A teacher once suggested to me that kids today have more information thrown at them in twenty-four hours than our grandparents received in a life time. Perhaps a slight exaggeration, but maybe not one too extreme in nature. Indeed the same teacher pointed out to me that a ten year old with an iPhone would win hands down in quiz night with all the parents aligned against them. Children are wiring up differently today, they have to.
The teacher I mention taught and inspired at one of the international schools in Japan. Not focussed on any single country, there are a number to be found across the major cities. The American school is excellent, as are the British, German and French schools however they are principally designed to ensure the offspring of expats remain on a par with their land locked contemporaries back in the home land. However, for those existing in an international environment there are schools supporting the global diaspora. Yokohama International School being the grand-daddy of them all.
But as Grade 12 comes inexorably to a close, these citizens of all countries are about to spread their wings and fly. Universities in Japan are primarily (though with some notable exceptions) for Japanese students embarking on a Japanese career. But if you're wondering how this story ties itself to the imagery here, this was my son's final art exhibition, displayed before he himself moves on to university overseas. To study physics. The international schools of Japan raise remarkable students. And I'd be known as "oya bakka", and I'm kind of proud of that.
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