AET 0 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 OK at the school I am at now it seems that a lot of the students parents can't afford to pay for the school lunch. (Well, that's what they say anyway). As far as I can tell they send out a letter asking for them to pay and that's about as much effort that goes into getting non paying students families to cough up. After that, it's just 'shikata ga nai' and the school pays for the lunch. So I suppose taxpayers are effectively paying for it. From what a colleague tells me, over 25% of the kids aren't paying for lunch. Hardly an incentive for the others to cough up is it if they can get away with not paying so easily. Funnily enough some of these kids who can't afford it are coming to school in the latest Nike gear.... Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 are they eating it though? Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Is that elementary school AET? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Do they have a free school meals scheme here for families who can't afford it? They do back home, but no kid likes to take them bcos of the stigma of "not being able to afford lunch". Interesting that its the opposite here Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 When fee's like this are not chased up, enforced or failure to pay given a consequence , this kind of avoidence goes on. We started out in the WA State school system, and I was constantly amazed how many parents failed to pay the $9 Government levy (considered compulsory) and the $30 per family school levy (considered voluntary but encouraged). This was PER YEAR! Yes there were books/uniforms/lunches etc etc but as far as school fee's $39 was IT...and yet people who were eating out for lunch, buying playstations and new cars yada yada, were not paying it. Of course being in the Private sytem now - if you do not pay your fee's you are gone! They have a waiting list a mile long!! The lunch thing always makes me curious though...in Aus most schools have a canteen from which kids can buy lunch or order thier lunch if they do not bring it, but there is nothing like the 'school dinners' we see in the UK, or even on American TV shows. While my son was living in Japan with his host family he took home prepared obento. Is the school dinners concept widespread in Japan? Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 that's always been curious to me. Why the eff is it called skool dinners when it is luncheon. Lunch time, time for lunch, it was never dinner time at skool. "Have you had dinner?" "Yes, had skool dinner" "Alright, you'd better puke it up, it's time for real food" Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I had it explained to me by those from the motherland that it was actually Breakfast, Dinner and Tea and that I had it all wrong calling it Breaky, Lunch and Dinner. We have actually invited people for Sunday Dinner and had them arrive at 11am! LOL!!! It confuses me too! Link to post Share on other sites
@tokyo 14 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 I'm very confused! Link to post Share on other sites
js 0 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 It always amazes me too - seeing people who cry poor, yet they have a pack of cigs, buy a case of beer once a week, keep a car, and a mobile phone, BUT, can't afford to dress and feed their kids in an appropriate manner. Unemployment benefits should be a ration card system - NOT money! Mamabear, PLEASE don't use the term 'motherland', yikes! Link to post Share on other sites
NoFakie 45 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 You'll always get some freeloaders with anything, welfare included. It's just the way it is. Sometimes stricter enforcement can cost more than the money saved and/or deny genuine folk, so you just have to shrug your shoulders and get on with it. If karma exists, it'll get em. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 the whole lunch pay thing happens with kindy fees and school fees. They had it on the a.m. mass media programs while I was there. Why don't they just adopt the no pay, no play system and not let the kids come to kindy/school? Till it goes that way people will exploit the system. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 6, 2008 Share Posted May 6, 2008 got it in one MB. It goes: Breakfast, Dinner and Tea. we don't say lunch unless, while at school dinners, you bring your own food which is then confusingly called a packed lunch. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 ok, where does supper fit in then? Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Comes after Tea, before you go to bed, but thats only if your posh Thurs!! Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 I heard its because in the olden days people couldn't afford three meals so they just had an earlier Dinner and then a snack later on with their Tea. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 9, 2008 Share Posted May 9, 2008 that's not very olden then.. When did we trade you tea? Link to post Share on other sites
AET 0 Posted May 9, 2008 Author Share Posted May 9, 2008 It is an elementary school. (and they sure are eating it!) Link to post Share on other sites
AK 77 0 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 AET - I am at a JHS and the same problem is there too, although rarely talked about (and certainly not infront of the students!). I am going to steer clear of the off-topic ranting about home countries - other than to note that it shows that there are similar problems in most countries, it seems. The Japan problem is one that can be read in several ways: 1) It shows the lingering effects of economic recession. There are some families out there who genuinely can't afford to pay, and I was suprised in such a high tax-and-spend society as Japan, there is no state welfare for means-tested free school dinners. 2)It shows the emergence of social underclass(es) in Japan - not necssarily economic (as you point out the new Nike kit) but cultural underclasses which may be more of a challenge to Japanese society than simple poverty. There seem to be those who for a variety of reasons are not signing up to the social norms of "proper Japanese society" - and adopting more of a not giving a f*ck attitude, quite the contrast with what Japan tells itself about its 'collective ways' of organising society. This has repercussions disproportionate to the number of people in this group, as with an ageing society and strict immigration laws, those not 'playing the game' and taking proper jobs and paying lots of taxes won't be supporting the old folk! 3)It shows that schools follow the non-confrontation / sweep it under the carpet approach to this issue that they also follow with discipline, management, bullying - and that once students or their families call their bluff, they have no ideology or practical measures at their disposal. It's probably all of the above, plus more intelligent real things that only proper fieldwork would show, not internet rambling. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Originally Posted By: AK 77 The Japan problem is one that can be read in several ways: 1) .... 2) .... 3)It shows that schools follow the non-confrontation / sweep it under the carpet approach to this issue that they also follow with discipline, management, bullying - and that once students or their families call their bluff, they have no ideology or practical measures at their disposal. 3) Part B. Certain elements of society here enjoy a free ride because of historic social injustices against their group, the city I live has large number of them. I could bet my house on it that many of them don't pay certain fees and costs at school (I know for a fact that they sure as heck don't at Hoikuen) and because of who they are, no-one will chase it up (as stated by AK above). Yet many of these people are certainly not poor and they are milking the system for all its worth and then some. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 3) Part c. I read that as ethnic Koreans who are there of no choice of their own, and Chinese who are there because they chose to be. Wow, what a generalisation, and all from school LUNCHES. And all this amongst the Japanese government wanting to opening up immigration for the sake of tax Yen. Good luck. Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 It`s a free society. Ethnic Koreans are perfectly free to leave Japan if they want. They can also become Japanese. If they choose neither and simply bitch then they deserve the sympathy they get. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Originally Posted By: thursday. 3) Part c. I read that as ...snip... if you were alluding to me then you are off course, I was talking about the Buraku (Burakumin). They are the epitome of "swept under the carpet" Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 No burakumin in Tohoku. What`s your problem? Link to post Share on other sites
soubriquet 0 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 We are now landing at Belfast airport. Please turn your your watches back by 400 years. Japan is a free country. People are free to make their lives, or wallow in self pity. Victims are free to make their choices. Link to post Share on other sites
yoroshiku onegai shimasu 2 Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Quote: There are some families out there who genuinely can't afford to pay Absolutely. I was quite shocked actually at a school I used to teach in how poor lots of the families were. They basically were struggling to survive, even with the help they got from the town office etc. Somehow I didn't expect to see that here, perhaps naively. Link to post Share on other sites
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