Japanese discipline rules despite disaster

Japanese discipline rules despite disaster - POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. | The Philippine Star >> News >> Opinion

POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star)

WHAT, NO LOOTING?: Three days after a magnitude-9 killer quake devastated Japan, triggering Pacific-wide tsunamis and a likely nuclear plant meltdown and then consigning millions of Japanese to darkness, thirst and hunger in the wintry cold, I still have to read reports of widespread looting.

This Filipino watching 3,200 kilometers from Ground Zero finds this disciplined behavior of a huge population in distress awe-inspiring. Let us pray that they stay that way — and that we learn from them.

In adversity, the Japanese are now reaping the fruits of having been taught, and drilled in, discipline and resilience since childhood.

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SPARTAN MEALS: In Japanese grade schools, where lunch is free, pupils (and their teachers) are sometimes served nothing but vegetables. Nobody openly complains, because it has been explained to them that they have to get used to occasional Spartan meals.

The pupils are told that there could come a time when, for some reason, they might have to subsist only on something less.

This calamity dealt them by Nature is one of those unexpected times. Now the instilling of that value or attitude seems to be paying off, thanks also to the way their government is responding to their needs despite the destruction of infrastructure.

There could be scattered deviations from this disciplined behavior, especially with the intensity and duration of their post-quake suffering, but these could be written off as aberrations.

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WALK WITH BUDDIES: There are other things we can learn from the Japanese public school system.

Every child must be enrolled in the nearest school — “nearest” meaning within walking distance. This way, big numbers of students going to and from class need not take public or private transportation, thus alleviating the traffic problem.

The children do not walk to school by themselves. They are grouped according to their home addresses. They assemble at a designated place and move out together when everybody is accounted for.

After class, the teacher sees to it that members of the same flock walk home together. They are made aware that they are responsible for one another. The group has to make sure nobody is missing.