【NZの学校生活】ここまで生徒の意見が尊重される！？中学校のライティングの授業

皆さん、小学生の頃の作文の授業って好きでしたか？苦手でしたか？

苦手だった方、それでも作文を書く時、その作文の内容は適切なものでないと、ってどこかで意識していませんでしたか？

ましてや、学校の体制を批判する内容なんて、とんでもない！ですよね。

…って私だけかもしれませんが。

しかし、娘はYear7の時(新小学校5年生の頃)書いたんです。学校を批判する作文を。

娘の作文に対する学校の担任の先生の対応
娘の英作文「毎日の体育はすべきではない」
個人の意見を最大限に尊重する、ニュージーランドの学校

娘の作文に対する学校の担任の先生の対応

かなり辛辣なこの作文。

日本の文化を背負っている私は、この作文を読んで心底ヒヤヒヤしました。
しかし娘の担任の先生はその内容については咎めることは全くしませんでした。

びっくりですよね！
私はてっきり違う内容を書くように言われるのかと思いましたが。

さて、その話題の元となった娘の作文を下に紹介したいと思います。

もっと厳密にいえば、そのライティングの授業で生徒がひとりひとりスピーチを行うことになっていて、その原稿を娘が書いたものになります。スピーチの原稿なだけあって、作文もより口語的なものになっています。

下の作文中のP.EはPhysical exerciseの略で、要するには「体育」ということです。

娘の英作文「毎日の体育はすべきではない」

“We should NOT have P.E everyday”

I mean, some people are just not fit enough to do such running. I think you are thinking like me too, and don’t worry, I’m not going to scream at you for thinking like that, but I’m going to support you! I will state very REASONABLE reasons that you can say to your teachers and parents to stop them torturing you with P.E. So here we go!

My first reason is “it costs money”, and I know that your parents don’t like spending too much money. So let’s take a look at how much it costs to buy, wash and use P.E gear. You know what? My P.E shirt cost $60! It was only 1 shirt. 1 shirt for 60 dollars? Such a waste of money! Who would want to buy such an expensive shirt? And then the teachers say we should have P.E everyday, and That means you will have to buy multiple shirts and you have to wash them everyday! Wow! Super waste of money! Just imagine it. Using up at least 60 dollars for 1 shirt. Good reason right?

My second reason is that you ‘waste time’. I mean, we can run around and do physical exercise in intervals and in breaks. We don’t have to do it in class! I think it is certain that we need to do more MATHS. Here’s a fact to amaze your teachers; did you know that New Zealand is one of the countries with the WORST maths education? No wonder people from high maths educated countries go back to their own ‘Better’ country.

The third reason is that ‘P.E sometimes hurt or affect your mental feelings”. I have a friend called Rachel, and she used to go to the same primary school that I went to, but one day she never came back to school again. I was worried about her, and called her mum, and do you know what she said? She said that Rachel is in hospital right now because the teachers told her to run distances that were too much for her, and that even if she told that to her teacher, she just said ‘it’s going to be alright.’ So peeps who are reading this text, go tell this story of my friend to your teachers and they just might let you ret P.E for a while!

*I have changed the name of my friend for her and her family’s privacy.

And this is all the reasons (actually, I have like trillion billion more reasons) that we should NOT do P.E everyday, and these are the reasons why I think P.E is EXTREMELY BORING and why I think it is torture.

And this is why I think that P.E should not be a part of the school curriculum, as it affects you badly, and makes you go all bonkers and crazy.