How my high school teachers in Japan lied to us

I went to a Japanese public high school in the countryside of Japan.

We had four academically competitive public high schools in our district, and I got into one of them.

I remember commuting to my school by bike took about 45 minutes everyday..that was pretty harsh during winter time. No A/C and No heater in cold winter… T-T

In this article, I want to share the craziest things my high school teachers told us, the students.

Teachers were very tense and angry most of the times because they were also under the pressure to enforce academic excellence, and students were also pressured to study and study so they can get into prestigious private universities such as Keidai University or Waseda University or students get into national universities such as Tokyo University (Forget it!), Kyoto University etc.

I was an outcast, as I was pretty much preparing to leave. I hadn’t decided yet at that point but I was close to really making the decision.

At least I felt that way. Then these are the “lies” my teachers were telling us every single day, at the meeting..it was scary and annoying at the same time. Some students were scared so they studied and applied for a good college.

Lie #1 Your brain will stop developing as you get older. This math teacher says he knows his former student who is trying for a med school in his late 30s.

That is so crazy that this math teacher truly believes that your bran deteriorates to the point of not being able to keep up with medical school in his 30s?!

Lie #2 Go to prestigious college and enjoy your life. High school was brutal for us, so we were looking for college and before heading out to the real corporate world, college years were going to be the only time we could just enjoy. Even then teachers made it sound like things will be great once you get into a prestigious university. Because that is the first step to getting a job at a big Japanese corporate.

Lie #3 Your life is over if you fail your exam. Actually you can retake the exam the following year but you will face enormous pressure for having failed the test. Some kids commit suicide over these exams. Life is not over. In fact, it is just the beginning of long journey. Some teachers enjoyed exaggerating the nonsense.

Lie #4 Just keep studying..even until 12am everyday. That’s what my stupid teacher said that at the gathering of the entire high school seniors. I was shocked. You can’t sacrifice your sleep! How are we supposed to stay away or alert at all when we sleep few hours!

Lie #5 You can get into a good company that offers good salaries and stable offers if you are from a good college. Japanese companies still pretty much promote the traditional recruitment process but that time is over. Japan has been dragging its economy for decades and the employment system is becoming more like Western business system.

Since I ignored almost all of the things these stupid teachers told me, I am here..graduated from college in California, just enjoying my life..Life is damn good~