Children Full of Life
July 22nd, 2009 by James
A great documentary about school life in Japan [found via Reddit]:
“In the award-winning documentary Children Full of Life, a fourth-grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo, learn lessons about compassion from their homeroom teacher, Toshiro Kanamori. He instructs each to write their true inner feelings in a letter, and read it aloud in front of the class. By sharing their lives, the children begin to realize the importance of caring for their classmates.”
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Ah, the last generation of Japanese youth!
That was great, I have to admit I shed a few tears.
That teacher is very understanding of not just how we learn, but how we develop.
Unfortunately, it only works on young children, and the lesson fades as they grow older. With the onset of puberty, the brain rewires to be very competitive, and without major conscious intervention, good will and a friendly nature are soon suppressed into a me, me, me, me, more for me, only me, me attitude – with little to no concern for their peers.
No matter how or what you teach to the contrary, science shows it’s just not how the pre-teen, teen, adult human brains are hard-wired.
In other words, no matter how cute the puppy, they all grow up to be dogs.
Typical Western cynicism…
If by cynicism, you mean based on medical science and fact, then yes.
Well, fortunately puberty will come to an end too, and in the best case a mature human being will be its result.
That’s…. silly. It’s like saying who we are is wiped out with a reboot every few years. That doesn’t happen. And I’m a biologist, a molecular geneticist, so I’m aware of the hardwiring. That gives us part of who we are, the paper to write on. But the content is written by our environments, and repetition carves it there. Many lessons learned as children are forgotten. But a lesson that stretches over two years, led by someone who sets an example to live up to? That will stay with them forever.
Ｗｈａｔ ｉｓ ｙｏｕｒ ｅｖｉｄｅｎｃｅ ｔｏ ｓｕｐｐｏｒｔ ｔｈａｔ ｓｔａｔｅｍｅｎｔ？
Thanks for posting this. If only there were more teachers like that.
Nice video!
I so wish American educators could see these techniques he uses. There is always hope that his lessons will stick with one child, and that child will be able to change their surroundings.
I know it’s idealistic but without vision the people perish. Kanamori is giving his children visions- visions of hope that someday we will all take care of each other.
泣いちゃった
This isn’t at all what my elementary schools are like, although I do notice how often expressing opinions and feelings in class in expected. After every speech or presentation, having two or three students respond to the speaker seems to be just as important as the speech itself!
ほんま、心にジーンてくるええ話やなぁ。（〒▽〒）
Thanks for posting this… very interesting and even more touching.
And i think i envy those kids a little for the chance they have had there.
Thumbs up to Mr. Kanamori.
Welp, that’s the end of Japan.
Guess I should move there now then.
i remember watching this in my education class and by the end of the movie, at least half the class had tears in their eyes