You Shiken. Me Shiken.
From Wednesday to Friday last week, my school had their mid term exams. I, of course, took no part in it whatsoever (unless you count my horribly embarrassing voice recording for the 1st years English listening exam). While the students did their exams I spent the mornings in the libraryBecause exams for each subject only lasts for an hour.
ONE HOUR!!!
I don't think I've taken a one hour exam since 6th Grade!
I can't believe even their Modern Japanese, Classical Japanese and History exams can only be an hour long. I guess they do consist more of short answer questions rather than essay writing. That's one of the problems Japan is facing at the moment. The government is trying to re-evaluate the current education system since there is a lack of discussion in class and it's basically all rote learning.
When I told my school friends that my University Entrance Exams ie. The-Most-Distressing-Year-Of-My-Life-HSC went for 3 hours for most subjects with Advanced English being so long that they had to split the 4 hour exam into two days (thus 2 hours for Paper 1 and Paper 2), they were absolutely shocked. I gave them an extra dose of shockage (Is that a word? These days English very bad) when I told them the exams lasted for a month. The Japanese University Entrance Exams only last for 3 days (I have to ask a teacher about it, I remember it was either 3 or 4 days, definitely under a week though) and everyone takes them together at the same time.
To tell you the truth, Japanese high schoolers don't study as much as the rest of the world thinks they do. I go to a good school at the moment (why oh why couldn't they have put me in a ghetto school so I can just enjoy myself here!) and although they don't go out very much, they are still very sociable and don't study like crazy. In fact, I found out that they study a lot less than I did back when I was in high school.
Note: Mel=World Champion Procrastinator.
If you want ideas and tips to distract yourself from studying just email me ^.~
I had heard that Juku was the so called cram school of hell, but in reality the 3rd Years just go for around 6 hours a week. When I was doing my HSC I went to 9 hours of tutoring a week and my parents aren't even strict. I have friends who went to tutoring for over 16 hours a week and spent enough money on it that they could have bought themselves a car. But of course there still were many people in back home who didn't go to tutoring at all and there still are a lot of very studious high schoolers in Japan who absolutely do study day in day out. I just think the reason that Japan is known for its torturous schooling is due to the extremes some students go to. It was just a few months ago when a 16 year old boy from Tokyo made headlines because he burnt down his house killing his mother and younger brother and sister because he lied about results he got in an English exam and didn't want his parents to see his real marks.
The poor Japanese kids tend to put more pressure on themselves than they really have to but having said that, I completely understand that examination periods is always a stressful time for everyone, not matter where you are around the world. Hell I almost went crazy with stress this time last year. And with that I want to wish the Class of 2006 who are about to start their HSC
Now on a completely different subject, I had recieved more emails than usual after posting my last entry on well... hot boys so I've decided to provide some fanservice from time to time. Since I have a whole folder named "Boys" solely dedicated to the photos of good looking men around the world, the phrase, "sharing is caring" came to mind. Today I've chosen this guy:
Isn't he beautiful? His name is Gaspard Ulliel and he is a 21 year old French actor. I love French men, their accents are so sexy. He's known for starring in the film Long Dimanche De Fiançailles (A Very Long Engagement) with Audrey Tautou. Someone gimme more French boys!
FLASHBACK!
I found a photo of me when I turned 4 years old. I'm with mother at a friends house (we were living in Melbourne then) having a joint birthday party, since our birthday's are only two days apart.
I look like a little boy with lipstick on! Mother one the otherhand is wearing the coolest oversized cardigan. It's so chic. I've been wanting to buy a red one like that for awhile, but I think when I return to Australia I'm just going to dig around her wardrobe to see if she still has it. Oooh, vintage *rolls eyes*.
Labels: Boys, Celebrities, Fangirling, Fashion, Flashback, Japan Exchange, School
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