Thanks for Sending Your Sick Kid to School, Lady!

[Misty]

I work at an English language school in Japan which is a privately owned business, so the parents are considered customers. And like all customers, sometimes they suck.

I recently got a second job working part-time in the mornings at another language school for preschoolers. Actually, it's more like a daycare, but daycares are frowned upon in Japan.

*Cultural Fun Fact: Parents who let other people watch their children (daycare, babysitters, etc) are considered BAD parents. You know how in America parents often hire their neighbor's teenage daughter to watch their kids? In Japan the very idea is horrifying and no one would even think about doing it.

Luckily, there are ways around this cultural stigma. You open what is technically a daycare, but teach the kids their ABCs and a few English words & phrases and VIOLA! It's not a daycare, it's an English school!

But to get back on track: the other day during lunchtime I was talking to one of the kids about her lunch, trying to get her to say the English word for each item in her lunchbox, when she started throwing up. The Japanese teacher quickly ran over and started cleaning her up. She then explained to me that the mother had mentioned the child had a stomach virus for the past couple of days. WHA!?

Thankfully, I didn't get sick from her, but now all of the other kids at the school have been exposed. I can only cross my fingers and pray that we don't have some kind of Outbreak-style armageddon.

Thanks, lady!

[ShadowBall]

I don't know what it is about kids, but they have the power to incubate the most unholy of viruses. I can often be around sick folks and not catch whatever they have, but I spend more than a couple hours in close proximity to a kid and I get horribly sick.

Here's hoping neither you nor anyone else gets sick. One sick kid with a stomach bug is bad enough, but when fucking everyone's got it at once? You could probably put on an emesis fireworks display as a fundraiser.

[crazyofficeclerk]

I used to hate when the kids would come to school sick. That just about drove me nuts, but the other day my manager said that her mom would send them to school sick because if the school called her mom or dad at their work and said the kids needed to come home, they were able to take the day off without any repercussions. That made sense to me. I know that not all parents can just take the day off, but if the school calls, then it might be a bit more believable.

[Rena_Muffin]

Wow. Is there something you can do when the child is so sick? I mean, if it's a stomach virus, those catch on pretty quick. Back in fourth grade I got the stomach flu and in two days, the rest of my family caught it. Also, where in Japan are you working? (Urban or rural? this one is very interested in teaching English in Japan)

[MoonCat]

I used to hate when the kids would come to school sick. That just about drove me nuts, but the other day my manager said that her mom would send them to school sick because if the school called her mom or dad at their work and said the kids needed to come home, they were able to take the day off without any repercussions. That made sense to me. I know that not all parents can just take the day off, but if the school calls, then it might be a bit more believable.

Yes, unfortunately, this is a huge problem in the U.S. Many, many companies don't give paid sick days or restrict them to be used only when the employee is sick, not their kids. And if you work in a low paid job, taking unpaid time off can be a real hardship. We get decent sick time where I work, but I've seen some parents burn through theirs when the whole family gets sick a couple of times in the same year.

[Hyndis]

That is actually a wonderful system they have going there for education. The best time to teach new languages is when a person is very young. The younger the better. At early ages the human brain is able to rapidly learn new languages.

The US approach to try to teach a foreign language in high school is doomed to failure, because by that time the human brain is no longer wired to rapidly learn a new language.

Some people can pick up languages easily at older ages, but for the vast majority of the population if you don't pick up a language by the age of 10 or so, you will never learn that language to any degree of fluency.

Sadly, this even goes for the rare cases of horrible neglect where a child never learns any language. They are doomed for the rest of their lives to not be able to speak.

[Misty]

Also, where in Japan are you working? (Urban or rural? this one is very interested in teaching English in Japan)

I work in Koshien, which is a large town located between Osaka and Kobe. The express train gets me to Kobe in 20 minutes, and Osaka in 15. It's great! The only downside is that all the trains to Koshien stop running at 11:30pm, so you always have to decide between going home early or staying out all night.

If you are serious about teaching English in Jaoan, go for it! Google "teach English in Japan" and you will see a ton of websites. The best places to start are gaijinpot.com and ohayosensei.com. Good luck!

[NateTheChops]

Whenever my parents kept us home from school they would catch flack from the principal for it. So finally my parents just started sending us to school unless we were actually throwing up. This was back when I was in the second grade and a fever could pretty much take you out of the game for a while.

Sometimes it's just worth it to let the school officials figure it out for themselves.

Interesting info about Japanese culture though.