Importing Diversity: Inside Japan's JET Program
David L. McConnell
Language: English
Pages: 346
ISBN: 0520216369
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
How does a relatively homogeneous and insular society react when a buzzword is suddenly turned into a reality? How did the arrival of so many foreigners affect Japan's educational bureaucracy? How did the foreigners themselves feel upon discovering that English teaching was not the primary goal of the program? In this balanced study of the JET program, David L. McConnell draws on ten years of ethnographic research to explore the cultural and political dynamics of internationalization in Japan. Through vignettes and firsthand accounts, he highlights and interprets the misunderstandings of the early years of the program, traces the culture clashes at all levels of the bureaucracy, and speculates on what lessons the JET program holds for other multicultural initiatives.
This fascinating book's jargon-free style and interdisciplinary approach will make it appealing to educators, policy analysts, students of Japan, and prospective and former JET participants.
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full-fledged resistance group. In fact, the financial support for AJET's activities had begun in the early years of the program, as one former AJET chair recalled: I used to go over to CLAIR on a weekly basis for an informal meeting with the secretary-general, just to fill him in on what AJET was doing. Strictly informational. And as I was leaving he would say, "You mean you're not asking for anything?" and I'd say "No, I just wanted to keep you up to date on our activities." I think he
Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1988. Horsley, William. "An Outsider's View of CLAIR's Activities." Jichitai Kokusaika Foramu * (Forum on Internationalization for Local Governments), no. 11 (November 1989): 21. Huang, Bao zhong. "Working for Friendship between China and Japan." In The JET Programme: Ten Years and Beyond, 33536. Tokyo: Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, 1997. Inoguchi, Takashi. "The Legacy of a Weathercock Prime Minister." Japan Quarterly
shown standing behind the podium with a textbook in hand, tapping his foot angrily. As the cartoon suggests, puzzlement and anger over being asked numerous Page 86 Figure 2. Students in a classroom. Illustration by Suzuki Yasumasa. personal questions by Japanese students and teachers were not uncommon among ALTs, yet from the Japanese point of view such questions were usually. just intended to gather information that would allow them to be helpful and to place the foreigner
suggest that a bureaucracy known the world over for its organizational efficiency had suddenly run aground. Many participants themselves, disillusioned by the gap between rhetoric and reality, adopted conspiracy theories. In addition, ministry infighting proved to be as strong as ever. The Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs berated Education and the conservative public school system for sapping the enthusiasm of the JET participants. The Ministry of Education responded that Home
English teachers had ultimately decided to boycott the seminar because such administration-sponsored seminars were seen to be platforms for the dissemination of politically conservative ideas. The ALT thus became an inadvertent participant in the ongoing struggle over schools attempting to define their own educational goals and methods, ones that de-emphasized competition and entrance exams. Ironically, many ALTs share these beliefs, and many union teachers are active supporters of