Every other week, there’s always a trending post about American schools. Mostly having to do with student behavior and low pay. Teachers quitting their jobs because they had enough.
One person brought up that teaching in Asia was actually a better experience. One other person mentioned that as a student, they witnessed an American teacher cry because she never knew how much better it was in Asia.
But these are just “one” kind of people saying these things.
I want to hear from the people who actually are in Japan in schools setting. How’s your experience been in comparison to your home country? Is it better? Is it worse?
14 comments
I’m not American but was an Australian teacher back in the day.
> How’s your experience been in comparison to your home country? Is it better? Is it worse?
In short… in Japan the pay’s worse and (in my case) there wasn’t really any career development. It’s much harder to work the bare minimum hours too (e.g. first few years outta uni I got paid the equivalent of ~35,000 yen a day to turn up at 8:50am, leave at 3:00pm and go for a 1+ hour walk at lunch and/or whenever I had no classes). Yeah… people on here will be bragging if they can get that kinda cash working at international schools and stuff, as if they’re the big man and have mastered the art of making contacts…etc. It’s what a junior, casual teacher earns in Australia and seniors (doesn’t take that long to be one) won’t be on anything less than 1,000,000 yen a month.
The upshot of Japan was that well… above all I was in Japan, not the shittiest part of my Aussie city (where there was lotsa work as all the teachers were constantly on stress leave). Also, I was less likely to get bashed up and/or threatened by students. I’ve copped dog shots from Aussie students (really nasty dog shots from outta nowhere) and it’s not fun. Not scary, but I get sick of all the drugs, violence and foul language. Ultimately why I quit and found a different profession TBH!
Japanese kids are still kids but at least here no students have tried killing another student in my classroom yet. So yeah, that’s a plus.
On the negative side, Japanese children are so shy it’s painful. I admit In have to work on not getting irritated when a student outright refuses to answer my question.
I’ve seen bullying in both countries but I’ve never actually seen teacher bullying (students bullying the teacher) in Japan. I know it happens, but I’ve never seen it. I saw it a lot in America.
In order to get any 1:1 comparison, you need to ask people in 1:1 jobs. Someone just hopping in as a support for a few classes and someone working as a homeroom teacher and subject teacher as full faculty aren’t going to have nearly the same perspective or information.
As others have pointed out, it’s tough to get a real comparison when the environments are likely very different.
Even if you asked an American teacher who does the same year level, subject and curriculum as they did back home, the chances of it being a _Japanese_ school is pretty low. They’re more likely in an International school (in which case it’s not _really_ just Japanese students), unless you find the rare ESL teacher who also taught ESL back home and is teaching it as lead teacher here.
You might be eluding to a recent post on r/internationalteachers which asked a pretty similar question (something about whether students outside America are also disrespectful or not). There’s some responses there from teachers currently in Japan, but again, they’re working in international schools, which is a totally different group of kids than you’d get in (presumably) a typical local American school.
A friend of mine made the transition from teacher in Japan to teacher in Australia and was called a c**t within a week. He said it was pretty severe culture shock. I personally wouldn’t want to teach in America after the cushy private-school job I’ve got here.
Alot of the replies so far are very reasonable, people advising to take things with a grain of salt, or saying they can’t be compared. Remember that teaching in America varies wildly from state to state. All I can do is list some of the things that surprised me when I worked in the Japanese school environment.
I was a substitute teacher in America, and then was an ALT. So I’m also not a 1:1 comparison for the job. If someone is capable of becoming a full time teacher at a japanese school with equal pay to a japanese teacher, theyll likely find it to be about the same for pay. Considering bonuses and such. Compared to my hometown in Texas, the benefits in Japan are much better, mostly due to healthcare. Schools safety is almost incomparable, nowadays some districts in america are locked down so much theres clear backpacks and metal detectors. Japan is shockingly vulnerable but things rarely happen. Covid was handled seriously as well, which for many places in America it was willfully ignored. Which endangered staff and students. Of course, japan had its bad actors but not broadly. Lastly before it sounds like I’m speaking too favorably for japan, in America you get real time off, and a healthy amount, moreso than most jobs. But in japan, most teachers worked through the holidays, even if it was only desk work. Theres so many differences, it feels rambly to list them all. But there some to consider for you.
My husband has worked with kids in both the US and in Japan, and it’s definitely a mixed bag but overall he prefers teaching in Japan.
In the US he had positive experiences, but also some negative ones. He wasn’t a full time teacher in the US, but volunteered as part of a reading initiative in public schools for children in 3rd – 6th grade struggling with reading.
One time he was so happy because one of the students he was working with told him that he thought reading was fun because of him and he loved the stories they read together.
There was one elementary school though that was in a really bad area and he didn’t feel entirely comfortable being there. At that school he worked 1 on 1 with a girl who had gone through multiple volunteer teachers and hated everyone.
She didn’t like my husband at first but warmed to him over time. He tried really hard to work through lessons with her but she was more interested in talking and playing, which is pretty typical of kids in that program as they tend to struggle with reading. Sometimes she’d act out or misbehave and they’d threaten to pull her out of the program and then she’d cry or scream and the teachers would take her out of the room and talk to her. My husband said the entire experience was very draining and that he was trying his best but didn’t feel equipped to handle that. He worked with her for half a year but stopped because we moved to Japan.
In Japan he feels 100% safe and never worries about guns or bad things happening at the schools. He’s worked at elementary, middle, and high schools. His favorite is elementary because the kids are very fun whereas middle and high schoolers tend to be more reserved.
One thing that’s made him a bit uncomfortable here though is kids touching him. He’s had kids pet or rub the hair on his arms, and that’s not so bad.
One little boy tried to punch his dick a few times, but stopped when he sternly told him “no” and “stop” in Japanese.
Once he had a little girl who would put her hands in his pockets, hold his hand, try to climb onto his lap, and wrap her arms around his waist and hang onto him from behind. Her classmates always told her off and made her stop. My husband would try to gently extract himself, and tries to be gentle with getting them to stop so he doesn’t make them cry or hurt their feelings.
He did feel a bit weird whenever students would ask him to marry them, or what his “type” was. The first time this happened he looked at another teacher for help but they were just looking at him waiting for him to answer. He got called “handsome” in Japanese many times by students and teachers. One time when he told a middle schooler he was happily married she said “get a divorce”.
But overall Japanese schools and kids, while not perfect, are a lot of fun and he really enjoyed teaching and working in Japan.
Taught in the UK two years (one year state school, one year private) after qualifying. I am a licensed teacher in a public school here in Japan and have worked for 6 years. Also have a number of years as an ALT and in eikawa.
Working in the UK was tough but the attitude of teachers to the job was way different. I felt like people were really committed to improving education and were forward thinking.
In Japan, people can vary but they often seem to want to teach one size fits all lessons that they learned in their first year or something. Differentiation is very hard for a lot of my colleagues to grasp. They are still very committed to the students and are great to work with. Education takes a back seat to caring for students pastorally. I felt like in the UK, both education and pastoral care were maximised.
Students were a handful in the UK and had a much worse attitude. There are plenty of difficult kids here too but schools don’t have a very established system of consequence/ behaviour modification like most schools did in the UK (my private school didn’t either).
Senior Management in the UK were very overbearing to the point of bullying. OFSTED (government inspectors) are akin to the gestapo and it encourages an environment of bullying and shitting on staff to “maintain standards”.
In the UK, I’d go home at 3:30 but have enough work to do that i’d end up working from 7-10pm at home. In Japan, I generally work until 4:45 but never take work home (not actually allowed to due to protection of private information).
Salary wise, now I’m qualified I make 7 million, which is about the same as an equivalent teacher (UK Main Pay Scale 6) at around £40000 so I feel I’m paid my worth. That 40k in the UK would need a lot more work and a lot more gobby students and bullying head teachers though!
So, I’m happy to teach here.
Japanese kids for the most part know studying is important. But, American kids aren’t shy.
I taught in Japan at an elementary school for three years. The children are well behaved, but they are also very shy as one other poster said. They lack initiative and creativity. However, the thing that got to me most was the fact they almost never initiated conversation. It was like trying to draw blood from a stone and the main reason I left.
I worked in title I schools in texas which meant an uphill battle with admin and student attitudes. Thankfully, I don’t usually have problems in my classes even now that I’ve moved to Japan. Generally, the behaviour is better out here and students tend to understand they have to work hard. There are problem schools but it’s usually JHSs because that’s the prime time to be a yankee (delinquent). You can’t really afford to fuck up high school out here since pretty much everything requires college.
Japanese students tend to be more reticent to answer even if they know and most don’t like standing out for cultural reasons usually. Bullying can be a thing but generally, as in America, most of my students get on fine while with me.
Pay is currently comparable since I upgraded from being an ALt (I call it my sabbatical). I, back to being a normal teacher and this year have a home room. I don’t mind the home room system. It’s a lot of work in either area though.
Biggest thing is teachers are way more respected out here. It’s been a respected profession for a great many years. In the states, atm, that is not the case. Lots of reasons for that but yeah.
I’ve enjoyed teaching in both areas but my admin appreciates me more in Japan so far.
School lunch system in the US is far more horrifying
The pay is very low and not a long term opportunity. I have reached my limit with English teaching in Japan been doing it for 2 years and want to quit. The hours are long for ALT’s although it’s much worse if you’re a public school teacher they usually work long hours even 13 hour days are common for no extra money. They’re also expected to come to work at such short notice even if it’s during the school holidays.
My advice is don’t make teaching in Japan a long term thing.