like that the students at Tomoe all really genuinely enjoy going to school. No one would rather stay at home or go do something else. They all like school. But that’s not the case with typical schools nowadays. I think a big part in why that happens is how conventional and outdated the current education system is. I don’t need to say anything, you know how bad the education system is, and so do the people at school. I think teachers and staff at school (not all of them obviously) realize that the education system kinda sucks, and as a result get lazier at their job. Which makes the students even lazier.
Kind of like how I said that when parents are grumpy/in a bad mood, the children get affected too. If you’re feeling gloomy mentally, you also might feel gloomy physically. Stuff is connected. So the solution to that is, don’t be a bad influence, right? Yes, I think so too. Or, the simple answer is that, at least.
Remaking an entire education system would be a lot of work. It would take years to perfect a new education system. Heck, maybe one education system won’t be enough considering how different and special each child is.
Aaaand that’s the problem I guess. Every student at school is expected to do well in all subjects (and not all subjects are important in life). There’s also the stereotype where if you were an excellent student, you become a successful adult. And if you suck at math, you’re dumb, but if you suck at music, that’s probably not your thing.
Well I’m glad I am now homeschooled lol
also I didn’t talk about the things Totto-chan did because writing about that would take way more effort and time that I feel like, if I did write about it, I wouldn’t have appreciated it enough in writing than I do in my mind because I really liked reading those stories. They were very nice and heartwarming, and in the war era as well jeez wow
