Two Birds with One Stone, or How to Eliminate Ignorance with 50-inch Touch Screens

The title is incomplete. It should have read "How to eliminate ignorance and revive the economy with 50-inch touch screens". Apparently this is what Japanese Ministry of Education is attempting to do by purchasing these 1 million yen (10 000 dollars) toys for every Elementary School in Japan:

Let me repeat it, lest you miss the point: every elementary school and most JH schools in Japan will have 1-4 of these "Electronic Blackboards" this year. A complete set includes a touch screen, a computer with Windows, and a rolling stand. They are introduced by the Ministry of Education as part of the New Deal - a recent program of reviving Japanese education, a first attempt after almost 50 years of decreasing school hours and textbook pages (while the parallel industry of juku - evening private "cram" schools that compensate for the shortcomings of state education - grew larger year by year, enjoying almost 40% of ALL school students' attendance). I don't know about the kids, but most teachers at the 12 schools I have a privilege to teach in are not very comfortable with the new equipment.
I am here:

This particular school got four Electronic Blackboards, and since they really only needed one the others now face a wall.

And they tell me there is a problem of space in Japan...

OK, I'll come back to this school later, but what could be the reason for such waste? Could it have something to do with the national rigidity?


Well, at least it will surely help domestic manufacturers. After all, the economy is at a standstill in Japan, right? Teachers' salaries are cut 10%, there is no money for decent heating, so classroom temperature in the winter is under 10°C. School lunches get more expensive, and some schools can't even afford to buy maps: it's economic recession, we all understand, so it's just natural that the government should spend up to 40 000 dollars per school on something pretty, shining, modern, and as utterly useless as an iPad. How else can you solve the problem of national debt?..

Some say, of course, that this has nothing to do with economy or education, and everything to do with how financial system of calculating budgets works in all big corporations in Japan, including Toyota, Nissan, ANA, and others, - and the national government is not an exception here. To estimate the next year's budget they count this year's expenditure, and since maps just aren't quite up to scratch in the realm of the pricey, they - along with comfortable classroom temperature and other nonsense - aren't considered indispensable elements of high quality education, but a million yen device is exactly what the kids need.

We could also ask whether this project was realized based on the price competition, or was it rather a sign of friendship - or should I say incestuous relationships - between the government and certain corporations (like Hitachi, Pioneer, NEC, etc.). But how could we seriously suggest something like this? These seditious extremist ideas are of course out of the question, along with the nonsense of a thought that so-called 'free market' is but a bastard child of corporations and politicians and could never exist without government support. We have no reason to even start thinking like that, right?!

Recession is real, but most people here, in Japan, don't actually feel its burden because they live in big cities. I live in a big city too, but I have to commute to work in the countryside. This is a beauty of Japanese lifestyle: you can enjoy nightlife of one of the biggest megalopolises in the world, and the next morning teach country kids on an island Elementary School in the middle of nowhere. I get to ride a ferry too!

I can't help noticing this area's rapid degradation though.
I am riding a bus to the port, and the only passenger except for for me is an old lady who gets off at the third stop. After that I am alone, and the bus driver starts talking to me. "This bus route will no longer be available come September, - he tells me. - So please be careful and think of some other way of transportation. There are no customers, we are really struggling
for survival". The recording in the bus announces the last stop and continues to advertise a local factory that produces shrimp chips. It strikes me as both pathetic and very sad at the same time.

"This area used to be a resort", - teachers tell me. At first I don't understand because there is still a beach here, and several hotels and hot springs operate. "No one comes here anymore. We can't support ourselves with tourism and have to get back to fishing". And indeed, you can see a lot of signs pointing at local sightseeing spots, but they are all rusty and old. This area is waning, and people feel it. Population is reducing and aging at the same time, so they have to close down shops and stop services.
The island I teach on used to have a High School, but not anymore. There are fewer and fewer kids nowadays, and more elderly. All of the 150 children on this island go to the only school there, and rarely visit the mainland. Their only source of fun is television.
The island is here:

Take a closer look:

There is a small gray building next to the school, and that's where all of the teachers live.

They are not from the island originally, so on the weekends they go back home, but this is not the option during the week. They live in small 1 room apartments, 2 coworkers per room, with no kitchen and a shared shower. They cook at school. I know what you think: it's an ideal place to meditate and find peace, but the teachers are not exactly Zen monks. They are bored and tired, and this inevitably passes on to the kids.

The principal's office:










 What the principal can see from the window in his office:

 

In this setting of decay and economic dislocation a million yen spaceship equipment sort of device facing a wall looks strangely out of place, even surreal. But as one of my best friends used to say, "That's Japan for you, man, that's Japan for you."