The Meiji University-Affiliated Nakano and Hachioji Intermediate and High Schools (1)

Q: What differences are there between those who have been here since intermediate school, and those who first start attending in high school?

Kawakami: (Those who start here in high school) are with the rest of us about a month after they enter, because they've overcome the entrance exams.

Takehazama: If you came up from intermediate school together, you have ties with friends, and that puts you at ease with one another.

Sone: Associated students see newly-entering high school students as having worked harder, studied harder, because they passed the entrance exams to get in. They figure, if I worked that hard, I could have just entered at the high-school level too, so it's pretty clear that those who went for the high school entrance study that much harder.

Noguchi: On the other hand, there are those who feel a release of tension once the exams are over. They stop studying, and their grades drop, so there's a huge gap between those who continue their studies, and those who let go. No middle of the road.

Q: Why didn't you go to public schools?

Takizawa: When I was in sixth grade, a friend of mine said that the local intermediate school was no good, and so he was going to a private school. That got my interest too. Ultimately, that friend didn't take the entrance exams, but I figured, I've come this far, so I might as well see it through. I took the exams, and came here.

Izumi: In my case, I heard that I could get into Meiji University if I went to Meiji Hachioji.

Ichikawa: Me too. The people at my cram school said I could make it if I kept at it. And I did get in, as a result, but once you actually make it, you've got to get pretty good (test) scores.

Kawakami: I was somewhat influenced by my sister taking the exams, but my parents' opinion that getting into a good university would make life easier clearly affected me the most. I heard lots of talk about private schools being more interesting than public ones. " " Lots of Kids Don't Use Keigo (Polite Speech)

Q: What is the atmosphere like at school?

Kawakami: Every year (new students) are changing. When I started, senior-junior relations were really strict. You absolutely had to use keigo (polite speech). If you didn't, the upperclassmen would talk about you, and it was just plain scary. There was a lot of that sort of thing. Nowadays, though, you not only have cases of underclassmen not using keigo when they are on really good terms with upperclassmen, but even students who've never met talk without keigo to upperclassmen. There's also an increase in kids who don't use keigo to teachers.

Anno: Do you think it's limited to these circumstances, or is it something on a nationwide level?

Kawakami: It's the times we live in.

Tomoshiki: I went to a really bad intermediate school. So coming here was a real case of culture shock. Nobody dyed their hair, the girls all wore long skirts, girls all keep their hair braided...I was amazed at how different the atmosphere was here. At my intermediate school, vertical relationships were so strict, they got into everything that anyone did. Here, the upperclassmen aren't all that strict, and I even find myself wondering sometimes if I actually used keigo or not. I think there's nothing but nice people here.

Sone: Being in my first year of high school feels completely different from what high school seemed like in my first of intermediate school.

Anno: The high school students I knew date back twenty years now.

Q: What don't you like about school?

Kawakami: I'd like a little more freedom.

Takehazama: The teachers come down on every little thing (the students) do, because, since this is a feeder school for Meiji, the teachers' recommendations decide whether we make it or not.

Kawakami: The teachers keep telling the students to keep studying, and that's all.

Noguchi: Everything here comes down to study.

Sone: Our personal lives are the same way.

Kawakami: It's all just study. Grades are all anyone ever looks at.

Anno: Study indeed.

Kawakami: We're getting squeezed into nothing but study. I want to take life easier, since I finally made it to high school. Even in clubs it's the same. If we're going to have fun, now is when to do it, right? Once we're out in the real world, there'll be no chance to do it anymore, and so now is the only chance we have to make friends. I think now is an important time in my life, and there are so many things I want to do and that I can only do at this time. "Bearing a Placard"

Noguchi: But ours is a society centered on academic records. There's not much we can do about it.

Kawakami: I wish people would look at more than just grades. I wish they'd focus on things like, what kind of person you are, what you're like as a human being. Both at schools and universities.

Ichikawa: But I think that, compared with other schools, our school is actually pretty good about seeing people as human beigngs.

Sone: But no matter where you turn, Meiji keeps popping up. Even during summer vacations, we're told that we have to be good because we're always carrying the Meiji name, like it was on a placard.

Noguchi: They tell us to keep up the spirit even if we're not wearing the uniform.

Anno: You've survived this far, right?

Noguchi: Everyone around you is passing judgment on you, so we each have to be on our best behavior.

Kawakami: At the end-of-term ceremonies, when the principal gives his speech, he's essentially saying that each one of us reflects on the entire school.

Anno Schools need dignity, and to keep up their appearances.

(From the April 2, 1998 edition of Mainichi Intermediate School News)