Cleaning at school そうじ sōji
Cleaning is an important part of life at school. Every day at the end of the classroom lessons all students are involved in the cleaning process. The basic Japanese philosophy is: you make it dirty, you clean up your own mess.
The boys clean as much as the girls. They may not like it, but there is no chance of avoiding it. The pictures above would make one think that it is fun to clean. Of course not!
The students even clean the toilets. Well… Well, at home someone has to clean the toilet, so someone has to do it at school. Boys as well as girls.
Of course, they do have commercial cleaners and every so often they come in to do a commercial clean. However, the basic idea is that children clean their own mess.
This cleaning is a bit unusual, so it maybe an Open Day fundraiser. Normally this cleaning is done by commercial cleaners. There must have been a special plan at work in this school. Still, no harm done teaching children that someone has to do the dirty job!
People clean and the commercial scrubbing machines are just not there.
The best cleaners get a reward.
Of course, you are thinking: “Yeah. Sure. But I’m not going to do it!” Well, the Japanese have even thought of that: そうじとうばん, it is called sōji・tōban, cleaning duty. It is very simple. Divide the group into sections. Each section has a job. Write the names of the students in each section. Put a time limit on it and presto! How do you know that each section is done? Because the next group on duty doesn’t want to do the earlier group’s job twice.
Or a more complicated version:
Teachers help a bit too.
If you learn this method of responsibility from an early age, you learn to look after yourself and the group. If western schools have a problem, it tends to be litter.
Most students in the west are led to believe (subliminally) that staff are essential in order to clean up after them. Parents are there to clean up after the children and to pay for their life-style. Perhaps that is harsh and actually not really true, but you do get the drift of what we are saying, don’t you?
Most students in the west are led to believe (subliminally) that staff are essential in order to clean up after them. Parents are there to clean up after the children and to pay for their life-style. Perhaps that is harsh and actually not really true, but you do get the drift of what we are saying, don’t you?
And when you are really good at it, when you grow up, you may do it for yourself at home and for your boss as well.
Lami Japan 